Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

May 2022 – October 2022

50 Yrs of Kimdongsoon

Dongsoon Kim’s garments exhibit her legacy, tracing her 50-year career. At her early stages in the 1970s, Kim, as a so-called big-time designer, achieved the myth of popularizing many ready-to-wear brands representing the “Sungdo Apparel” such as Tomboy, touching upon the casual and popular look of the time.
By the 1980s, Kim launched her brand, Kimdongsoon Ultimo, resulting in a rare success for a designer brand to be popularized as casual wear. With distinct Taylorism, Kimdongsoon Ultimo cultivated colossal triumph, making its way into its “golden age” in the 1990s. Her profound understanding of pure arts and tremendous artistry in particular stood out as the dominant aspect in her prosperity.
Kim actively created her artistic collections as part of the JoongAng Design group and as a SFAA member, and opened 30 stores nationwide. Recognized as an unrivaled, commercial designer brand, Kimdongsoon Ultimo received great attention from Japan. Kim participated in Osaka collections in ’89 and ’90, followed by Tokyo collections during ’93 -’96, through which she became a centric figure in the 1990s, the dynamic fashion era of the Korean fashion scene.
Kim’s later collections highlight the richness in storytelling, added from the experience she gained from traveling to exotic places such as India and other countries in Central Asia - she integrated color elements from the natural scenery of foreign lands into her works and developed sculptural forms and silhouettes inspired by traditional handcrafts. This exhibition is mainly composed of her recent collections that display such features embedded in her later works.

1. 2006SS HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE

A collection inspired by travel to India Hand-embroidered, hand-printed, and decorated with lace appliqués on cotton, silk, and linen

2. 2011SS

A collection that was inspired by several trips to Syria. A collection that unleashes the emotion of beauty created by a long history through the relics, culture, people, and women's clothes that they have kept for a long time. Natural materials such as cotton, silk, and linen were enriched with a variety of printing techniques, hand embroidery, and delicate beading to add splendor. The dark eyeline of Arab women was expressed with more chic, and in particular, various stylings were presented by applying the hijab worn by Muslim women to cover their faces.

3. 2013SS

The mysterious and splendid image of Africa was expressed using white, sand, green, red, brown, black, and gold.