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Dress History of Korea
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Dress History of Korea Critical Perspectives on Primary Sources edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Minjee Kim
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BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2023 Selection, editorial matter, Introductions © Kyunghee Pyun and Minjee Kim, 2023 Individual chapters © their Authors, 2023 Kyunghee Pyun and Minjee Kim have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. xxi constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design by Adriana Brioso Cover image: Harvest Feast, 2010, designer Hyesoon Kim, stylist Younghee Suh, model Yuna Ser, and photographer © Sangsun Ogh. Image published in Vogue Korea October, 2010. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN:
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Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors Foreword Acknowledgments Notes on the Usage of the Korean Language 1
Making Dress History in the Context of Primary Sources Kyunghee Pyun
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Part One Primary Sources: Historiography and Chronological Reviews 2
Identity and Fashion in the Ancient Dress of Korea Minjee Kim
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Goryeo (918–1392): Dress in Literature, Bulbokjang, and Visual Arts Jaeyoon Yi
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Reading Fashion of Joseon (1392–1910): Textual Sources with Clothing Illustrations Ga Young Park
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Scholarly Discourses on Fashion Change in Late Joseon Lee Talbot
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Joseon Portraiture Paintings for Dress and Fashion Gilhong Min
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Bodily Ornaments in Korean Archaeology and Dress History Kyeongmi Joo
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Shift of Worldview: Changes of Dress in Korea, 1870s–1910s Kyungmee Lee
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Magazines and Photographs for Fashion History of Korea Yunah Lee
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Part Two Case Studies: Museum Practice, Tourism, and Costume Design 10 Chulto boksik (Excavated Dress) and the Collection at Chungbuk National University Museum In-woo Chang
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11 Collection and Exhibition of Dress at the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum Myung-eun Lee
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12 Acquisition of a Replica and Identification of Mystery Items: Case Studies in Scotland Rosina Buckland and Minjee Kim
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13 Hanbok and Korean Identity: An Anthropological View Millie Creighton and Elias Alexander
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14 Costuming Korean Period Dramas Minjung E. Lee
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Selected Bibliography Index
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Illustrations Figures 1.1 Maps of Historical Territory of Korea. Redrawn by Soya Boo, based on Korean History in Maps, pp. 19, 22, 50, 68, 80, 1 in order. 2.1 Map of the two regions showing major locations of Goguryeo mural tombs: Ji-an (about 38) and Pyeongyang (about 80). 2.2 Styles of Clothing depicted on the Goguryeo murals, their provenance and legacy. 2.3 Envoys of the Three Kingdoms wearing formal ensemble about mid-6th century. 2.4 Clothes of women and men in Unified Silla and Balhae showing influence of cosmopolitan Tang style. The women (a, b) wore an ensemble composed of a blouse and a skirt. Both of the skirts are tied over the blouses at the raised waistline exposing the chest. The men (c, d) wore an official’s uniform comprised of a long robe with a round neckband (dallyeong) and a black soft headdress (bokdu). 2.5 Metallic bodily ornaments. Silla (57 bce –935 ce ). 5th–6th century. 3.1 Garments discovered from the cavity of Buddhas. 3.2 A gilt bronze belt with peony design. Treasure No. 451. Attributed to a King Gongmin’s (r. 1330–74) bestowal on a meritorious official. Housed in Taesamyo Shrine in Andong. 3.3 (Reproduced by) Yi Hancheol (1808–?), portrait of Jeong Mongju (1337–92). Painting on paper, 35 × 61.5 cm. Bongwan 5035. 4.1 Bingung uidae balgi 嬪宮衣㾘件記 [List of the Costumes of the Crown Princess for her Wedding Ceremony], Unknown, 26 × 467 cm. 4.2 Illustrations of clothing and clothed figures from Uigwe. 4.3 Royal court banquet costume, late 19th century. 4.4 Traditional wedding ensembles.
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5.1a Shin Yunbok, Portrait of a Beauty (Miyindo), c. late 18th–early 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 114 × 45.5 cm. Treasure no.1937. 98 5.1b Shin Yunbok, Listening to Music from a String Instrument and Appreciating Lotus Flowers (Cheong-geumsangryeon), late 18th century, ink and color on paper, 28. × 35.2 cm. 98 5.2 A jeogori (woman’s upper garment), 19th century, silk and cotton, Minsok 006999. 101 6.1a Detail of the Crown Prince Munhyo Boyangcheong Folding Screen Painting in Munhyoseja Boyangcheonggyebyeong, 1784, ink and color on silk, 160 × 58 cm each panel, Bongwan 10804. 113 6.1b Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Jeongbo, c. 18th century, scroll painting on silk, Shinsu 1652; drawn when Yi was promoted to the position of Panjungchubusa in 1762. 113 6.2a Shin Yunbok, Woman at Yeondang in Yeosokdocheop, c. early 19th century, ink and color on silk, 31.4 × 29.6 cm. 117 6.2b Shin Yunbok, Woman Wearing Jeonmo in Yeosokdocheop, c. early 19th century, ink and color on silk, 31.4 × 29.6 cm. 117 6.2c Gisan Kim Jungeun, A Minister in Court Attire in Gisan Pungsokhwacheop, c. late 19th century, ink and color on paper, 29.7 × 35.6 cm, 33.215:64_52 118 6.2d Gisan Kim Jungeun, Women Weavers in Gisan Pungsokhwacheop, c. late 19th century, ink and color on paper, 29.7 × 35.6 cm. 118 6.3a Kim Eunho reproducing the portraits of King Sunjong in 1928. 120 6.3b Kim Eunho reproducing the portraits of King Sejo in Changdeokgung in 1935. 120 6.3c King Taejo. One is the portrait designated as National Treasure No. 317 in which King Taejo is dressed in a blue dragon robe, painted in 1872 (the ninth year of King Gojong) by Jo Jungmuk, an artist of the Royal Bureau of Painting. 120 6.3d King Taejo in a red dragon robe, dated 1900. This portrait was partially burnt during a fire, so only half of the painting remains intact. 120 6.4a Anonymous, Portrait of Hwang Seongwon (?–1667), c. 17th century, scroll painting on silk, 180 × 103 cm. 121 6.4b Anonymous, Portrait of Hwang Jin (1550–93), c. 17th century, scroll painting on silk, 172 × 105 cm. 121 6.4c Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Sanhae (1539–1609), c. 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 161.5 × 82.7 cm, Deoksu 6157.118 121
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6.4d Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Chungwon (1537–1605), c. 1604, scroll painting on silk, 164 × 89 cm, F10101-01-W000003. 6.4e Anonymous, Portrait of Jeong Gonsu (1538–1602), scroll painting on silk, 174.5 × 98 cm, Bongwan 6503. 6.4f Anonymous, Portrait of Seong Su-ung. c. 18th century, scroll painting on silk, 134.5 × 70 cm, Bongwan 12413. 6.4g Anonymous, Portrait of Jo Gyeong (1541–1609), scroll painting on silk, 165.5 × 90 cm, Shinsu 14054. 6.4h Haechi hyungbae [A rank badge with a haechi], excavated from Jo Gyeong’s tomb, 34.5 × 35 cm, Seoulyeoksa 002187. 6.4i Kim Huigyeom, Portrait of Jeon Ilsang (1700–53), 1748, scroll painting on silk, 142.5 × 90.2 cm, kept at the Jangchungyeounggak House of the Damyang Jeon Clan’s Boryeonggong Sect in Yesan 6.5a Anonymous, Portrait of King Cheoljong, 1861, scroll painting on silk, 202 × 93 cm, Changdeok 6364. The king is wearing a sleeveless long military vest (jeonbok) over a military outfit (yungbok), with yellow bodice and red sleeves. 6.5b Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Changwun, 1782, scroll painting on silk, 153 × 86 cm. A rare example of a portrait featuring a subject dressed in a military uniform. 6.5c A black-and-white photograph of a military official preserved from the late Joseon period; a military sword (hwando) at the waist and a horse whip made of wisteria and silk or leather straps (deungchae) 6.5d Chae Yong-sin (1850–1941), Portrait of Yu Seokgeun, 1915, scroll painting on silk, 106.3 × 71.7 cm, Shinsu 13519. The sitter is holding a book in his hand, which is titled The Collected Writings of Neo-Confucianism, Seongrijeonseo. 6.5e Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Chae (1745–1820), c. late 18th–early 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 98.4 × 56.3 cm. The Confucian scholar’s jacket was viewed as representing Zhu Xi himself. 6.5f Byeon Sangbyeok (before 1726–75), Portrait of Yun Bonggu (1681–1767), 1750, scroll painting on silk, 119.38 × 90.17 cm. 7.1a A body with shell ornaments. Excavated from the Grave no. 6 of Janghang site. Gadeok Island, Busan. Neolithic period.
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7.1b Beaded necklaces. c. 3rd–4th century, Geumgwan Gaya. Excavated at Daeseong-dong Tomb no. 76, Gimhae. Total of 2,473 beads: crystal bead 10, carnelian bead 77, colored glass beads 2,386, length 210.4 cm. 7.1c Gold ornaments in the coffin, c. 5th century (ancient Silla), in situ during the excavation in 1973. The north mound of the Great Tomb of Hwangnam. 7.2a Daesamjak Norigae, late Joseon period, made of gilt silver, amber, corals, jade, pearls, silk. Length: 23.5cm. 7.2b Anonymous, detail of the Feast of a Diamond Wedding Anniversary from Pyeongsaengdo. c. 18th–19th century, part of an eight-folding screen, original painting size 53.9 × 35.2 cm, Deoksu 681. 7.3 A Movie Poster of Lee Chadon, 1962, printed on paper, 128 × 47 cm 7.4a, b The title page and the last page of Hwang Hogeun, Hanguk Jangsingu Misul Yeongu (1976). 7.4c Pages 170–1 with the golden crown from Gaya (National Treasure 138 of Samsung Leeum Museum). 7.4d Pages 278–9 Gilt-bronze Pensive Bodhisattva, late 6th century (National Treasure 78 of National Museum of Korea). 7.4e Pages 292–3 with surviving armor from Yuan for Goryeo dynasty. 7.4f Pages 430–1 with cheopji and ddeoljam, hair ornaments of Joseon. 8.1a Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 29, 1883. The Joseon emissary is meeting with US president Chester A. Arthur. 8.1b The New York Times, December 27, 1883. An advertisement showing the list of Western clothing items purchased in the US by the Joseon emissary Min Yeong-ik. 8.2a A broad-sleeved heukdallyeong (Great Court Uniform). 8.2b A narrow-sleeved heukdallyeong (Semiformal Court Uniform). 8.3 The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Daehan yejeon). 8.4a Anonymous, Portrait of Emperor Gojong dressed in a court ensemble (jobok) with a crown (tongcheongwan) and a red robe (gangsapo), 1918, ink and color on silk, 162.5 × 100 cm, Changdeok 6590. 8.4b Anonymous, Portrait of Emperor Gojong dressed in an ensemble for daily work (sangbok) with a hat (ikseongwan) and a yellow dragon robe (hwangnyongpo), c. early 20th century, scroll painting on silk, 137 × 70 cm. 8.4c Emperor Gojong and his Crown Prince in Western-style military uniforms, presumably worn for Great Military Rites, Gogung 543.
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8.4d Emperor Gojong and his Crown Prince in Western-style military uniforms, presumably worn for less formal Military Rites, and his seventh son, King Yeongchin in a traditional ensemble. 8.5a An illustration of Great Court Uniform of first rank officials, published in the Government Gazette in 1901. 8.5b Great Court Uniform of first-rank official, worn by Min Cheolhun. 8.5c Detail of b. The red embroidery signifies the owner, Min Tchul Whin (Min Cheolhun). JULES MARIA is the name of the tailor, and “14. R.du 4 Septembre. PARIS” is the address of the boutique. 9.1 “Until the Spring” design by Nora Noh, Yeowon. February 1968. 9.2a, b, c, d “New Everyday Clothing” in Yeowon. August 1961. 9.2e, f Photographs of two women in a religious convention. 1963. 9.3a Eung-sik Im (a.k.a. Limb Eung-sik), Yeoin-deul [Ladies], 1956, gelatin silver print, 46 × 56 cm. 9.3b Youngsoo Han, Myeongdong, Seoul, Korea, 1958. 9.4a, b Designer Kim Cheol-ung, Photographer Joong-man Kim, “New Wave,” Meot, November 1983. 9.4c, d Designer Cheon-beom Bae, Photographer Gwang-hae Kim, Meot Collection Summer Message, Meot, June 1984. 9.4e, f Designer Lee Rija, Photographer, Choi Young-don, Meot, October 1983; Designer Lee Younghee, Photographer Bae Byung-woo, Meot, May 1985. 10.1a Correspondence written in classical Korean discovered from the tomb of Lady Kim (Suncheon clan). 10.1b A cheollik from the tomb of Lady Kim (Suncheon clan), late 16th century. 10.1c Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), Man in Korean Costume, c. 1617, black chalk with touches of red chalk in the face, 38.4 × 23.5 cm. 10.2 Stylistic Transformation of Wonsam 10.3 Stylistic Changes in Dang-ui (16th–20th century) 10.4 Transformation of Jang-ui (15th–20th century) 11.1a, b Seok Juseon Memorial Museum & the 3rd Gallery (2016) 11.1c Photograph of Dr. Seok Juseon (1911–96) at the museum, taken in 1996. 11.1d Poster of the first exhibition on period dress in South Korea, Dress of the Joseon Dynasty (1958). 11.2 Excavated dress items.
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Bridal robe. Open-crotch pants with different lengths of double-layered legs at one side, late 16th century. 12.1a A gunbok (military uniform) on display (glass case) in the East Asia gallery. 12.1b A jeollip, late 19th century, A.1905.405. 12.2a (full), b (detail). A gunbok reproduced by Koo Haeja (1942–present) in 2018. V.2018.11. 12.2c, d. Underlayers for gunbok by Koo Haeja. 2018. 12.3a A jebok (sacrificial ensemble for officials) on display, 19th century, Perth Museum and Art Gallery. 12.3b An aengsam (scholar’s ceremonial robe for passing the state exam), 19th century, Perth Museum and Art Gallery. 13.1 Woman’s hanbok made prior to 1971 [Item components 376/1-3], green and white nylon and cotton fiber, 143 × 132.5 cm. 13.2a Geum Key-Sook, Dream in Green JoGoRe [Jeogori], green and silver wire with green and clear beads, 27 × 121 cm, no. 3284/2/. 13.2b Geum Key-Sook, Blue Jang-ot, blue and silver wire with blue and clear beads, 148 × 175 cm, no. 3284/1. 13.3 Hanbok rental stores in Seoul and other South Korean cities are popular among tourists who wish to try on hanbok and stroll traditional streets, and also at times among Koreans wishing to rent them for special events or photographs.
