Clothing, Traditional—Korea
Hanbok, the Korean traditional costume, is characterized by a keen appreciation and consciousness of the seasons, a sensitivity to color, symbolic motifs from myth and legend, and individual taste, value, and style. Hanbok offers a glimpse of Korea's past, representing hundreds of years of colorful history before modernization. Korean costume also reflects the lifestyles of aristocrats, nobility, and commoners in very distinct ways.
Hanbok consists of a jacket called juhgori and trousers called baji for men, and juhgori and skirts called chima for women. For men, a hat is essential for all occasions, as is a sash at the waist and high- or low-cut shoes. These are the basic attributes of dress in cold countries and are especially suitable for farming and hunting. Laces (daenim) are tied around the ankles of men's baggy trousers to facilitate movement. Headdresses are important for presenting a refined appearance.
The textiles used for costume include sambae (hemp), mosi (ramie), sa and ra (stiffened silk gauze), myungju (soft silk pongee), and dan (opaque silk). A variety of accessories, such as highly ornamented royal crowns, elaborate earrings, necklaces, bracelets, hairpins, belts, and bronze shoes, adorned dress. Under the influence of Chinese culture, from the seventh century CE onward the sleeves of Korean jackets and robes became larger and trousers wider. Headdresses and robes were similarly modified.
Shilla Period
During the Unified Shilla dynasty (668–935 CE), which maintained close ties with Tang China, China's influence on Korean costume became more evident. Korean figurines unearthed from a mideighth century tomb in Kyongju, the capital city of the Shilla kingdom, were depicted in Chinese-style dress. In earlier tomb mural paintings, long jackets with belts at the waist were worn over long, pleated skirts, but the figurines from the Unified Shilla wore skirts over their jackets, a distinctively Tang Chinese style.
Korean girls in traditional dress in 1989. (DAVID & PETER TURNLEY/CORBIS)Koryo Period
Extravagant style prevailed during the succeeding Koryo period (918–1392), until the Chinese styles of the Yuan dynasty (1267–1368) became popular in the declining years of Koryo. The Yuan Chinese influence dictated tighter sleeves and shorter jackets. (Previously, jackets were long enough to cover the hip line, with a sash tied around the waist.) The wearing of a dae (a belt or girdle) of jade, leather, or cloth, which indicated the rank of the wearer, ended with the advent of the Koryo period. Instead of the dae, the palace adopted the Chinese clothing and hat system to indicate rank. The jogdoori (today's women's wedding crown) and doturak-daenggi (doubled-long hair ribbon with embroidery and ornaments) were Yuan Chinese features adopted by Korea and were worn until the Choson dynasty (1392–1910). Commoner women wore white guhn (head scarves) and white clothes, but did not cover their face. Noblewomen wore nuhwool (a veil) made from a foot or more of black, soft silk or sa (stiffened silk) over a small, umbrella-like cover worn on the head. The material and size of a woman's nuhwool indicated her social status.
Official court attire was worn with hwa (boots). From the time of the Koryo dynasty's King Wu (c. thirteenth century CE), when a new dress system was decided, until the end of the Choson dynasty, black leather hwa were worn with official attire. On the other hand, commoners were absolutely prohibited from wearing hwa. They generally wore white clothes and straw sandals.
Choson Period
Clothing during the Choson dynasty was influenced by China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644); influences are apparent in the official and unofficial costumes of the royal court, where the Chinese ceremonial robe was adopted. For traditional ceremonies, a specific dress for a particular occasion was stipulated. A dress style intended for a certain ceremonial occasion could never be worn at another time. Under the ceremonial robe, however, women always wore the traditional chima-juhgori and men wore the baji-juhgori. Costume materials varied with seasonal change; cut and length of the juhgori went up and down with fashion and social standing; an individual's rank, class, sex, and age were distinguished by specific colors, lengths, and styles. Muted colors for the everyday wear of commoners persisted, as did the splendid, vibrant colors of the royal household, a statement of their absolute authority.
Twenty-First Century
Traditional hanbok are worn by men and women of all ages only as ceremonial dress on special occasions, such as for traditional festivals, wedding ceremonies, and so on. Numerous prohibitions and sumptuary laws were decreed by almost every new king, leading to a gradual simplification of the clothing and the eventual evolution of the hanbok of today. The simplified version of hanbok remains a very common sight in the busy streets of modern Seoul.
Further Reading
Lee Hun-jung. (1989) 2000 Years of Korean Costume. Seoul: Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Yang, Sunny. (1997) Hanbok: The Art of Korean Clothing. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International.
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