Lee Young-hee (designer)
| Lee Young-hee | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1936 (age 80–81) Daegu, South Korea |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Education | Sungshin Women's University |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Awards | Order of Cultural Merit(2009) |
| Labels | Lee Young Hee |
Lee Young-hee (Hangul: 이영희, also spelled Lee Young Hee) is a South Korean designer. She has worked on designing hanbok, Korean traditional clothes, to increase the awareness of traditional Korean dress to the Western world since the early 1990s.
She is currently the representative of Miraemunhwa foundation, and operates Maison de Lee Young Hee in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Fashion
She had a major in dying design in Sungshin Women's University. In 1976 she opened her own shop under the title of "Lee Young Hee Korean clothes". In 1983 she joined the international festival in Washington to celebrate the independence of the United States.
In 1993, she first made her official debut in Pret-a-Porte Paris.[1]
In 1993, she became the first, along with Lee Shin Woo, to be allowed to participate in pret-a-porte while establishing a hanbok boutique in Paris the following year. She continued to introduce unique design and style of oriental clothes and Korean culture in Europe. Her thought was flowed through modern style in that old-fashioned hanbok has difficulties of daily life such as movement.[2]
In 2003, she donated 12 sets of hanbok to Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, in the hopes of setting up a Korean gallery, which was opened in 2008. Lee was then required to design traditional wedding hanbok from Smithsonian for months afterwards, adding ornaments.
In 2004, the Lee Young Hee Korea museum was inaugurated in Manhattan, New York. This hall has widely been used to hold hanbok fashion shows and traditional culture.
Her design has features of involving elegant color and a neat silhouette, with the mixture of past and current styles.[3]
When the APEC summit was held in Busan, South Korea, she became in charge of preparing outer garments (durumagi) of 21 heads attending the event.
She was recently put into spot light for having various hanbok designed for a famous South Korean couple, Jang Dong Gun and Go So Young, for their relatives for the wedding.[1]
Lee Young Hee has also designed hankbok for the first ladies of South Korea such as, Lady Lee Soon-ja, Lady Kim Ok-sook, and also Lady Kim Yoon-ok, first lady to previous president Lee Myung Bak, who was in position during 2008-2013.[1]
Biography
In 2009, she officially issued her biography, 《Hanbok Designer leaving for Paris》 (Hangul: 파리로 간 한복쟁이). In her book, she said "I've learned the philosophy and my life via hanbok".
References
- 1 2 3 "Lee Young-hee: "I have a vision of setting hanbok as one of the world’s top luxury choices." - :: KOREA FOCUS ::". www.koreafocus.or.kr. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
- ↑ Seoul Fashion Week
- ↑ 이영희씨 "한복의 아름다움 세계인과 나누고파"