CLEVELAND, OH.- Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution tells a compelling story about the history of Korean couture fashion and its transformative legacy. Ranging from 17th-century excavated aristocratic garments to contemporary Korean couture from leading and emerging Korean fashion designers, the exhibition allows visitors to explore the rich tradition of Korean dress. Featuring more than two dozen works and accompanying ephemera, it highlights the ways Korean artists and designers use fashion to elevate and challenge aspects of traditional Korean culture, while empowering contemporary designers to invent a new artistic language. Unique in its presentation, this international loan exhibition serves as a model for future shows celebrating global fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution, the first Korean fashion exhibition at the CMA and the first exhibition to focus on Korean fashion at a leading comprehensive US art museum, is free and open to the public from April 28 through October 13, 2024, in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery.

“This exhibition centers around the Korean design perspective, delineating how the contributions of Korean designers are reshaping fashion,” said Darnell-Jamal Lisby, assistant curator of fashion. “An international and universal medium of artistic expression, fashion plays an enormous role in art, culture, and politics.”

Notable contemporary works in the exhibition include dresses from André Kim; Lie Sang Bong; Lee Chung Chung, for LIE; Lee Jean Youn; and Shin Kyu Yong and Park Ji Sun, for Blindness. Historic works from the 1500s and 1600s include everyday clothing items made from silk, cotton, and paper; men’s and women’s ceremonial silk robes; jackets; and more.

“By tracing Korean fashion from the 17th century forward, we discover the ways that Korean fashion designers creatively subvert tradition and cultural norms through their artistic processes and designs to develop a path forward for the Korean fashion industry,” said Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korean Art. “We are so grateful to our donors, partnering foundations, and leadership for their continued support of our work to share Korean art, its influences, and its culture with our visitors.”

Complementing Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution is Into the Seven Jeweled Mountain: An Immersive Experience, a free immersive digital exhibition that takes visitors on a journey through a beloved natural wonder that is now part of North Korea and isolated from most of the world.