Illustrated Account of the Koryo Embassy 2026: The Young Generation

This series began with a speculative question: what if the culture of the Goryeo Dynasty, which existed before Joseon, had continued into the present day?

Compared to the Joseon period, the clothing and everyday life of Goryeo are relatively less known. Based on surviving records, artifacts, and studies of historical dress, this work reinterprets the aesthetics and forms of Goryeo culture in a contemporary context. The illustration imagines a scene in which today’s Millennial and Gen Z generation wear Goryeo-inspired clothing as part of their everyday lives.

Drawing from the attire of Goryeo-period court ladies, the design incorporates elements such as a white yeonggeon headcloth wrapped around a high coiffure and a red sajo-dae knotted cord. These traditional details are combined with modern hairstyles and everyday objects, allowing the past and present to coexist naturally within the same visual world.

The geometric motifs and textile patterns of Goryeo were also reinterpreted and applied to the clothing. Rather than functioning merely as decoration, these traditional patterns are used as visual clues that reveal the aesthetics, trade networks, and material culture of the period. By placing modernized ceramics, desserts, books, imported objects, and items from different times and regions together, the work invites viewers to imagine the international exchange and layered everyday culture that characterized Goryeo.

Rather than attempting to restore a lost past exactly as it was, this series presents an imaginative reconstruction of an alternative present—one that might have emerged if the aesthetics of Goryeo had continued into today. Through the combination of Goryeo dress and contemporary daily life, the work approaches tradition not as a fixed relic of the past, but as a living culture that can continue to transform and expand.

Exhibition
2026 Korea Society of Basic Design & Art Indiana International Invitational Exhibition
July 13–17, 2026
Purdue University