Dazzling Couture Christmas Tree Installation Unveiled by V&A

V&A unveiled couture Christmas Tree installation for 2022, designed by Korean fashion designer Miss Sohee.

Every year to celebrate the festive period, the V&A Museum London commissions a designer to create a Christmas tree for the museum’s Grand Entrance at Cromwell Road. These unique installations range from lavishly decorated real trees to hand-crafted twists on the tradition. Previous Christmas Trees, including Alexander McQueen, Es Devlin and Jasper Conran.

V&A unveiled a dazzling Christmas tree installation, designed by London-based Korean fashion designer, Miss Sohee, whose work also features in the museum’s major exhibition, Hallyu! The Korean Wave. On display in the V&A’s iconic Cromwell Road Grand Entrance, this showstopping design reimagines the traditional Christmas tree into a dramatic couture gown, reflecting the V&A’s tradition of showcasing innovative craftsmanship from around the world.

The 3-metre ensemble combines Miss Sohee’s signature style of vibrant silhouettes and intricate embroidery with religious statuary found around the museum. Composed of a crepede-chine inner dress and a cascading snow-white silk chiffon cape embellished with star inspired embroidery and Swarovski crystals, the gown is a striking and ethereal structure. Lit from above by a series of spotlights, the full splendour of the ensemble is revealed as crystals sparkle and shimmer.

Celebrated for her voluminous gowns, enchanting designs, and sustainable practices, Miss Sohee’s garments have captured the attention of the design and fashion world. Her ‘Peony Dress’ from her Central Saint Martins graduate collection in 2020 is currently on display in the V&A exhibition Hallyu! The Korean wave, and her breath-taking eveningwear has garnered a significant celebrity following, with fans including Ariana Grande, Naomi Campbell, Bella Hadid, and BLACKPINK.

“I feel honoured to be invited as a guest designer to be a part of such an exciting project, especially one that is centred around such a beautiful time of year. When I think of Christmas, it evokes nostalgia, angelic shades of white and familial warmth. To be able to constantly collaborate with the V&A has been such a wonderful and inspiring experience, and when it came to designing this Christmas tree I really wanted to reinterpret the tree through my lens.” – Miss Sohee.

“We’re delighted to work with Miss Sohee for the V&A Christmas tree this year, whose ‘Peony Dress’ is a showstopping finale to our exhibition on Hallyu! The Korean Wave. I hope that visitors to the museum’s Grand Entrance this Christmas will enjoy her glittering reinvention of the festive form in her own signature style.” – Rosalie Kim, curator of Hallyu! The Korean Wave.

• The Christmas Tree installation will be on display in the V&A’s Cromwell Road Grand Entrance from 28 November 2022 – 5 January 2023.
• The exhibition Hallyu! The Korean Wave runs from 24 September 2022 – 25 June 2023.

2023 marks the opening of landmark exhibitions at V&A South Kensington ranging from the first ever major UK exhibition on Renaissance master Donatello, to a celebration of the power and creativity of the DIVA. Following the success of the V&A’s acclaimed fashion shows, Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto will be the first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of French couturière, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, while a new display Re:Imagining Musicals will showcase previously unseen items from the museum’s extensive Theatre and Performance collections. V&A Dundee will celebrate its fifth birthday with a new programme of exhibitions including Tartan, a radical new look at one of the world’s best-known fabrics and Plastic: Remaking Our World, taking a fresh look at the promise and challenges of this extraordinary material.

2023 will also see the V&A continue its ambitious programme of multi-site developments with Young V&A opening its doors as a new national museum and powerhouse of creativity for children and young teenagers in summer 2023.

New exhibitions, galleries and displays at V&A South Kensington:

– Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance, 11 February – 11 June 2023
– DIVA, 24 June 2023 – 7 April 2024
– Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto, 16 September 2023 – 25 February 2024
– Re:Imagining Musicals, 15 October 2022 – 27 November 2023
– Photography Centre Phase Two, Spring 2023

• Young V&A announces opening in summer 2023 following the most radical redevelopment in its 150-year history
• V&A Dundee will celebrate its fifth birthday in 2023 with Tartan, 1 April 2023 to 14 January 2024
• V&A East continues to increase access to the arts with a new emerging curatorial fellow role in partnership with Frieze, Deutsche Bank and artist Yinka Shonibare.