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Historical timeline: Ancient Korea. 26 Textual sources for study of dress in Early Korea (1st century bce – 936 ce ). 27 Sources for King Geunchogo (2010). 301 Sources and Designs for The Princess’s Man. 304 Sources and Designs for The Royal Tailor. 309
Contributors Elias Alexander is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, working under the supervision of Dr. Millie Creighton. He received the Outstanding Graduating Anthropology Student Award from the Canadian Anthropology Society for his MA at UBC. His research, funded by the Centre for Korean Research at UBC, has continually revolved around issues of LGBTQ+ identity, politics, as well as space and community making in the South Korean context. Rosina Buckland is Curator of the Department of Asia at the British Museum. Previously she was Curator of Japanese Art and Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, and senior curator at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she was responsible for creating the museum’s new East Asia Gallery (opened in 2019), for which she commissioned a replica of a Joseon military uniform. She read Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and obtained her doctorate in Japanese art history in 2008 from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She also contributed to Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art (2013), and is currently writing a book on Japanese art in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. In-woo Chang is Professor of the Department of Fashion Industry Studies at Incheon National University in South Korea. She received her Ph.D. from Dongguk University in 1996. Her research has examined archaeologically excavated clothing and textiles from processes of retrieval to analysis and conservation, tracing historical progression in their structure and construction as well as their relationship to Neo-Confucianism. She has published many articles on the subject and two monographs: Clothes Retrieved from Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Tombs in South Korea (1995), Clothes Excavated from Tomb of Lady Lee from Hansan Clan (2013). Millie Creighton is an anthropologist, Japan specialist, and Asianist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She was a founder of the Centre for Japanese Research at UBC and is on the Executive Board of the Centre for Korean Research. She has extensively xiii
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researched gender, consumerism, department stores, tourism, popular culture, and minorities in Japan, receiving the Canon Prize for work on Japanese department stores’ marketing of nostalgia, community, tradition, and cultural identity. She has also extensively researched Korea, publishing on singing, Korean Noraebang (Karaoke), Korean Wave, K-Drama, K-Pop, masculinities, and textiles. Kyeongmi Joo is a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at Chungnam National University and serves on the Cultural Heritage Committee of the Cultural Heritage Administration in South Korea. She received her Ph.D. from Seoul National University specializing in Asian art history and formerly taught at Seoul National University and Pukyung National University. Her research has examined East Asian Buddhist art and traditional crafts productions. She is the author of A Study of Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient China (2003) and Blacksmith (2011), and the editor of Selected Inscriptions of Min Nan Thu Area in Bagan (2021) and The Art of Silk Road: New Research Trends and Perspective (2021). Minjee Kim is a research associate of Tracing Patterns Foundation and independent historian specializing in dress, fashion, and textile history of Korea. She received her Ph.D. from Seoul National University and formerly taught at Jeonju Kijeon College, Seoul National University, and Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She has served on the Board of Costume Society of America Western Region since 2018. She has lectured extensively for institutions across the U.S, Canada, and South Korea. Her recent publications include three translated works: 2,000 Years of Korean Embroidery (2020), Geumbak: Korean Traditional Gold Leaf Imprinting (2020), and Traditional Children’s Clothing in Korea (2019). Kyungmee Lee is Professor in the School of Wellness Industry Convergence (Major of Clothing Industry) at Hankyong National University in South Korea. She received her Ph.D. from Seoul National University, and is a recipient of the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant in 2012 and 2013. She co-led the costuming project for The Korean Empire Reenactment of Diplomatic Ministers Reception Ceremony from 2010 to 2021 with support from the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. She is the author of Uniform Begins: The Establishment and Transition of Western-style Court Attire in the Korean Empire (Minsokwon, 2012), and also contributed to Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia (2018). Minjung E. Lee is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design at Seoul National University where she received her Ph.D. in 2010. She was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Davis, 2016 –17, and a costume designer at the Korean Broadcasting
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System (KBS) ArtsVision, 2002–15. She worked for many historical dramas including Empress Cheonchu: The Iron Empress (2007), Man of the Princess (2011), Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2013), and Gamgyuksidae: Inspiring Generation (2014), and King Geunchogo: The King of Legend (2010) brought her Excellent Costume Design Award from KBS ArtsVision in 2011. Myung-eun Lee joined the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum at Dankook University in 2007 as Chief Curator for Dress Collection and retired in 2022. During her tenure, she oversaw over 12,000 Korean clothing objects dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, and held annual and special exhibitions along with public education programs. As a specialist for the court dress documents called balgi, she contributed to 1882 Nyeon Wangseja Gwallye Balgi (The Supply and Personnel List for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony of the Crown Prince in 1882) (2017) and Jeongmi Garye Boksik Eohwi (Dress Terms from the Document of the Wedding Ceremony of King Heonjong and Concubine Kim in 1847) (2018). She established Wooriot Research Studio for historic Korean clothing restoration and care in 2022. Yunah Lee is a principal lecturer based at the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton, UK. Her research interests are design history and material culture in Korea and East Asia, transnational and cross-cultural studies of modernity and modernism, representations of national and personal identities, and political agencies of art and design. Lee’s research on Korean contemporary fashion and dress was published in the International Journal of Fashion Studies (2017) and Hallyu! The Korean Wave exhibition catalogue (2022). She co-edited Design and Modernity in Asia: National Identity and Transnational Exchange 1945–1990 (2022). Gil-hong Min is Curator for Fine Arts at the National Museum of Korea and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Seoul National University, currently writing her dissertation on twentieth-century Korean portraits. Since 2004, she has curated exhibitions illuminating works of Joseon painters including Yi Insang (1710–60), Jeong Seon (1676–1759), Kang Sehwang (1713–91), and Yi Jeong-jik (1841–1910). Especially Joseon Painters as Envoys to China in 2012 brought her critical acclaim. Min also contributed to the museum’s collection catalogues: Joseon Portraits and Court Paintings from the National Museum of Korea (2008–12). Ga Young Park is Assistant Professor in the Department of Fashion Design at Soongeui Women’s College in Seoul, South Korea. She received her Ph.D. from
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Seoul National University specializing in Korean armor and military dress. She is the author of Royal Court fashion of the Joseon Dynasty (2017), and co-author of Chimseon, Korean Traditional Sewing (2015). She also contributed to Uigwe of the Joseon Dynasty: Current Status and Outlook (2012), and led many projects producing period costumes for reenactment events. Kyunghee Pyun is Associate Professor in the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Her scholarship focuses on the history of collecting, reception of Asian art and design, diaspora of Asian artists, and Asian-American visual culture. She wrote Fashion, Identity, Power in Modern Asia (2018) discussing modernized dress in the early twentieth century. She also co-edited Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation (2022) and American Art from Asia: Artistic Praxis and Theoretical Divergence (2022). Her monograph on Asian fashion is School Uniforms in East Asia: Fashioning Statehood and Self (2023). Lee Talbot is Curator for the Textile Museum Collection at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum in Washington DC. He joined The Textile Museum in 2007, specializing in the history of East Asian textiles. He has curated numerous exhibitions including Bingata! Only in Okinawa (2016), Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China (2018), and Korean Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway (2022). He has published catalogues, articles, and the chapters on Chinese and Korean decorative arts in History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400–2000. He was previously curator at the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum in Seoul, and serves on the board of The Textile Society of America. Jaeyoon Yi received her Ph.D. from Seoul National University, specializing in modern Korean fashion history. She was a visiting scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 2012–13, and has taught at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea since 2013. She published many articles in international journals including “Textbooks and Textiles: Fashion in East Asia 1920–1945” (2015) and “‘Modern girl (毛斷)’ in Korea 1920s and 1930s: The ideal ‘Modern girl’ image and fashion in Korea” (2014) in the International Journal of Costume and Fashion.
Foreword It is just the right time for this compendium of Korean dress history. Recently, it has been a fascination for me to witness the global awakening of South Korean popular culture. Movies have won Academy Awards, musicians populate many orchestras and bands in the USA. Even our Children’s Theater in Minneapolis introduced Korean culture with “Bina’s Six Apples,” a charming Korean play about the perils of leaving home. As South Korean youth participate in such phenomenon as K-pop, they should not lose sight of their long, strong, and wondrous heritage. A very good reason for this book to be published now is a reminder of the importance of traditions and traditional dress within Korean culture. As I reviewed the chapters, I recalled my experiences of Korea’s very rich history through my research and outreach. In 1988 Dr. Geum, Key-Sook arrived at the University of Minnesota as a postdoctoral scholar. She had just completed her Ph.D. at Ewha Womans University and wanted to expand her expertise of Korean traditional dress and apparel design. As her appointed mentor, I quickly learned that we were like-minded and as a result became research colleagues with a productive agenda. Her interest in the aesthetics of Korean traditional dress reflected my interest in aesthetics of dress (DeLong, 1987, 1998; Delong & Geum, 1997). Together as partners, we forged a research agenda that quickly expanded to include many of her esteemed friends and colleagues. Our research in South Korea began in the early 1990s, when Earthwatch discovered our publications of a cross-cultural nature and invited us to start an onsite research/educational project between the two countries. With the opportunity provided through Earthwatch funding, we collaborated on research of Korean hanbok as cultural heritage. Our team of Americans traveled to Seoul to collect data on Korean culture, the context of wearing hanbok, and its use as inspiration for the Korean people. The American team, whose expertise consisted mostly of medical doctors and nurses, interviewed Korean youth as well as “aged ladies” in senior community centers. In exchange for their research on hanbok, the American team received an intimate perspective on the culture of South Korea. We met at the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum at Dankook University to examine artifacts. We visited those contemporary designers mentioned in these chapters—the Americans even tried on and were photographed in Korean xvii
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traditional dress. We experienced Chuseok harvest festival within the homes of Korean families. Several members from the USA Earthwatch team had served during the Korean War in the 1950s and they wanted to check out the status of the Korean peninsula—and were delighted with what they discovered. In our research and interviews within contemporary settings, we discovered the important role hanbok played in expressing Korean heritage. Lee (2010) suggests that the definitive form of Korean Hanbok was established at a very early date and preserves the Confucian concept that “expresses dignity in men’s dress and modesty in women’s attire” (p. 315). At the same time, we learned of the continual change in styling of traditional dress. The wearer of traditional dress would sometimes confess in interview that her ensemble was not up to date because of the current changes in details such as fabric textures or colors. Lee Talbot in Chapter 5 reflects upon this discovery of the changing trends in production and styling of traditional dress that emerged throughout the Joseon dynasty. The period from 1875 to 1975 was a period of great change in Korean woven silk textiles, according to Kwon (1988). From her collection of photographic and actual silk samples from various Korean museums, private collections, and silk manufacturing companies, she analyzed design changes in terms of types and combinations of motifs, configurations and organization of motifs, and visual importance of motifs and their symbolism. Traditionally, symbolic patterns that were oriented to naturalistic and stylized motifs gave way to non-symbolic and decorative patterns after World War II. My involvement continued with Korean American cultural exchanges. In 2005 we involved students who collaborated across the two countries—Korea and the USA—in student-led project teams. A joint class located in both the USA and South Korea was the source of cross-cultural teams who met to plan their projects via the internet. The culmination of the project was two-fold: when in the USA, the Korean students arrived to exhibit their collaborative cultural projects with students in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota; when in Seoul, the US students participated in a symposium and wrote essays with their partners to explain their collaborative projects. As the students worked on this joint cultural project, they absorbed much about Korean culture. They learned that the Korean people are gracious and energetic—proud of their heritage and most importantly, they do not take their heritage for granted. During another visit to South Korea, I attended the “fashion” show that is mentioned by Lee in Chapter 11. Excavation of a property brought forth graves of the past with much of the clothing preserved enough to simulate a duplicate for the show. Models who were ancestors of those found in the excavated graves
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proudly displayed the simulated clothing from what was found in the graves. My expectations rose rapidly as I realized this was experience of a lifetime. This simulation of Korean traditional dress worn by ancestors is primary data of the most remarkable kind! As I stayed in the home of Dr. Geum and her family on my visits to Seoul, I became more acquainted with her extended family—her children, her husband, and relatives. I even visited her parents and grandmother in her birth home. The insights gained about Korea through her family members were priceless. Her husband Yoo, Chang Jong is so knowledgeable about what makes Korean art and culture aesthetically distinctive. Dr. Geum, her family, and colleagues were so welcoming, they deserve to be named a national treasure for all they have done to promote South Korea. And they continue to elevate Korean heritage in educational programs at the YooGeum Museum in Seoul. I believe the androgynous styles from the Joseon period could become a model for today’s clothing as our young, having come through a century focused upon binary clothing, ask for examples of nonbinary clothing. In Chang’s case study in Chapter 10, she discusses the stylistic progression of three articles of ceremonial attire—wonsam (robe), dang-ui (jacket), and jang-ui (coat)—all of which demonstrate their transformation toward the late Joseon from androgynous styles worn by both sexes to primarily women’s wear. Chang notes that this parallels the penetration of Neo-Confucian tenets, that emphasized binary gender differentiation (namnyeo yubyeol), into people’s lives. Korean fashion has evolved quickly and become globalized in a relatively short time. According to the editorial of a recent edition of Fashion Practice (2015) by Dr. Geum, Key-Sook, Korea has contributions to make in global fashion and the global village, and Korean aesthetics and their creativity can be actualized in the twenty-first century. However, the contribution can only be optimized and enhanced if Korean heritage through traditional dress is not forgotten. Marilyn DeLong, Ph.D., College of Design, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN.
References DeLong, Marilyn. Second Edition. 1998. The Way We Look, Dress and Aesthetics. New York: Fairchild. DeLong, Marilyn. First Edition. 1987. The Way We Look, Dress and Aesthetics. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
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DeLong, Marilyn. 1997. The Way We Look, Dress and Aesthetics. Translated into Korean language by Geum, Key-Sook. Seoul: Ism. Geum, Key-Sook, Min, Seoha, and Jung, Hyun. Guest Editors. 2015. Special Issue. “Korean Fashion,” Fashion Practice, The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry. Volume 7(2): 143–52. Kwon, Yoon-Hee. 1988. Symbolic and Decorative Motifs of Korean Silk: 1875–1975. Seoul: Il Ji Sa Publishers. Lee, Kyung Ja. 2010. “Overview of Korea, Traditional,” in Vollmer, John E., Editor, East Asia, Volume 6. In Eicher, Joanne B., Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Oxford: Berg.
