||It has been suggested that Hanbok as Social Status be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2013.|
|Hangul||한복 or 조선옷|
|Hanja||韓服 or 朝鮮옷|
|Revised Romanization||Hanbok or Joseon-ot|
|McCune–Reischauer||Hanbok or Chosŏn-ot|
Hanbok (South Korea) or Chosŏn-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to hanbok of the Joseon (Chosŏn) period and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations.
Throughout history, Korea had a dual clothing tradition, in which rulers and aristocrats adopted different kinds of mixed foreign-influenced indigenous styles, while the commoners continued to use a distinct style of indigenous clothing that today is known as Hanbok.
- 1 Basic Composition and Design
- 2 Occasions
- 3 History
- 4 See also
- 5 Footnotes
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Basic Composition and Design
Traditional women's hanbok consists of jeogori, a blouse shirt or a jacket and chima, a wrap-around skirt, which is usually worn full. The ensemble is often called chima jeogori. Men's hanbok consists of jeogori and baji which means pants in Korea. The baji were baggy pants in traditional men's hanbok.
Jeogori is the basic upper garment of the hanbok, which has been worn by both men and women. It covers the arms and upper part of the wearer's body. The basic form of a jeogori consists of gil, git, dongjeong, goreum and sleeves. Gil (길) is the large section of the garment in both front and back side and git (깃) is a band of fabric that trims the collar. Dongjeong (동정) is a removable white collar placed over the end of the git and is generally squared off. The goreum (고름) are coat-strings that tie the jeogori. Women's jeogori may have kkeutdong (끝동), a different colored cuff placed at the end of the sleeves. There are two jeogori that may be the earliest surviving archaeological finds. One from a Yangcheon Heo Clan tomb is dated 1400-1450, while the other was discovered inside a statue of Buddha at Sangwonsa Temple (presumably left as an offering) that has been dated to the 1460s.
The form of Jeogori has changed over time. While men's jeogori remained relatively unchanged, women's jeogori dramatically shortened during Chosŏn dynasty, reaching its shortest length at the late 19th century. However, due to reformation efforts and practical reasons, modern jeogori for women is longer than its earlier counterpart. Nonetheless the length is still above the waist line. Traditionally, goreum were short and narrow, however modern goreum are rather long and wide. There are several types of jeogori according to fabric, sewing technique, and shape.
Chima refers to "skirt" which is also called sang (裳) or gun (裙) in hanja. The underskirt, or petticoat layer is called sokchima. According to remaining murals of Goguryeo, and an earthen toy excavated from the neighborhood of Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, Goguryeo women wore a chima with jeogori over it, covering the belt.
Although striped, patchwork and gored skirts are known from the Goguryeo and Jeoson periods, chima were typically made from rectangular cloth that was pleated or gathered into a skirt band. This waistband extended past the skirt fabric itself and formed ties so that the skirt could be fastened around the trunk of the body.
Sokchima was largely made in a similar way to the overskirts until the early 20th century when straps were added, later developing into a sleeveless bodice or 'reformed' petticoat. By the mid-20th century, some outer chima had also gained a sleeveless bodice, that was then covered by the jeogori.
Baji refers to the bottom part of the men's hanbok. It is the formal term for 'pants' in Korean. Compared to western style pants, it does not fit tightly. The roomy nature of the cloth is due to a design aimed at making the cloth ideal for sitting on the floor. It performs similar role today for modern trousers, but Baji is commonly used in Korea for any kinds of pants. There are two in front of baji, and a person can tighten up whenever needed.
Baji are classified as unlined trousers, leather trousers, silk pants, cotton pants according to dress, sewing way, embroidery and so on.
|This section requires expansion. (March 2009)|
Po is a generic term referring to an outer robe or overcoat, which was worn mostly by men since the Goryeo period until the Chosŏn period. Durumagi is a variety of po that was worn to protect the cold. It had been widely worn as an outer robe over jeogori and baji. It is also called jumagui, juchaui, or juui.
