sach 20130327_K-Fashion

K-Fashion


Korean Culture No.7

K-Fashion: Wearing a New Future
Copyright © 2012
by Korean Culture and Information Service
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
without the written permission of the publisher.
First Published in 2012 by
Korean Culture and Information Service
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Phone: 82-2-398-1914~20
Fax: 82-2-398-1882
Website: www.kocis.go.kr
ISBN: 978-89-7375-566-0 04590
ISBN: 978-89-7375-163-1 (set)
Printed in the Republic of Korea
For further information about Korea, please visit:
www.korea.net

K-Fashion
Wearing a New Future


Le K-Chic (The 1990s)

44

The Korean Wave and a New Course for Fashion (The 2000s to Today)

51

Contents

Chapter Three

The Stories of Ten Designers

09

Prologue
Chapter One

13

Walking the World’s Runways

13

A New Vision for Korean Beauty

16

Fashion: Another Korean Wave?

18

K-Fashion: Beyond Asia

Chapter Two

25

The DNA of Korean Fashion

27

King Gojong's Silk Hat and the Gipson Girl (1894–1920)

29

The New Woman and the Spread of Western Styles (The 1920s–1930s)

31

Monpe and the Macao Man (The 1940s)

32

Korea's First Fashion Show and Fashion Designers (The 1950s)

36

Miniskirts: The Times They Are A-Changin' (The 1960s)

39

Youth and the Sociology of Denim (The 1970s)

42

Young Fashion and a Changing City (The 1980s)

iv K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

55

Lie Sang Bong: A New Take on Traditional Korean Beauty

56

Lee Young Hee: Bringing the 'Clothes of the Wind' to the World

61

Son Jung Wan: Eternal Song of Femininity

65

Woo Youngmi: Captivating the European 'Homme'

68

Moon Young Hee: Navigating between Two Worlds

72

Lee Jean Youn: Traditional Tailor in a Modern Body

76

Doo-Ri Chung: Elegance Fit for a First Lady

80

Kim Hye-soon: A Million and One Variations on the Hanbok

83

Lee Kyumbie: The Next Louboutin?

86

Zo Myounghee: Looking for the 'It Bag'

89

Chapter Four

A Walk Down Style Street

95

Myeong-dong: Fast Fashion Battleground

97

Dongdaemun: Linking History and Culture

100

Itaewon: A Toast to Cosmopolitanism

103

Cheongdam-dong: Brand-Name Stores and Designer Boutiques

106

Hongdae: Vive la Subculture

109

Garosu-gil: Where to Sample the Color of Trends

111

Buam-dong: A Ray of Handmade Sunshine

114

Appendix

120

Walking the World's Runways v


“I think Korean fashion possesses exquisite cuts, superior

quality, sophisticated color sense, and restrained details that avoid
excessiveness. These strengths are found not just in the collections
created by Korean designers, but begin in Koreans’ ways of life and
attitudes. So while Korea may be relatively less well known for fashion,
I’m certain the country will soon attain great global popularity for
its attractive designs marrying Eastern and Western styles.”
Gerald Tesson, buyer for Parisian department store Le Bon Marché

“The hats and costumes and details were just so fantastic, I asked to
see more. They bought me books, and then I spent several days visiting
the Korean Museum in New York. I was captivated.”
Comment on hanbok, Carolina Herrera, fashion designer

“South Korea is shaping up as the next hotbed of innovative
menswear, with three of its most prominent designers (Juun J., Songzio,
and Wooyoungmi) creating tailoring with a twist for an international
audience just as Seoul itself is becoming something of a fashion center.”
The New York Times, June 21, 2009

vi K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Miss Gee Collection at the
2011 S/S Seoul Fashion Week

Walking the World's Runways vii


Prologue

T

he notion of “fashion” first entered human history in the late
Middle Ages. Since then, its evolution has linked daily existence

to art, production to purchase, personal predilections to collective
consumption practices. Countries have used it in developing their
own unique identities. France’s luxury industry dates back to the time
of Louis XIV. Britain’s civil society came up with Casual Mod. Spain—
dubbed the “Orient of the East”—developed an alluring beauty flavored
with Eastern elements, while Italy’s industrial development helped
usher in a masterful form of fashion with an emphasis on materials
and comfort. Across the Atlantic, the emerging nation’s emphasis
on efficiency was helping turn the U.S. into a sportswear force.
All the while, this Western-focused fashion culture and market were
captivated by examples of exotic beauty from Asia. At the height of Rococo
in the 18th century, European palaces were being decorated with the ersatz
Chinese styling of “Chinoiserie.” In the 19th century, Japanese art was all
Prologue 9
Kaal E. Suktae Collection at the 2011 F/W Seoul Fashion Week


the rage in Western Europe. Ukiyo-e (traditional woodblock paintings)
enjoyed wild popularity—and delivered a major jolt to Impressionist
painters. More recently, the wave of postmodernism in the 1980s helped
break down the cultural boundaries between the “West” and the “Third
World.” Asian culture breathed new inspiration and imagination into the
fashion trends of the Western world, a development that led to unique
“ethnic” looks and forms of cultural expression.
Fashion in the 20th century emerged from a mass production-facilitated
combination of information capabilities and global networking systems. In

the 21st, the brands that the marketplace recognizes are the ones that forge
a distinctive stylistic language—powerfully original, with a unique identity—
and mold it into a kind of cultural indicator. In a 2009 study by Korea’s

A hanbok fashion show featuring the creations of designer Lee Young Hee

Presidential Council on Nation Branding, Ministry of Knowledge Economy,
and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), fashion ranked

that contributed to Korea’s distinctive style. It also explains how, over a

seventh among the leading industries determining the country’s image.

traumatic path to modernity that led it through harsh colonial rule and the

At root, fashion is about selling an image, which means that the industry
and the national image rely on one another. Fashion has become one of the

Korean War, the country came to develop its own fashion “language” and
idiosyncrasies.

