Today I am going to talk about Korean’s traditional clothes, “Hanbok”. Korean clothing was mainly influenced by Chinese Tang dynasty clothing. This is recorded in the history documents: " clothing and daily life, same as China." Silla had very close contact with the Tang dynasty, and the clothing characteristics were almost the same as the clothing of the tang dynasty. The development of Hanbok's characteristics began in the middle of the Lee's Korea. Since then, Korean clothing, especially women's clothing, has gradually developed into high-waisted and long skirt, and the difference with Chinese clothing has gradually increased. However, the court dress and formal attire still have major Chinese characteristic. During the Korean war (1950-53), western clothing entered South Korea. By the 1960s and 1970s, as the pace of life and work accelerated, people found Korean clothing too cumbersome and inconvenient to wear, and the number of Hanbok users was greatly reduced. Nowadays, Hanbok enthusiasts have been actively promoting Hanbok and have revived it with designs that are easy to wear.
The line of Hanbok holds the beauty of curve and straight line concurrently. For example, the short jacket of women's Hanbok shows perfect elegance. Men have trousers, jacket and vest which show a unique taste. White is the basic color, but material and color depends on the season and status. The beauty of Hanbok clothing can be presented by the appearance of line, the color of the fabric and the changes in decoration. The jacket that emphasizes female neck downy line, inside and outside edge v-shaped collar or natural downy cuff curve, highlights gentle feeling. Korean clothing can also hide the shortcoming of body shape, makes short people look taller, skinny people look healthier. Korean clothing can be classified according to identity, function, gender, age, purpose and material. According to the usage purpose, Hanbok is divided into wedding Hanbok, festival Hanbok, Birth Hanbok and so on. The hanbok at a traditional wedding is more ornate than usual. At the wedding, the groom wears trousers, a vest, a jacket with a knot, a gauze hat and a crown, and wooden boots. The bride wore a red dress and a yellow blouse and wore a hairpin with a prefix and streamer on it. In festivals like Spring Festival, older people wear tradition Hanbok and children wear colorful tops and hanbok to celebrate. Nowadays, the everyday Hanbok gains popularity. Since traditional Korean clothing is only worn on special days because of its complexity, the simple and convenient every hanbok emerged and also received popularity among tourists.
An example of presenting the beauty of Hanbok to the world is the 2005 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in Busan, South Korea. The color and design of each piece of Korean Hanbok are selected according to the theory of Yin and Yang and the five elements respectively, each representing a different meaning. For example, yellow, green, red, black and white represent the five directions of east, south, west, north and middle, as well as the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. For the design, the makers chose pine, bamboo, cloud and peony. The Korean Hanbok has is unique culture and attraction that are now famous all over the world.
Comments
Hi Raymond,
thank you for the descriptive post on hanbok! I personally think hanbok, its colors, patterns, and the fabric is truly beautiful. I also can't help but realize the similarities of hanbok from certain time periods, such as the Shilla era as you mentioned, is similar to that of dynasties from China. It's always interesting to notice points in time where cultures of different nations influenced each other. Although difficult to wear the traditional form daily, I find the modern take on hanbok an interesting way for Korean culture to expand.