"Po" is also called "Jeogori", written as "저고리" in hangul. Jeogori inherited the Chinese Ming ao skirt's white collar and Jin. As buttoned blouse, skirt in front of the two on each seam have Jin, female's Jeogori has a long belt hung in front of the dress, also have an effect of adornment. Jeogori below the cuff is refers to the jacket sleeves, characterized by a traditional Korean house in the eaves of natural feminine curves. There are differences between the men and women's Jeogori. Men's Jeogori coarse to with line and flat; Women's Jeogoris have beautifully decorated curves which are short and beautiful.
Jokki and magoja
Jokki (조끼) is a type of vest while magoja is an outer jacket. Although jokki and magoja were created at the end of the Chosŏn Dynasty in which the Western culture began to affect Korea, the garments have been considered parts of traditional clothing. Each is additionally worn over jeogori for warmth and style. Magoja was an originally Manchu style clothing, but was introduced to Korea after Heungseon Daewongun, the father of King Gojong returned from his political exile in Manchuria in 1887. Magoja derived from magwae that he wore at that time to protect cold weather of the region. It was good to keep warmth and easy to wear, so that magoja became popular in Korea. It is also called "deot jeogori" (literally "an outer jeogori") or magwae.
Magoja does not have git, band of fabric that trims the collar, goreum (tying strings) unlike jeogori and durumagi (overcoat). Magoja was originally a male garment, but later became a unisex clothing. The magoja for men has seop (섶, overlapped column on the front) and its length is longer than women's magoja, so that its both sides of the bottom are open. A magoja is made of a silk and is adorned with one or two buttons which are usually made from amber. In a male magoja, buttons are attached to the right side on contrary to women's magoja.
At first, women wore the magoja for style rather than as a daily outfit and especially Kaeseong people used to wear it a lot. It is made of a silk and the color for women tends to be a neutral color to harmonize with other garments such as jeogori and chima which are worn together. In spring and autumn, a pastel tone is used for the women's magoja, so that wearers could wear it over a jeogori for style. As for men's magoja worn during spring and summer, jade, green, gray, dark grey were used.
In old days, Kkachi durumagi (literally "a magpie's overcoat") were worn as seolbim (설빔), new clothing and shoes worn on Seollal, New Year's Day in the Korean calendar, while at present, it is worn as a ceremonial garment for doljanchi, celebration for a baby's first birthday. It is a children's colorful overcoat. It was worn mostly by young boys. The clothes is also called obangjang durumagi which means "an overcoat of five directions". It was worn over jeogori (a jacket) and jokki (a vest) while the wearer could put jeonbok (a long vest) over it. Kkachi durumagi was also worn along with headgear such as bokgeon (a peaked cloth hat), hogeon (peaked cloth hat with a tiger pattern) for young boys or gulle (decorative headgear) for young girls.
Modern hanbok for children consists of only two or three pieces and can be put on easily. They are usually made of less expensive fabrics since they are only worn once or twice a year during bigger holidays like Chuseok and Seollal. Children are also dressed up in hanbok on their first birthday, dol.
Hanbok is classified according to its purposes: everyday dress, ceremonial dress and special dress. Ceremonial dresses are worn on formal occasions, including a child's first birthday, a wedding or a funeral. Special dresses are made for shamans and officials.
The hanbok can trace its origin to nomadic clothing in the Scytho-Siberian cultural sphere of northern Asia, widespread in ancient times. The earliest evidence of this common style of northern Asia can be found in the Xiongnu burial site of Noin Ula in northern Mongolia, and earliest evidence of hanbok's basic design features can be traced to ancient wall murals of Goguryeo before the 3rd century BCE.
Reflecting its nomadic origins in northern Asia, hanbok was designed to facilitate ease of movement and also incorporated many shamanistic motifs. From this time, the basic structure of hanbok, namely the jeogori jacket, baji pants, and the chima skirt, was established. Short, tight trousers and tight, waist-length jackets were worn by both men and women during the early years of the Three Kingdoms of Korea period. The basic structure and these basic design features of hanbok remains relatively unchanged to this day.
Toward the end of the Three Kingdoms period, noblewomen began to wear full-length skirts and hip-length jackets belted at the waist and noblemen began to wear roomy trousers bound in at the ankles and a narrow, tunic-style jacket cuffed at the wrists and belted at the waist.
