RIP Fashion designer Andre Kim. Died on 12 August 2010, aged 75.
Kim became the first Korean to show a collection in Paris, and later years saw him present his spectaculars at the pyramids in Egypt and at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. In 1992, the International Olympic Committee invited him to hold a fashion show during the summer games in Barcelona.
For Korean celebrities, modelling Andre Kim’s creations on the runway was considered a sign that they had arrived. Bae Yong-joon, Choi Ji-woo, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Hee-sun, Kim Tae-hee and Lee Young-ae modeled his clothes, and further afield pop superstar Michael Jackson and the actresses Brooke Shields and Nastassia Kinski also wore his creations.
Read more of the Chosun Ilbo’s appreciation here.