Acknowledgments While teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, and other art and design universities over the last ten years, we have had more and more questions from students and scholars who want to know about Korean traditional dress or Asian dress in general. As an art historian from South Korea, Pyun thanks these students and colleagues for their questions, for the new learning the queries led to, and for their encouragement to publish a book on the topic. Kim, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 2000 after studying dress history at Seoul National University and teaching for eight years, found the field of dress and fashion history of Korea underrepresented and lacking in specialists in global academia. With rising awareness of South Korea’s geopolitical, economic, and cultural importance in the last two decades, however, Kim has been fortunate to have many opportunities to participate in education and exchanges with college students, museum specialists, scholars, and the general public. She appreciates the offers made by those who have strived to broaden their horizons to encompass the dress culture and history of Korea in their professions, and Pyun has been central in this effort. This anthology has its roots in the international conference Documenting Korean Costume: Primary Sources and New Interpretations in March 2017. It was the year before, in 2016, that Pyun and Kim met at the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies in Seattle and discussed the need for an international conference on dress culture in Korean history. Joo Kyeongmi, a presenter at the conference, stressed the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Joo and Yi Jaeyoon, another presenter at the conference, are both contributors to this volume. In November 2016, Pyun hosted a series of programs on hanbok education at the Fashion Institute of Technology funded by the Hanbok Advancement Center under the auspices of the Korean Craft and Design Foundation (KCDF). Kim coordinated the program, which comprised lectures and hands-on workshops for students, and a symposium for museum curators working with Korean art; the workshop was led by the National Cultural Property of South Korea, Chimseon-jang (針線匠) Master Seamstress Koo Haeja, and Lee Minjung, a contributor to this volume, also presented at the xxi
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symposium. Pyun and Kim are grateful for the support of Dr. Park Sunyoung, the former project manager of the Hanbok Advancement Center. In 2017, Pyun organized the aforementioned Documenting Korean Costume conference for fashion design professors, dress historians, museum curators, and other specialists in related areas. Jinyoung Jin, Director of the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University, provided the venue and steadfast support for the conference. We thank Suh Kisook, Nancy Micklewright, Katherine Anne Paul, Daisy Yiyou Wang, and Kim Sunyoung, speakers at the symposium, for advocating for this book. Park Gayoung, Lee Kyungmee, Lee Myeong-eun, and Chang In-woo Pyun, who were not able to accept invitations to the conference, are all contributors to the book. Joo Kyeongmi, Lee Yunah, and Lee Talbot were enthusiastic supporters for both projects. This project is a well-timed collaboration by archaeologists, art historians, curators, dress historians, drama costume designers, and designers of historical reproductions. The Academy of Korean Studies provided funding both for the 2017 conference and a publication grant in 2021; this book would not have been possible without their support. The fund from AKS enabled the printing of illustrations in full color. When the plan was conceived, Kim’s revered advisers— Professors Emeriti Cho Woohyun at Sungkyunkwan University and Song Kiho at Seoul National University—graciously wrote to the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) in support of the book. Kim deeply appreciates the professors’ support. Pyun notes the remarkable scholarship and friendship of Kim Minjee throughout the seven-year journey. Pyun and Kim would like to express their appreciation for the support of Joanne B. Eicher, Regents Professor Emerita, and Marilyn DeLong at the University of Minnesota. This publication is inspired by Eicher’s long-time scholarship on non-Western dress and fashion. DeLong graciously wrote the foreword to this book with memoirs of her research and outreach to South Korea. Pyun and Kim thank the Bloomsbury Academic team for their efficient and professtional guidance towards final publication: Frances Arnold and Rebecca Hamilton (editors), Merv Honeywood (project management), and Ben Harris (copyediting). Like everyone, contributors to this volume faced many challenges during the last phase of production in 2020–1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Arnold was flexible and supportive of an adjusted timeline. Pyun and Kim are also grateful to an anonymous reviewer who read the manuscript with great enthusiasm and generously shared insightful views with the authors. Feedback from a genuine, engaged reader improved the structure of the book.
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The Fashion Institute of Technology supported Pyun’s research activities and grant management related to this project. Pyun thanks Anna Blume, Elizabeth Hope Clancy, Daniel Cole, Justine De Young, Lourdes Font, Yuniya Kawamura, Su Ku, Jean Amato, Elaine Maldonado, and Molly Schoen, her dear colleagues and administrators at FIT. Kim is grateful to Kyungmi Chun, Korean Studies Librarian at Stanford University, for the extensive acquisition of books on the dress history of Korea. Visual creator Suh Younghee generously provided the image of her brilliant work for the book jacket. Stella Sohyun Kim and Shinae Kwon translated many chapters into English. Nick Hall helped with copyediting; Robin Lynch provided graphic design for illustrations; Yeonwoo Kim offered editorial assistance. Pyun and Kim appreciate them all. Finally, Pyun would like to thank her family. Her mother was a model of household management skills including baking, floral arrangement, sewing, knitting, buttoning, dress making, and embroidery as a former teacher of home economics with a brief stint as a design associate at Nonno, a Korean fashion brand founded in 1971. Pyun’s children, Justin and Alex, have fulfilled their obligation to dress up in hanbok during seasonal festivals for non-Korean audiences at their schools and model at Pyun’s dress history classes; when they leave home, the responsibility will fall to her husband, Jin Woo. Kim dedicates this book as her first publication to her professor Lee Soonwon, who opened the door to her study of the dress history of Korea at Seoul National University. Lastly, Kim’s heartfelt appreciation goes to her family. Her mother particularly showed her love for hanbok by wearing them every day at home until the mid1980s. Kim is grateful for her parents’ and in-laws’ steadfast support of her studies, and the enormous cooperation and encouragement from her husband Soobum and her two daughters, Shawn and Grace.
Notes on the Usage of the Korean Language 1. 2. 3.
4.
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The book adopted the “Revised Romanization of Korean,” promoted by South Korea as the official Korean-language romanization system. For the convenience of non-Korean readers, the hyphen is included for multiphrase Korean words. The names of some Korean artists and authors are written with the conventional romanization of their names because they had been introduced in English-language works. In the text, Korean names follow the Korean convention of placing the surname before the given name. For example, the name of the Korean painter, Kim Hong-do is written as such so that the surname “Kim” precedes the given name “Hong-do.” However, in the endnotes, Korean scholars’ names for English-language works are written as Kyungmee Lee, the given name “Kyungmee” followed by the surname “Lee” as is common in the English-language convention. Korean scholars’ names for Koreanlanguage works are written as “Hwang Hogeun,” honoring the Korean system of the surname “Hwang” before the given name “Hogeun.”
1
Making Dress History in the Context of Primary Sources Kyunghee Pyun
Introduction With the rise of popular music and Korean Wave films in the 1990s and followed by period dramas consumed via online streaming networks in the 2010s, I have seen increasing demand for and growing interest in Korean fashion studies and dress history from specialists, students, and laypersons alike.1 I began seeking experts on dress history in South Korea when I started receiving research papers from my students at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design on various topics of fashion and dress culture from East Asian history, which suffered from a lack of available scholarly sources: there were few books on topics in East Asian dress history available until 2015, and museum collections in the US had a relatively smaller number of clothing artifacts of late Joseon or modern Korea compared to their numerous kimonos or Manchu imperial robes, and they were usually not on display—many ethnic garments including hanbok belonged to the collections of natural history museums or folk art museums. This book is similar to a chronological survey of garments worn by people living on the Korean peninsula over thousands of years, from the Three Kingdoms through the Korean Empire and to the present (Figure 1.1). One may want to read a survey of ceremonial and quotidian as well as high fashion for the elite and street fashion for commoners. This volume is not a comprehensive handbook of various types of garments. Such a book could try to define a basic dress system at court and at socioreligious institutions in pre-modern dynasties. And it could introduce arguments for when the fashion system began. For example, researchers often ask whether a garment existed before the late Joseon dynasty or whether it emerged only after the modernization in the late nineteenth 1
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Figure 1.1 Maps of Historical Territory of Korea. Redrawn by Soya Boo, based on Korean History in Maps, pp. 19, 22, 50, 68, 80, 1 in order. a. Tribal Confederacies, 3rd –4th century b. Three Kingdoms, mid-6th century
Making Dress History in the Context of Primary Sources
Figure 1.1 (Continued). c. The Northern and Southern States: Balhae and Later Silla, 8th–9th century d. Goryeo (918–1392)
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Figure 1.1 (Continued). e. Joseon (1392–1910), northern border from 1434 f. Korea Today (1953–present)
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century. A handbook of garments could compare the development of hanbok in South and North Korea, or from overseas Korean communities, from 1945 to the present. Although it introduces diverse types of garments and their various names throughout different time periods, this book does not provide such a coherent survey. Nor is this a sourcebook introducing the sociology and the agencies of the Korean fashion system2—such a book would properly include studies of ancient garments or medieval dress in East Asia, including Korea. In the beginning, Minjee Kim and I contemplated on writing one. However, we could not access all the archaeological artifacts of territories that arch over the current national territories of North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and Russia as of 2020. Some eighty years ago, North Korea was not a separate nation while Manchuria had a large population of Korean people working and studying there as Japan invaded and occupied both regions. Korean people were also living in the Primorskaya Oblast or the maritime region of the Soviet Union throughout the first half of the twentieth century. As the map of historical dynasties of Korea shows, the political rulership of Korean kingdoms included a larger territory in Northeast China and Far East Russia. China’s growing nationalism puts historians of Northeast Asia in an alarming position.3 Instead, this book is meant as a prologue to such studies, written in English for a global readership: following the example of Prolegomena to the Study of Roman Art (1979) by Otto J. Brendel (1901–73), this book could be called Prolegomena to the Study of Korean Dress. Living through the rise of hallyu or the Korean Wave in North America and beyond throughout the 2000s, I felt a compelling similarity between the interest in ancient Rome driven by popular culture among baby boomers in North America and global enthusiasm for Korean popular culture among the millennials. In 1953 Brendel published a long essay called “Prolegomena to a Book on Roman Art” for an American audience of scholars, experts, patrons, and amateurs subscribing to Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. It was expanded in 1969 in a second essay, “Roman Art in Modern Perspective.” Brendel wanted to give an overview of the systems and socioreligious structures behind Roman art and architecture to post-war American readers who, unlike Brendel and his compatriots in pre-World War II Germany, could not necessarily read Latin and had not studied the history of ancient Greece and Rome. In the 1950s American audiences also consumed epic popular culture dramas related to early Christianity set in the Roman Empire. One example, Quo Vadis, an epic historical drama, was released in Technicolor in 1951. Another popular film, Ben Hur
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(1959), based on the 1880 novel, Ben Hur: A Life of Christ, was released in 1959 to a world audience. Other popular films, such as 1953’s Roman Holiday, a romantic comedy set in Rome, were also released in this decade. These American films were tremendously popular in Cold War-era Korea as well. Global interest in Korean culture including dress history has taken a similar path. This book is unique as a collaboration of scholars from various disciplines and practices. By training and profession, I call myself an art historian, and I long considered dress history to be a discipline far from my own. When I was an undergraduate student in South Korea in the 1990s, dress and textile history was part of a department which is now called Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion at the College of Human Ecology at Seoul National University.4 I never attempted to learn about the history of dress within that department, although I discovered that research on figure paintings in art history relied heavily on dress history and that art historians might collaborate with dress historians. While I took a course on the history of Korean architecture (taught by an architect in the Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering, part of the College of Engineering at my university), which seemed to me at the time related to art history, I saw dress history as an esoteric area not pertinent to my discipline. I undertook to educate myself in the field after I started teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2013. The chapters in this volume—by dress historians, anthropologists, sociologists, art historians, archaeologists, design historians, textile historians, drama costume designers, artistic directors of historical garment reproductions, curators, conservators, garment restorers, and museum educators—resulted from numerous meetings, symposia, conferences, and exhibitions that I have attended over the last decade.
Dress History in Europe and North America: Pedagogy and Historiography In my original field of study—ancient and medieval studies of Western Europe, on which I wrote my dissertation—garment fragments, textiles, liturgical garments, and tapestries are crucial sources and are always included in surveys of medieval art.5 On the other hand, a rich compendium of painting and sculpture from art historical surveys of post-Renaissance periods hardly includes surviving garments or clothing accessories as objects of serious research. There are separate courses on the history of Western dress or European fashion; originally designed for specialists in dress history and textile conservation, they
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have attracted the attention of people interested in visual culture in the past few decades. Speaking of my own institution’s pedagogical tradition of teaching Euro-American fashion history, I summarize the rise of dress history as requested by intellectual and cultural circles in Paris, London, and New York. These are still influential centers of fashion education and fashion industry. I have also extensively lived and studied in those places. One would note that Milan, Florence, Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, or Munich, for example, are equally important places for dress history and fashion. The reason I lay out development of dress history in cultural institutions of Paris, London, and New York is due to my familiarity with them and due to insufficiency of my first-hand experience in other cities as much as in rising cosmopolitan hubs of fashion in East Asia, South Asia, or in Central and South America. It is not to validate the centrality of some Euro-American centers over other places or cultures.6 In France, the Société de l’Histoire du Costume was created in 1907. Maurice Leloir (1853–1940), the book illustrator and collector, envisioned a worthy collection of historical costumes. Books on luxurious garments were printed in sixteenth-century Europe. Illustrated surveys of historic costume were popular among antiquarians and art collectors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; examples include Auguste Racinet, Le Costume historique (Paris: Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1888) and Georges Duplessis, Costumes historiques des XVIe, XVIIe, et XVIIIe siècles (Paris: Levy, 1867). In 1920, the Société donated its collection of over two thousand items to the City of Paris, which kept them at the Musée Carnavalet where, beginning in 1954, several rooms displayed costume objects. The Musée du Costume was created in 1957 as an annex of the Musée Carnavalet and found a second exhibition location at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 1971, the collection found a permanent home in the Palais Galliera and was renamed Musée de la Mode et du Costume in 1977. Madeleine Delpierre was curator from 1956 to 1984, followed by Guillaume Garnier, who died in 1989, and then by Catherine Join-Diéterle. Since 2011 the Musée Galliera has been headed by Olivier Saillard. As is well known, the Courtauld Institute of Art established a graduate program on dress history in 1965. Sir Anthony F. Blunt (1907–83), Surveyor of the King’s Collection and the Queen’s Collection, was an expert of Renaissance and Baroque art and one of the authors of the venerable art history survey series Pelican History of Art, described as “one of the cornerstones of twentieth-century scholarship” and a “landmark in art history publishing.” First published by the Penguin Group in 1953 and by Yale University Press since 1992, this important series emphasized architecture (the volume titles in the series often include
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the words art and architecture). Blunt was the author of Art and Architecture in France 1500–1700, first published in 1953. This book was regarded as so authoritative in the field of French Renaissance and Baroque art that it has had four editions: in 1953, 1970, 1973, and 1980. Its focuses are architecture, sculpture, and painting, with less on decorative arts and none on dress history. Sir Allen Lane (1902–70), founder of Penguin Books, and Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–83), a British émigré architectural historian from Germany, conceived the popular series on the history of art and architecture after Pevsner was released from an internment camp in 1940. Pevsner once worked as a buyer of modern textiles and ceramics for the Gordon Russell furniture showroom in London in the 1930s, and made a significant contribution to design history, including An Enquiry into Industrial Art in England (1937) and Pioneers of the Modern Movement: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (1936), which was later renamed Pioneers of Modern Design. Thanks to Pevsner, the Pelican History of Art contains much about architecture but little on decorative arts, textiles, or clothing. I began to realize that, since 2001, more historians have been publishing monographs on fashion and dress history. This has something to do with the rise of visual culture, gender studies, material culture, the history of collecting, and popular culture as an outcome of the new historicism emerging in the 1980s. The Courtauld Institute has had an MA program in dress history since 1977 and saw the establishment of the Association of Dress Historians in 1991.7 Until the late 1990s, dress history was confined to a group of scholars devoted to the preservation or study of theatrical or ethnic costume. The Costume Society in the UK was founded in 1965 and has been publishing its journal Costume since 1965. According to its website, the Society “promotes the study of all aspects of clothing and textiles and aims to encourage access to costume history, including contemporary dress.” It defines its appeal as “wide-ranging and objectbased” and its membership as “including academics, collectors, curators, designers, re-enactors, students, and informed enthusiasts across the world.”8 The Costume Society of America was founded in 1973 and now has six regional groups. It has also published Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America since 1975. As design history gained a significant profile in the UK, dress and textile research centers are quite prolific.9 Textiles, embroidery, or tapestry museums have sprung up. Fashion and dress exhibitions were regularly introduced at the Victoria & Albert Museum as it aimed to showcase works by British manufacturers from the 1850s. The department of fashion and textiles has been a most crucial
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part of the museum. With funding from the trade organization in London, The Clothworkers’ Company, the museum was able to establish The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion in 2013.10 This center provides access to researchers studying a broad range of materials including textiles, tapestries, needlework, embroideries, dresses, and other clothing items from around the world. The V&A’s 1971 exhibition entitled Fashion: An Anthology by Cecil Beaton opened a new era of spectacular dress exhibitions with works loaned or donated by designers and fashionable elite from Europe and America.11 It was also in the 1970s when the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art started to create exhibitions on fashion history. Diana Vreeland (1903–89), the well-known fashion columnist-cum-socialite, served as the special consultant from 1972 to 1989 and presented special exhibitions such as The World of Balenciaga (1973), The Glory of Russian Costume (1976), and Vanity Fair (1977). Richard Martin (1947–99) took the position of Curator of the Costume Institute; with the support of Harold Koda (b. 1950) he created a connection between art and dress in shows such as Cubism and Fashion (1998) and Rock Style (1999).12 New York University’s Costume Studies started its MA program in 1979, and was the first curriculum in the United States to educate specialists in the newly emerging fields of dress history, conservation, and exhibition. A similar program for an MA degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology is called Fashion and Textile Studies.13 In 1980, Richard Martin became involved with fashion exhibitions at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Founded in 1969, FIT’s Design Laboratory (renamed The Museum at FIT in 1993) had amassed a large study collection of haute couture dresses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the fashion industry became a pivotal element of modernity. Before 1993, Martin and Koda held a series of crucial exhibitions such as Fashion and Surrealism, Three Women, and Jocks and Nerds. After Valerie Steel joined The Museum at FIT in 1997, it became a leader in academic symposiums and crucial exhibitions covering the entire modern era, including Femme Fatale: Fashion and Visual Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Paris (2002); The Corset: Fashioning the Body (2000); and Gothic: Dark Glamour (2008). The V&A in London has always presented costume and accessory exhibitions in its mission as a museum of decorative arts. Its departments of textiles, wedding dresses, and fashion have huge collections from the seventeenth century through today including items from Europe, India, and East Asia.14 A recent groundbreaking show in the US was Fashion, Impressionism, and Modernity held
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in 2013 at the Met. Along with crowd-pleasing shows on fashion icons such as Alexander McQueen or Jacqueline Onassis, Fashion, Impressionism, and Modernity drew scholarly attention for its wealth of primary documents and costume objects from the end of the eighteenth century. The Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800 held at the Met in 2013 was another showcase for the intricate trade of luxury textile across the New World and the Old World, and across the Eurasia during the early modern period.