major yardsticks for judging a country’s competitiveness in manufacturing,

It takes a look at the designers transforming Korean fashion today, with

consumption, and trend-setting. In that sense, Korean fashion has a long

brief descriptions of the unique perspectives and styles they bring to the

way to go. But as Korean cultural exports (most notably K-Pop) have

field. Some set up shop in Paris during the 1990s, some have put in recent

triggered greater and greater interest in Korean culture and art in general,

showings at New York Fashion Week, and some have gone beyond the

Korean fashion has been drawing more and more attention.

realm of apparel, producing the best of the best in everything from shoes to

The book you are about to read gives an overview of Korean fashion’s

handbags.

evolution to date. It looks at the difference faces of its globalization, and

Finally, the book offers a brief sketch of Seoul’s major fashion

it takes you inside the modern history of the field, where the groundwork

thoroughfares, each of them unique in its style offerings. The pages before

was laid for Korean style to make its presence felt throughout the world.

you present a brief but rich opportunity to witness a new fashion force that

The process that it shows gives some sense of the evolutionary process

is 150 years in the making.

10 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Prologue 11


Chapter one

WALKING THE
WORLD'S RUNWAYS

A New Vision for Korean Beauty
September 2012 marked the sixth season of Concept Korea, an effort
launched in 2010 to raise global awareness of Korean fashion. Held at
The Stage in New York’s Lincoln Center, the event expressed the theme
of the project—the obangsaek, Korea’s five signature colors—through a
performance by five dancers from the company of modern dance pioneer
Martha Graham. It was also an occasion to see the 2013 S/S Collection, and
it shattered all expectations, drawing a crowd of around 450 luminaries,
including such influential fashion experts as New York Fashion Week
founder Fern Mallis, Vogue stylist Philip Bloch, and Colleen Sherin, fashion
director for New York’s exclusive Saks 5th Avenue department store.
Journalists from such prominent fashion magazines as Elle, Cosmopolitan,
and Harper's Bazaar came out in force to cover the proceedings. It was a
sign of just how strong New York’s interest in Korean fashion has become.
12 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Doho 2012 S/S Collection
at Concept Korea

Walking the World's Runways 13


Models display creations by designer Song Jung Wan (left) and Kim Hongbum (right) at the Concept
Korea 2013 S/S presentation.

Opening performance of Concept Korea by five dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company

There, in the world’s premier modern fashion mecca, five of Korea’s

were emotionally laden blends of retro reminiscence with the designer’s

top designers tackled the Concept Korea challenge. Each of them—Lie

signature brand of avant garde. Kye, a relative newcomer, offered a

Sang Bong, Choi Bo Ko, Song Jung Wan, Kathleen Hanhee Kye, and Kim

lighthearted, witty take on a repressive, suffocating modern society,

Hongbum—presented an array of distinctive pieces developed around the

and the desolation of its young people. In the process, she showed an

theme. By then in its third year of sharing Korea’s fashion culture with New

aesthetic all her own: tattoos developed around the theme of school

York audiences, Concept Korea had earned a reputation with fashion’s

violence, high-heeled shoes with a skull motif. Finally, Kim used the theme

elite as a place where designers took exciting risks.

of “Extreme Weather,” his clothing serving as a canvas to capture images

And all five of them stepped up. Choi won plaudits for the beauty of

of rugged terrain.

his juxtapositions of colors, likening Korea’s bright hues to its traditional

Taken together, the work of these five designers represented an attempt

rice dish of bibimbap. Son drew inspiration from the Spanish painter

to break past the confines of traditional aesthetics, defining a new image

Joan Miró’s work Everything Under the Sun, her spellbinding silhouettes

for Korea in a modern context. Reaching beyond the idea of the Korean as

emanating an oneiric, lyrical feel, like rays of sunlight scattering under

global, the designs that they came up with uncovered a unique universality

lush forest. Lie turned to images and notes from an old photo album to

with global potential—and won rapturous praise from New York audiences

develop a collection on the theme of “Nostalgia.” The resulting outfits

in the process.

14 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Walking the World's Runways 15


More recently, musical exports in the K-Pop genre have ushered in a
Korean Wave (called “Hallyu” in Korean) whose ripples have carried it
beyond core audiences in Southeast Asia and onto European and North
American shores. More and more overseas audiences were consuming the
latest in Korean culture, and the country’s image began to rise. First it was
miniseries, then K-Pop and Korean cuisine. Now, K-Fashion is helping feed
the wave.
In January 2012, the Korean International Style Show (KISS) was staged
in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Daiichi Taiikukan. Jointly organized by Korea and Japan,
it exemplified the trend that has been under way in recent years. Its mix of
K-Pop and fashion drew an audience of more than 33,000 over three days,
with big K-Pop names like Girls’ Generation, Kara, and Sistar taking center
Models take the catwalk during the 'K-Collection' fashion concert in Seoul, March 2012. K-Pop stars,
super models, and celebrities attended the K-Collection, an event that combines fashion and music.

stage with designer Lie Sang Bong and the fashion brand Spicy Color.
K-Fashion was riding the wave of a “Korea brand” rendered suddenly
trendy by television and music. Korea’s department stores were thronged

Fashion: Another Korean Wave?

by Chinese tourists, who arrived carrying photographs of K-Drama stars
and left carrying Korean-brand clothing. The YouTube-borne spread of

Korean designers first began heading overseas in the early 1990s, but

K-Pop into the global market has drawn much attention to the fashion and

they often found themselves hampered by global perceptions of the

beauty styles worn by its major acts.

country’s “brand.” Fashion depends greatly on the images conjured up

Recently, Korean culture is being commodified and adapted to industry.

by the country it comes from, the sense of it being a superior culture.

As a form of pop culture, fashion now has a secure footing in the European

In major fashion markets like France, Italy, the United States, and Great

market based on tie-ins with massively popular K-Pop performers. The

Britain, the styles coming from Korea’s designers were relegated to the

fashion world has begun partnering with local entertainment agencies:

periphery.

