New Exhibit ‘Korea Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway’ Takes Viewers Beyond K-Pop – Yahoo Life

K-pop may have centered South Korea in global pop culture in recent years, with its stars attracting legions of fans and becoming muses for some of luxury fashion’s leading labels, but the nation has had a long and rich history in fashion — regardless of whether the West was watching. That’s what Lee Talbot, curator at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, wants the world to see with the “Korea Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway” exhibit open now through Dec. 22, 2022. More from WWD Paris Exhibition Explores How Frida Kahlo Constructed Her Identity Through Clothing Inside ‘Another Justice: Us Is Them’ at the Parrish Art Museum “Diego Rivera’s America” at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art “I have found it really frustrating and almost laughable that so much writing about fashion and fashion history and fashion theory equates fashion with the West,” says Talbot, who has lived in Korea and studied its culture and customs for years. “And they say, well, fashion and the fashion system that we have today came about because of modernism in the West, because of the individualism that we have in the West, the special kind of market conditions that we have. But that is just not the case at all. So what we’re showing in this is exhibit, even hanbok, which we tend to translate as traditional Korean garments, was subject to fashion, it changed over time, there would be trends that would come and go. You see hemlines rise and fall, colors that come in and out of fashion. “What I want to show with this exhibition is, it’s not that Korea went from traditional, unchanging and then all of a sudden with adopting Western fashion and Western modern lifestyles, all of a sudden fashion starts to appear,” he continues. “No. What I’m trying to say in this exhibition is that Koreans have always been fashionable. Always.” Courtesy of The Textile Museum The show marks the first time Korean textiles and fashion have been featured as the sole focus of a museum exhibition, at least outside of Korea, and the first time the Textile Museum has ever shown textiles from Korea, Talbot says. The moment may be long overdue considering Korean fashion made its way to the American stage in 1893 via the World’s Columbian Exposition, or the world’s fair in Chicago that year. Articles from that fair 129 years ago will be on display at this exhibit. “The exhibition is bookended in time and it starts with the objects that were sent to the Chicago World’s Fair and then it finishes with a screen that will be updated weekly showing just street fashions of Seoul,” Talbot says. “What I thought was really wonderful about these bookends is that both of them are Koreans presenting themselves through fashion to the world.” In 1893, Korea was introducing itself to a global public in its first appearance at a world’s fair, and it chose to do so with fashion. Two bridal robes or hwarrot on loan from Chicago’s Field Museum that will be part of the exhibit, are, according to Talbot, “almost like Holy Grail kind of material because they have this really interesting provenance. The king put together a commission at the royal court to choose the objects that would represent their country… it’s just fascinating as a group of objects that this is what the royal court chose.” Bridal robes, which would have traditionally been reserved for the aristocracy but eventually became standard for all brides (which is still the case today, though the costly embroidery and craftsmanship leads many brides to rent them), speak to the stories traditional Korean clothing can tell about its wearer. As Dr. Young Yang Chung, a Korean-born textile historian and embroiderer who consulted for the Korean Fashion exhibit, explains, “Clothing is not clothing. It all has meanings, and especially 100 years ago.” Photo by John Weinstein One of the two robes that will be on display is made of red, yellow and blue silk — a patchwork of various older garments crafted into a new one — and embroidered with symbols that would also have had meaning. Describing one of the robes, Chung says, “It has a 1.5-foot-wide sleeve with three color bands and is constructed with 10 layers of padding [made of] of rice paper to make it stiffen….The color will determine age, gender, occasion and social status.” Red and blue, she says, symbolize harmony and “this unique way of constructing, with fully embroidered…symbolic patterns of the bride and groom’s harmony is another thing.” Lotus and peony flowers, for example, represent wealth and dignity. “This exhibition is so important for the public to understand the Korean color and concept and the symbolic meanings of patterns,” Chung says. The exhibition travels through time and through Korea’s at-times troubled history, from Japan’s colonization of the country to the Korean War — factors Talbot and Chung agree could have been among the reasons the country was off the radar for something like fashion. It extends to more contemporary times, featuring pieces like a multicolored mid-’60s saekdong dress from designer Nora Noh and then brings things even further forward to a chaekgado jacket, tunic and pants by designer Lie Sang Bong shown in 2017. Femina Group / Dachri Megantara The link among the designers who are featured, according to Talbot, “is Korean tradition as a point of inspiration for new expressions,” or designers who have tapped into the past to create for the present. “I think what [Lie Sang Bong is] doing is showing ways that Korean cultural heritage can be interpreted for the modern world. For example, some of the designers in previous generations that received some international success, such as Lee Young Hee, you look at her garments and for the most part you recognize them as Korean. If you recognize Korean garments, you can see the ancestry of hanbok in them. So it’s kind of a literal reimagination of hanbok or traditional Korean clothing,” Talbot