Dress History in Contemporary Korea: Historiography If European dress history entered academia in the 1960s, dress history studies in Korea had a comparable start in institutions of higher education— contemporaneous with programs in North America like Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University. Korea, Japan, or Taiwan were important centers of textile manufacturing for the globe from the 1960s to the 1980s. It is reasonable to introduce dress and textiles history to students enrolled in fashion design, home economics, and textile engineering. Dress history as an academic discipline, however, was recognized much later in Korea than in Europe, which saw publications of dictionaries and reference books in the twentieth century. In 1946, Yi Yeoseong wrote a survey of dress history called Joseon boksikgo 조선복식고 (A Study of Korean Dress). Yi was a socialist intellectual who settled in North Korea in 1948 and wrote several books on Korean art and architecture in the 1950s.15 He had collaborated with students at Ewha Womans University (EWU) to design replicas of garments of the Three Kingdoms period before moving to North Korea. The Korean Society of Costume was established in 1975 and has been publishing its eponymous journal, Boksik 복식 服飾: Journal of the Korean Society of Costume, since 1977. From the beginning it published research papers on traditional Korean dress along with studies of contemporary fashion.16 It organized its first international symposium in 1980. International Journal of Costume and Fashion (IJCF) debuted in 2001 as an English-language journal for an international audience. In the same year the Korean Society of Costume was founded, You Hikyung’s 700-page Hanguk Boksik-sa: Korean Dress History was published; Hwang Hogeun’s The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments came out the following year, in 1976.17 The Society of Korean Traditional Costume was founded in 1997 and has published its journal, Hanbok Munhwa: Journal of Korean Traditional Costume, since 1998. The Costume Culture Association (Boksik Munhwa Hakhoe), founded
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in 1993, encompasses the fashion and textile industries. It publishes its namesake Korean-language journal six times a year and an English-language journal called The International Journal of Costume Culture twice a year. While the Textile Society of America was founded in 1980, the Fiber Society in the United States was begun in 1941 by a group of physicists in textile research. The Korean Fiber Society was established around the same time, in 1946, and its journal, Textile Science and Engineering (formerly Journal of the Korean Fiber Society), has been published since 1964; it has also published Fibers and Polymers since 2000. As these titles reveal, the Korean Fiber Society focuses on engineering, chemistry, and natural and artificial fibers. Fiber engineering is a scientific field focusing on synthetic fibers and textiles. Korea being a major exporter of synthetic textiles throughout the 1970s, it is not surprising that Korean academic programs and professional organizations developed pioneering techniques of textile engineering. EWU, on the other hand, has one of the oldest Fiber and Fashion programs, founded in the spring of 1971 in its College of Art and Design; it was followed by Yonsei University’s program in the fall of the same year. In these programs “fiber” is less related to science and engineering. Within the Division of Fiber and Fashion, EWU offered textile arts and fashion design for undergraduate and graduate students. The history of fashion, however, is currently taught in a very different department called Fashion Industry, within the Division of Science and Industry Convergence. Renamed in 2016, in the 1960s it was the Department of Clothing and Textiles, part of the College of Home Economics,18 where doctoral degrees were offered in the 1970s and 1980s under Professor You Hi-kyung. Seoul National University founded its Department of Clothing as part of its College of Home Economics in 1968 and published its first master’s thesis on Korean dress history by Cho Woo-hyun in 1981. The department has intermittently produced doctoral dissertations from the mid-1990s. Another important institution is Dankook University. Seok Juseon (1911–96) attended a tailoring academy (日本高等洋裁ᆖ院) in Japan in the 1940s and taught students at Dong-duk Womans University in the 1960s and 1970s. Lamenting the vanishing tradition of traditional Korean dress, she started a private collection of historical costume and royal garments, and donated it to Dankook University. Later it became the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum.19 From 1991, Seoul National University’s Department of Clothing and Textiles offered a graduate concentration on dress history and educated more than a dozen scholars pursuing Korean dress history, either historical or contemporary.20 The graduate concentration on dress history of pre-modern Korea was discontinued, limiting the scope of scholarship to
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contemporary design and marketing, as is revealed in the current departmental name, “Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion.” At present, many universities tend to focus on the fashion industry and management instead of fostering dress historians or textile conservators. Education in replicating historic dresses is now offered by the Masters of the Intangible Cultural Property of Korea, and both bespoke and readymade hanbok designers present fashionable contemporary hanbok. The Korea Society of Costume offers a biannual certificate program with up-to-date scholarship in historical dress studies, while the Hanbok Advancement Center provides educational materials and studio programs for aspiring designers.21 Wonkwang Digital University in Iksan has a department called Korean Costume Science. The Korea National University of Cultural Heritage in Buyeo has a program of traditional textile arts within the department “Traditional Arts and Crafts.”22 As Lou Taylor, Joanne B. Eicher, and others have emphasized, dress history is intertwined with fashion studies, gender studies, material culture, and visual culture.23 As in both the US and the UK, while Korea has many colleges of art and design, they rarely offer courses on costume or fashion history as part of their curriculum on art history and visual culture. On the other hand, museum collections in Korea have a large corpus of material culture pertinent to dress history. The National Folk Museum and the National Palace Museum of Korea have significant holdings of clothing, accessories, and textiles. Both institutions and the National Museum of Korea have advanced conservation departments to restore, clean, and maintain textiles. Whereas European and American museums have large collections of Renaissance tapestries, Baroque upholstered furniture, arms and armor, and non-European textile objects, the National Museum of Korea and other branch museums in provinces such as Gyeongju or Buyeo have artifacts such as bojagi or embroidered rank badges along with sutra wrappings in ramie, cotton, or silk.24
Dress History for the Theatrical Design Industry There is an inseparable link between dress history and theatrical design. As the global fashion industry is increasing its geographic grip encompassing the northern and southern hemispheres, it is important for scholars, such as my students at the Fashion Institute of Technology—aspiring industry leaders or fashion designers—to be more informed and resourceful in their professional community. The validity of dress history as an academic field was never in doubt, but its value has grown beyond academia and heritage institutions—in theatrical
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costume design for films and television dramas, animation, online games based on fantasy and historical epics, and commercial ventures like advertising and music videos, as discussed by Minjung Lee in Chapter 14. In 2015 I started a lecture series called Primary Sources in Costume/Textile History at the Fashion Institute of Technology with four lectures a year. At first, I conceived lectures on garments in paintings by Rubens or on Byzantine garments in wall paintings at the Hagia Sophia. My colleague, Lourdes Font, having pursued Costume Studies at New York University, suggested that we include theatrical costume designers and fashion illustrators because they were constantly working with primary sources, and their creations will themselves remain as primary sources or material evidence. As a result, we renamed the series Primary Sources in Costume/Textile History and Design, and included costume designers who have created clothes for movies, television dramas, or plays. Lectures by designers who produce or assemble found clothes for heroes, villains, queens, and princesses are both popular and extremely informative. They study historical objects in museum collections, read surveys of dress history and decorative arts, and combine motifs from paintings, sculptures, and architecture if original clothing is not available.25 As an art historian faithful to my own discipline, I had been short-sighted in perceiving the depth and breadth of dress-related studies as part of material culture. In fact, the Costume Institute at the Met started as the Museum of Costume Art with the help of Irene Lewisohn, founder of the Neighborhood Playhouse, in 1937.26 In 1946 this museum became part of the Met with financial support from the fashion industry. It was in 1962 that the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) was founded by Eleanor Lambert (1903–2003). A press director of the Whitney Museum of Art after attending the Art Institute of Chicago, Lambert helped found the Museum of Modern Art in the 1930s. In 1943 she started to invigorate the American fashion industry by creating competition with French fashion. She founded the International Best Dressed List in the 1940s, Coty’s Fashion Award, and New York Fashion Week. In Korea, fashion designers such as Lie Sangbong and the late Lee Younghee have reinvented hanbok as a source of creative inspiration. My students in fashion design are eager for reliable sources, new and old. With the popularity of historical dramas, some of these students may find work in film and TV productions.27 That is why a research guide such as the present volume, covering primary sources and additional material evidence, is in serious demand. In the age of social media like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, visual sources
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Dress History of Korea
abound. Major museums also have well-researched, user-friendly databases of their collections. Yet there is still a dearth of reliable information on nonEuropean art objects, and curators of non-Western clothing are rare. In Korea, in contrast, the above-mentioned programs have generated dozens of experts of historic costume and scholars of fashion studies. I hope these researchers can collaborate with museums and higher education institutions in other countries to provide documentation and interpretive texts that would accompany visual materials already acquired in museum collections. Chapters by Joo Kyeongmi, Lee Minjung, and Lee Yunah in this volume emphasize the role played by color television productions, high-definition (HD) broadcasting, and online streaming services.28 These technological innovations impacted the development of high-quality theatrical designs of traditional dresses and bodily ornaments. For example, Hwang Hogeun’s 1976 survey of Korean ornaments, mentioned above, a large volume with numerous line drawings of crowns, earrings, and hairpins, was written in anticipation of color TV broadcasting. “Authentic” reproductions of costumes in period dramas coincided with the arrival of HD in date—with its heretofore unprecedented clarity of hues and textural variations, it became a catalyst to encourage costume designers to consult studies of dress history and to learn more about traditional natural fiber textiles. Costumes for traditional dance or music productions also made a remarkable leap due to technological innovation in dressmaking and HD visual recordings. Professional and aspiring designers will find a wealth of primary sources in this volume, with chapters by Lee Minjung and Lee Talbot discussing fashion trends within historical dynasties or eras.
Primary Sources for Korean Dress History While there is a robust bibliography on the dress history of Korea in the Korean language, scholars outside the country still lack accessible materials. Secondary sources and references in Korean are available in online journal databases such as RISS (Research Information Sharing Service), DBpia, or the library catalogues of large research universities.29 But there is a high barrier for researchers who lack Korean language and cultural proficiency, knowledge of technical terms, historical issues, and the Chinese classics. Meanwhile, younger scholars are keen to examine the microhistory of artifacts or narratives of fashion trends.30 There is therefore an urgent need for more books and essays by Korean experts to be translated into English to benefit scholars of fashion and dress history beyond
Making Dress History in the Context of Primary Sources
15
language-based Asian or Korean Studies. Also, to facilitate scholarly exchange, standardization of vocabulary should be pursued in languages including Korean, English, Spanish, and French. The present volume is partly intended to reveal that important primary sources for the dress study of Korea abound, and that researchers are few for these materials. This volume includes a total of fourteen chapters dealing with historical accounts, including: illustrated records; archaeological artifacts from the prehistoric to the contemporary including clothes excavated from tombs; royal heirlooms, regalia, or reproductions; visual representations of dresses in portraiture, genre painting, photography, or other art objects; textile fragments in religious relics and monuments; hanbok as part of ethnographic collections in North American or European museums; and donated or purchased garments and artifacts from the late twentieth century to the present. The chapters reveal that fashion—changing trends as phenomena and process—existed throughout historical times in Korea. As Minjee Kim, Jaeyoon Yi, In-woo Chang, Ga Young Park, and Kyungmee Lee explain in their chapters, state-wide regulations on dress were codified within the political system throughout pre-modern Korea. These authors emphasize that there have always been transgressions due to intrinsic human aspiration for the new and emulation of social superiors as well as changes in fashion from crosscultural influences. Lee Talbot and Kyeongmi Joo demonstrate that written documents or dress rules were not always observed in real life, as newly discovered archaeological artifacts imply the violation of those codes. The volume has two parts. After this introduction discussing historiography of dress history in Korea in a larger context of Euro-American scholarship of fashion and dress, Part One provides a chronological review of primary sources for studies of development of dress in Korea with eight chapters: the ancient period (Minjee Kim); the Goryeo dynasty (Jaeyoon Yi); the illustrated documents of Joseon (Gayoung Park); the Joseon literati’s discussion on dress and fashion (Lee Talbot); dress in portraiture painting (Gilhong Min); the relationship between archaeology and modern discourse of bodily ornaments of prehistoric eras and historical dynasties (Kyeongmi Joo); the change of dress in modern Korea (Lee Kyungmee); and fashion photography in post-war Korea (Yunah Lee). Part Two, Case Studies: Museum Practice, Tourism, Costume Design, has five chapters dealing with: excavated Joseon clothing in light of NeoConfucianism (In-woo Chang); the collection and exhibition of dress artifacts in the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum (Myung-eun Lee); the acquisition of the reproduced Joseon military ensemble at the National Museum of Scotland (Rosina Buckland); the tradition of hanbok as Korean identity (Millie Creighton
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Dress History of Korea
and Elias Alexander); and producing Korean period costumes for dramas (Min-jung Lee). Readers can find a list of documents or historical analects in Part One and read more about the application of these sources in identifying or discussing a garment or a pictorial representation of it in chapters in Part Two. Kyeongmi Joo, Gilhong Min, and Min-jung Lee note the careful ways in which these text-based written texts are supplemented or contradicted by material evidence. Each of the chapters in the volume presents primary sources that the authors have identified as essential to the study of the respective periods they cover, along with insights into the historiography and prospective areas of study needed to write the dress history of Korea as a scholarly discipline from the early twentieth century. Talbot’s research, for example, implies that an antiquarian view of fashion studies emerged among eighteenth-century writers during the cultural renaissance of King Jeongjo. Joo’s chapter emphasizes that although these writers were deeply ingrained in their Neo-Confucianism in discussing the standard manner of dressing, they could not stop the popular trend in which some fashionable people pursued changes in manner and style despite the philosophical or ethical principles of their time to resist such temptations. The case studies in the book are chosen as introductions of specific areas of dress history. Scholarship of excavated dress (chulto boksik) presents the ways in which scholars from varied disciplines have dealt with Korean identity in material culture. All five chapters in Part Two demonstrate how scholars adapt to supplementing or deconstructing dress codes stipulated in written documents with new types of materials as scientific research evolves. These resources then can address questions rising from costume design for theatrical performances. Case studies in Part Two concern how to represent cultural heritage in museum exhibitions to the public beyond the narrow scholarly community. Far from merely a simple narrative of dress culture in Korea, these authors emphasize why combining various types of sources, written documents, physical artifacts, and reproduced garments is critical in enhancing the experience of museum visitors and the general public. For the discipline of dress history, the basic skills for research require many years of preparation in language proficiency, knowledge of political history, religion, and institutional system, the history of art and photography, conservation, scientific analysis, or fashion design. Ultimately, the volume reveals that creating a “simple” narrative is difficult if not impossible. The dress history of Korea is not a monolithic account that stands alone; rather, it is intricately connected to a larger network of ethnic and geopolitical groups in Northeast
Making Dress History in the Context of Primary Sources
17
Asia and to a trade in luxury items involving both Central Asia and South Asia. One can also relate the past to the present by reading accounts of fashionconscious trends and people’s desire for conspicuous consumption throughout periods of Korean history.31 Streets in Korea have always been full of fashionable people to see and to be seen—conscious of what to wear and how to wear as shown in photographs by Eung-sik Im and Youngsoo Han (Figure 9.3).
