00:00Okay, well, I stormed out of the car on the way in, and they were like, Mom! Don't leave us!
00:05So it's always a labor of love and a work in progress.
00:09And the girls, Aoki's at Harvard. She's one of the youngest ever, right?
00:14Well, in modern history to get in. I think she was accepted at like 15, right? 16?
00:19Wow, yeah.
00:21Ming is at Gallatin, which is NYU.
00:23So we have a lot of things going on in our life.
00:26And so it's interesting how we function as individuals, and they're young adults, like my babies, but young adults now.
00:34And so we have our independence and our separate lives, and then we come together to work on this.
00:40But always from the time of like walking out on the runway, holding their hands, taking the bow, little Aoki wandering way off.
00:47She said, that's my moment.
00:50So like, you don't even know all these things, but the world knows this, and everybody here knows this.
00:54And so we'll get all those stories tonight.
00:56So Komora, we're here today celebrating your new collection, Baby Phat, with Macy's and your new partnership with Make-A-Wish.
01:10Our collection.
01:13Your collection.
01:13It's myself, Aoki Lee, and Mingi Lee.
01:17She's right here.
01:17Right, yes.
01:18Just imagine this.
01:19She couldn't sit down here right now to be with us, but she's over there.
01:21Yes.
01:22So it's Ming, myself, and Aoki.
01:24Yes, you have to recognize Ming.
01:25This is our holiday collection for Baby Phat, and the partnership with Make-A-Wish has been many, many, many, many, many years.
01:34So it's not a new partnership with Make-A-Wish.
01:36We love Make-A-Wish.
01:37We work with the kids and the families at Make-A-Wish, and so to us, it was really important to be able to come together in this time and uplift people and bring a little cheer and joy.
01:49We have a giving tree.
01:50We're raising awareness.
01:53We're raising eyeballs.
01:54We're raising...
01:55Can you raise eyeballs?
01:56We're raising money.
01:57We're raising love, hope, cheer.
02:00That's what we're doing.
02:01Yes.
02:01So talking about Baby Phat, historically, we know Baby Phat's, you know, be baby t-shirts, mini skirts, and the iconic fur-hooded jackets with the iconic cat symbol.
02:12But what does Baby Phat look like today with the new collection in Macy's?
02:15So this collection is actually a lot of retro, a lot of Y2K feeling, a lot of classic heritage Baby Phat pieces.
02:26I say that to...
02:27We have the jacket.
02:28Yes.
02:29We of course have the jacket in black and white, like a pearly white with the fur I shot in it.
02:35But the reason I'm saying all this is because that's what's coming now, but everything else is like us.
02:42Me?
02:42Yeah.
02:43Okay, cool.
02:44So get it while you can.
02:45Yeah, that's the retro, the heritage, the legacy with myself and Ming and Aoki.
02:51And the future is just exciting, sexy, fresh, feminine.
02:57So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
02:59Is that a thing?
03:00Yeah, for sure.
03:01Yeah.
03:01It's exciting.
03:02Yeah.
03:02That's the reality of it.
03:04And I love it.
03:05And we're creating something.
03:06I say creating, but it's really been 20-something years, right?
03:09Yeah.
03:09But growing it and creating it again and...
03:12Enriching that legacy for my kids.
03:15And I have five kids.
03:16This is just Ming and Aoki.
03:18It's Aoki and Ming.
03:18But I think it's just creating that heritage, enriching that, enriching our story.
03:25We're very bonded.
03:26We're very, very close.
03:28Even if we, like, bicker all the time like cats and dogs.
03:31Right.
03:31They're giving me all the fashion, the modern takes on business, what we should do.
03:35Beautiful.
03:36We have vicious group chats.
03:37Yeah.
03:38But I think every family has that.
03:39Mine's really funny.
03:40I've got screenshots a lot and they're hilarious.
03:43And as your mom mentioned, you know, you were a born star that wandered on the runways.
03:47And those moments when you were on the runway with your mother and watching your mom from
03:51a young age run the brand, was this, like, something you always had your eyes on?
03:56She's like, absolutely.
03:58I'm running away.
03:59Can I be honest?
04:00Only a little bit.
04:00A little bit.
04:01I was interested for a long time.
04:03And then one day when I was, like, 15 or 16, I got really interested.
04:07And when she was thinking of, you know, reviving Bayside and got really exciting.
04:11And you're thinking about, like, runway and then I started modeling myself in the past,
04:15like, year and a half.
04:16Right.
04:16Congrats on your PR mask tour.
04:18Oh, thank you.
04:19So, yeah, she definitely didn't, like, enforce anything.
04:23And that's kind of great because I found my way back to it on my own.
04:26Yes.
04:26And so now I'm, like, really involved and really interested and miss those moments when I was
04:31like, no, mom, I don't want to do it.
04:33I'm happy you're doing it now.
04:34I have to threaten them a lot.
04:35Love, love.
04:36Threaten their life and well-being.
04:38Yes.
04:38Got to keep that mommy power.
04:40Put that mommy foot down.
04:41Yes.
04:42We go through stuff, everything.
04:43Love that.
04:44Cheetah, leopard, with all due respect.
04:46It is what it is.
04:47I mean, all due respect.
04:48She says, mom, with all due respect, for sure you're going to get it if you start off like
04:54that.
04:54If you have to start with that, just don't say anything else.
04:57Kamara, I can't help to wonder what it's like to see Y2K style still present today, you
05:02know, from new generations, playing with it to being, you know, reintroduced on high fashion
05:07runways.
05:08Like, when you come across it, do you see your influence?
05:12100 percent.
05:12I see my influence.
05:13I see the influence of so many of my peers and people, designers and talent of that era,
05:21the Y2K era.
