Traditional costume of Korea, Han Bok

by Shin, Ji-Hwan

The history of Han Bok was originated from ancient Three Kingdoms of Korea, Ko-gu-rye, Back-jae, Shin-ra. Han bok is affected by Chinese costume in the period of Dang dynasty and Buddhism of that country. Advantages wearing Han bok is light and easy to wear for people including King and his wife even though their clothes look complicated. And interestingly, All color of sleeve of Han bok for women represents different classes from a Queen to a servant.

Clothes which Korean used were advanced according to changes of season in Korea. The clothes were made to protect the human body from the cold weather in winter, and they were made well-ventilate against the humid and hot weather in summer.

Also, both Korea and China influenced each other's clothing because they had contacted a lot. Some small changes were added as the time goes on , but the basic form of traditional Korean clothes has been handed down.

Han-bok consists of a blouse called Chogori, a pair of pants for men, and long skirts for women. And all People wore coats called Doo-roo-ma-ki for keeping their bodies warm or the ceremonial purpose something like that.

The two-piece suit was the basic form of clothes of Northern horse-riding nomads as found in the ancient-tomb murals, and has been inherited till now.

The clothes reflected the social status, and people wore the clothes of different designs, patterns, and colors according to their social classes.

For example, in the Cho-son Dynasty, the king wore the yellow dress, which represented the center of the Universe. The common people usually wore white-color clothes and that's why the Korean are called "the People of white clothes". Han-bok is characteristic of the subtle curves and a lot of blank spaces.

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