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.

Manchester might not be the fashion capital of the world but as the fledgling days of the cotton industry Manchester has been a proud stalwart of its own fashion talent.

So it was little surprise that there was a extremely warm reception last week when Manchester fashion boutique General Store launched a section devoted to Pretty Disturbia, the ladies’ clothing range designed by Manchester’s own Leesa Bertram.  Leesa launched Pretty Disturbia as the flagship range for her business Etra Design House a couple of years ago, and the range has been rising in popularity exponentially ever since.

From a blog and a little online shop, Pretty Disturbia has been chosen up by boutique shops across the UK and has now started to attract interest from international retailers.

General Store is owned by Ringspun and Elvis Jesus founder David Mallon, who himself initiated life in the fashion industry selling t-shirts in Afflecks Palace.

It’s luminous that Manchester is supporting its own talent, said Leesa.  General Store is an icon of Manchester’s independent approach to fashion and proof on the high street that Manchester has amazing different to offer to the world.