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 <strong>from</strong> 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 <strong>from</strong> 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 <strong>from</strong> 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
40 _ <strong>HELLO</strong> <strong>from</strong> <strong>KOREA</strong>