says. Lie Sang Bong? Not so much. In fact, you don’t see the cut, the construction, the forms of hanbok, but you see elements of Korean culture coming out. For example, one of the outfits that we have has these very colorful patterns that were inspired by architectural paintings from the Joseon dynasty, so that’s an aspect of Korean culture that you don’t necessarily expect to see manifest in clothing. He is probably best known, certainly in Korea, for using Korean script, Hangul, as a decorative element and we’ll be emphasizing that in the show as well.” The interest in bringing the old into the new in terms of clothing has ramped up in recent years, according to Yoo Jin Cho, a PhD student and curatorial intern at the Textile Museum who, as a native Korean speaker, provided research support and insight for the exhibition. “In Korea, the interest in this modernized traditional clothing has been increasing quite a lot in the past five years, with a lot more amateur enthusiasts making their own clothing, a lot more online shops opening to be more accessible to Koreans in their twenties and thirties,” she says, which has encouraged many people to try their hand at what she called modern hanbok for everyday wear. Even the government is in on it, having created school uniforms and uniforms for public officers inspired by traditional Korean garments, and these will be on display in a section of the exhibit. Cho, too, wants the fashion-seeking public to see beyond what K-pop has brought to the table. “Korean culture has been mostly defined as the very recent contemporary fashion, mostly worn by K-pop idols or some very few street [style] snaps because of such exposure to the K-pop culture,” she says. “And I just want to show that Korean culture existed way beyond these contemporary cultures that have been becoming more available in the past decade or so.” Korea, according to Talbot, who began working on the current exhibit pre-pandemic when he saw what he calls an “explosion of cultural content coming out of Korea,” is one of the most fashion-forward nations in the world. In a word, he’d owe it to “hybridity.” “Koreans are really adept at combining lots of really different influences and creating something totally new. And that is not unique to contemporary fashion. It’s something that we see with historical material as well,” he says. “There would be influences coming in from China, for instance, and it would be very adroitly incorporated into Korean costume and Korean-ized and they would create a whole new look. So that’s something that we’ve seen over time but we certainly are seeing it now in contemporary fashions, which combine traditional elements of couture and elements of streetwear, [it’s] all of these things coming together in a really unique aesthetic.” For those who may not make it to the museum, an international symposium titled “Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium for Korean Humanities: Korean Fashion,” in conjunction with the exhibit, will take place on Nov. 5, both virtually and in-person at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Best of WWD Pantone’s Spring-Summer 2020 Colors Led by Flame Scarlet Click here to read the full article. The First Lady of Latvia Andra Levite plans to visit the West Broadway location on Sept. 20. Lil Nas X can now add "runway model" to his résumé. The "Industry Baby" rapper made his runway debut at Coach’s Spring/Summer 2023 New York Fashion Week show on Sept. 12. See all the standout hair, makeup and nail moments from the first batch of Spring 2023 shows. The best of their OOTDs. "Whether someone is a size 16 or 26, they should be able to wear whatever they want and have access to it," says the plus-size model and designer. A framed moment of fashion history is only a few clicks away. Anne Hathaway attended a Michael Kors runway show during New York Fashion Week on Wednesday alongside Anna Wintour, who inspired the 2006 film. The biannual buzz on New York City’s streets is back. From the city’s influx of models, celebs, editors, and influencers to the digital chatter surrounding this season’s biggest designers, all signs point to, of course: the return of New York Fashion Week — and its street style. Having kicked off on Friday, this Spring/Summer 2023 season has steadily been showcasing some of the major trends we can expect to see in coming months. Although, as we all know by now, it isn’t just the runways that dic Each of the 11 models who walked the show collaborated with designers to create one-of-a-kind high fashion looks that catered to their specific needs without sacrificing personal taste. Copenhagen Fashion Week is known among the style set for being the most exciting yet least pressure-filled Fashion Week of the circuit. The post 10 brands to know from Copenhagen Fashion Week appeared first on In The Know. With NCT Dream's Jeno opening the show in heels. The new designers at the talent incubator all focused on the idea of home, from Standing Ground and Jawara Alleyne to Karoline Vitto. These athletes are enjoying toying with fashion and the industry is going nuts on them. The city is getting an introduction to luxury, and a whole new fashion district. Transitional weather essentials can prepare you for even the most unpredictable days. Shop 7 transitional weather essentials as recommended by experts here. The windows will be up from Friday until Oct. 2. We've paired a curation of dreamy vanities with equally fashion-forward runway looks. Home of the iconic and viral Nap Dress, this is the brand's first true fashion collection, featuring sweaters, pants and more. New York Fashion Week runway recaps for LaQuan Smith, Coach, Carolina Herrera, LoveShackFancy, and more. From broccoli pocketbooks to functional sacks, next season's bags are either fantastical or practical — rarely anything in between.

source

The post New Exhibit ‘Korea Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway’ Takes Viewers Beyond K-Pop – Yahoo Life appeared first on OANOW - Entertainment and Game News.