Hanbok is the traditional attire in Korea. It used to be worn daily up until just 100 years ago, but now is only worn on special occasions or anniversaries. It was originally designed to facilitate ease of movement. It is semi-formal or formal attire so many Koreans have a hanbok for special times like weddings, Chuseok(Korean Thanksgiving), and Seollal(Korean New Year’s). Children also wear it to celebrate their first birthday.
I thought I would do Hanbok because it is an exquisite cultural heritage in Korean culture. It is even seen in the movie I recently watched called “To all the boys: P.S I still love you.” The main character Lara Jean is Korean American but during the Korean New Year, she still owns and dresses up in Hanbok. During the meeting, one of the other mothers says “Don’t you feel left you because you didn’t wear your Hanbok?” to her child since she didn’t dress up. It is important for them to keep their Korean heritage alive.
The designs for traditional hanbok are beautiful. This design has changed slowly over the years but the core of hanbok in its shape and vibrant colors has stayed the same. At the start of the 19th century, hanbok was replaced by new imports like the Western suit and dress. So nowadays, formal and casual wear are predominately based on Western styles. However, on special occasions and celebrations, hanbok is still worn.
Hanbok has unique lines and are seen more prominently when someone who is wearing it is moving. Its shape is also very unique because it is slim on the top and wide on the bottom. The tightly fitting jacket is supposed to attractively reflect the shape of the upper body. A full set of hanbok for men means jeogori (top jacket)and a pair of pants while for women it is a jeogori, undershirt, skirt, and a pair of pantaloons.
The colors of hanbok are colored using natural dyes unlike typical artificial dyes in clothes. The color use to symbolize social position and marital status. For example, bright colors were generally worn by children and girls, and muted hues were worn by middle aged men and women. The status and position were also identified by the material of the hanbok. The patterns on hanbok represented the wishes of the wearer. For example, dragons, phenixes, cranes, and tigers were only for royalty and high-ranking officials.
Now, South Korea has a lot of hanbok rental shops for tourists where you can borrow and wear hanbok for a day or more and go out to cultural places and take photos. People usually visit one of the “Five Grand Palaces.” They are works of the old Joseon period. Gyeongbokgung is the main royal palace and the largest of the 5 in Seoul. It was built in 1395 and served as the home of the Kings of the Joseon dynasty, the King’s households, as well as the government of Joseon. The others are Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, and Gyeonghuigung. In all of the palaces, apparently the admission fee is waived to visitors wearing hanbok.
Even though Hanbok is very old since the Joseon era, Korean’s keep their heritage alive by wearing it and still owning them. I think it is so cool that people can rent Hanbok and go to the palaces and sort of act like they are in the period back then or in a Korean drama even!
Replies
Hi Priyanka! 한복s are a very beautiful type of traditional clothing. Personally, when I went to Korea this past summer, I went to the main royal palace, 경복궁 (gyeongbokgung). There were many tourists and even natives wearing the 한복 and taking pictures. Recently, there have been a lot of modern changes to the 한복 such as brighter colors and more flashy decorations which is really interesting and pretty!
I actually traveled to Korea about two years ago and I went to Gyeongbokgung to try on hanbok! It was summer so it was definitely way too hot but the entire process of getting dressed and having my hair styled was really fun. I agree that hanbok is so beautiful and it's definitely an important part of Korean culture. If you ever have the opportunity, I would definitely recommend trying it for the experience.
Hi Pri,
This is such a cool post! I love seeing something like clothing that has persisted for so long in Korean culture and that represents the culture too. This is especially interesting considering how much typical everyday fashion changes throughout the years (like in US culture moving from bell-bottoms to skinny jeans). I still remember when Jannette brought up the Hanbok in one of our lessons which also makes me appreciate how symbolic it is to Korean culture for our language partner to tell us about it. Reflecting on American culture I can't think of any traditional outfits that represent our culture or our history quite like the Hanbok does for Korean culture and I think that makes the Hanbok even more important. I also couldn't help but think about how beautiful Hanboks are which reminded me of the emphasis on beauty and appearance that sometimes Korean culture is known for. This dress also made me think more about how fashion really does reflect the culture and how the Hanbok is so beautiful without being too scandalous or revealing. Perhaps that was intentional or maybe not? Thank you for sharing and I hope one day we can actually visit Korea and wear one ourselves!
Priyanka,
Over the break, I actually had just watched the movie, "To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You" and I clearly remember the Korean New Year scene you refer to. I remember thinking during the movie if I had been in the position of Lara Jean and her sister, I also would have liked to dress in the traditional garb, the Hanbok, for such a traditional event. I found it very interesting that different colors were worn by different genders and those of different social classes; however, after reflection it makes sense! Especially in older times, the cloth was dyed and dyes of different shades cost different amounts of money, thus the dyes that were more expensive were limited to the rich and nobility. Thank you for sharing.