Celebrities & Press


The New York Times



LEEHWA is featured in the New York Times alongside hanbok historians to educate readers on the history of hanbok. The hype around AppleTV+'s drama "Pachinko" is opening doors to have more conversations of how hanbok has gradually evolved to become what it is today.


Read the article on the NYT website here: "One Garment's Journey Through History"


Los Angeles Times


As one of the oldest businesses in Koreatown, we were able to give the Los Angeles Times some insight on how the Omicron variant has been affecting our hanbok and wedding dress business.


Read the article on Los Angeles Times website here: "A tale of two Koreatowns: hip spots vs. mom-and-pops" 



Google Year in Search 2021

In April, love you in sign language was searched after BTS and other K-pop idols used it in their choreography. In May, child of a deaf adult search reached an all time high in the last five years. In June, body positivity search set records as it was one of the most searched globally.

LEEHWA WEDDING is featured in Google's Year in Search 2021 under Representation.


With the increase in Asian hate crimes due to COVID-19 in the previous year, there was a 2x increase for Asian owned in 2021 versus 2020.


LEEHWA was featured on the LA Times thanks to our friend @hahnbo and his storytelling of historic Los Angeles Koreatown businesses.


BuzzFeed News Feature





LEEHWA was featured on BuzzFeed News thanks to our friend @hahnbo and his storytelling of historic Los Angeles Koreatown businesses.


"These Photos Show How Los Angeles's Koreatown Adapted To The Pandemic" compiles and summarizes the stories and photos by the talented Emanuel Hahn.


KBS "6 o'clock Hometown Report" (6시내고향)



LEEHWA was selected as the Korean-owned business to represent the United States in a "6 o'clock Hometown Report" 30th anniversary special episode. The show has been a home staple in South Korea as airs on one of South Korea's largest television station, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).


Sally Kang of Run River North makes a cameo and shares her thoughts on selecting a modern hanbok as her bridal gown.


Brides Magazine Feature

We were most recently featured by Brides Magazine as experts on the traditional Korean wedding in a special double feature:


"9 Korean Wedding Traditions You Need to Know",

where we help explain the proceedings of a traditional Korean wedding,


&


"Everything You Need to Know About the Korean Paebaek Ceremony", where we help explain the beautiful ceremony of paebaek further in-depth.




Miranda Kerr

During Miranda Kerr's visit to Korea, she chose LEEHWA hanbok to wear in her interview with MBC,

one of South Korea's top networks. We customized this dangui style jacket to her preferences, giving her modern hanbok selection a more traditional feeling.


BEAUTIFUL WEDDING DRESS WITH RUFFLES
WEDDING DRESS PHOTO PACKAGE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL MODERN DRESS
KOREAN HANBOK PHOTOSHOOT

Ken Jeong

We had the pleasure of dressing this acting talent for his series "Dr. Ken" with ABC.

In S1:E8 "Thanksgiving Culture Clash", Dr. Ken wears his mother's wedding hanbok to Thanksgiving dinner!

WEDDING DRESS PHOTO PACKAGE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL MODERN DRESS
WEDDING DRESS PHOTO PACKAGE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL MODERN DRESS

Dressing Miss Asia USA 2016 and Miss Korea USA 2015, Ashley Park

We had the absolute honor and pleasure becoming friends with not only gorgeous, but extremely intelligent and talented, Ashley Park. Such a hard-working and inspiring female who is always striving to be a better version of herself, we had no doubt she would be crowned Miss Asia USA 2015-2016. We designed and created numerous gowns in her image, most notably her cultural costume for the pageant show.


ASHLEY WILLIAMS IN A MODERN HANBOK DRESS FOR PAGEANT SHOW MISS ASIA USA.
KOREAN HANBOK PHOTOSHOOT
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY THROWING CHESTNUTS DATES

Miss Susan Kim wins "Best Cultural Costume" for the Miss Asia Pageant

Charismatic and gorgeous contestant, Susan Kim, wears a Korean traditional hanbok with hand-painted flowers on her skirt and a unique hand-draping. She surprised everyone, including the judges, with her Korean drumming talent, as she snatched the award for best costume. She truly did make us proud as she represented our country, Korea. Congratulations Susan!

MICHELLE HK KIM HAIR AND MAKEUP
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY RENTAL
MALIBU PHOTOSHOOT WEDDING DRESS
SEOUL SOUTH KOREA PHOTOSHOOT

Dressing Korean celebrity, 김청

We had the pleasure to dress the beautiful actress in specially designed hanboks for most of her drama appearances and press conferences.She is most well known for starring in the hit SBS drama, "별별며느리."

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY CLOTHING
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY COUPLE KISSING
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY TABLE

Miss Asia USA 13th Annual Haute Couture Fashion Showat the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles

As one of the head designers in the haute couture LA Fashion show by Miss Asia USA, LEEHWA was able to showcase the traditional hanboks, all blended with a modern twist. To be able to display our beautiful Korean heritage to a full audience of non-Korean guests was truly a grateful and humbling experience. Here is a sampling of our extraordinary show that night at the elegant Millennium Biltmore hotel in downtown LA.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY

Dressing 2nd Runner-Up Winner for Miss Asia USA, Miss Christy Cho

We are so proud of our young and beautiful Miss Asia contestant, Christy Cho, who we had the pleasure of dressing for the Cultural Costume segment. The designer, Laura Park, was inspired by the ancient and mythical bird, the Phoenix, as you can visually see the gold-gilded wings of her costume. Additionally, flowers were hand-painted by a famous artist in South Korea with additional delicately hand embroidered roses all over her bodice.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

South Coast Plaza Celebration

Lunar New Year event with South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA. 

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

Dressing Mayor Annisse D. Parker (Houston, Texas)

Mayor Parker is Houston's 61st mayor and one of only two women to hold the City's highest elected office. She is the only person in Houston history to hold the offices of council member, controller, and mayor. We were delighted to meet such an incredible lady and dress her in suitable attire, the royal queen's attire of many years ago.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

Dressing U.S. Congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez represents California's 46th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange, and Garden Grove in Orange County. She is currently serving her 10th term in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the second highest ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. We had the absolute pleasure in dressing Congresswoman Sanchez in a royal traditional hanbok.


Fashion Shows since 1993

When LEEHWA first opened in the early 90's, we helped make mainstream the Korean traditional and modernized fusion hanbok dresses through grand fashion shows here in Los Angeles. Not only did we try to mainstream the Korean traditional dresses by creating them in more modern styles, we also hand-picked a more diversified cast of models.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

An Educational Experience to the Professors of America

The Korea Academy for Educators (KAFE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to informing professors around the world about Korea's history and culture in order to promote a cross-cultural understanding. The USC Korean Studies Institute shares similar perspectives and does amazing work from the USC campus. We were given the valuable opportunity to work with USC KSI and KAFE, in order to help promote our shared motto of spreading the Korean cultural awareness through our Korean traditional hanboks. We had an amazing time hosting our fashion show displaying our fusion and traditional styles. In addition, we had a blast helping the professors try on different hanboks and take 'selfies' as they promoted our Korean culture. To conclude the event, we performed a mock Korean traditional wedding ceremony, "Paebaek," in front of the teachers so that they may partake in our important cultural event.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE
KOREAN TRADITIONAL PAEBAEK TEA CEREMONY BRIDE

Yuri Tag

Modern hanbok photoshoot with Yuri Tag from Kaba Modern and America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) Season 1.