Choi Kyung-ja is a famous figure in Korean fashion. In 1937 she recognized Eun Jwa Ok, the first Korean couture house, and in the following year, the Hamheung Professional Dressmaking Institute. This is when her eldest daughter, Shin Hei-soon, was born, Choi also commenced the first Korean charm school and fashion magazine, “Costume.”

Shin, 72, director of the Kookje Fashion School, was the first Korean student to go into the Fashion Institute of Technology, a prestigious school affiliated with the State University of New York college of art and design. When she arrived to Korea in 1971, she began to win acclaim as a designer.

Kim Yong-hee, Shin’s eldest daughter, who is now studying in Paris, sent her a collection of old European costumes.

Despite the wealth of suspiciously stored materials, the museum shut down for about five years. It had grown rapidly difficult to manage the facility due to the economic recession.

It’s not possible to abandon the museum because there are so many people who gave donations, Shin said. This museum was created with the aid of my forward-thinking mother and countless designers. The entire fashion industry should step onward to aid the next generation of fashion designers.