E-land with SM, Reebok with JYP Entertainment, Cheil Industries with

In 2004, things began to change. The television miniseries Winter

YG Entertainment. Together, they are developing ideas for combining

Sonata met with explosive popularity in Japan; the outfits, scarves, and

fashion with the market-opening prowess of the agencies’ acts. In the

hairstyles of leads Choi Ji-woo and Bae Yong-joon became all the rage.

process, they hope to ratchet up the pace of the global expansion.

16 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Walking the World's Runways 17


K-Fashion: Beyond Asia

OLIVE, and BASIC HOUSE—a sign of the growing power of K-Fashion.
Korea’s big fashion businesses
have adopted a new strategy
for expansion. They are
working to establish their
own distinctive identity and
characteristics, either by
absorbing existing designer
brands or developing their

Bean Pole’s outfits for the Korean national team at the 2012
London Olympics

own. Cheil Industries, an
established global brand, has

its own Bean Pole and Bean Pole Ladies brands, as well as designer Jung
Kuho’s Kuho and Lebiege labels, while LG Fashions offers the womenswear
lines MOGG and TNGT. Bean Pole’s outfits for the South Korean team at
the 2012 London Olympics drew global attention when Time listed them
among the event’s best uniforms.
These brands have been particularly hot in the Chinese market, where
stratospheric growth has put them on par with some of the world’s top labels.
Back home, the department stores may be filled with foreign names, save for
a select handful of major corporate brands. In China, it’s a different story.
Take Shanghai’s famous Babaiban. Located in the central Pudong
district, it ranks third among the country’s department stores for sales. It
also houses no fewer than 15 stores selling E-Land brands. A number of
them rank first in their category for sales, including Scofield menswear
and Paw in Paw children’s clothing. And it’s not just E-Land brands: a wide
range of other Korean labels have taken up residence there, including
Cheil Industries’ Bean Pole, LG Fashion’s HAZZYS, Kolon’s QUA, OLIVE des

18 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Things are much the same in the city’s exclusive Gang Hui Shopping
Mall, located in the Xuhui district. An outlet of the E-Land womenswear
brand Roem on the third floor
of the plaza nets some of the
mall's top sales—about $3.1

million a year. A few steps past
it is Teenie Weenie, whose
2,512 m2 store racks up about
$4 million in annual sales. The
site offers one-stop shopping
with everything from children’s
clothes to luxury wear. It is

A Teenie Weenie store crowded with Chinese customers

the only store in the mall with
facilities this size.
Along with the big corporations, a number of smaller companies have
made impressive inroads in the international market. These roaring mice
have helped shape the K-Fashion terrain by beating the bigger companies
into markets abroad.
One example is Youngdo Velvet. Founded in 1960, it made the decision
to enter a high value-added industry making a fabric that, until then, only
advanced countries had the capabilities to manufacture. In the process,
it helped turn Korea from an importer of velvet to an exporter. By 2001,
it was the world’s top producer and exporter of the cloth. Its Three Eagle
velvet has long been used by such leading global brands as Giorgio
Armani, Anne Klein, and Zara. The company’s spirit of craftsmanship led it
to undertake an innovative expansion of its facilities that brought about

Walking the World's Runways 19


the development of a new, top-of-the line product: micro velvet, which

its launch, it set up distribution networks in various cities through linkages

blends the beauty and softness of the fabric with more practical design

with such major department stores as Henglong Plaza, Wangfujing,

elements like strong friction and washability.

Taipingyang, and Yintai Center. Today, it boasts a diverse portfolio of

Founded in 1987, Simone provides original design manufacturer (ODM)

brands with potential in different department store sections, including

exports for around 25 name-brand handbags from such world-renowned

BASIC HOUSE, MIND BRIDGE, I’m DAVID, and VOLL. It’s also working to

designers as Coach, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, and Donna Karan. It

generate a synergy effect by bringing in local professionals for the design

accounts for 25% of the Coach products, 90% of the Michael Kors products,

and planning stages, helping to develop items that adapt Korea’s design

and 80% of the Marc Jacobs products on shelves at brand-name retailers

palette to the tastes of Chinese consumers.

and department stores around the world. Simone’s competitive advantage

Finally, Beaucre Merchandising has followed up the 1999 Chinese launch

comes from the full services it offers, handling everything from materials

of its ON&ON brand with other labels like W., Lapalette, and COIINCES.

and design development to inspection of the finished product. The company

In 2000, it collaborated with Japan’s Itochu Fashion to launch OLIVE des

holds some 140,000 design patterns and invests over $9 million a year in

OLIVE. Five years later, it set up the independent Chinese subsidiary

design development alone. Recently, it made ambitious plans to enter the

Beaucre Shanghai, part of an effort to manage its global brand more

$160 billion brand-name handbag market, taking advantage of a $40 million

efficiently. The special OLIVE des OLIVE line Morine Comte Marant has

market for so-called “accessible luxury”—offering similar quality to the top

been on display at Paris’s WHO’s NEXT and New York’s Fashion Coterie

brands at a fraction of the price. As part of this effort, it has developed the

since 2008, with exports to the U.S., Great Britain, Spain, France, and Italy.

0914 label, which it is now hard at work branding.

In 2011, Beaucre entered the Russian and Singaporean markets. Of the

The Basic House, which dates back to 2004, has a Chinese subsidiary
operating five brands and 1,145 stores in the Middle Kingdom. Back during
(Left) A gallery operated by Youngdo Velvet displays their own products.
(Right) 0914 label by Simone

brands in residence on the third floor of Moscow’s Lotte Department Store,
ON&ON ranked second only to Zara in its sales numbers.
Morine Comte Marant at New York’s Fashion Coterie in 2010.

