Simply meaning 'Korean clothes', 'hanbok' was introduced in the late 19th century by Koreans as a term to help differentiate their everyday dress from a recent influx of western-style clothing. A century later, western clothing had overtaken hanbok as the main style of dress worn by Koreans. In turn, hanbok became regarded as more of a ceremonial dress reserved for traditional holiday celebrations and events, such as first birthdays, weddings, and funerals. Hanbok, in the public's eye, had become less approachable and more formal.
Female bridal hanbok ensembles, Lee Young-Hee, 1991, South Korea. Museum no. FE.430:1 to 3-1992 and FE.431:1 to 5-1992. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
However, recent efforts to revive hanbok as clothes to wear on any ordinary day have begun to find some success. The Korean government has been active in supporting and promoting hanbok, designating October 21st as Hanbok Day and officially recognising hanbok saengwal – the practice of making, wearing and enjoying hanbok – as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. A new generation of fashion designers have emerged that are reinventing hanbok for new audiences. Through their collaborations with K-pop groups and K-dramas, these modern designers have brought new life to hanbok and added international interest as Korean culture continues to proliferate on a global stage.
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The history of hanbok goes hand in hand with the history of human civilisation on the Korean peninsula. Hanbok does not describe a certain design or shape of clothes, but serves as an umbrella term that encompasses thousands of years of Korean clothing. As such, hanbok design has shifted across the ages, with fluctuating sleeve lengths and widths, silhouettes, and dress folds, among other evolving design details.
During the Three Kingdom period (57 BC – 668 AD), hanbok consisted of an upper garment called a jeogori (a jacket-like top that wrapped closed at the front), and lower garments named baji (trousers, usually worn by men) and chima (long skirt, usually worn by women). This period saw variations in how the jeogori was fastened, from using belts to alternating the order in which the fabric was wrapped. However, the 6th century also saw the beginning of the left-to-right frontal fold, which later became a staple design feature in all later hanbok. Records also show that both men and women wore baji and chima, which were often both long and spacious. Long outer coats known as durumagi also appeared during this period, which continued to be worn for more than a thousand years.
Painting depicting a hunting scene with men wearing hanbok, from the Tomb of the Dancers of Goguryeo, about 5th century, Korea. Image: Korean Cultural Centre
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Throughout its history, hanbok design has been influenced by various competing regional powers. In 668 AD, Silla, one of the three kingdoms on the Korean peninsula, enlisted the help of the Chinese Tang Empire to overthrow the other two kingdoms Goguryeo and Baekje to create Unified Silla (668 – 935 AD). This new kingdom continued its close ties with the Tang Dynasty and consequently shares similar hanbok design features. This style of hanbok continued to be worn during the Goryeo Dynasty (918 – 1392 AD), but after 30 years of Mongolian invasions, Goryeo was forced to pay tribute to the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty from 1259 to 1356, leading to Mongolian influences in hanbok that particularly affected the uniforms of court officials.
Despite these external pressures, hanbok continued to evolve in a uniquely Korean way, slowly morphing into a version during the Joseon Dynasty (1392 – 1910) that we are most familiar with today.
Close-up of a purple goreum on a jeogori, 'Modern Girl' hanbok ensemble, Kim Young Jin, 2009 collection, South Korea. Museum no. FE.17-2015. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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Most modern hanboks are still created in the same way they have always been made. Unlike much of western clothing where draping and fitting on a three-dimensional mannequin is crucial for creating a garment, all hanbok is cut and sewn on a flat surface. This helps to reduce the amount of fabric going to waste, with any leftover pieces being used to create saekdong (coloured stripes) for decorating sleeves or jogakbo a style of patchwork traditionally used to create domestic wrapping cloths (known as bojagi). Saekdong roughly translates as 'putting colours one after another' and dates back to the Goguryeo period (37 BC – 688 AD). The harmony created by the multicoloured fabric was thought to wish the wearer a long and happy life and was often used in the sleeves of children's or bridal jeogori.