A Note on Terminology Although the authors come from different disciplines and perspectives, they use terms for clothing, dress, or costume following the definitions provided by Joanne B. Eicher.32 Although “costume history” is common in the US to refer to the chronological study of dress, authors in this volume use “dress history,” as is usual in the UK. This is because “costume” has a connotation of ensembles of folk garments worn by members of ethnic communities for special occasions or to ensembles of clothing for performing arts which interfere with an individual’s everyday identity. Thus, in this volume “costume” is used to mention theatrical or festival clothing. Eicher notes that clothing is tied to time and place.33 Eicher emphasizes dress and clothing are used differently. Dress is a comprehensive term that includes clothing and other body adornments or modifications, both temporary and permanent, such as jewelry, makeup, handheld objects, and bodily modifications including skin tattoos.34 Clothing is closely related to fiber or woven textiles, either natural or manufactured. Wearable coverings over the body made of furs or noncloth materials are not part of “clothing.”35 Many agree with Eicher that fashion, clothing, and dress are distinguishable terms. Not all clothing or dress in a culture and during a certain time is considered fashionable.36 On the other hand, costume refers to the ensemble of clothing and adornments people wear at a specific time and place. The term has become important in discourse surrounding non-Western culture. Costume has some negative connotations these days as the word was used to describe Indigenous dress and adornment for ceremony or ritual in the context of anthropological field work or museum collections.37 Thus, this book uses dress history or dress as a neutral term. The term “dress” includes not only coverings but also bodily modification, mutilation, and supplements. Nonetheless, sometimes in this volume we use words like ornaments, accessories, headgear, or footwear in addition to the term “dress” to discuss specific garments or an ensemble with descriptive vocabulary.
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Dress History of Korea
Notes 1 See Minjung Lee’s chapter in this volume. 2 Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun, Fashion History: A Global View (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 12: “It is the central contention of this book that the history of fashion should be understood as a global cultural phenomenon.” Yuniya Kawamura, Fashion-ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies (London: Bloomsbury, 2005) is equally important in this view. The discussion of fashion by Korean authors is evident in the eighteenth century. For the fashion system and emergence of dress history or fashion criticism in traditional Korea, see Minjee Kim and Lee Talbot in this volume. For the rise of fashionable elites in the early twentieth century, see Kyunghee Pyun, “Hybrid Dandyism: European Woolen Fabric in East Asia,” in Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, eds., Fashion, Identity, Power in Modern Asia (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 285–306. 3 “They’ll Never Take Our Kimchi,” The Economist, June 4, 2021. https://www.economist. com/asia/2021/06/03/south-koreas-cultural-spats-with-china-are-growing-moreintense (accessed May 15, 2022). For China’s Northeast Project in regional politics, see See-Won Byun, “China’s Major-Powers Discourse in the Xi Jinping Era: Tragedy of Great Power Politics Revisited?” Asian Perspective 40:3 (2016): 493–522, http://www. jstor.org/stable/44074793. For the impact of China’s Northeast Project on historical scholarship, see Hokyu Yeo, “China’s Northeast Project and Trends in the Study of Koguryō History,” International Journal of Korean History 10 (2006): 121–55. The Northeast Project is a short name for Serial Research Project on the History and Current State of the Northeast Borderland (東北邊疆歷史與現狀系列⹄究工程) from 2002 to 2007 by the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS). See Minjee Kim’s chapter in this volume for challenges in researching early periods of dress history. 4 Seoul National University’s Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design is similar to the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Couture designers in Korea have been educated at vocational fashion schools as well. 5 For fashionable clothing in illuminated manuscripts of the fourteenth century, see Jean Pucelle: Innovation and Collaboration in Manuscript Painting, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Anna Russakoff (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013) and Kyunghee Pyun, “Temporality in Late Medieval Art: A Study on Sartorial Dimensions in Illuminated Manuscripts,” Johyung Design Yeongu 조형디자인연구 [Journal for the Korean Society of Art and Design] 20:4 (2017): 57–82. 6 Speaking of decolonization of art history and dress history curriculum at Fashion Institute of Technology, students can explore global dress culture in courses like “Cultural Expressions of Non-Western Dress and Fashion”; “Global Fashion: Ancient Origins to Modern Styles”; and “Contemporary Global Fashion.”
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7 This Association of Dress Historians was founded in 1991 as the Courtauld History of Dress Association (CHODA), some twenty years after the MA in History of Dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art had been approved by London University, and before the Courtauld had an Alumni Association. At that time, the teaching of the History of Dress was still in its infancy and there were no discrete undergraduate or graduate courses elsewhere in the UK. 8 Costume is a “dress studies journal” published twice a year by The Costume Society. It is currently edited by Valerie Cumming and Alexandra Kim with Christine Stevens as review editor. 9 The Design History Society was founded in 1977. Its periodical, Journal of Design History, began in 1988. 10 See the trade organization’s ancient history from 1480: https://www.clothworkers. co.uk/ (accessed May 15, 2022). The Textile Research Center in Leiden lists a number of research collections like this in Europe, Asia, and America: https://trc-leiden.nl/ trc-needles/collections (accessed May 15, 2022). 11 https://fashionexhibitionmaking.arts.ac.uk/fashion-an-anthology-by-cecil-beaton/ (accessed May 15, 2022). 12 Mr. Koda rejoined the Met in 2000 as Curator in Charge and hired Andrew Bolton in 2002. After he retired, Bolton became Curator in Charge in 2016. 13 Its full title is Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practices in the School of Graduate Studies. 14 “Strong from the 18th century onwards, containing mainly European fashion and accessories for men and women, together with important items of 19th century dress for the elite in India, China and Japan. The collection also includes a wide range of accessories from across the world, including footwear and hats.” See the V&A website of fashion: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion (accessed December 1, 2021). 15 Yi Yeoseong was an older brother of artist Yi Quede. See Yeonshim Chung, “‘Vernacular Modernism’ in Modern Korea: Lee Queded’s Hayngtosaek,” Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation (New York: Routledge, 2021), 80–2. 16 The first paper on historical Korean dress was 이명희, Lee Myoung-hee. “Dopo-eh gwanhan yeon-gu” 도포에 관한 연구[A Study on Dopo], Boksik: Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 1:1 (1977): 15–23. 17 See Joo’s chapter in this volume for Hwang’s scholarship and influence. 18 The College of Home was renamed the College of Home Science in 1986 and then the College of Home Ecology in 2001. The department of Clothing and Textiles was part of the College of Art from 2007 to 2016. 19 Dr. Park Sung-sil, niece of Seok, continued the scholarship on Korean costume at Dankook University. For more biography of Seok, see Myeong-eun Lee’s chapter in this volume.
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20 Professor Lee Soonwon (李順媛 b. 1935) retired in 2000. She supervised doctoral dissertations on Korean costume studies with an interdisciplinary approach by collaborating with professors of Korean history. 21 Publications by the Hanbok Advancement Center are available both in the text and in video forms for English-speaking audiences. 22 Professor Sim Yeonok at the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage is known for her scholarship on traditional Korean textiles in technological contexts and published many books. See Minjee Kim’s chapter in this volume. 23 Lou Taylor, The Study of Dress History (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2002); and Establishing Dress History (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2004). Anthropologist Joanne B. Eicher is a series editor of Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion and Dress, Body, Culture by Bloomsbury since 2011. See Dress and Gender: Making and Meaning in Cultural Contexts, ed. Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher (Oxford and New York: Berg, 1992); Dress and Ethnicity: Change across Space and Time, ed. Joanne B. Eicher (Oxford and New York: Berg, 1995); The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion: A Reader, ed. Brent Luvaas and Joanne B. Eicher (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2019). Her new edited volume, Global Trade and Cultural Authentication: The Kalamari of Niger Delta (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2022) is relevant to the study of other ethnic dresses. Their views and methodologies are influential on fashion history as found in Welters and Lillethun, Fashion History: A Global View and Kawamura, Fashionology. 24 Disciplinary boundaries of fine arts and decorative arts or crafts are much more complicated due to colonization in the early twentieth century. The Japanese Government-General often classified Korean artifacts as examples of folkloric or ethnographic studies. See Kyunghee Pyun, “Korean Art in the Historiography of Multiple Modernisms,” 17–23 and Hye-ri Oh, “Modernity and Authenticity in Korean Pictorialism: From Pungsok Painting to Art Photography,” in Kyunghee Pyun and Jung-Ah Woo, eds., Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation (New York: Routledge, 2021), 71–8. 25 Rachel Hann, “Debating Critical Costume: Negotiating Ideologies of Appearance, Performance and Disciplinarity,” Studies in Theatre and Performance 39:1 (2019): 21–37. Hann proposed a research platform called “Critical Costume” she founded in 2013 to discuss the impact of costume on performers and creators in contemporary art and culture. See Rachel Hann and Sidsel Bech, “Critical Costume,” Scene 2:1–2 (2014): 3–8. The essay was an editorial for a double issue on the subject. I thank an anonymous reviewer of this volume for drawing my attention to Rachel Hann’s scholarship. One can also think about the anthropological perspective of costume on wearers. Pravina Shukla, Costume: Performing Identities through Dress (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015).
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26 Neighborhood Playhouse Records (1903–37): http://archives.nypl.org/mss/2112. Philanthropist sisters Alice (1883–1972) and Irene (1892–1944) Lewisohn founded the Neighborhood Playhouse in 1915 as a home for the Neighborhood Players, an amateur acting troupe for adults and children at the Henry Street Settlement on New York City’s Lower East Side. The Playhouse officially closed in 1927. However, under the general management of Helen F. Ingersoll, the company began producing plays on Broadway. In addition, the Lewisohn sisters and Rita Wallach Morganthau established the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 1928. The School is still in operation at 340 East 54th Street. It has the Irene Lewisohn Library. The Met’s Costume Institute named its reference library The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library. 27 See Kyeongmi Joo’s discussion of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)’s involvement of hanbok studies in the 1970s and the 1980s: Hanguk Boksik Dogam (Illustrated Book of Korean Costume), 3 vols. (1984) in this volume. 28 See the chapters by Joo, Mingjung Lee, and Yunah Lee in this volume. 29 https://www.dbpia.co.kr/ and http://www.riss.kr/index.do (accessed November 15, 2021). See http://www.koreanstudies.org/library-resources/ (accessed December 1, 2021). 30 Pyun wrote several papers prompted by these scholars: Kyunghee Pyun, “Transformation of Monastic Habits: Student Uniforms for Christian Schools in East Asia,” Journal of Religion and the Arts 24:4 [Special Issue: Faith/Fashion/Forward: Dress and the Sacred] (2020): 604–40; “Girls in Sailor Suits: Constructing Soft Power in Japanese Cultural Diplomacy,” Global Perspectives on Japan 5 (June 2022): 1–17; and “Asian Physiques of Mannequins in American Art Museums,” in Bridget R. Cooks and Jennifer Wagelie, eds., Nearly Human: Mannequins and Museums (London: Routledge, 2021), 79–91. 31 For example, see youth fashion in Korea during the late twentieth century: “Rise of Unisex in Korean Fashion,” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, Berg Fashion Library, ed. Joanna Eicher (digital database) (Oxford: Berg | London: Bloomsbury, 2021), DOI: 10.5040/9781847888556.EDch062020 (accessed May 15, 2022); “Body Autonomy and Miniskirt Controversy in South Korea,” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Berg Fashion Library, ed. Joanna Eicher (digital database) (Oxford: Berg | London: Bloomsbury, 2021), DOI: 10.5040/9781847888556.EDch062019 (accessed May 15, 2022). “School uniforms in East Asia: Micro-styling.” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Berg Fashion Library edited by Joanna Eicher (digital database) (Oxford: Berg | London: Bloomsbury, 2022). DOI: 10.5040/9781847888556. EDch062202 32 Joanne B. Eicher and Mary E. Roach-Higgins, “Describing Dress: A System of Classifying and Defining,” in Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher, eds., Dress and
22
33 34
35
36 37
Dress History of Korea Gender: Making and Meaning in Cultural Context (Oxford and Washington DC: Berg, 1993), 135–47. Joanne B. Eicher, “The Anthropology of Dress,” Dress 27:1 (2000). Joanne B. Eicher, ed., Dress and Ethnicity, (Oxford: Berg, 1995): 299. This discussion is part of the chapter entitled “World Fashion, Ethnic, and National Dress” by Joanne B. Eicher and Barbara Sumberg, pp. 295–306. Welters and Lillethun, Fashion History: A Global View, 18–19. Chapter 2 “The Lexicon of Fashion” in their book is dedicated to the definitions of dress, clothing, fashion, apparel, and habit, pp. 13–23. This volume reflects their views of distinguishing these terminologies. Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity, 299. Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity, 1.
Part One
Primary Sources: Historiography and Chronological Reviews
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24
2
Identity and Fashion in the Ancient Dress of Korea Minjee Kim
Despite the rising presence of the South Korean economy and popular culture in the global arena, the dress/fashion history of Korea has been little explored in global academia. Research on the ancient period is particularly rare, except for a few archaeologically and art historically based works on nonorganic grave goods, such as iron armor, gold and gilt-bronze headdresses, glass beads for bodily ornamentation, and depiction of clothing on Goguryeo murals.1 Hoping to promote further explorations that can contribute to the narratives of global fashion history in a wider context, this chapter provides an overview of select literary, visual, and material sources offering insights into dress, identity, and fashion in the early history of Korea. The timeline for this chapter covers approximately the first century bce to the early tenth century ce , encompassing the Han Commanderies, tribal confederacies, Three Kingdoms, and Northern and Southern States (Table 2.1). The territorial borders of these early polities had been fluid and are now shared among South Korea, North Korea, China, and Russia2 (see Figure 1.1 a–c, and f). The current political landscape poses challenges for research with restricted access to material and visual sources as well as new archaeological discoveries in countries such as North Korea and China.