Walking the World's Runways 21


‘Gat’ Takes to the Runway
The S/S Collection for 2011's New York Fashion Week featured a curious
spectacle. Caroline Herrera, one of the top designers of the 1970s and
1980s, appeared with a collection of designs that drew on and reinterpreted
the folding techniques and traditional patterns of Korea's traditional hanbok
clothing. How did this happen? How did a New York designer whose client
base has included such stars as '70s fashion icon Jackie Kennedy and actress
Renee Zellweger succumb to the beauty of hanbok ?
Perhaps the most instrumental player in this saga was Korean hanbok
designer Lee Young Hee, whose Lee Young Hee Museum of Korean

Caroline Herrera’s 2011 S/S

Collection for the New York
Fashion Week

22 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

Culture (established in New York in 2004) was the
setting for Herrera's fateful introduction to the beauty
of the Korean style. Captivated by the Korean lines
she saw at Concept Korea, Herrera decided to
present hanbok -inspired outfits in her own 2011
collection—reinterpreting the Korean traditional
gat hat and the folds and patterns of hanbok
garments, and applying the new ideas to Westernstyle clothing. One particular focus was the layering
of undergarments, one of the major characteristics of
traditional women's outfits in Korea. Just as Korean
women added these layers to produce a voluminous
silhouette, so Herrera transformed the Western
petticoat into a Korean-style underskirt.
Asian values have long been a source of inspiration
to Western designers, but this was the first time the
Korean aesthetic was being presented with such
structural mastery by a foreign designer. Herrera's
collection offered new evidence that the unique
fascination of Korean fashion was not lost on overseas
designers.
Another designer, Dries van Noten, also showed
hanbok -inspired pieces at the 2012 F/W Collection.
The Belgian designer's dresses bore prints with lines
from the cloth-covered paper collar (dongjeong ) of
the traditional Korean garb—still another development

showing the attention overseas designers are paying
to Korea's distinctive beauty. He also invited his
collaborator, hanbok designer Kim Hye-soon, to
the event and greeted guests backstage wearing a
traditional durumagi coat specially prepared by Kim.

Dries van Noten’s hanbok-inspired
dress at the 2012 F/W Collection

Walking the World's Runways 23


Chapter Two

THE DNA OF
KOREAN FASHION

I

n Korea, the traditional clothing culture began to break down in the
period after the 1894 Gabo Reforms, assaulted by a combination of

reformist and modernist ideas and an influx of foreign culture. Western
fashions came to symbolize Westernization and modernization. Over the
past century, the traditional outfits, which represented the culmination
of five thousand years of history, have mixed and melded with Western
clothing culture, resulting in a form of cultural assimilation. In the process,
the traditional hanbok styles have taken root as a form of ceremonial dress
in Korea, while Western fashions have become the norm for everyday life.
A number of historical factors should be taken into account when

looking for the Korean clothing aesthetic. The combination of Japanese
colonial rule and cultural occupation in the early 20th century led Koreans
to voluntarily adopt Western styles—thus missing out on the opportunity
to shape their own fashion culture.

24 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

A patchwark evening dress
designed by Sul Yoon-hyung

The DNA of Korean Fashion 25


This “normalization” was hampered in the post-World War II years,
when the country was struggling with poverty and deprivation, wracked
by political turmoil and economic underdevelopment. Still, Korean
fashion made gradual improvements, both qualitative and quantitative,
as imported materials and clothing provided as relief by the U.S. came to
influence everyday styles. The early 1950s brought a growing interest in
indigenous fashion designs, and a few designers began to emerge on the
Korean landscape.
It was between the 1960s and the late 1980s that the country’s fashion
industry really began to burgeon. By the 1990s, its reach extended outside
the peninsula and was exploring new overseas markets. Styles based in
Korean motifs and sentiments were hitting the market in places like Paris.
As the 2000s dawned, graduates from prominent overseas fashion
schools began making bolder forays abroad than ever before. Today,
Korea’s fashion designers—the initial explorers and the newer generation
—are working together to develop new ideas in clothing culture. Their
efforts now look set to gather even more steam with the recent launch of

the Council of Fashion Designers in Korea (CFDK).
This chapter looks at the historical evolution of Korean fashion, and in
particular the 150-year-long birth and growth of modern Korean clothing.
The process gives some sense of how Korean fashion came to possess
the dynamism and diversity that define it today. The long road to today’s
environment—where the Korean Wave has helped usher Korean fashion’s
distinctive approach into the world market, and designers have positioned
its styles firmly in the contemporary global fashion vocabulary—can be
traced back over the pages of history gone by.

King Gojong's Silk Hat and the Gipson Girl
(1894–1920)
The Gabo Reforms were introduced to Joseon-era Korea in the middle
of the last decade of the 19th century with the aim of promoting
modernization. A major effect of these reforms was to trigger the collapse
of the dynasty’s society of class-based distinctions.
One of the very first reforms involved clothing. In August 1895, King
Gojong issued a decree that traditional topknots be shorn in the interests
of hygiene and ease of activity. People also began donning Western
clothes—in April 1900, the suit was made the official government uniform.
Court dress was modeled on the Japanese style, which was itself an
imitation of the formal dress worn by the British peerage. Tailcoats and
frocks were adopted as ceremonial dress,
and something similar to today’s Western
fashions became the norm in daily life.
One rather sensational moment came
when the king, who had already adopted
a Western hairstyle, took the initiative in
wearing a silk hat with his court dress.
After his decree, men and women alike

adopted Western headwear without
much of a fuss—a transition perhaps
attributable to the traditional practices
of Joseon, which was something of a hatwearing dynasty to begin with. Custom
dictated the covering of the head indoors
and out, so while the masses were rather

26 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

King Gojong with his Western hairstyle
and court dress

The DNA of Korean Fashion 27


perturbed about Western clothing culture as

forcible modernization efforts imposed by Korea’s colonial rulers in Japan.

a whole, the adoption of head gear at least

Koreans had to wear Japanese-style military, police, school, and nursing

moved relatively swiftly.