Although most foreign influence on Hanbok didn't last or was superficial, Mongolian clothing is an exception as the only foreign influence that made significant visible changes to Hanbok. After Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) signed peace treaty with the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, Mongolian princesses who married into Korean royal house brought with them Mongolian fashion which began to prevail in both formal and private life. As a result of this influence, the chima skirt was shortened, and jeogori was hiked up above the waist and tied at the chest with a long, wide ribbon, the goruem (instead of being belted) and the sleeves were curved slightly. Cultural exchange was not one way however. Goryeo had significant cultural influence on the Mongols court of Yuan Dynasty, the most visible of which was adoption of women's hanbok by the aristocrats, queens and concubines of the Mongol court.
A Goguryeo man in a hunting attire from Goguryeo tombs.
Silla king and queen's attire.
A woman's attire during the Goryeo dynasty.
The early Joseon Dynasty appeared to continue the women's fashion for baggy, loose clothing, such as those seen on the mural from the tomb of Bak Ik (1332–1398). However, by the 16th century, the jeogori had shortened to the waist, and appears to have become closer fitting, although not to the extremes of the bell-shaped silhouette of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Today's hanbok is the direct descendant of hanbok as worn in the Joseon Dynasty period, specifically the late 19th century. Hanbok had gone through various changes and "fashion fads" during the five hundred years under the reigns of Joseon kings and eventually evolved to what we now mostly relate to as a typical hanbok.
During the Joseon Dynasty, the chima or skirt adopted fuller volume while the jeogori or blouse took more tightened and shortened form, which are features quite distinct from the hanbok of previous centuries, when chima was rather slim and jeogori baggy and long, reaching well below the waist level. After the Imjin War economic hardship on the peninsula may have influenced the closer-fitting styles that would use less fabric. However, this explanation doesn't take into account the ever expanding voluminous size of the dress which must have increased the use of fabric despite the disastrous effects of the war.
In the eighteenth century, the short length of jeogori reached extremity as to scarcely cover the breasts. Therefore women of respectable social backgrounds began to wear a piece of long cloth called heoritti around the breast. Heoritti was originally worn as an undergarment beneath the jeogori, but was now worn as an outwear. The common and lowborn classes, however, often eschewed the heoritti altogether, as a way of indicating that they had given birth to a son. This also may have assisted with breastfeeding.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the fullness of the skirt was concentratrated around the hips, thus forming a silhouette similar to Western bustles. The fullness of the skirt reached its extreme around 1800. During the nineteenth century fullness of the skirt was achieved around the knees and ankles thus giving chima a triangular or an A-shaped silhouette, which is still the preferred style to this day. Many undergarments such as darisokgot, soksokgot, dansokgot, and gojengi were worn underneath to achieve desired forms.
A clothes reformation movement, which aimed to lengthen jeogori, experienced quite a success in the early twentieth century and has continued to influence the shaping of modern hanbok. Modern jeogori are longer, although still halfway between the waistline and the breasts. Heoritti are sometimes exposed for aesthetic reasons. At the end of nineteenth century, Daewon-gun introduced magoja, a Manchu-style jacket, to Korea, which is often worn over jeogori to this day.
Soksokgot, similar to petticoat is shown under the woman's skirt. 18th century.
Men's hanbok saw little change compared to women's hanbok. The form and design of jeogori and baji hardly changed.
However, men's lengthy outwear, equivalent of modern overcoat went through quite a dramatic change. Before the late 19th century, yangban men almost always wore jungchimak when going abroad. Jungchimak had very lengthy sleeves and its lower part had splits on both sides and occasionally on the back so as to create fluttering effect when walking. To some this was considered fashionable, and to some, namely stoic scholars, it was nothing but pure vanity. Daewon-gun successfully banned jungchimak as a part of his clothes reformation program and jungchimak eventually disappeared.
Durumagi, which was previously worn underneath jungchimak and basically a house dress substituted jungchimak as the formal outwear for yangban men. Durumagi differs from its predecessor in that it has tighter sleeves and does not have splits on either sides and the back. It is also slightly shorter in length. Men's hanbok has remained relatively the same since the adoption of durumagi.