Sources Elucidating the dress culture of a given time is inherently bound to the degree that primary sources are available. Historiography of dress in ancient Korea is to describe a “reconstructed” past drawing from the available sources gleaned from (1) textual documents; (2) visual depictions of clothed figures from murals, 25
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Dress History of Korea
Table 2.1 Historical timeline: Ancient Korea3 Era
State(s)
Time Period
Old Joseon The Han Commanderies
(Old) Joseon Xuantu (Kor: Hyeondo) Lintun (Kor: Imdun) Lelang (Kor: Nangnang) Daifang (Kor: Daebang) Zhenfan (Kor: Jinbeon) Buyeo Okjeo Ye Goguryeo Samhan (Jinhan, Mahan, Byeonhan) Goguryeo Baekje Silla Gaya4 Later Silla (Unified Silla) Balhae
7th century bce –108 bce 108bce –? 108bce –82bce 108bce –313 ce (196–220)–316 ce 108 bce –82 bce 2nd century bce –494 ce
The tribal confederations
The Three Kingdoms
The Northern and Southern States
37 bce –668 ce 18 bce –660 ce 57 bce –935 ce 42–532 ce 668–935 ce 698–926 ce
stone reliefs, votive statuettes, tomb-guard sculptures, etc.; and (3) textile fragments and bodily adornments discovered from archaeological excavations. Unfortunately, no garment dating to the period this chapter covers survives. The earliest surviving garments in Korea date to c. 1302 ce or before, which will be discussed in the next chapter. These extant textual and material sources are by nature concerned with privileged classes in the sociopolitical context; most ordinary people must have experienced a very different reality from what is recorded and depicted. Also, the sources’ sparse, fragmented, and patchy conditions limit reconstruction of wholistic visions and narratives. This may be a common challenge for early dress history globally.5 One important aspect to consider is that dress culture in East Asia of this period developed together with geographic relationships. Materials as well as social practices were not only transmitted and exchanged within and beyond territories, but also were preserved in other countries and recorded in the works of “others.” The sources that survive in China and Japan provide comparable, cross-referable, and complementary evidences to the study of dress of Korea in this early period.
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1. Written Documents Table 2.2 lists the major textual sources of official and unofficial histories, encyclopedias and travelogues surviving in Korea, China, and Japan which refer to this period of dress culture. All were originally written in classical Chinese. Korean translations with contemporaneous and modern commentaries are available online at the Korean History Database.6 Beyond the archaic terms of textiles, dress items, and colors of the time, these textual sources offer insights into dress as a cultural and social signifier; time-specific customary practices; codified dress regulations and a sumptuary law; and a form of fashion dissemination—the interstate bestowal of dress and textile items via tribute systems and transmission into local societies. Table 2.2 Textual sources for study of dress in Early Korea (1st century bce –936 ce )
State
Korea
China
Title
Editor(s)
Year of publication Category
Temporal coverage
Samguksagi 삼국사기 三國史記[History of the Three Kingdoms]
Kim Busik
1145
Official history
57 bce –936 ce
Samgukyusa 삼국유사 Iryeon 三國遺事[Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms]
1281/1512
Unofficial history
57 bce –936 ce
Goryeosa 고려사 高麗史 Jeong Inji [History of Goryeo] et al.
1451
Official history
918–1392
Shiji 史記 [Records of the Grand Historian] Hanshu 漢書 [Book of Han] Sanguozhi 三國志 [Records of the Three Kingdoms] Houhanshu 後漢書 [Book of the Later Han] Nanqishu 南齊書 [Book of Qi] Weishu 魏書 [Book of Wei] Liangshu 梁書 [Book of Liang]
109–91 bce Official history 82 Official history 280–290 Official history
2100–87 bce 25–220 ce 184–280 ce
445
Official history
6–189 ce
Xiao Zixian 537
Official history Official history Official history
479–502
Sima Qian Ban Gu Chen Shou
Fan Ye
Wei Shou
555
Yao Silian
636
386–550 502–57 (Continued)
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Dress History of Korea
Table 2.2 (Continued)
State
Temporal coverage
Linghu Defen Wei Zheng
636
535–81
Fang Xuanling Li Dashi & Li Yanshou
648
Li Dashi & Li Yanshou
659
Official history
Zhang Chujin
660
Unofficial history
Liu Xu
945
Official 618–907 history Official 618–907 history Encyclopedia
Editor(s)
Zhoushu 周書 [Book of Zhou] Suishu 隋書 [Book of Sui] Jinshu 晉書 [Book of Jin] Nanshi 南史 [History of the Southern Dynasties] Beishi 北史 [History of the Northern Dynasties] Hanyan 翰苑 vol. Fanyibu 蕃夷 部[Barbarians] Jiutangshu 舊唐書 [Old Book of Tang] Xintangshu 新唐書 [New Book of Tang] Tongdian 通典 [Comprehensive Statutes] Cefu yuangui 冊府元龜 [Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau] Xuanhefengshi Gaolitujing 宣和奉使高 麗圖經 [Illustrated Travelogue of Goryeo] Nihon shoki 日本書紀 [Chronicles of Japan]
Japan
Year of publication Category
Title
636
659
Ouyang Xiu 1060 & Zhen Fan Du Yu 801
Wang 1013 Qinruo, Yang Yi et al. Xu Jing 1123
Prince 720 Toneri, Ō no Yasumaro Shoku Nihongi ㏊日本 Sugano no 797 紀 [Continued Mamichi & Chronicles of Japan] Fujiwara no Tsuginawa Nihon sandai jitsuroku Fujiwara no 901 日本三代實錄 Tokihira [Chronicles of the et al. three emperors of Japan]
Official history Official history Official history Official history
581–618 265–420 420–589
386–618
Encyclopedia
Travelogue
1123
Official history
to 697
Official history
697–771
Official history
858–87
Identity and Fashion in the Ancient Dress of Korea
29
The earliest official history of Korea is Samguksagi 삼국사기 三國史記 [History of the Three Kingdoms] published in 1145 ce . As this document deals with events from the third century bce to 935 ce , it presents a significant time lag between the recording and the occurred events. Such gaps can be filled using Chinese documents in which dress practices of non-Chinese peoples are recorded. As an early example informing cultural practice of the third-century bce Korean peninsula and Manchuria, Sanguozhi 三國志 [Records of the Three Kingdoms], volume 30 Account of the East Barbarians,7 offers good descriptions that can be examined in light of dress/fashion theories developed in the Western academic fields such as “cultural authentication,”8 “diffusion of fashion,” and “dress as a non-verbal communication tool.”9 The statements of the similarities and dissimilarities in dress practices among the tribal polities (check their entities on the map at Figure 1.1a)—for example, “while the peoples of East Okjeo and Goguryeo shared the common dress practice, the peoples of Buyeo and Goguryeo were distinguished by their dress, although shared the language. The people of Ye and the people of Goguryeo were differentiated by their dress, although the two groups shared kinship”—inform that dress was not a cultural factor corresponding one on one to tribal entity.10 The statements throw light on the role of dress more precisely as a cultural indicator rather than a racial marker. Many Confucian classics including Sishu wujing 四書五經 [The Four Books and Five Classics] were written before 300 bce in China to instruct people in the governing principles of the sociopolitical system, ritual propriety, and morals of individual behavior. These texts also retain foundational ideas such as why people wear clothes; how the cosmology eumyang ohaeng 음양오행 陰陽五行 [Yin-Yang and the Five Elements Theory] is related to clothing design in denoting gender and status; and how the notion of “us (han 漢 Chinese)” and “others (barbarians)” transferred to marking “civilized” vs. “barbaric (uncultured; ill-bred)” in dress practice. For the Korean Confucian text, Yuseol gyeonghak daejang 유설경학대장 類說經學隊仗 [Classified Confucian Theories and Accounts], of Unified Silla has a description of the philosophical grounds behind clothing designs and wearing practices of the time.11 These Confucian texts are available with Korean translation and annotations at the Eastern Classics Collection Database.12 For an epigraphic source, Chungju goguryeo bi 충주고구려비 忠州高句麗碑 [The Stele of Guguryeo in Chungju13, c. 39714] holds great importance. The inscription recounting the “bestowing of clothing to the Silla King and his retinues by the crown prince of Goguryeo (賜寐錦之衣服 . . . 敎諸位賜上下衣服)” exemplifies a systematic bestowal of clothing between the ancient kingdoms of Korea. Considering numerous cases occurred between Chinese emperors and foreign envoys from neighboring
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states as interstate exchanges, this case between Goguryeo and Silla calls for special attention. This manner of fashion mobility within the polities in Korea becomes more comprehensive when corroborated with archaeologically found bodily ornaments, which will be elaborated in the following section.
2. Visual Representations of the Clothed Body The earliest sources of figural representation rely on the mural paintings in the elite tombs of Goguryeo. Goguryeo mural specialist Jeon Hotae reports that since 1906, about 120 mural tombs have been discovered from primarily two historic sites: eighty in Pyeongyang in North Korea and thirty-eight in Ji-an in China (Figure 2.1). About forty-six murals contain depictions of clothed people, and the number of recognizable people has been estimated at about 1,425. During the fourth and fifth centuries when these murals were constructed, the territorial borders were not demarcated like today and frequent migrations of people took place across Eurasia. The appearance and dress of the depicted figures project diverse and dynamic modes of transcultural contact with ethnic groups in Central Asia, China, and the Northern Steppes as well as a wide range of social classes and occupations. The figures include fully dressed tomb owners, lined-up standing officials, armored guardians, musicians, dancers, acrobats, sportsmen, soldiers in infantry processions, mounted hunters, and people in hospitality, housework, and other professions.15 The rich mural scenes inform us not only about the tomb occupants’ earthly lives but also the imagined world of the afterlife in their visionary belief system of Buddhism and Daoism, and cosmology. Since the murals are continuously deteriorating, the early photographic publications in the 1970s and 80s remain valuable.16 By reading the clothed figures in the murals, South Korean dress scholars have sought to elucidate basic forms and intrinsic elements to the genesis of Korean dress.17 The stylistic lineage of Goguryeo clothing was postulated to a tradition of nomadic horse-riders, specifically linking with Scythians in the Pontic-Caspian steppe (seventh to third centuries bce ) depicted on the metal works18 (Figure 2.2a). Thus far, over a hundred studies have explored the relations between style of clothing and regions (Pyeongyang and Ji-an), gender, social class, occupation, and the Confucian notion of “civilization” and the lack thereof that underlaid the way of wrapping upper garments,19 as well as the styles of makeup and coiffures.20 Notable outcomes include: (1) the most dominantly found style is a two-piece ensemble consisting of a cardigan-style hip-length jacket (yu or jeogori) fastened with a sash (dae) at the waist, and wide-leg pants (go or baji) and/or a skirt (sang or chima),21 while border bindings (seon) using darker and contrasting colored
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Figure 2.1 Map of the two regions showing major locations of Goguryeo mural tombs: Ji-an (about 38) and Pyeongyang (about 80). Map redrawn by Soya Boo, based on Goguryeo gobun byeokhwa (1985).
fabric were commonly applied at the hems of jackets and pants (Figures 2.2b, c, d, e); (2) various types of headdresses such as jo-u-gwan, chaek, jeolpung, sogol, etc. served as a marker of social status (Figures 2.2b, d, e); (3) people of privilege wore generously cut and intricately patterned garments, displaying lavish and copious consumption of fabric (Figures 2.2d, e); (4) the way of wrapping upper garments shows a correlation with tomb locations—left-over-right wrappings are
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Figure 2.2 Styles of Clothing depicted on the Goguryeo murals, their provenance and legacy. a. Comb with a Battle Scene (detail), Scythian Culture, late 5th–early 4th century bce , Early Iron Age, Solokha Tumulus, Dneiper region, Zaporozhye region, Gold, cast, chasing, 12.6 × 10.2 cm. © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin b. A man wearing a feathered hat (jo-u-gwan), a jacket (yu) with black trimmings (seon), and wide-leg pants (go). Ssangyeongchong (Twin-Column Tomb), Nampo City: North Korea, late 5th century, previously published in Kim Wonryong 김원룡 ed. Arts of Korea 韓國美術全集 4. Mural Paintings. (Seoul: Donghwa Publisher, 1973), 56. c. A lady wearing a hairband (geon), face makeup (yeonji), a hip-length jacket (yu) with patterned fabric trimmings (seon), and a skirt (sang) with fine pleats. Ssangyeongchong (Twin-Column Tomb), Nampo City: North Korea, late 5th century, previously published in Kim Wonryong ed. Arts of Korea, 57.
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Figure 2.2 (Continued). d. Tomb owner watching acrobat performance. The tomb owner is wearing a headdress (chaek), a wide and long coat (po) with dark color fabric trimmings (seon), whereas his retinue wears a snuggly fitting jacket (yu) and pants (go) and is depicted in a smaller scale than the owner. Susan-li Tomb, Pyeongyang: North Korea, late 5th century. © Northeast Asian History Foundation (http://contents. nahf.or.kr/) e. An ensemble with checkered pattern. Dong-amni Tomb, Suncheon: North Korea, late 4th century, previously published in Joseon yujeok yumul dogam pyeonchan wiwonhwoi 조선유적유물도감 편찬위원회 eds. Bukanui munhwajaewa munhwa yujeok 북한의 문화재와 문화유적 (Cultural Assets and Sites in North Korea) vol. 1 (Pyeongyang: 1993; reprinted in Seoul: Seoul National University Publishing, 2000), 242. f. An ensemble recreated based on the figure e, displayed in the exhibition, Baji: Korean Pants, Clothes for Today After 2000 Years 고고백서 袴袴白書: 우리의 바지, 이천 년 역사를 넘어 by Arumjigi Foundation in Seoul, South Korea August 30–October 20, 2019. Photo © Minjee Kim g. A Karate uniform with a blue belt. Retrieved from https://www.decathlon.com/ products/adult-karate-uniform-500-305684.
