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Yang, Sunny - Hanbok: The Art of Korean Clothing
Sun, Mar. 16th, 2008 03:10 pmI think this is a fairly basic introduction to the history of Korean clothing from the Three Kingdoms (57 BCE - 668 BCE) through Westernization (~1800s). It's hard for me to tell, given that I know zero about Korean clothing outside of what I've seen on kdramas.
Yang gives a brief history of Korean to contextualize what was going on with changes in clothing, though I am somewhat wary of its scholarly accuracy, given Yang's prose and attitude in the rest of the book.
She deals very well with the details of clothing, but she is prone to exaggeration and way too many things are "exquisite." I do not blame her for pride in Korean clothing! I think it is awesome. But it still annoys me, as I can tell things are exquisitely crafted from the descriptions and pictures already. Also, she tends to overpraise, which leads to passages like this:
That said, there is still a ton of information in the book, particularly on Joseon clothing for all classes. Also, I feel somewhat better now for thinking clothing in Bride of the Water God and Pahanjip looks very Tang Dynasty, as Goryeo clothing in particularly took things right out of Tang (much like pre-Heian Japan). I thought it was particularly neat watching Tang clothing evolve into court clothing, as I think Tang clothing eventually evolved into the kimono in Japan. It was also good to know that even though upper-class court clothing was modeled on Tang style, people all wore native Korean hanbok (top + skirt) underneath. Also, I think I can pick out Joseon court clothing now by the rounded collars.
Neat tidbits: male royalty wore the hats with mortarboards and dangling beads (myunyugwan, in the author's romanization), and you can figure out the rank by counting how many strands of beads there are. Guess what I will now be doing while watching kdramas? The light blue/white hanbok that I saw so much in Damo are the informal clothes for the yangban. And! There is a section in the book on hats! I squeed.
Apparently the translucent hats with squarish tops in Damo are made of horsehair and worn by yangban, and the two-tiered shortish hats are court hats, as I thought. Still nothing on the rounded hats with brims, or any details on what various hat decorations may signify for the yangban. Then again, I may be the only person around interested in this...
Also, I didn't realize that upper-class women went outside veiled in Joseon Korean! Possibly I have never seen an upper-class woman outside of the house in Damo, which is very likely, given what this book and another says about upper-class women in Joseon Korea.
There's less information on what commoners and farmers and etc. wore, probably because there's very little existing artwork and the clothing itself wasn't preserved, like some ceremonial robes were.
Oh! The other awesome thing I learned was that upper-class women carried around little decorative daggers, supposedly to guard their chastity, and that these daggers were given as gifts by family.
And! Men would write poems or other notes to gisaeng (female entertainers) on chima (the hanbok skirt).
There's also a lot in the book on clothing restrictions, from colors limited to royalty or the upper classes to proclamations against ostentatious clothing to what types of cloth lower-class people could wear. And much like Qing China, court ranks were signaled by heavily embroidered squares that officials would wear on their chests (common symbols were cranes, tigers, and ... other animals I forgot). Apparently in late Qing China, people started wearing squares outside of their actual rank, despite many proclamations against that. I wonder if that happened in Joseon Korea too?
Also, much like China, pretty much all the clothing was made from cotton, hemp, and silk. Does anyone know if Asia just has a massive shortage of sheep? Or did people just not like wool or something? Inquiring minds would like to know, though that certainly explains why knitting is largely a Western thing.
Anyway, despite my problems with the non-clothing scholarship, this was fascinating and had lots of photos. I only wish there were more diagrams of different weaves of cloth or of clothing construction, but you know, if I had my way, the book would have little cloth samples attached and patterns and color combinations and everything.
Yang gives a brief history of Korean to contextualize what was going on with changes in clothing, though I am somewhat wary of its scholarly accuracy, given Yang's prose and attitude in the rest of the book.
She deals very well with the details of clothing, but she is prone to exaggeration and way too many things are "exquisite." I do not blame her for pride in Korean clothing! I think it is awesome. But it still annoys me, as I can tell things are exquisitely crafted from the descriptions and pictures already. Also, she tends to overpraise, which leads to passages like this:
Thus, Koreans turned the most abused part of the body, the foot, into a thing of beauty by wearing the buhsuhn [white cotton socks] which achieved this distinction. The buhsuhn was the only part of Korean clothing that fit exactly. It did not come off easily once it was on, but retained its beautiful form even after it was taken off, unlike the western style stocking which lays limply when taken off. So beautiful is the buhsuhn that it can be used as a decoration!
That said, there is still a ton of information in the book, particularly on Joseon clothing for all classes. Also, I feel somewhat better now for thinking clothing in Bride of the Water God and Pahanjip looks very Tang Dynasty, as Goryeo clothing in particularly took things right out of Tang (much like pre-Heian Japan). I thought it was particularly neat watching Tang clothing evolve into court clothing, as I think Tang clothing eventually evolved into the kimono in Japan. It was also good to know that even though upper-class court clothing was modeled on Tang style, people all wore native Korean hanbok (top + skirt) underneath. Also, I think I can pick out Joseon court clothing now by the rounded collars.
Neat tidbits: male royalty wore the hats with mortarboards and dangling beads (myunyugwan, in the author's romanization), and you can figure out the rank by counting how many strands of beads there are. Guess what I will now be doing while watching kdramas? The light blue/white hanbok that I saw so much in Damo are the informal clothes for the yangban. And! There is a section in the book on hats! I squeed.
Apparently the translucent hats with squarish tops in Damo are made of horsehair and worn by yangban, and the two-tiered shortish hats are court hats, as I thought. Still nothing on the rounded hats with brims, or any details on what various hat decorations may signify for the yangban. Then again, I may be the only person around interested in this...
Also, I didn't realize that upper-class women went outside veiled in Joseon Korean! Possibly I have never seen an upper-class woman outside of the house in Damo, which is very likely, given what this book and another says about upper-class women in Joseon Korea.
There's less information on what commoners and farmers and etc. wore, probably because there's very little existing artwork and the clothing itself wasn't preserved, like some ceremonial robes were.
Oh! The other awesome thing I learned was that upper-class women carried around little decorative daggers, supposedly to guard their chastity, and that these daggers were given as gifts by family.
And! Men would write poems or other notes to gisaeng (female entertainers) on chima (the hanbok skirt).
There's also a lot in the book on clothing restrictions, from colors limited to royalty or the upper classes to proclamations against ostentatious clothing to what types of cloth lower-class people could wear. And much like Qing China, court ranks were signaled by heavily embroidered squares that officials would wear on their chests (common symbols were cranes, tigers, and ... other animals I forgot). Apparently in late Qing China, people started wearing squares outside of their actual rank, despite many proclamations against that. I wonder if that happened in Joseon Korea too?
Also, much like China, pretty much all the clothing was made from cotton, hemp, and silk. Does anyone know if Asia just has a massive shortage of sheep? Or did people just not like wool or something? Inquiring minds would like to know, though that certainly explains why knitting is largely a Western thing.
Anyway, despite my problems with the non-clothing scholarship, this was fascinating and had lots of photos. I only wish there were more diagrams of different weaves of cloth or of clothing construction, but you know, if I had my way, the book would have little cloth samples attached and patterns and color combinations and everything.