The purpose of this case study is to compare two luxury brands’ collaborations with modern Korean artists and the qualitative results achieved by the projects. As argued by J.N. Kapferer (2014), through associations with artists, luxury brands are striving to present themselves as part of a creative industry and as a result elevate and legitimize their brand image. This article focuses specifically on Christian Dior’s Dior Lady Art series and Louis Vuitton’s Artycapucines due to the similarity in project structure – the final presentation in form of an exhibition – as well as the objects produced – bags elevated to the status of artworks but still maintaining functionality. Through the selected case studies, this article first explores how partnering with Korean artists enables brands to localize and engage more personally with Korean consumers while building deeper relationships with international consumers by leveraging the continuously growing global popularity of Korean culture. The study then examines how the collaborations contribute to the brands’ goal to present themselves as more authentic – in luxury terms, delivering exceptional experience characterized by high quality, craftsmanship, preciousness, and timelessness (The Quarry Gallery, 2023). This is achieved by providing artists with a platform to reinterpret iconic bags into artwork. Lastly, the article analyzes how, through these limitededition items, the brands are also able to reinforce the idea of luxury as financial investment and a way to build family heritage.

The purpose of this study is to understand the concept of a sexual image and verify the method of its design expression through case studies of the sexual image evening dress shown in an Haute Couture Collection over the last 10 years (2005~2014). The results of analysis are as follows: First, “expression by the seeing through of the natural body” expressed a natural sexual image that combined fashion of the previous times with the beauty of the natural body by using a see-through material and classic or ethnic image. Second, “expression of a sexual-image look that emphasizes romantic detail” illustrated a romantic sexual image that emphasizes feminine sensitivity by mixing various ornamental elements such as see-through material and symbolism of underwear image. Third, “creation of a nude look using skin color” expressed sexual image of an evening dress by inducing erotic sexual association through a combination of opaque material of skin color and design shape that is intended for body exposure. Fourth, “combination of sexual symbol and heterogeneous elements” expressed a decadent, avant-garde and futuristic sexual images by using women’s underwear and a sexual symbol as design motif and mixed with mismatching elements. Fifth, “use of a fantastic black image” expressed an exclusive and refined sexual image and a decadent and primitive sexual image by using a fantastic image of black color. The results of this study are expected to be used for the design process of the eveningdress industry that aims for quality improvement.