05:22And I think they say whatever goes around comes around and it's cyclical.
05:25It repeats itself like every 20, 30 years.
05:27So here we are.
05:29But when everyone says that Y2K, I'm like, I am an expert.
05:32Says who?
05:32Says me.
05:33Yeah.
05:34Like, I really realize that.
05:35Absolutely.
05:35It's a thing.
05:36Yeah.
05:36And that's my thing.
05:37So it's great.
05:38For sure.
05:38And they love it.
05:39And I don't know, it's kind of like a baby fat, neat, rat stall.
05:41The best part of the Y2K thing is like when new trends come out, people make them very
05:45expensive.
05:45Like, mom, don't you have that?
05:47Can I have it now?
05:47How can I just dig it out?
05:48Exactly.
05:49There's a lot of trends that people are like making fresh and making new.
05:52I can just like steal from her and it's the originals.
05:54That's a good point.
05:55It's probably a dream to be able to have, you know, access to your mom's closet and to
05:59have all those pieces.
06:01I would call it restricted access.
06:02Restricted access.
06:03I want to call it questionable.
06:04There's a camera.
06:05There's a story out for me.
06:06Several.
06:06Oh, yeah.
06:07Okay.
06:07There's a return fee at the library.
06:08Because they don't give me my stuff back.
06:10And I'm a little bit of like a luxury order.
06:14Yeah, but we're getting into other topics for this interview.
06:16Right.
06:16But I'm a little bit, so I save my stuff and I archive it.
06:18I won't let them take it if they're not going to bring it back.
06:20And I'm very nervous.
06:21Even if you move it like one thing, it bothers me.
06:23And if you want me to take, we'll design it very fast.
06:26That's great.
06:27But I've kept all this stuff, all of my stuff, all of my fashion, all of my pieces, all my
06:31vintage pieces.
06:32I've kept it because I said, oh, I have girls.
06:34I have, you know, they're going to come up in my footsteps.
06:36This is all for them.
06:37Yeah.
06:37And I'm not even going to lie.
06:38Like there's been plenty of times I've bought, as you know, a little fancy blanket or two.
06:41And I'm like, this is for them.
06:42So I have to relinquish that.
06:46Right.
06:47And speaking of the, you know, the older things in the baby fat collection and baby fat history,
06:53you know, as a brand that's always been very effeminate and unafraid to be sexy, you know,
06:58what's the underlying message of baby fat today?
07:00Um, I think the underlying message is very much what we represent.
07:07I mean, you know, we're women, we are fearless.
07:10We have a lot of things going on and responsibilities to juggle every day is a stress.
07:17Every day is a blessing.
07:18It's we do the best.
07:20You know what I mean?
07:21I think that women everywhere and men, but women get what I'm saying and their daughters.
07:26And it's a struggle probably for every, for anybody.
07:30Yeah.
07:30But I think we just try to keep it moving, stay positive, be creative, create something
07:37new, do a little bit of reminiscing.
07:40I don't know, kind of mix it up, make it current.
07:43It's like, we're a mixture of everything, right?
07:47The baby fat woman.
07:48Yeah.
07:48That's who we are.
07:49I love to close with asking.
07:51That's a great segue into my last question.
07:53Kamara, what would, you know, Kamara today say to your 24 year old self who is just starting
07:59baby fat about.
08:01Oh my gosh.
08:02I say it all the time.
08:03Success in building a brand.
08:04I say it all the time.
08:05I don't have to talk to my 21 year old self.
08:07I used to.
08:08I used to do like interviews and like write letters and your 21 year old self, your 13 year old
08:12self, your 17 year old self, but I have myself and my girls.
08:17And so I think I talk to my 19 year old self or my 21 year old self.
08:22That would be me.
08:23Like just today I was going in on her.
08:26You would have thought she messed up the world cataclysmically and she did it.
08:30And I was like, you were an Aoki and you weren't even on the phone.
08:32And the point was, you weren't even there.
08:35I was like, and tell her when she comes.
08:37But the point was show up, do your best, do it.
08:42Stop saying, I'm not going to do it.
08:43I don't want to do it.
08:44It doesn't look right.
08:45It doesn't feel right.
08:45Put it on.
08:46Get it done.
08:47Do your job.
08:48Have a smile on your face.
08:50No one cares.
08:52Like we're in the middle of finals.
08:54We're in the middle of breakdowns.
08:55We're in the middle of family and kids and life.
08:58But I'm constantly like, get it done.
09:01Right.
09:01You know, even I was just talking to you about this right on the phone and you're like, I have tests and my teachers and I'm sick.
09:07What do I do?
09:08I said, look, go in, say how you feel.
09:10But you sure have been living your life on the side too.
09:13So now is not the time to be like, I don't feel well.
09:15Like, let's get it done.
09:16Right.
09:16And I think sometimes I'm probably a little harder, like a little bit of a tough cookie.
09:22But I feel like it rubs off on my younger self.
09:26And I know they're not exactly my younger self.
09:28They're clearly their own beautiful humans and their own individuals.
09:31But it's like I'm talking to my younger self.
09:34And as I always say, the ones who push you the most are the ones who love you the most.
09:38You know?
09:39Is that them to me or me to them?
09:41I think both.
09:42Both.
09:42Okay.
09:42You know?
09:43But thank you so much for your time.
09:45I'm wishing you, Aoki, and me continued success.
09:49She will be here.
09:50She can holler from over there.
09:51She had a slight wardrobe malfunction, which is okay.
09:54Because we still have a little hour or two to go.
09:55But yes, she couldn't make it to her place on the sofa.
09:58For sure.
09:58Yes.
09:59Continued success for the BabyFet empire.
10:00Thank you so much.
10:01Yes.
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