uniforms; at schools founded by foreign missionaries, they donned

Women, especially those who had

Western uniforms. Female students were made to attend school in a short,

received the “new education,” began

black one-piece skirt with a jeogori (traditional Korean jacket), and to

copying the style of foreign missionaries

remove their sseugaechima shawls and jang-ot long hoods. When this

and the wives of diplomats. One particularly

triggered a drop in enrolment, they were instructed to carry black parasols

prominent Western style at the time was

instead. Some years before in 1907, students at Sookmyung Girls’ School

that of the “Gibson Girl.” Massively popular

had drawn stares with plum-colored Western uniforms in place of the

in the West during the 1890s, it consisted

traditional skirt/jacket combo. By the years after 1918, however, women

of a lacy blouse with a high neckline and

were wearing relatively short one-piece dresses that rose up over the

capacious leg-of-mutton sleeves, a billowing

ankle, and three-quarter sleeves that showed a bit of arm.

flared gored skirt, and a flower-bedecked
hat. Princess Sunheon (mother of Prince
Imperial Yeong) was among those who
adopted the style: the princess consort,
a figure who made great contributions to
public education for women and founded
Jin Myung Girls’ High School, sported her
Gibson girl dress with an umbrella and
gloves. Yoon Go-ryeo, one of the first women
to wear Western garb in Korea, combined a
Gibson girl dress with a Merry Widow hat—
a flower-decorated number popularized by
Princess Sunheon (top) and a Western
woman (bottom) in Gibson Girl dress

actress and trend-setter Lily Elsie in the play
of the same name.
With the 1910s came the groundwork for

28 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The New Woman and the Spread of Western
Styles (The 1920s–1930s)
The 1920s were marked by an escalating values conflict between an older
generation educated in Confucianism and a newer generation raised
on Western teachings. As more and more women received the “new
education,” dressmaking schools began to crop up all over; women’s

groups started organizing dressmaking courses. The Flapper look was the
height of Western fashion around the same time, and its impact ended up
reaching Korean fashion, too: the so-called “modern girl” sported a boyish
bob. These new women became a driving force in fashion, spearheading
campaigns for gender equality and clothing improvements. One especially
prominent figure was the dancer Choi Seung-hee, the day’s top fashion
icon. Educated overseas, she popularized a flat-collared cape and fashion-

The DNA of Korean Fashion 29


forward adaptations of the traditional hanbok.
The next decade saw more and more students
adopting Westernized school uniforms. The
typical outfit for the day was a sailor suit, a
pleated skirt with a hat, or a high-waisted
pleated jumper skirt. As female school uniforms
grew more and more Westernized, so too did
Western styles become increasingly popular
among ordinary women. There was something
Dancer Choi Seung-hee, a top
fashion icon of the 1920s-1930s

of a division of fashion labor: traditional and
modified hanbok in daily life, Western styles
at the workplace. This was also a period when

the new style of wedding dress made its appearance. The year 1937
brought the opening of Unjwaok, Korea’s first store for Western women’s
clothing. The International Clothing School opened its doors the following

year, offering opportunities for education in dressmaking. This technical
education helped usher in a new era of Westernization in women’s clothing.

Monpe and the Macao Man (The 1940s)
With the 1939 outbreak of World War
II, Korean fashion was thrust into a
period of upheaval. A wartime system
went into effect for every area of daily
life, and clothing did not escape the
winds of change. The Japanese colonial
overlords forced men to don a civilian
uniform called the gungminbok; women
were made to wear light gandanbok
outfits or pants called monpe. The
gandanbok was similar to a nurse’s
uniform, a one-piece belted dress with
pockets on either side. The monpe was
Korea’s first example of trousers for
women, developed when Korean women
combined Japanese women’s work pants
with a jeogori jacket or shirt for ease of

A fashion show representing the “modern girl” outfits of the 1920s

labor. In the interests of functionality,
the pants were creased and tied to an
appropriate width at the waist or legs.
The country was freed from the

Monpe (top) and

military-esque
suits (bottom)
in the 1940s

Japanese yoke in 1945, and the combined
effects of returning overseas Koreans and the recently ended war resulted
in a craze for military-esque suits with heavily padded shoulders, along with
fashions in military colors. But most people in this period were desperately
poor. Lacking material, women made do with simple blouses and skirts.

30 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 31


Students in rural areas wove uniforms of mixed muslin and silk, part of a
self-production welfare effort. The colors were military or solid black.
It was around this time of fabric shortage, when most clothing was
made from serge or modified military uniforms, that the so-called “Macao
man” arrived on the scene. Dressed in Western outfits with material from
the Portuguese colony, these fashion plates set off a veritable sensation:
broad shoulders and collars, large jackets, pants that were loose in the
rear and thigh, gradually tapering on their way to the bottom hem. At
the time, Macao was a major distribution center for British clothing. The
“Macao style” offers a snapshot of a time when clothing culture was
shaped by contraband.
Meanwhile, women were showing a renewed interest in the permanent
wave, which had been banned in the latter days of Japanese rule.
Conservatives railed against what they saw as excessive use of makeup.
As relief goods and contraband flooded the country in the late 1940s,

Koreans just seemed to be finding some sort of equilibrium. Then, on June
25, 1950, everything changed with the outbreak of the Korean War.

Korea's First Fashion Show and Fashion
Designers (The 1950s)
It was in the 1950s that Korean fashion first began developing
independently. The concept of “fashion”—the collective adoption of
particular styles—became a subject for exploration and interpretation,
and an infrastructure for importing and distributing it began to take shape.
As the Korean War came to a close in 1953 with the signing of an armistice
agreement, refugees made their way to the capital city of Seoul in droves.
Traditional hanbok and Western fashion coexist in a street of Myeong-dong during the 1950s.

