Kapiolani
Community College Horizons 2001
Kapiolani
Community College
Horizons 2001
From the time of my first birthday my mother has kept her culture alive by dressing me in a hanbok for my birthday party. The first birthday of a child is considered a special occasion for Koreans as it is for many cultures. The colors used in the hanbok for children symbolize good harmony and are believed to protect children from sickness and bad luck and to ensure them a healthy long life. The colors also represent the five directions: east, west, north, south, and center. I also had to wear a black silk hat called a jobawi and a pair of buhsuhn (Korean white socks), with colorful flowers and red silk tassels.
The 1988 Summer Olympic games was held in Seoul, Korea, giving people all over the world opportunity to view the Korean lifestyle. Many visitors were amazed by the beautiful colors and patterns of the hanbok. Hundreds of Korean men and women performed in their costumes, and it was a proud moment for them to express their art of clothing and dance.
The style of the costume was developed during the Yi Dynasty. The Yi Dynasty was established by Yi Song-gye but he renamed the kingdom, Choson, “The land of the morning calm.” This dynasty accomp1ished much in science, music, and technology. Confucian teachings guided Korean social structure, as well as politics. This Confucian Yi Dynasty developed the form and style of the dress with its strict emphasis on etiquette and manners. The rank of officials during the Yi Dynasty court were indicated by the length and color of the robe, width of the sleeves, and woven designs on the silk material (Yang).
As in many societies, sewing was a basic skill required of all women in Korea
from the earliest times. Taking care of silk worms, spinning thread, weaving
cloth and embroidery were also tasks for women in the household. From the Choson
period on, hemp, ramie, cotton, and silk were woven throughout the country,
and many of the techniques are still used today. The production of hemp fabric
is complicated and requires accurate cultivation and harvesting. The white ramie
cloth is manufactured in a process similar to the hemp. All ramie cloth had
to be pounded with a heavy wooden stick on a smooth shiny flat rectangular stone.
Doing this released the starch within and gave it a crisp, glossy texture (Kim).
Today, the hanbok is only worn for special celebrations and occasions. By the time my mother was born in 1945, for the most part, only adults and the elderly wore the Hanbok daily. The hanbok for women consisted of two major parts: the juhgori and the chima. The juhgori, a bolero-like blouse is made up of two front panels with sleeves extending from drop shoulders, a perfect stiff collar, and front sashes. The dongjuhng is a white narrow neck band, stiffened with paper underneath, and stitched over the collar to sharpen its appearance. It was made to be detachable so that it could be washed since it got dirty easily. Because of the detachable neck band, one would not have to clean the whole chogori, which was very efficient.
The juhgori has gone through many changes over the years in the length, care
of the collar, and the use of the sashes. The sashes, goreum, played an important
role to the juhgori because it not only kept it closed, but also served as an
ornamental ribbon for the females. By the late Choson period, the juhgori stopped
at the armpit and was longer in the front to cover the breasts. The Western
missionary women influenced the different styles and made the jacket longer.
The traditional skirt is called the chima and was the other part of the basic two-piece clothing. My mother said the skirt did nothing for the woman’s figure. It had a high waistband that was pleated and wrapped with long sashes around the body at the chest right along the underarms. Since the chima was one size fits all, it had to be adjusted by the sashes. It also varied in lengths. Women looked taller when wearing it, for it gave the illusion that their legs were long.Women always looked graceful in the skirt whether they were standing, sitting, or walking. When the chima was not being worn, it was used as a bojagi (wrapper), dotjari (mat when spread out for sitting), chait (sunshade or blind), podaegi (coverlet), and a jangot (headcover).
The traditional male hanbok included a juhgori and a paji, loosefitting pants. The basic style of the men’s juhgori changed very little from the late Yi period, unlike the women’s . Early styles of the paji had narrow legs but grew wider as the Korean men gave up their nomadic lifestyle (Han). Because Koreans sit on the floor, the baggy paji made it more comfortable. My mother could not give me too much information on men’s clothing because her father had died when she was only ten years old. Her older brothers did not wear the traditional male costumes since the modernization had started.
One thing she did remember is the importance of mourning clothes. Koreans’
mourning clothes remain an important indicator of society’s act of respect.
She had come from a wealthy respectable family, and they could afford to dress
her father in specially prepared garments made of finely woven hemp. Family
members had to wear coarse and undyed handwoven hemp. The outfit included a
wide sleeve coat with a hemp cord tied around the waist to fasten it. All the
men wore pointy hemp hats and women wore hemp rope around their heads like a
crown. They could not wear any personal ornamentation and had to let down their
hair. When my grandma passed away a couple of years ago, my aunt sent pictures
of the ceremony. The old traditions changed and close family members wore black
colored clothing instead of the undyed rough hemp.
The traditional hanbok has been made in all the colors imaginable over the centuries. The colors used in the clothing derived from the five basic colors of East Asian cosmology: red, yellow, blue, white, and black. However, according to the season or a person’s status in society, the color, or the material of the clothes varied. For special ceremonies such as weddings, commoners would wear ornaments and colorful clothing, except, of course, those reserved for the upperclass and royalty.
The wonsam was originally a ceremonial topcoat worn by women of royal status,
high ranking court, and noble women during the Choson period. After the Choson
period, the topcoat was adapted for the use in weddings and other very important
ceremonies. Queens wore yellow robes embossed with gold dragons on them, and
high-ranking princesses and concubines wore red topcoats stamped with gold phoenixes.
The lower ranking princesses and concubines wore green topcoats stamped with
flowers. Commoners were not allowed to wear colors designated for upper classes.
Marriage was always taken very seriously in Korea (Yang). Hwalot, the bridal topcoat, is made of red cloth lined with indigo.The colors represent the meeting of heaven and earth. The cloth was embroidered with plant and animal images symbolizing long life and the virtues of marriage and wishing the new couple happiness and riches. The Hwalot resembles the wonsam. It has changed very little since ancient times (Yang).
The hanbok would not be complete without the Buhshun, Korean socks. My mother said that the Korean white socks were worn indoors and inside their shoes. They were made differently for each season to satisfy the weather conditions. The sock was unlined in the summer, lined during the spring and fall, and full padded for the cold winters. It is still used today but mainly by elders or when wearing the Hanbok. It is shaped like a boot and had the effect to make anyone’s foot look perfect. Koreans were concerned about makinq their feet look perfect, and this sock did the trick. Ornamented quilted socks were worn by babies on their first birthday. The socks are decorated with bright flowers and tiny red pompoms at the toes.
To go with the socks is the Gomooshin, or (rubber shoes). In the early 1900s
their shoes were made of leather, originally introduced from Japan. By 1932,
the rubber-shaped canoe shoe was produced and was very practical for Korean
farmers during the long rainy season. Later they became very popular and I even
had two pairs of my own that my aunty had mailed to me from Korea. I remember
wearing the shoes and my mother said that the rubber was very soft so I was
comfortable in them. The leather shoes that were worn earlier were made of layers
of paper or cotton and leather and lined with silk or leather.
The Korean hanbok has come a long way since the Yi Dynasty. Influences from around the world changed the styles and patterns of the traditional Hanbok. New styles have been created that better suit modern urban life and are more practical for everyday wear. Even thorough all the changes, the hanbok still looks as beautiful as the first designs made.
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