HELLO from KOREA

Hanbok
Korean Traditional Dress
The hanbok is the most accessible form of
Korean art. It can be seen on the streets of
Korea and even on Paris fashion runways.
The traditional Korean dress, the hanbok, is
custom made using a variety of colors and
fabrics depending on the age of the wearer
and the occasion on which the dress is to be
worn. Young girls wear red skirts and yellow
jackets, but they switch red skirts and green
jackets after they marry. Older women
choose from a wide variety of bright colors
and patterns in fabric. Special, more ornate
hanbok are worn for special ceremonies. For
both men and women, the hanbok are made
of silk brocade or satin for winter, and
lighter silks for warmer seasons. For summer,
hand-woven ramie cloth is often used,
and made into stiffly starched, gauzy outfits.
Under the influence of fashions from Tang
China, Korean noblemen wore wide trousers
and belted jackets, and noblewomen, long
trousers with hip-length jackets towards the
end of the Three Kingdoms period. Later,
under Mongol influence, the women’s jackets
were shortened and skirts were high up
on the waist. Then, towards the 15th century,
the skirt was raised again to be tied high
up, just under the arms, and the jacket was
shortened: pretty much as women’s
hanbok, is worn today.
The curved sleeves, the narrow white collar,
and the half bow of the woman’s
hanbok, are the three points on which its
beauty of a hanbok is judged.
The outfit is not complete without accessories.
Aristocrat women of the Joseon period
often spent hundreds of hours embroidering
long, heavily ornamented hair ribbons,
silk pockets or purses for men and
women (bokjumeoni) and norigae. Norigae
are pendants fastened under the bow of the
jacket, that have an ornament, like a jade
carving , with a long silk tassel.
Men’s accessories consisted mostly of
stiff horsehair hats (gat), which were worn
pretty much from the Silla period until early
in this century, and a long silk cord tied
around the chest, but these days, those
accessories are rarely worn by men, except
on ceremonial occasions.
In fact, traditional clothing is now usually
reserved for special occasions, like being
part of a wedding party, or New Year’s, or a
60th birthday party. Still, in the street or on
the subway, you can see people wearing
traditional clothing almost everyday, espe
cially older people, who tend to wear hanbok
more often.
39 _ Culture