32 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future


In December of the following year, Choi Kyung-ja opened the International
Western Clothing Company right in the heart of the city’s Myeong-dong
neighborhood. Next to it, she put up the Choi Kyung-ja Clothing Institute,
providing the country’s first-ever fashion education. The company’s
clientele included some of the biggest stars of the day, including actresses
Choi Eun-hee and Kim Ji-mi, helping anoint Myeong-dong with the fashion
neighborhood status it enjoys to this day.
The November 1955 edition of the women’s magazine Yeowon came
with a new column, titled “Fashion Mode,” in which fashion journalist Park
Sang-gi provided photographs and commentary on women’s clothing. The
streets of Seoul were filled with pink patterns and checked parasols; for
women’s fashion, it was the heyday of the country’s first electric perms
and crimping. Women’s swimsuits appeared on the covers of magazines,
some of them startlingly revealing. The huge success of the 1956 film

Madame Freedom triggered a craze for the female lead’s outfits: a velvet
dress, a flared coat with gabardine hat, and practical jumper skirt and sack

Sack dress (left) and jumper skirt (right) style triggered by the 1956 film Madame Freedom

dress styles. Imported velvet from Hong Kong was all the rage—at one
point, the government issued a decree banning its use. Women also went
crazy for styles from Western films: the Chinese dresses of Love Is a ManySplendored Thing, and the flared dress, petticoats, and short cut sported

Westerners set up shop there after taking refuge in the South Korean

by Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. Hepburn’s mambo pants from

capital during wartime. Growth proceeded apace—by 1955, about 60%

Sabrina were also a huge hit. Clingy, with narrow legs rising about a hand’s

of all Korean clothes were being produced at Dongdaemun’s Pyunghwa

span above the ankle, they rode the mambo wave of the mid- to late 1950s

Market in Seoul.

to become a cultural icon for a new era.

That year turned out to be a watershed in the history of Korean fashion:

Another stone in the foundation of the indigenous fashion market

it marked the first time the word “designer” entered the parlance. The

was laid in Seoul’s Namdaemun Market. Pyongyang merchants who

following year saw the country’s first-ever fashion show, a collection

had learned modern clothing production methods from Japanese and

by designer Nora No. In 1959, Korea produced its first contestant at the

34 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 35


Miss Universe pageant

Yoon Bok-hee. Images of Yoon disembarking from an airplane in high

in Long Beach, California. Her

boots and a super-short mini went out on the airwaves, and the public

name was Oh Hyun-joo, and she

went wild. Miniskirt fever brought momentous changes to clothing

appeared in a hanbok-style dress by

conventions, which had theretofore been focused more on keeping a

No. Called the “Arirang dress,” it touched off

woman’s body good and covered. Hemlines reached their peak in 1968, at

a craze for mixing Western styles with Korea’s

30 cm above the knee. Eventually, the mini would transform into a fashion

Arirang dress
designed by Nora No

traditional clothing. This capped off a decade

classic, making periodic reappearances on a roughly ten-year cycle.

that brought the first glimmers of a fashion

As a whole, the decade saw Korean fashion taking on a great growth

distribution system, the emergence of

engine for its qualitative leaps and bounds. In 1961, the Korea Fashion

Korea’s own designers, and a modern

Designers’ Association was formed, furnishing a forum to promote

fashion system where Hollywood

competition and exchanges between designers. The following year, the

styles could find their way to the

Association organized its first design competition. This was the same

Korean public.

year that saw Korea’s first international fashion show—an annus mirabilis
Singer Yoon Bok-hee in a miniskirt

Miniskirts: The Times They Are A-Changin'
(The 1960s)
Fashion in the 1960s had two faces. On one hand, the government was
encouraging simplicity and thrift in clothing as part of the Saemaul (“New
Community”) campaign, popularizing a simplified national outfit called
the “reconstruction uniform.” It also pushed the use of wool clothing
for maximum practicality. At the same time, the Western influence of
the Beatles and the so-called “Swinging Sixties” was giving rise to long
hairstyles on men, and the emergence of the miniskirt was providing a
new perspective—so to speak—on the female form.
Launched in December 1968, Uisang (Clothing) was Korea’s first fashion
magazine. For its cover model, it chose the sensationally popular singer

36 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 37


all around.) An industry fair was organized at Gyeongbok

the Chinese character Han ( ), meaning “Korea,” and a purple brocade

Palace in Seoul, offering a glimpse at local outfits from

evening dress that applied the rounded hem of the hanbok’s dang-ui top.

15 countries, as well as signs of the “New Mode” and

At its center, the brocade dress had an ornately beaded peacock pattern—

global fashion currents from top-flight designers. Leading

an active effort to incorporate Korean motifs into Western clothing.

designer Choi Kyung-ja, one of the organizers for the event,
launched her own evening dress design embossed with
celadon porcelain patterns. Inspired by the Celadon Vase with
Inlaid Crane and Cloud Designs, a National Treasure, her
outfit was an attempt to recreate the aesthetics and
color sense of Goryeo porcelain with crane and pine
tree designs painted onto the dress by painter Lee
Se-deuk. These were then supplemented with a
rainbow-hued underskirt of grass-stained hemp
cloth and ramie, producing a distinctive celadon
silhouette. It was the first time Korean tradition and
modern clothing had come together.
The year 1964 saw the emergence
of the first charm schools for training
models. A few years later in 1967,
Lee Bang-ja, the last crown princess

of the Joseon Dynasty, staged the firstever Korea-Japan fashion show at a
hotel in Tokyo’s Akasaka district, with the
proceeds going to benefit disadvantaged
children. Choi Kyung-ja drew praise
from the Japanese crown prince and his
wife with a long dress embroidered with
Choi Kyung-ja’s evening dress
embossed with celadon porcelain
patterns

