Stony Brook University Fashion Business Management

I started as a student at FIT in 1962, and was the first Korean national to graduate from the Fashion Design Program. During my time at FIT, I received a great deal of inspiration from the FIT Fashion Research Lab. This experience is what influenced me and my vision to establish a museum when I returned to Korea. Although the FIT Fashion Lab at that time was much humbler compared to the current Museum at FIT, it inspired and guided my life’s work.

My mother, Choi Kyung Ja, a pioneer of Korean fashion, studied in Japan, then returned to Korea and established Hamheung Dressmaking Academy at Hamheung, Hamkyungnam-do in 1938; the matrix of Kookje Fashion School. The school has continued with me as the second director and now with my daughter as the third director of the institute. We have produced internationally renowned designers such as Andre Kim and Lie Sang Bong. Through these relationships and donations made by many designers and celebrities and with additional acquired pieces, I opened the first and only, Korea Museum of Modern Costume in Seoul 25 years ago. I put my life, heart and soul into the collection and curation of the museum.

I am with great pride and pleasure that FIT, my Alma mater, opened a campus in Songdo. The university gathers students from all over the globe allowing them to learn, grow and dream together. It reminds me of the enthusiasm I had as a student at FIT in New York half a century ago. I am grateful for everything I have achieved based on the learning, experience and the vision that I gained from my time at FIT.

The SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume opening on the Songdo Campus will operate mainly to support the academic courses taught. My wish is for it to grow into a learning center where younger generations of fashion students may share in the same experience I had at FIT. I dream SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume will develop as the major contributor to fashion education in Korea, in the near future. I certainly believe this wish will come true.

SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume, Chief Director Heisoon Shin

On view & Upcoming

Title of the exhibition: Special Exhibition : 50 years of Kimdongsoon

Opening Ceremony : 3pm, May 31st, 2022

Preview : May 16th - May 30th, 2022

Duration of the exhibition : May 2022 - October 2022

(This exhibition will be closed from June 6th for the 2022 Fashion Design AAS exhibition and will be reopened in the beginning of July.)

The World of Kim, Dongsoon

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 2013SS

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