Hanbok for formal occasions
Gonryongpo (or ikseongwanpo): business attire for king
Gwanbok is a Korean term which refers to all formal attires of government officials. It began to be worn since Silla period until Joseon Dynasty. During the Silla period, the official robe systems of Central Asia was imported and put into practice. There were several types of gwanbok which differs in color and design according to the wearer's status, rank, and occasion such as jobok, jebok, sangbok, gongbok, yungbok, and gunbok.
Jobok was the gwanbok worn for special occasions such as national festivals, or announcement of royal decrees. Jebok was the gwanbok worn while an ancestor veneration ritual called jesa was held. Sangbok was worn as a daily official clothing while gongbok was worn when officers had an audience with the king at the palace. Yungbok was related to military affairs.
Material and Color
The upper classes wore hanbok of closely woven ramie cloth or other high-grade lightweight materials in warm weather and of plain and patterned silks the rest of the year. Commoners were restricted by law as well as resources to cotton at best.
The upper classes wore a variety of colors, though bright colors were generally worn by children and girls and subdued colors by middle-aged men and women. Commoners were restricted by law to everyday clothes of white, but for special occasions they wore dull shades of pale pink, light green, gray, and charcoal. The color of chima showed the wearer's social position and statement. For example, a navy color indicated that a woman had son(s). Only the royal family could wear clothing with geumbak-printed patterns (gold leaf) on the bottom of chima.
Both male and female wore their hair in a long braid until they were married, at which time the hair was knotted; man's hair was knotted in a topknot called sangtu (상투) on the top of the head and the woman’s hair was rolled into a ball shaped form and was set just above the nape of the neck.
A long pin, or binyeo (비녀), was thrust through the knotted hair of the woman as both a fastener and a decoration. The material and length of the binyeo varied according to the wearer’s class and status. Women wore a jokduri on their wedding day, and wore an ayam for protection from the cold. Men wore a gat, which varied according to class and status.
Before 19th century women of high social backgrounds and gisaeng wore wigs (gache). Like their Western counterparts, Koreans considered bigger and heavier wigs to be more desirable and aesthetic. Such was the women's frenzy for the gache that in 1788 King Jeongjo prohibited and banned, by royal decree, the use of gache, as they were deemed contrary to Korean Confucian values of reserve and restraint
In the 19th century yangban women began to wear jokduri, a small hat that substituted gache. However gache enjoyed vast popularity in gisaeng circles well into the end of the century.
Some foreign-styled clothing was adopted by the upper class, but its use was always separate from the tradition of hanbok and foreign style clothing never replaced the traditional hanbok. With increasing cultural ties between Korea and China since the latter half of the Three Kingdoms period, the aristocratic class incorporated some minor foreign influence.
As Silla unified the Three Kingdoms of Korea, various silks, linens, and fashions were imported from Tang China. In the process, the latest fashion trend of Luoyang, the capital of Tang, were also introduced to Korea where it transformed into a uniquely Korean silhouette similar to the Western empire style. After the Korean unification by the Silla Dynasty, Korean women started wearing the new style, which was popular not only in China but also in all countries influenced by the Silk Road. The style was, however, discontinued during the Goryeo dynasty, the next ruling state of Korea. Dallyeong, a style of clothing from nomadic cultures of Western Asia, was introduced via the silk road and was adopted as the official robe system, Gwanbok, in the 4th century until the 17th century.
Beginning in the late 19th century, use of hanbok was largely replaced by new Western imports such as the Western suit and dress. Today, formal and casual wears are usually based on Western styles. However, Hanbok is still used for traditional purposes and reserved for auspicious occasions such as weddings, the Lunar New Year, annual ancestral rites, the birth of a child, etc. Also, the increasing rarity of hanbok has led to the increasing appreciation of this Korean traditional clothing, which despite foreign cultural exchange over Korea's 5000 year history, remained unique to the Land of the Morning Calm.
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|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hanbok.|
- History of Hanbok (Korean)
- Information about Hanbok (Korean)
- Traditional Korean Clothing - Life in Korea
- Official Korea Tourism Organization- Hanbok Clothing