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more observed in the Pyeongyang region, while the right-over-left style is dominant in the Ji-an region (Figure 2.1), and left over right became gradually accepted as normative for later Korean upper garments. The legacy of Goguryeo clothing remains in the modern uniforms of martial arts which originated in Korea and Japan such as taekwondo dobok, karate karategi, and judo judogi. In those martial arts rank systems, each distinctive belt color serves as visible marker of one’s rank before reaching black belt (Figure 2.2g); black belt holders wear uniforms trimmed with black bindings at the neck and cuffs to signify their higher status, and the ranks within black belts are also denoted by details of black trimmings.22 This method of rank marking can be traced back to the dress-rank regulations in Baekje and Silla, recorded in Samguksagi [History of the Three Kingdoms], Zhou shu [Book of Zhou], Sui shu [Book of Sui], and Beishi [History of the Northern Dynasties]. Discovery of the handscroll copy of Liangzhigongtu 梁職貢圖 [Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang] and its two variants, Wanghuitu 王會圖 [Regal Assembly] and Wudai Nantang Gudeqian mo Liang Yuandi fankeruchaotu 五代南 唐顧德謙慕梁元帝番客入朝圖 [Foreign Visitors to the Court of Liang Emperor Yuan, copied by Southern Tang Gu Deqian]23 brought to light the formal ensemble of the envoy of Baekje, Silla, and Goguryeo who are deemed to have visited Chinese Liang Kingdom to pay tribute to Emperor Wu (r. 502–49) during 539–40 in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of his reign.24 The original Liangzhigongtu, attributed to Prince Xiao Yi 蕭繹 who later became Emperor Yuan (r. 552–5) of Liang, is known to have portrayed the envoys congregated from about thirty states, though it does not survive. The Wanghuitu and Fankeruchaotu are works reproduced in the later periods. The envoys, depicted in full-body position in three-quarter angle, appear male and are in formal ensembles exhibiting their ethnic identity as state representatives. Their appearance and style of clothing show geographical and cultural ties among them as well as distinctiveness, reflecting the role of dress as a means to display their group identity. The outfits of the envoys from Baekje, Silla, and Goguryeo show stylistic commonality in the silhouettes and the composition of their ensembles, though minor distinctions are found in their hairstyles, headdresses, and the patterns of fabric (Figure 2.3a–d). The slightly large cardigan-style jackets and pants, both trimmed with colored bindings, are the most coherently depicted style in the Goguryeo murals; the similarity of the three envoys’ dress styles, on the one hand, lumps them together; on the other, it differentiates them from those from other states. The Three Kingdoms, while contesting each other over the mastery of the peninsula in the course of establishing a centralized state during the fourth
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Figure 2.3 Envoys of the Three Kingdoms wearing formal ensemble about mid-6th century. a. An envoy of Baekje depicted on the handscroll copy of Liangzhigongtu [Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang], 11th century. Its original painting is attributed to Xiao Yi (future Emperor Yuan. r. 552–5). National Museum of China, Beijing. Photo © Public Domain: Wikimedia Commons b, c, d. Envoys of Baekje, Goguryeo, Silla respectively depicted in Wanghuitu [Regal Assembly] attributed to Yan Liben (about 600–73) of the Tang dynasty. 故-⮛001379-00000. Photo © National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan https://painting. npm.gov.tw/Painting_Page.aspx?dep=P&PaintingId=14747
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through sixth centuries, became culturally homogenized in many realms— language, food, and dress. Several Chinese official histories described that the language, food, and dress in the Korean Three Kingdoms were similar.25 The aforementioned paintings corroborate the literary descriptions as visual evidence. This relates to a crucial question: when did the notion of Korean ethnic solidarity begin to formulate? Scholars largely have pointed to the fourth to sixth centuries, and interpreted that during which the formation of ethnic solidarity and cultural homogeneity had served as the rationale for the unification of the Three Kingdoms by Silla.26 In so, a dress historian may well find the role of dress at play in this cultural assimilation among the Three Kingdoms. The unification war in the mid-seventh century involved interstate diplomatic strategies. The Silla regime “voluntarily” adopted the dress code system of Tang for their dress code for court uniform and women’s daily wear.27 Thereafter, the fashions from Tang, characterized as a cosmopolitan cultural melting pot, had a wide impact on the Silla society. One of the instrumental agencies was bestowal of dress and textiles through successive official tributary visits that entailed economic exchange; the detail of which are vastly found in the official histories including Cefu yuangui 冊府元龜 [Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau]. Such tributary activities were also frequent with Balhae, a kingdom in the north established thirty years after the collapse of Goguryeo. The mural paintings of Jeonghyo Princess (756–92) and the sancai 三彩 [tricolor] statuettes of Balhae, the clay figurines of the Unified Silla corroborate the fashion shifts toward the cosmopolitan Tang style28 (Figures 2.4a–d). Figure 2.4 Clothes of women and men in Unified Silla and Balhae showing influence of cosmopolitan Tang style. The women (a, b) wore an ensemble composed of a blouse and a skirt. Both of the skirts are tied over the blouses at the raised waistline exposing the chest. The men (c, d) wore an official’s uniform comprised of a long robe with a round neckband (dallyeong) and a black soft headdress (bokdu). a. A female clay figurine excavated from Gyeongju city (Yonggang-dong site), Unified Silla, 8th century. Photo © Minjee Kim b. A three-color painted female figurine, Balhae, c. 8th century, Jilin Province Yanbian Museum, China. Photo © Minjee Kim c. A clay figurine of civil official, excavated from Gyeongju city (Yonggang-dong site), Unified Silla, 8th century. Photo © Gyeongju National Museum d. A chamberlain holding a mirror covered with cloth in a court uniform, depicted on the mural painting of Jeong-hyo Princess of Balhae (792). Helong, China. This image was previously published in the exhibition catalogue: Jeonjaeng ginyeongwan 전쟁기념관 [War Memorial Museum of Korea], Balhaereul chajaseo: Balhae geonguk 1300 junyeon gihwoik-jeon 발해를 찾아서: 발해 건국 1300주년 기획전 [Search for Balhae: 1300th anniversary of the establishment of Balhae] (Seoul: War Memorial Museum, 1998), 51.
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3. Textile Fragments and Bodily Adornments This section discusses material relics from archaeological excavation. Artifacts such as needles made of animal bone, spindle whorls, semiprecious stone gems, and bracelets and anklets made of shell evince that people on the Korean peninsula had made threads, sewn clothing, and adorned their bodies since the Neolithic period. There are notable discoveries of ancient textile pieces attributed to the dated sites: wool and bast fiber textiles from Old Joseon, warp-faced compound silk (geum Chi. jin 錦) and tabby silk from Buyeo, polychrome warpfaced silk from Goguryeo, tabby silk embroidered with chain stitch from the Nangnang (Chi. Lelang) Han Commandery, and twill damask (reung Chi. ling 綾), simple gauze (sa Chi. sha 紗), and complex gauze (ra Chi. luo 羅) embroidered with gold-wrapped thread from Baekje. For further study of textile relics, refer to textile historian Sim Yeonok’s works.29 The most significant archaeological discovery is metallic bodily adornments. Goguryeo people are recorded as loving to lavishly adorn their bodies.30 People were buried with copious amounts of gold and silver goods.31 The archaeological discovery of ancient tombs since the early twentieth century has overwhelmingly revealed large amounts of beads and bodily adornments made of precious metal (gold, silver, and gilt-bronze), not only from the sites of Goguryeo, but throughout Samhan, Baekje, Silla, and Gaya. A tomb occupant’s body would be buried with exquisitely crafted metallic regalia, composed of a set of headdresses, hairpins, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, a belt, and shoes (Figure 2.5a). In their time, such a panoply must have been visualized on public occasions like state rituals, signaling the wearer’s power and holiness. The bodily ornaments not only reveal the mature metallurgy and craftsmanship that employed skills of filigree, granulation, engraving, repoussé, and chasing, but also reflect layers of sought-after value and cultural belief of the time, and cross-cultural relationships with polities in Manchuria, China, and Central Asia in their production and the moves, as well as the wearers’ status in a society which was heading toward a centralized state with articulation of social strata.32 An interesting point that may lead to the discussion of diffusion of fashion at this early historical stage is that many bodily ornaments of Baekje and Silla manifest stylistic linkage showing territorial ties between items found in royal tombs in the capital and those from tombs in remote regions. The leaders of Baekje and Silla governed their newly conquered territories by bestowing precious metal adornments such as crowns and belts on local chieftains as a symbol of prestige and bonded loyalty (Figure 2.5b with c and d).33 This draws the attention of fashion scholars to the instrumental role of dress in the
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Figure 2.5 Metallic bodily ornaments. Silla (57 bce –935 ce ). 5th–6th century. a. Bodily ornaments displayed in the Gyeongju National Museum – a gold crown with pendants, glass beads, a chestlace, beads, bracelets, a gold belt with pendants, and gilt-bronze shoes. Excavated from the Geumgwanchong Tomb in Gyeongju. Silla. 5th century. Photo © Minjee Kim b. A gold crown excavated from the Great Hwangnam Tomb North Mound, late 5th century. This is known as the standard type of gold crown of Silla. Photo © National Museum of Korea
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Figure 2.5 (Continued). c. A gilt-bronze crown excavated from Dalseong Tomb, Daegu National Museum. Photo © Minjee Kim d. A gilt-bronze crown displayed in the National Museum of Korea. Provenance unknown. Silla. c. 6th century. C and d show stylistic regression from the standard design of b, and are considered as bestowed on the local chieftains by the central government. Photo © Minjee Kim
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governance of outlying areas during the building of centralized states from the fourth to sixth centuries, as well as the trickle-down mechanism of fashion. The practice of burying people with heavy bodily adornments waned after the seventh century with the policy of sartorial Sinicization. Like many other political and sociocultural spheres, burial practices transitioned to modeling those of Tang China; the predominant grave goods were replaced by Tang-style belt buckles and plaques and clay figurines (see Figures 2.4a, b, c).
Methodological Contemplation The meanings of dress in their contemporary settings should be scrutinized through credible and comprehensive interpretation. However, in many cases, one-on-one correlation among textual sources, visual representations, and material artifacts is not always possible. Mary Harlow, the editor of A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion, Vol.1: In Antiquity, explains that “historians of dress in Antiquity also face the difficulty of combining the evidence of the actual garment, the iconic garment (in visual representation), and the written garment (in the commentary),” which Roland Barthes earlier stated for modern fashion in Système de la Mode (1967).34 At the first academic conference in the United States that discussed primary sources for Korean dress studies, Documenting Korean Costume: Primary Sources and New Interpretations, Nancy Micklewright of the Freer and Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute addressed the contextualized nature of each category: . . . visual representations of dress always require extremely careful assessments of context and purpose before being used as evidence of exact appearance or use of garments and accessories. The archaeological record is by nature incomplete— how do we account for that in drawing conclusions based on archaeological evidence? Court historians were writing for a specific audience and at the behest of powerful patrons, and surely those circumstances shaped their narratives.35
These considerations are a prerequisite for approaching primary sources and entail transdisciplinary disciplines of archaeology, art history, political and economic history, anthropology, philosophy and theology, technology, etc. The research methods and theoretical frameworks developed in Western scholarship on dress, fashion, and culture can provide useful lenses through which the role and meaning of dress in Korea can be examined and interpreted in a broader scope of dress history. The sociocultural definition of “dress” by Joanne B. Eicher
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and Mary E. Roach-Higgins as “an assemblage of body modification and/or supplements related to the five senses,”36 the methodological groundworks for dress history research laid by Lou Taylor,37 and the classic and contemporary theories on fashion and dress38 are all useful for not only individual research but also collective interpretation for historiography. The step-by-step processes provided in Ingrid E. Mida’s two practical guidebooks, The Dress Detective: A Practical Guide to Object-Based Research in Fashion and Reading Fashion in Art, are helpful, respectively, to systematic examination of fashion objects as well as visual analysis of reading fashion from artworks.39 A framework that considers within and beyond a Pan-Asian sartorial context, and the enduring impact of Sino-centrism as a dominant worldview and cultural hegemony is also indispensable in understanding the trajectory of dress and fashion in Korea. The Han Chinese viewed the human world as composed of Han (us) and non-Han peoples (them), and the non-Han others were labeled as “barbarians” and considered culturally inferior. However, the status of “barbaric” could, as Patricia Ebrey points out, “be converted to ‘civilized’ through Sinicization—the adaptation to Chinese ways of clothes, manners, family system, ethics, and other cultural practice.”40 Stella Xu explains that the theoretical foundation of Sino-centrism was consolidated with incorporation of Confucianism during the Han dynasty (206 bce –220 ce , China).41 Study of Confucian doctrines in the ancient Korean kingdoms can be traced back to 375, when the official Confucian academy Taehak was established in Goguryeo. The impact of Sino-centric Confucianism on early dress culture in Korea—for example, legislation of state-wide dress codes, color schemes, and design and construction methods—should be carefully interpreted along with the context. In fashion history discourse, “fashion” has long been believed to “have appeared in the West first in the mid-fourteenth century,” and the concept of fashion was equated with Westernization, modernity, and capitalism, and dress culture in other places with the lack thereof. In the last three decades, however, this dichotomous and Western-centric view has been seriously tackled by increasing researches on non-Western dress and fashion that prove the contrary.42 In this shifting view of fashion for a multicultural, global dress history, the sources on early Korea can offer new research opportunities to contribute to the call for reconceptualizing fashion as a phenomenon that occurred historically around the world. Although “change over time” is the intrinsic trait of fashion agreed on by many scholars, how to measure “fashion” that occurred in different time periods and places is arguably a challenge. Because what fashion exactly is has yet to gain consensus.43 From fashion’s economic and material entity to
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culturally and socially symbolic role, the attempts to define fashion vary widely depending on different theoretical frameworks.44 As Sandra Niessen pointed out, “in today’s fast-changing world, (rapid) change has become empty of definitional value,” and “fashion history was not adapted to accommodate a broader, multicultural definition of fashion; rather [it] was admitted in a cursory way without any clear criteria of selection and no cross-cultural analysis,”45 and different criteria should be taken into consideration for different times and places. Considering most of the attempts have analyzed modern events of the nineteenth century onwards, measuring a cycle of fashion—duration of temporary acceptance of a style and occurrence of a change—should differ depending on stages in historical development and degrees of social mobility. In the ancient and medieval ages in Korea, social mobility was limited, and the surviving sources are fragmentary and sparse. Capturing a full picture of fashion cycles or “incessant,” “regular” changes is hardly achievable. Yet, certainly Korean sources offer stories telling phenomena such as elite emulation and diffusion of styles by collective imitation, at the earliest from the third-century descriptions in Sanguozhi.46
Conclusion The role of dress as a cultural signifier of group identity was evident from the tribal confederacies in Korea. As the confederacies merged into the three centralized states of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, and later to the Northern and Southern States of Later (Unified) Silla and Balhae, dress played a significant role in constructing identities within the sociopolitical system, reflecting the tension between sustaining indigenousness and keeping up with transnational fashion hegemony. Looking into how collective sartorial choices were formulated, sustained, and negotiated between, for example, Sinicization and manifestation of Korean-ness, is viable through examination of the variety of sources reviewed in this chapter. During the state formation processes in the fourth to sixth centuries, dress style among the Three Kingdoms became indistinguishable, which served as a base to the cultural homogeneity for the unification. However, facing the unification war, the dress code of Silla was astutely handled as a political and diplomatic tool. The Silla regime adopted the Tang court uniform system in the course of forging a military alliance with Tang, and ordered women to wear Tang-style clothing in the middle of the unification war, after the defeat of Baekje
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and before the attack of Goguryeo. The new dress code was enacted in the building of a unified new country, Unified Silla. The presence of fashion in the early history of Korea is alluded to through the three foregoing issues: Goguryeo and Samhan peoples’ collective and repeated aspiration for Chinese formal ensembles; the bestowal of clothing items as prestige goods on the local authorities by the central leaders of Korean ancient states to facilitate the governance of territorial peripheries; and the diffusion of Chinese court uniforms and other articles of clothing and textiles through the tribute system between the Chinese and Korean court, which also occurred once between Goguryeo and Silla. In a similar vein, Silla’s “voluntary” sartorial Sinicization at the threshold of the unification of the Three Kingdoms and its lasting implications throughout the pre-modern era need revaluation and reinterpretation. A historical view on this sartorial Sinicization in comparison with the sartorial shifts by the Mongol and the West in the later period of Korea should follow. One of today’s biggest concerns in fashion scholarship is stripping off the Euro-/Western-centrism globally prevalent in areas of fashion creation, consumption, research, and education. A diachronic view of the dress history of Korea tells its own story: Euro-/Western-centrism is not the first and only ethnocentric hegemony that drove fashion paradigm shifts in Korea. The implications surrounding the Sino-centric Confucian hegemony—more widely rooted in Pan-Asian dress/fashion—also await critical examination.
Notes 1 In-Sook Lee, “Ancient glass trade in Korea,” British Association for Korean Studies 5 (1994): 65–82; Lisa Kay Bailey, “Crowning Glory: Headdress of the Three Kingdoms Period,” in Susan Pares and Jim Hoare, eds., Korea: Selected Papers from the British Association for Korean Studies BAKS Papers Series, 1991–2005 (BAKS 5,1994; Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2008), 83–103; Gina Lee Barnes, “Discoveries of Iron Armour on the Korean Peninsula,” in State formation in Korea: historical and archaeological perspectives (Richmond: Curzon, 2001), 125–51; Yu ChaiShin and Yi Taeho, Early Korean art and culture: tomb murals of Goguryeo (Toronto: Society for Korean and Related Studies, 2011), 44–9; Soyoung Lee and Denise Patry Leidy, eds., Silla: Korea’s golden kingdom (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013); Sarah Milledge Nelson, “Adornments of Golden Silla,” in Sheri Lullo and Leslie V. Wallace, eds., The art and archaeology of bodily adornment: studies from Central and East Asian mortuary contexts (London: Routledge, 2020), 58–73.
