Every boyfriend's nightmare: Inside Seoul's new handbag museum

by Frances Cha

Seoul museums really need to get more creative with their names. Take the Korea Furniture Museum, for example. The name deters all semblance of cool, despite being one of the most beautiful spots in the city.

The same goes for the newly opened Simone Handbag Museum on Garosugil in Gangnam. It would take a very secure guy, for example, to be caught dead entering a museum with that name over its entrance.

However, the self-proclaimed world’s first official handbag museum, which has been previewed in the New York Times and many a fashion magazine around the world, is actually an exquisite exhibition with more of historical contextual emphasis, rather a gaudy display of excessive luxury.

The brainchild of Kenny Park, 57, the CEO of Simone Acc. Collection Ltd., a Korea-based supplier of handbags for labels including Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade and Tory Burch, the museum houses more than 300 European pieces in its permanent collection over two floors and reserves the top floor for special exhibitions.

Built over three years, the building itself cost US$3.53 million while another US$1.59 million was spent on securing pieces for the collection. 

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