LEBEIGE, a women's wear brand under Samsung C&T's fashion division, has teamed up with master Korean potter Yoon Kwang-cho on a collaboration collection that reinterprets the aesthetics of traditional buncheong ware for contemporary fashion.
Samsung C&T's fashion division said on the 13th that LEBEIGE has released 14 apparel and accessory items inspired by Yoon's work. The collaboration is part of Salon de LEBEIGE, an annual project the brand runs with Korean artists.
Yoon is a ceramic artist who has developed the tradition of Joseon-era buncheong ware into contemporary sculptural art. Working by hand to build up clay rather than using a potter's wheel, he has expressed the distinctive beauty of buncheong ware through natural forms and rough textures.
LEBEIGE translated the sculptural features of Yoon's signature works, including "Moon Reflected in a Thousand Rivers," "Watching Water" and "Rhythm," into its garment designs. The free brushwork seen on the surface of the ceramics was rendered through embroidery and beadwork, and the traces of slip running down the vessels were transferred into fabric prints. The black-and-white contrast evident in the works was expressed as gradation patterns that shift gradually in color.
The 14 items include dresses, blouses, trousers, skirts and scarves made from wool-silk blends and silk. They are sold at LEBEIGE department store outlets nationwide and on SSF Shop, the online shopping platform of Samsung C&T's fashion division.
An exhibition marking the collaboration will also be held. LEBEIGE will present "Time Shaped by Emptiness" from the 17th to the 18th at Youthquake on Hyoja-ro in Seoul's Jongno district. About 18 of Yoon's ceramic works will be displayed alongside the clothing collection based on them.
LEBEIGE has continued to work with artists to strengthen a brand identity built on expressing Korean beauty through a contemporary sensibility. Last year, it unveiled clothing and bags emphasizing curved forms with artist Kim Hee-chan, who works with traditional woodcraft techniques.
"This year's Salon de LEBEIGE was planned to show the values the brand pursues through Yoon Kwang-cho's singular artistic world," said Kim Seung-hyun, head of the women's wear business division at Samsung C&T's fashion division. "Through this meeting of ceramics, which shapes clay, and fashion, which makes clothes, we hope to offer customers a distinctive cultural experience and a deep resonance."