Youth and the Sociology of Denim (The 1970s)
The biggest distinction between the fashions of the 1960s and 1970s
was a shift in the agents of trend-setting from the designers to the
consumers themselves. Throughout the 1960s, designers were the ones
spearheading and popularizing design trends. The 1970s was a decade
of economic ups and downs: the first oil shock in 1973 brought a brief
slump, but by 1977 Korea was booming with exports totaling $10 billion.
In the process, sophisticated fashion tastes underwent a change—
away from simply putting on the clothes that were out there, and more
toward interpreting and developing clothing concepts from an individual
perspective. Urban modernization had brought with it a stronger impulse
toward personal expression.
Menswear ended up being the area where this trend found its fullest
expression. Suits in particular were new territory, capturing the changing
image of male glamour ushered in by surging economic growth. In Korea,
the 1970s was a decade of customized Western clothing. Outfit purchases
came in two types, traditional market and tailored, and with the arrival of
off-the-rack brands, new distribution channels began to open up, including
department store locations and brand-operated stores aimed squarely at
the emerging middle class. Throughout the decade, corporations moved

into the ready-made clothing market: the Hwasin Group’s Renown in

The DNA of Korean Fashion 39


1972, Bando Fashion (the

falling afoul of the country’s conservative administration. The Park

predecessor of today’s LG

Chung-hee government viewed fashion as a decadent culture that eroded

Fashion) in 1974, and Kolon’s

popular feeling, and it cracked down heavily on fashion statements like

Bella in 1977, as well as Cheil

pantaloons, hot pants, and miniskirts. While all this was going on, the

Industries’ La Beauté and a

upper class was coming out with its own status symbols: leather, furs,

Samsung Corporation brand.

and skins.

Suddenly, the local fashion

market was blowing up.

The decade was also a time when antiwar protests were spreading from
smaller groups to society at large, much as the Vietnam War was spilling

In the 1970s, seemingly

over into Cambodia. American hippie culture found its way to Korea in the

every new year was dominated

mid-’70s, reaching its peak by the end of the decade. Blue jeans came to

by a different fashion item:

symbolize youth, transforming into a powerful icon of defiance in their own

hot pants in 1971, white jeans
in 1972, pantaloons in 1974.
The last of these were also

The film Gogo 70 shows the youth culture in 1970s. The term “youth culture” refers to a phenomenon
where Korean youth expressed themselves through long hair, jeans, and folk music.

called “bell bottoms” for their
wide flare, and they came as
Miniskirts on the street in the 1970s

something of a breath of fresh
air in a climate dominated

by straight pant lines. In the

middle part of the decade, the trends included Vietnamese skirts in 1975,
wide lapels in 1976, and a knit vest layered look in 1977. The fashions of
1978 were tied in with a culture of resistance, taking the form of pirate
and punk looks. Women’s skirts came in different sizes—mini, midi, and
maxi—to make for a diverse urban landscape. It was a significant break
with the more rigid and standardized fashion trends of the past.
This increasingly personalized “fashion consciousness” of the ’70s
brought a range of idiosyncratic looks, but these frequently ended up

40 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 41


right. They joined acoustic guitars, draft beer, and long hair as a way for

Underwood, Hunt, Bang Bang, Jordache, and Levi’s. Seventies babies were

young people to rage at a politically conservative society and establishment.

now emerging as fashion leaders, creating a so-called “Young Fashion”
based in personal expression.

Young Fashion and a Changing City (The 1980s)
The 1980s were a turning point for Korean fashion. People were now
increasingly able to decide their own school uniforms and travel plans, a
freedom that triggered a major change in the way they looked at fashion.
In the first case, the trend was for a simple combo of T-shirt, jumper, and

blue jeans for school—a casual wear movement was in full swing among
the decade’s young people. Moderately priced brands like E-Land emerged
in these years; big names in the blue jeans market include Brenntano,

National Brands Arrive
Famous overseas labels began pouring
into the local market in the 1980s. The
onslaught actually started in 1979, when
imports like Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior,
Yves Saint Laurent, Nike, and Adidas
made major inroads in Korea—as did
a flood of knockoffs. If the 1970s was
an era of tailored suits and Western
clothiers, then the 1980s was all about
brand names, which gradually came

The film Sunny shows the “Young Fashion” of the 1980s.

to shape the contours of the fashion
industry.
The late 1970s also brought increasing
numbers of women into the workforce. In

The 1980s saw battles between women’s
suit brands for the domestic market.

1974, Bando Fashions responded to early
signs of this trend with a line of womenswear. By the 1980s, women’s suit
brands were everywhere. The first part of the decade saw a winner-takesall battle for the domestic market between Nonno, Bando, and Nasan; the
first two ended up becoming synonymous with working women. By the

end of the ’80s, Handsome had come out with its own Time and System
lines, which rivaled the designer brands in popularity. Suddenly, the big
labels’ standing as national brands was under threat. Womenswear leaders

42 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 43


like ShinWon, Nasan, and Yurim were joined in the market by “personality”
brands like Deco, Handsome, and Julien. These were uncharted peaks for
women’s clothing.

Fashion Meets Lifestyle
A new fashion concept arrived in the 1980s: lifestyle. Its impact was felt
in every area of fashion. Sports brands took off in the second half of the
decade, buoyed by the country’s hosting of the 1986 Asian Games and
1988 Olympics in Seoul. Labels like Rapido, Ellesse, Reebok, and Prospecs
were now hugely popular.
Color television was also becoming increasingly widespread, and
viewers were paying attention to foreign threads. Terms like “unisex”
and “coordination” entered fashion parlance as more and more women

Street fashion in 1990s’ Seoul

entered the work force. A bit of shift happened in the second half of the
’80s, when people began looking back to the “body conscious” line: retro
’50s styles reemerged on the scene, with their emphasis on classical
feminine beauty. The layered look also scored a big hit as more and more
wearers tried to come up with clothing to suit their own style.

in the new cultural codes of rap and hip hop. Young people also ushered in
a wave of grunge fashion, perhaps best symbolized by the artfully torn pair
of jeans. Among women, a more revealing form of fashion was becoming
popular—tight pants, midriff shirts, and miniskirts made a comeback, and
slim designs were preferred. In short, it was a “post-fashion” decade of

Le K-Chic (The 1990s)

cultural hybridity, offering 32 flavors of outrageous designs.

The 1990s were something of a milestone in Korean fashion history.

