'Hanbok' fashion show due for multicultural families
Members of Rainbow Choir composed of children from multiracial families pose in this promotional photo. / Courtesy of Center for Multicultural Korea
By Kim Ji-soo
Leading “hanbok” or traditional Korean attire designer Lee Young-hee will host a fashion show Monday with children of multiracial families.
Singer Yoo Yeol and MC Olivia, whose mother is French, will host the first part of the show. The Rainbow Choir from the Center for Multicultural Korea will perform before the 10-thematic fashion shows that multicultural families will present wearing hanbok Lee created for them.
The fashion show that will be held at the Millennium Hilton Seoul is supported by Simone, a local handbag maker. Other participants include Center for Multicultural Korea and the multicultural family support center of the Korean Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. Companies including Simone, Orion, OKF, CJ O Shopping will prepare gifts for children on the day.
Participating in the fashion show are an estimated 80 multicultural family members including the family of Andrew Millard, a native of England who is married to a Korean woman and living in Busan who will open the first part of the show. Millard has become famous on his own after appearing in various television programs shedding light on the challenges of living in Korea and with a Korean mother-in-law.
Physically-challenged children with Vietnamese and Filipino mothers will present traditional Vietnamese and Filipino attire.
In the second part of the show, Lee will put forth hanbok in its most classic form to those that recently graced the French catwalks. Lee will donate the hanbok later to the some multicultural family members that model them for the show.
Lee is a leading hanbok designer who has showed her collections at Pret-a-Porte in Paris for 12 years since 1993, and opened in 2003 a Korean art museum in New York. She designed the hanbok that head of states wore at the 2005 APEC Summit in Korea. Lee is currently active in Seoul, New York and Paris, and lectures at Dongduk Women’s University and the Korea National University of Arts. Lee’s grandson is married to actress Jun Ji-hyun otherwise known as Gianna Jun.
“I have always loved dressing children in hanbok. Children who are familiar with hanbok from early on will not find it uncomfortable and come to love it,” Lee said, explaining why she planned the hanbok show.
“I hope that the children who may not yet be familiar with Korean culture will learn of Korean traits that hanbok embodies and help them achieve the Korean dream with their parents here,” Lee said.