Jogakbo, on the other hand, was created entirely from scrap pieces of fabric that were meticulously pieced together to create a larger piece of fabric. It is assumed that jogakbo were created by women as a domestic pastime owing to the incredibly detailed and time-consuming nature of the task and the fact that none exist from the royal court. Many of the jogakbo remaining today also lack much wear and tear, testifying to their use only on special occasions.
The four main textile fibres traditionally used in hanbok are silk, hemp, ramie (an extremely finely woven and delicate type of cloth), and cotton. Evidence of sericulture (silk farming) in Korea dates as far back as the neolithic period (10, 000 – 4, 500 BC), with silk production and fabric manufacturing regarded as a highly valued skill throughout Korean history – so much so that during the Joseon Dynasty the queen would feed silkworms herself in a ceremony called cheen-jam. Plants such as hemp (specifically, kenaf) and ramie would be split by hand into threads and twined together to create yarn for weaving. Along with cotton, these fabrics would be woven together on a baetil loom.
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A painting depicting 'gil-ssam' (the process of creating textiles by processing silk, hemp, ramie, or cotton) and a baetil loom in use, by Kim Hong-do. Image: National Museum of Korea
Various types of weaves ranging from plain (also called 'tabby') to damasks, gauze and brocade were used to create textiles for hanbok. Some of the more complex textiles took a great deal of time and energy to create, which is why fabric with intricately woven patterns or made from highest quality silk were reserved for the royal family or others of high social rank. To create symbols and patterns, these fabrics were painted, block printed, tie-dyed, wax- or starch-resist dyed and decorated with extremely thin gold leaf (geumbak).
Wrapping cloth, 19th century, Korea, plain weave hemp with a polychrome painted design. Museum no. FE.156-1983. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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Variations in hanbok from the Joseon Dynasty were used to signify an individual's gender, social class, marital status, and age – directly reflecting neo-Confucianist values prevalent at the time and its emphasis on maintaining social roles to achieve societal harmony. For example, the hanbok below, consisting of a white jacket and blue skirt, was considered suitable for a married woman to wear. Traditionally a woman of comfortable means would wear an undyed white ramie jacket, an indigo-dyed skirt of ramie, and under-garments also of undyed ramie.
Unlike hanbok during the Three Kingdoms or even the Goryeo Dynasty when the gender divide of hanbok design was much less established, women's and men's hanbok of the Joseon period had distinct silhouettes recognisable from far away. Women's hanbok consisted mainly of the jeogori (jacket-like upper garment), which slowly shortened from 60 centimetres to only 20 centimetres by the early 20th century, and chima (skirt), with more voluminous skirts reserved for women of higher rank. It was frowned upon for women, according to neo-Confucian ideals, to show their skin or the shape of their bodies, which hanbok helped to prevent. However, the flowing curves especially prevalent in dangui (outer upper garments worn by court women), served to emphasise the beauty of hanbok instead.
Postcard featuring Empress Sunjong (1894 – 1966) and her court ladies dressed in hanbok with voluminous chimas, in 'Joseon-cho Gungjung-pungsok Yeongu' by Kim Yongsuk, published by Iljisa (1987)
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Like women, men would also wear upper and bottom garments: jeogori and baji. They also always wore specific hats woven from horsehair in public, with their hair tied up and tucked into a topknot.
One of the earliest known photographs to feature Koreans, photographed by the Joseon diplomatic mission during their stop at the Old Russian Legation, 1863. Image: London Missionary Society collection, SOAS Library
Until a decree in 1895 prohibiting topknots (decreed as a part of Japan's looming imperialism), all men and women were forbidden from cutting their hair, as it was seen as a gift given by one's parents. Regardless of gender, unmarried children and adults would part their hair in the centre and braid it into a single plait, with boys adding a black ribbon and girls adding a red ribbon to the bottom of their braids. Once married, men would pull their hair to the top of their head and make a knot, called sangtu. Women would also pull their hair together but into a bun at the nape of their neck. Hairpins called binyeo would be used to fix these buns in place, their decoration denoting the socioeconomic
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