Dongdaemun: The Silicon Valley of K-Fashion

Domestic brands found themselves under siege as the Uruguay Round

The devastating foreign exchange crisis struck Korea in the late 1990s,

of trade negotiations sent overseas luxury labels like Chanel, Christian

and the fashion industry took a major hit. It soon rose from the ashes,

Lacroix, Dior, and Louis Vuitton storming into the market. Major changes

however, and the major contributor to this revival was Dongdaemun.

were also afoot in pop culture with the arrival of the rap group Seo Taiji &

Today, Seoul’s Dongdaemun neighborhood stands as the world’s

Boys early in the decade. Youth subcultures and defiance found expression

biggest fashion market. It started out in 1905 as a plaza market, eventually

44 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 45


Korean Chic Goes to Paris
Asian ideas first began influencing modern European fashion in the 1980s.
Designer Issey Miyake stunned the Western stylistas in the 1980s by
incorporating origami techniques into clothing. The West was fascinated
by the Eastern fashions. Soon, Korean designers were taking on the Paris
challenge.
At the time, the Korean clothing industry’s attention was turned
overseas. Lee Cinu’s 1992 arrival as the first Korean designer in the
French capital set the stage for more to follow suit. Lee Young Hee eyed
Dongdaemun,
the world’s biggest fashion market

a Paris foray with her hanbok designs in 1993, and Lie Sang Bong wowed
Parisians with Hangeul-themed styles. In 2000, Kim Ji-hae showed Korean
ramie fashions at Paris Haute Couture.
A major focus of these Koreans in Paris during the 1990s was offering a

transforming into a wholesale market in the 1960s with the development
of Pyunghwa Market. The following decade saw it turn into an all-purpose
market at a massive scale. Modern wholesale shopping centers like Art

Plaza and Design Club took up residence in the 1990s, but it was in the
second part of the decade that it really transformed into a major threat to
department stores, with it being armed with new retail centers like Migliore
and Doosan Tower. It evolved from a large fashion shopping mall into a
multi-purpose fashion mall, hooking a younger clientele in the process.
Observers overseas took note of its success and came over to learn
about the growth model. It also served as a platform for up-and-coming
overseas-educated Korean designers—indeed, it is still widely recognized
today as an incubator for their creative efforts. Its evolution has yet to slow:

modern take on their home country’s traditions. Aestheticians have often
pointed to Japan’s colors, China’s forms, and Korea’s lines as the strong
suits of the three East Asian countries. The designers of this day delved
into experiments to tease out the essence of Korean lines. They worked
to reconfigure aesthetic elements from traditional Korean clothing and
reduce them to their constituent lines: the elegance of Confucian severity,
the geometric beauty of traditional patterns, the natural and unfettered
movement of the human body, the voluptuous charms of indirect exposure,
the way an ample silhouette magnifies the female form. Working on the
Paris stage in the 1990s, Lee Cinu, Jin Tae-ok, Sul Yoon-hyung, Lee Young
Hee, and Lie Sang Bong led the way in discovering and globalizing a new
paradigm for K-Fashion.

the Dongdaemun of today is developing into a new paradigm of fashion
retailing with a timely production estimate system and online ordering.
46 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

The DNA of Korean Fashion 47

Globalizing the K-Fashion Paradigm
Lee Cinu:
The Soul of Goguryeo
Perhaps the most adventurous
of the Korean designers in Paris
during the 1990s was Lee Cinu.
Between 1993 and 1995, she
took part in six different Paris
Prêt-à-Porter collections. She
also enjoyed sensational success
commercializing design brands
over the years—from “Original
Lee” in the late ’60s to Youngwoo,
Socié, Icinoo, Icinoo Homme,
and Icinoo Collection. In 1991,
she became the first foreigner
to receive Japan’s prestigious
Mainichi Fashion Prize, an award
for new designers whose past
recipients have included Issey
Miyake, Yoji Yamamoto, and Rei
Kawakubo.
Lee Cinu's Prêt-à-Porter collection in 1994,
For the 1994 Paris Prêt-à-Porter
inspired by Goguryeo murals
show, Icinoo presented a collection
based on the theme of Goguryeo, drawing kudos for her prints based on the sun
and moon patterns of the old kingdom's murals. This was particularly noteworthy
because it charted new territory in the reinterpretation of culture—while others
focused solely on the Joseon era, Lee Cinu was looking back to a more ancient

dynasty.
Her work at the 1995 Paris Collection was a blend of cutting-edge style with a
simple silhouette. The designer mixed modern materials with a mother-of-pearlesque “three-legged crow” motif, generating a beauty that transcended space,
time, and distinctions of “East” and “West.” She also introduced avant garde
elements into the modern fashion stylings: using high-tech materials with natural
Korean hanji (traditional paper) and including prints from Goguryeo murals and
48 K-Fashion Wearing a New Future

plant patterns, she forged an overall design aesthetic in which heterogeneous
elements came together into a harmonious whole.

Jin Tae-ok: Korean Elegance in Paris
Jin Tae-ok is something of a godmother in Korean fashion history. She established
her Françoise brand in 1965. A quarter-century later in 1990, she established the
Seoul Fashion Artists Association, where she served as the first-ever chair. From
there, she traveled to Paris, where she staged collections that highlighted Korean
lines, space, and layering. In 1998, she became the first Korean designer to be
featured in The Fashion Book , a collection by the British publisher Phaidon.
Her pieces at the 1994 F/W Collection offered a glimpse of Korea’s distinctive
physical aesthetic. Combining a dress and chiffon pants, with a blouse layered
over top, the designer produced an effect of natural concealing and revealing
on the body and outfit. No lining was needed—the effect came from the layering
of materials. The following year, Jin took another bold chance, embroidering the
pattern of a traditional hwarot wedding dress and pairing it with denim.
Dresses designed by Jin Tae-ok are on display at
the Bergdorf Goodman Department Store, New York, in the 1990s.

The DNA of K-Fashion 49