Two years after his anarchic comedy How to Use Guys With Secret Tips, Lee Won-suk returns to New York and the silver screen with his ambitious, big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor. His second feature is set during a clash between tradition and modernity in the royal court of 18th century Korea.

Han Suk-kyu plays the king's tailor Jo Dol-seok. After serving the court for three decades, he is on the brink of rising to the rank of nobleman. But his life's dream is threatened with the sudden appearance of young, handsome and carefree "designer" Lee Gong-jin whose radical fashion ideas quickly earn the Queen's favor.

Unlike most films about the power of art (and music), Lee lets the striking costume designs of Jo Sang-gyeong speak for themselves, without resorting to reaction shots or exposition. The film's traditional costumes took as much as six months to create, at a cost just shy of $1 million.

A playful, fresh and daring reinvention of one of Korea's most conservative film genres.