Simone Handbag Museum

Museum in Seul, South Korea

The Simone Handbag Museum in Seoul, South Korea, is a museum dedicated to handbags.[1]

## History

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The museum opened on 19 July 2012 in Seoul's Gangnam District. The collection was established by Kenny Park, founder and CEO of Simone Handbags, and was assembled and curated by Judith Clark, Professor of Fashion and Museology at the London College of Fashion.[1] The collection was assembled at a cost of £1 million.[2]

## Description

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300 bags are on display at the museum, dating from 1550 to the present day.[2] The museum is divided into two halves, Twentieth Century and Contemporary, and Historic (1500–1900).[1] Most of the handbags are European in origin, with some contemporary bags from the United States. Bespoke mannequins at the museum have been designed to draw the visitors' attention to the bags on display. Two of the mannequins were designed by the milliner Stephen Jones.[2]

The museum is housed in a 10-story building called Bagstage[2] which is shaped like a handbag "with two 'straps' for a 'handle' on the roof".[3] Bagstage also incorporates a shop selling bag materials, workshops where new Korean designers can work rent-free, a section where craftsmen will produce bags and two shops.[2]

The admission fee is $5. In 2018, 4,000 people visited the museum.[3]

## See also

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* ESSE Purse Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
* Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam
* Handbag collecting

## References

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* Judith Clark: Handbags: The Making of a Museum, 2012, Yale University Press, ISBN 978 0 300 186185

1. ^ a b c "If Purses Are Your Bag..." The New York Times. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
2. ^ a b c d e "Bags of History". The Financial Times. 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2023-03-04. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
3. ^ a b Chung, Grace. "South Korea's Richest 2018: The Entrepreneur Showcasing His Love Affair With Handbags". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-04-26.

## External links

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* Official site

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* IdRef

37°31′08″N 127°01′23″E﻿ / ﻿37.5190°N 127.0230°E﻿ / 37.5190; 127.0230