time
prolog.
Gyeongseong, Spring 1919/ 6

Part 1

1.
Gyeongseong Night/ 45
2.
Tailor shop 'Lucky Rake' / 52
3.
A Boring Return Home/ 78
4.
A to Z/ 86
5.
Strange Visitor/ 94
6.
Action photos/ 107
7.
See you again someday / 118
8.
Selection/ 131
9.
Banquet/ 141
10.
Escape/ 152

Part 2

1.
Returning Home / 163
2.
Narrow Room/ 167
3.
Monster Clothes/ 175
4.
Propaganda Film/ 191
5.
The Tailor's Dream/ 196
6.
Women of the Street/ 208
7.
Edit/ 221
8.
Documentary/ 228
9.
Hello/ 234
10.
Reunion/ 240
11.
Giant/ 247

Epilogue.
Gyeongseong, Winter 1936/ 266
Author's Note/ 270

“Joseon’s first fashion show found in a single record in literature!!”

This is the second full-length novel by Go Hye-won, the author of “Rabbit,” the grand prize winner of the K-Story Contest.
If the author's first work, "Rabbit," tells the story of forgotten girl spies who were sacrificed in the painful history of the Korean War, then the newly published "Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway" is a growth story about the protagonist, Kyunghee, who worked as a seamstress at a tailor shop in Myeongdong that made suits for "modern girls" and "modern boys" in an era when most women wore hanbok, and struggles to open Joseon's first fashion show and grow as a designer while breaking away from a male designer who stole her talent and became successful.


《Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway》 is a novel that began with a single 'source (newspaper article)' that said that a 'Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation Meeting' was held at the Jongno Christian Youth Center in Seoul on June 16, 1934.
The author revived “Joseon’s first fashion show,” which was not well known to us, into a novel.
It is similar to the movie "My Way," which started from a very small piece of "material" and created a huge narrative based on a single photograph of an Asian German soldier captured by the U.S. Army during the Normandy landings in World War II.


※ 'Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation' 《Chosun Ilbo | 1934.06.16.
See the article

The 'Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation Society' was held on June 16, 1934 at the Christian Youth Center in Jongno, Seoul.
At that time, people called 'modern girls' 'bad girls', and newspapers and other media spread negative perceptions of women who dressed up like modern girls.
Accordingly, the 'Joseon Professional Women's Association' planned a 'Joseon Fashionable Women's Clothing Appreciation Event' with the goal of creating trends rather than just following them.
By interpreting Joseon clothing in a modern way, we presented a variety of clothing that could be worn on outings, at banquets, while exercising, and at home.
This kind of appearance is not different from a modern fashion show, so it can be called Joseon's first fashion show.

A narrative about 'working women' in the 1930s

《Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway》 is a novel that stands out for its fresh subject matter, as it deals with Joseon's first fashion show, which was not well known until now.
Moreover, you will find something new beyond freshness and interest in that it is a narrative about working women in the 1930s, about 100 years ago.
(Another interesting fact is that there is a novel of the same name, [Kyunghee], by Na Hye-seok, who is considered a pioneer in the women's movement.
In this novel, Na Hye-seok portrays a new woman who is contemplating whether to accept traditional values ​​related to the institution of marriage or choose a new life.
《Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway》 feels like the story of a modern girl (new woman) who has chosen a new life.)

The novel "Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway" depicts the story of the protagonist, Kyunghee, who started out as a seamstress for a male designer at a tailor shop called "Lucky Lake" and grew into a designer.
In the process, all of Kyunghee's assistants are women.
The person who planned the 'fashion show' called "Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation Society" that runs throughout this novel is a female reporter, and the friends who prepare the fashion show together are female seamstresses who worked as seamstresses at a 'Myeongdong Tailor Shop' but whose careers were cut short due to personal reasons.
Also, all the characters who go up on the 'runway', the fashion show stage, enduring the harsh stares of people, are women, and the 'neighbor' of the main character, Kyung-hee, and the 'independence activist' who decorates the main stage of the fashion show is a woman disguised as a man, and the organization that hosts the fashion show event is a women's movement group called the 'Joseon Professional Women's Association'.


These women, despite various conflicts, 'stand in solidarity' with each other and move forward toward their respective goals.
In the first place, the 'Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation Event', or fashion show, is not something that can be done alone.
At the very least, we need someone to create clothes that express the message and someone to wear those clothes and stand on stage.
All those who prepared the 'Joseon Fashion Women's Clothing Appreciation' had one thing in common: they were women who wanted to make their own voices heard through the stage.
Through this, the novel becomes a story of women who did not lose their dreams even in the midst of the turmoil of the colonial era, the darkest period in our history, and of women who dreamed of self-realization in the face of a pre-modern and oppressive social atmosphere.
In that vein, even without necessarily bringing up the feminist discourse currently debated in Korean society, "Kyunghee: Modern Girl Runway" is also a story of support for women of our time who find it difficult to pursue their dreams due to prejudice and discrimination that still persist.


“I know best.
“If I do this, I will be the most beautiful.”

“Runway, doesn’t it look like a runway?
If you walk from here to there, you will fly away at the end of that road.

“Further, further out, freer.”

Kyunghee completes Joseon's first fashion show and becomes a designer, fulfilling her dream.
The space where Kyunghee's dreams come true is the 'Runway'.
It is said that the original meaning of the word 'runway' is not only the stage where models walk, but also the meaning of 'runway'.
In this novel, the space called 'runway' is a space where Kyunghee, as well as each person preparing for the fashion show, can take off their dreams.
Kyung-hee, who lost her job after being kicked out of the tailor shop, participated in a clothing appreciation event to fulfill her dream of showcasing 'new clothes' that were adapted from Joseon clothing to fit modern times, and 'Chae-ryeong' planned the clothing appreciation event as an event to change society's negative view of 'modern girls'.
And Seunghyo, an unexpected guest who tried to transport independence funds to Shanghai, walked the runway with a dream of independence, and Jeomsoon and Jeongah, friends of the tailor Lucky Laque, also walked the runway with their own dreams.
The same goes for Hyunwoo, who records all these scenes with a camera.


“I know best.
As the main character Kyung-hee says, “If I do this, I will be the most beautiful,” if people who wear “my own clothes” rather than “someone else’s clothes” protect and nurture their dreams, they should be supported, no matter who they are.
However, it seems necessary to remember the author's words that the support received by those who live with 'the belief that things will get better than they are now', 'the courage to do their best at what they love', and 'the dreams they earnestly want to achieve' actually all started from themselves.