Lee Young-hee

Quick facts

Lee Young-hee at a glance

Behind the label

Lee Young-hee (1936–2018)

Based

Seoul, South Korea

Focus

Textile heritage

Makes

Hanbok

The person and the label

Who is behind Lee Young-hee?

Lee Young-hee had no formal training and opened a hanbok shop in Seoul at 40. In 1993 she showed hanbok at the Paris prêt-à-porter, which the Korea Times describes as a first for a hanbok designer, and in 2004 she opened a museum of Korean culture in New York. She died in 2018. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds her silk-organza hanbok Clothes of Wind, and the Musée Guimet in Paris exhibited the roughly 1,300 pieces her family donated.

Timeline

Lee Young-hee, dated

1. January 1981Holds her first solo show, at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul. Source ↗
2. 1993Shows hanbok at the Paris prêt-à-porter. Source ↗
3. 2004Opens the Lee Young Hee Museum of Korean Culture in New York. Source ↗
4. 4 December 2019The Musée Guimet opens an exhibition of her donated collection, running to 9 March 2020. Source ↗

More from South Korea

Other South Korea labels to know

• WOOYOUNGMI Menswear · since 2002
• JUUN.J Menswear · since 2007
• SONGZIO Menswear · since 1993
• MINJUKIM Ready-to-wear · since 2015
• KIMHĒKIM Couture and eveningwear · since 2016
• EENK Ready-to-wear · since 2013
• REJINA PYO Ready-to-wear · since 2014
• ADER error Streetwear and contemporary · since 2014
• Andersson Bell Streetwear and contemporary · since 2014
• GENTLE MONSTER Accessories
• LEESLE Textile heritage · since 2014

Read the full South Korea guide, with the method behind it and where to see the work in person.

Sources

Sources

1. Korea Times — Lee Young-hee obituary (May 2018) checked 22 October 2026
2. V&A — Clothes of Wind hanbok by Lee Young-hee, FE.413-2022 checked 22 October 2026
3. FashionUnited — the Musée Guimet shows Lee Young-hee (26 November 2019) checked 22 October 2026

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