Korean 'Hanbok Wave' project raises awareness with global activations

The Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, together with Korea Craft & Design Foundation and Korean Cultural Centre UK, held a fashion catwalk last month to launch of Hanbok Wave, a new project to transform traditional Korean dress into a modern collection of menswear and womenswear.

The Hanbok Wave fashion event, first devised in 2019 and launched in 2022 as part of the ‘2022 The Hallyu Collaborative Content Planning and Development’, was the first to see reinterpreted Hanbok style collection inspired by the "personality and image" of former South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim.

‘2022 The Hallyu Collaborative Content Planning and Development’ is a project that supports the Hanbok industry to pioneer overseas markets through collaboration with Hallyu cultural artists.

The 10 selected designers for the project are Morinori, Liv Damyeon, Lee Young-Ae Traditional Clothes, Hyeon, Heyum Hanbok, Happly, Haemi By Saimdang, Guiroe, Geumuijae and C-Zann E.

A photo shoot contains 10 shots of Yuna Kim in Hanbok inspired collection are to be released through Marie Claire France. This shoot is composed of fashion content that shows the unique Hallyu cultural charm, with subtle atmosphere added to the beauty of hanbok styled outfits.

At the end of the year, Hanbok Wave’s photo shoot will be shown on the billboard on Broadway in Times Square, New York, raising awareness in the US.

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Park Bo-gyoon, commented: "As Hanbok and Hallyu are listed in the Oxford Dictionary, interest in Korean Hanbok is increasing abroad through popular culture. We look forward to global audience discovering the charm of Hanbok and designers in the Hanbok field to expand into the world."

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