A question of fashion

[TheBo]

I wonder about the costuming. If I go by the dramas and other shows I've seen, it hasn't changed much in the whole China-Korea-Japan "triangle" since China was unified under the Ch'in, up until WWII even. European fashion changed drastically all the time, and yet, there was a show I saw that took place in Korea in the 1950s (one of those "remember the old days" documentaries) and it looked like Hanbok was still everyday wear, at least for country folk.

Is this an accurate perception? I know there are degrees of decoration and different fabrics, and the hair seems to have changed pretty constantly, but clothing design seems to have stuck in pretty much the same, er, format the entire time.

Bo

[florel]

Yeah, Asian fashions had more conservative character than European fashions.

The Chosun military officers' unform we see in the drama was introduced in the end of Koryo period under Mongolian influence. This is a Mongolian style costume and Koreans wore it until the end of Chosun period.

In China, huge transformations on costume and on hairstyle were brought in when the Continent was conquered by Mongols and Manchurians.

But, Asian costumes were not eternally same in every epoch and in every countries.


This is a small history of Korean traditional costume.

Korean Traditonal Dress

[TheBo]

Ahh, I see...very good article. And such a cute little child!

The story about the influence of the Mongols on court dress reminded me of the scene (not that it's related in any way whatsoever but this is a tangental thread - LOL) where Hideyoshi's son died (no, that's not the funny part, I'm not a sicko) and he lopped off his hair, and all the "guys" looked nervously at each other and started lopping off their own hair. It was such typical corporate behavior, I just had a laugh over it.

Bo

[donilpark]

I don't think Mongol influence lasted throughout Chosun period. In fact, it flourished a while during Koryo period, and abolished pretty much with the reformation of Emperor Kongmin of Koryo.
The remnant of Mongol influence can only be found in a woman's accesary called jokduri, a small cap and yonji, a kind of makeup they put up at wedding, as far as I know.

[donilpark]

Um.. yeah, and if you want to see Korean costume from other than Chosun, visit,

www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/cclothes/cclothes.cfm


And this is more or less about Chosun period Hanbok, but you might want to take a look.

www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/clothes/clothes.cfm


And check this out too.

www.lifeinkorea.com/cgi-bin/pictures.cfm


And lastly, this site is anything about Koguryo. I linked the the page with posts about costume. Something to note especially about Koguryo costume style is that it was not so conformed like in Chosun periods in that people did different hairstyles much the same way we do now and clothings look more 'modern' (because, again, style was varied). If you follow the link, there are four pages of posts that contain some Korean traditional costume, mostly of Koguryo period, but some others as well.

Korguryo link

[MOD NOTE - made link fit on page]

The research and depiction of traditional costumes in dramas or any other visual media is not done so much other than about Chousun period, and even that is incorrect in many places (like the navy uniform thing).
So far, there has not been all that many major dramas or movies that depict periods other than Chosun or Koryo. That's why I'm excited in anticipation about Taewangsashingi set in Koguryo and Seodongyo set in mostly in Paekje and little bit of Shilla.

[TheBo]

donilpark, I followed one of your links on the Korguryu site, and #75 shows a woman in a red skirt with a white apron-thing pulled over her head. It is similar to the outfits we saw on Hong and Mi-jin at certain points in the show. I found these rather curious and nun-like, and I never saw them before--but I only tuned in sporadically to AOW and the previous historical, the name of which I cannot recall, so I really only have DJG to go on. Have they shown these in previous historical dramas, are they rather common? It just looks like a woman decided to pull her apron over her face.

Bo

[donilpark]

The explanation under that picture says 16th century ceremonial skirt. So it's just the skirt that the picture is trying to show. That white pullover thing is nothing. It's just there to cover the mannequin.

[florel]

donilpark said:

I don't think Mongol influence lasted throughout Chosun period. In fact, it flourished a while during Koryo period, and abolished pretty much with the reformation of Emperor Kongmin of Koryo.
The remnant of Mongol influence can only be found in a woman's accesary called jokduri, a small cap and yonji, a kind of makeup they put up at wedding, as far as I know.

Hi donilpark,

I didn't say that all of Chosun costumes followed Mongolian style. I just gave an example of chollik (ö¸¯, civilian and military officials costume) to illustrate the longue duree characteristic of ancient Asian fashions as compared with European ones. No French men and women in the time of Marie Antoinette would like to put themselves in a piece of costumes in the time of Jeanne d'Arc. ;D But Chosun men had worn their horsehair hat (°«/È渳, Kat or Heuklip) from the mid 15th Century to the 19th Century.



And to tell about chollik, it's another surviving legacy of Mongol.

These are some infos about chollik.
All of articles are written in Korean.
I'm sorry for having no energy to translate them.


taekkyon21.com/plus/board.php3?table=paper1&query=view&l=13&p=1&go=3 (in Korean ; Origin of chollik)

www.hani.co.kr/section-009100030/2005/02/009100030200502281715265.html
(in Korean language ; Korean influences on Mongol Empire and Mongolian influences on Koryo)

[TheBo]

Ah, good, Florel. I have not seen you in a little while. I was, as they say, whrrrr-it, LOL.

Bo

[florel]

Salut, Bo.

I'm busy with my works in recent days. occupee and epuisee...
So I'm trying to post during weekend.

I'm really impressed with the Spell Check function in this new version proboard. It's really helpful for me even though it always checks Chosun, Imjin and YSS as wrong spell, hahaha...