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2 To learn more about the early history of Korea and the polities’ territorial relation to current South and North Korea, see the following: Carter J. Eckert and Ki-baek Yi, Korea, old and new: a history (Seoul: Published for the Korea Institute, Harvard University by Ilchokak, 1990); Michael J. Seth, A history of Korea: from antiquity to the present (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011); Jinwung Kim, A history of Korea: from “Land of the Morning Calm” to states in conflict (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012); Michael D. Shin et al., eds., Korean History in Maps: From Prehistory to the Twenty-first Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014). 3 The first recognizable polity in Korea confirmed in written records is [Old] Joseon with its existence from the seventh century bce to 108 bce . Upon the conquest by Han China, the Emperor Wu (China, r. 141–87 bce ) installed the commanderies: Xuantu (Kor. Hyeondo), Lintun (Kor. Imdun), Lelang (Kor. Nangnang), Daifang (Kor. Daebang), and Zhenfan (Kor. Jinbeon). About this time, the confederated tribal groups such as Buyeo, Eumnu, Okjeo, Goguryeo, Ye, and Samhan emerged in Manchuria and on the Korean peninsula and coexisted with the Han Commanderies, all of which gradually merged into the Three Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. The Three Kingdoms continued to develop into centralized states during the fourth to sixth centuries marking the period of state formation in Korea. Through frequent political and economic contacts, the Three Kingdoms became culturally assimilated to the point of their unification. Silla, allied with Tang China, defeated Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, and expelled the Tang forces from the Korean peninsula in 676. Silla’s unification, however, did not include most of the northern territory of Goguryeo. In 698, Balhae was established in the old northern territory of Goguryeo and thrived until the attack in 926 by Khitan, a northern nomadic tribe who established Liao (916–1125) in China. Later Silla (Unified Silla) faced internal problems in the tenth century with their social rank system, uprisings of local clans, and insurrections of farmers, and was redivided into the three states of Silla, Later Baekje, and Later Goguryeo. The new leader from the Later Goguryeo, Wang Geon (877–943, r. 918–43), established a new state Goryeo (918–1392), receiving refugees from Balhae, and taking over Silla in 935 and Late Baekje in 936. 4 Although coexisting with the Three Kingdoms, Gaya was a federation of small polities which did not fully develop into a centralized state, and was eventually absorbed into Silla in 532 ce . 5 See Désirée Koslin, “Visual Representations,” in Sarah-Grace Heller, ed., A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Medieval Age , (London: Bloomsbury, 2018), 158. 6 National Institute of Korean History 국사편찬위원회, Korean History Database 한국사 데이터베이스, http://db.history.go.kr/ (accessed April 1, 2021). Before the database was available, researchers referred to the following compendia: Kim Yeongsuk 김영숙 and Son Gyeongja 손경자 eds., Hanguk boksiksa jaryoseonjip I, II,
46
7 8
9
10
11
Dress History of Korea III. Joseon Pyeon 한국복식사 자료선집 I, II, III. 조선편 [Selected Excerpts on Korean Dress History I, II, III. Joseon] (Seoul: Dongyangboksikyeonguwon, 1982); Kim Yeongsuk 김영숙 ed., Hanguk boksiksa jaryoseonjip I Sanggo·Goryeo pyeon 한국복식사 자료선집 I 상고・고려편 [Selected Excerpts on Korean Dress History I: Ancient and Goryeo] (Seoul: Gyomunsa, 1985). Chen Shou 陳壽 (233–97), Sanguozhi 三國志 [Records of the Three Kingdoms] Vol. 30, Book of Wei. Eastern Barbarians. The concept of “cultural authentication” was defined and theorized by Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye V. Erekosima to apply to “specific articles and ensembles of dress identified as ethnic and considered indigenous [although] the users are not the makers or the material used is not indigenous in origin,” suggesting the four levels of the processes as “selection,” “characterization,” “incorporation,” and “transformation.” See Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye V. Erekosima, “Kalabari cutthread and pulled-thread cloth,” African Arts 14:2 (1981): 50. The description recorded in Sanguozhi, Vol. 30 Goguryeo, “in Goguryeo, the high official’s headdress chaek 㣗 is similar to that of Chinese ze 㣗, but the rear neck flap hou 後 is removed (大加主簿頭著㣗, 如㣗而無後)” can be considered in this vein, showing the transition from “selection” to “transformation.” Among many studies, see Jennifer Lemon, “Fashion and style as non-verbal communication,” Communicatio 16:2 (1990): 19–26; Joanne B. Eicher and Mary E. Roach-Higgins, “Definition and classification of dress: Implications for analysis of gender roles,” in Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher, eds., Dress and gender: making and meaning in cultural contexts (New York: Berg, 1992), 8–28. Such description in Sanguozhi conforms to the ethno-archaeological research by Ian Hodder. Sian Jones’s quote of Hodder’s argument says, “there is rarely a one-to-one correlation between cultural similarities and differences and ethnic groups . . . [T]he kinds of material culture involved in ethnic symbolism can vary between different groups, and the expression of ethnic boundaries may involve a limited range of material culture, whilst other material forms and styles may be shared across group boundaries.” Siân Jones, The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present (London: Taylor & Francis, 1997) (accessed October 26, 2021, ProQuest Ebook Central, p. 28); Ian Hodder, “Theoretical archaeology: a reactionary view,” in Symbols in Action: Ethnoarchaeological Studies of Material Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 1–8. Gina Barnes in her study on the ancient armors in the Korean peninsula and Japan also contends that “ethnic identity cannot be established on stylistic data alone.” Barnes, State formation, 148. Choe Chiwon 최치원 崔致遠 (857–?), Gyoenghak daejang 經學隊仗 [Confucian Theories and Accounts] Vol. 3, trans. Yu Namsang and Yi Unyeong (Daejeon: Daegyeong Publisher, 1981). The excerpts are also included in Kim Yeongsuk, Hanguk boksiksa jaryoseonjip I Sanggo·Goryeo, 80–1.
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12 Jeontong munhwa yeonguhoe 전통문화연구회, Dongyang gojeon jonghap DB 동양고전종합 DB [Eastern Classics Collection Database], http://db.cyberseodang.or. kr/front/main/main.do (accessed April 10, 2021). 13 National Treasure of South Korea No. 205. Discovered in 1979 in Chungju city in North Chungcheong Province, it is also known as Jung-won Goguryeo bi 中原高句麗 碑 [The Stele of Goguryeo in Jung-won]. 14 Through a series of recent reexaminations using 3D scanning and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) analysis, its dating has been updated to 397 (the seventh reign year of King Gwanggaeto of Goguryeo) from the previous estimate of the fifth century. Ko KwangEui 고광의, “Chungju Goguryeo biui pandongmun jaegeomto –jeaekgwa ganjireul jungsimeuro–” 충주 고구려비의 판독문 재검토 –題 額과 干支를 중심으로– [Reexamination of deciphered Choongju Koguryo Stele–with so-called “stele head” and the ganji (sexagenary cycle)–], Hanguk godaesa yeongu 韓 國古代史硏究 [The Journal of Korean Ancient History] 98 (2020): 47–95. 15 Jeon Hotae 전호태, “Goguryeo boksikmunhwa yeonguron” 고구려 복식문화 연구론 [Koguryo clothing culture study], Hanguksa yeongu 한국사연구 [The Journal of Korean History] 170 (2015): 128. 16 Kim Wonryong 김원룡 ed., Arts of Korea 韓國美術全集 4. Mural Paintings. (Seoul: Donghwa Publisher, 1973); Murals of Koguryo tumulus 高句麗古墳壁畵 (Tokyo: Chosen Gahosha 朝鮮畵報社, 1985). 17 Yi Yeoseong 이여성, Joseon boksikgo 朝鮮服飾考 [A Study of Korean Dress], (Seoul: Baegyangdang, 1946; repr., Minsogwon, 2008); Go Bongnam 고복남, Hanguk uibogui yuhyeonggwa yangsik 韓國衣服의 類型과 樣式 [Korean dress: type and style] (Seoul: Jimmundang, 1987); Yu Song-ok 유송옥, “Beokhwa-e natanan Goguryeo boksik” 벽화에 나타난 고구려 복식 [Goguryeo dress on the murals], in Jiban Goguryeo gobun byeokhwa 집안고구려고분벽화 [Ji-an Goguryeo Tomb Murals] (Seoul: Chosun Daily News Publisher, 1993); Yi Kyong-ja 이경자, Uri osui jeontong yangsik 우리 옷의 전통 양식 [Traditional Style of Our Dress] (Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press, 2003). 18 Kim Munja 김문자, Hanguk boksik munhwaui wollyu 한국복식문화의 원류 [The Origin of Korean Dress Culture] (Seoul: Minjongmunhwasa, 1994). 19 In Lunyu 論語 [the Analects] chapter 14 Xian wen 憲問, Confucius (551–479 bce ) states: “[H]ad Guan Zhong (?–645 bce ) not defeated the barbarians, I would have been one of the barbarians who leave their hair down unkempt and wear a jacket with the right panel over the left (微管仲 吾其被髮左䢺矣).” The way of fastening upper garments is alluded to a signal of status: “civilized” synonymous with left over right and “barbaric” with right over left. Stella Xu, who examined modern Korean historiography of ancient Korea, explains that the foundation of the Chinese view on the neighboring ethnic groups as “barbarians who have no civilization” was set out in the Han dynasty with the popularization of Confucianism, and lasted for centuries.
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20 21
22 23
24
25
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Dress History of Korea Stella Xu, Reconstructing Ancient Korean History: The Formation of Korean-ness in the Shadow of History (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016), 19. For more references on clothing depicted on Goguryeo murals, see Jeon Hotae, “Goguryeo,” 97–136. What is known as jeogori (basic Korean upper garment), baji (Korean pants), and chima (Korean skirt) were recorded as yu, go, and sang, respectively, in the ancient literature of China and Korea. See the International Taekwondo Federation uniforms dobok: https://www.doboks. com/itf-approved-uniforms/ (accessed April 11, 2021). See the work here. National Palace Museum. Wudai Nantang Gu Deqian mo Liang Yuandi fankeruchaotu juan 五代南唐顧德謙摹梁元帝番客入朝圖 卷 [Foreign Visitors to the Court of Liang Emperor Yuan, copied by Southern Tang Gu Deqian] https:// painting.npm.gov.tw/Painting_Page.aspx?dep=P&PaintingId=14843 (accessed April 11, 2021). Yun YongGu 윤용구, “Yangjikgongdo ui jeontonggwa mobon” 梁職貢圖의 傳統과 摹 本 [A Study on the Transmission and Reproduction of Liang Chih-kung-t’u], Mokgangwa munja 목간과 문자 [Wooden Documents and Inscriptions Studies] 9 (2012): 125–68; Lee Jinmin 이진민 et al., “Wanghoedo wa beongaekipjodo e myosadoen samguksasin ui boksik yeongu” 왕회도와 번객입조도에 묘사된 삼국사신의 복식 연구 [A Study on the Costumes of the Envoys from the Three Kingdoms pain in Wanghoido and Bungekipjodo], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 51:3 (2001): 155–70. “Dress and food of Baekje are similar to those of Goguryeo [during the late fourth to early sixth centuries]” (Book of Wei); “the language and dress of Baekje are similar to those of Goguryeo now [sixth to mid-seventh centuries]” (Book of Liang); “male dress style of Baekje [in the late sixth century] is largely similar to that of Goguryeo” (Book of Zhou). Synthesizing these records, the dress style of Baekje and Goguryeo were mostly indistinguishable from the late fourth through the mid-seventh centuries. Silla’s dress style between the fifth and early seventh centuries is also recorded as identical to that of Goguryeo and Baekje: “custom, judiciary, and dress of Silla are at large same as those of Goguryeo and Baekje” (Book of Sui Vol.81 Eastern Barbarians 46 Silla; History of the Northern Dynasties Vol.94 Biography 83 Silla). Gi Gyeongryang 기경량, “Hanguksa eseo minjogui gaenyeomgwa hyeongseong sigi” 한국사에서 민족의 개념과 형성 시기 [The concept and formation of ethnicity in the history of Korea] in Hanguk godaesa yeongu ui sigakgwa bangbeop 한국 고대사 연구의 시각과 방법 [Perspective and Methodology in Studies on Ancient History of Korea] (Paju: Sagyejeol, 2014), 221–46. History of the Three Kingdoms Vol. 5, Silla 5 King Jindeok 2nd year (648); Vol. 6 Silla 6 King Munmu 4th year (664).
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28 Kim Minjee 김민지, “Balhae boksik yeongu” 渤海 服飾 硏究 [A Study on Dress of Balhae Dynasty (698–926)] (Ph.D. diss., Seoul National University, 2000); Kim Jungjin 김정진, “Gyeongju Yonggangdong gobun chulto toyong ui boksiksajeok uiui” 경주 용강동 고분 출토 토용의 복식사적 의의 [A Study on the Costume Represented in Clay Figures from Tomb of Yonggang-dong, Kyeongju], Hanbongmunhwa 韓服文化 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 11:1 (2008): 11–21; Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (JPICRA) and Office of the Yanbian Korean Nationality Autonomous Prefecture Commission for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments 吉林省文物考古⹄究所・延邊朝鮮族自治州文物管理委員會辦公室. “jilin helongshi longhai bobai wangshimuzang fajuejianbao” 吉林和龍市龍海渤海王室墓葬發 掘簡報 [Excavation of Royal Family Tombs of Bohai at Longhai in Helong City, Jilin], Kaogu 考古 6 (2009): 23–39. 29 Sim Yeonok 심연옥 and Min Gilja 민길자, “Jungguk dongbukjiyeok eseo chultodoen Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo sidae ui jingmul yeongu” 중국 동북지역에서 출토된 고조선, 부여, 고구려시대의 직물 연구 [A Study on the textiles of the Age of Kojosun Booyeo and Kogooreo which were excavated in the East and North Area of China], Boksik 服飾 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 22 (1994): 61–70; Sim Yeonok 심연옥, 5,000 years of Korean textiles: An Illustrated History and Technical Survey (Seoul: Institute for Studies of Ancient Textiles Korea Branch, 2002); Sim Yeonok 심연옥 and Keum Da-woon 금다운, 2,000 years of Korean embroidery (Seoul: Kribbit, 2020). 30 Book of Zhou (636) Vol. 49 Account of the Foreign Lands 41 Gogyryeo. 31 Book of Liang (636) Vol. 54 Account of the East Barbarians 48 Goguryeo. 32 See the two recent articles: Ham Soon-seop, “Gold Culture of the Silla Kingdom and Maripgan,” in Lee and Leidy, Silla, 31–67; Nelson, “Adornments,” 58–73. 33 Ham Soon-seop 함순섭, “Sillawa Gayaui gwane daehan seoseol” 신라와 가야의 관에 대한 서설 [A Preliminary Theory on Diadems of Silla and Gaya], Hanguk sanggosa hakhoe haksulbalpyohoe 한국상고사학회 학술발표회 63 [Korean Ancient Historical Society Conference Proceedings] (2001); Lee Hansang 이한상, “Wisepumeuro bon godaegukgaui hyeongseong” 위세품 (威勢品) 으로 본 고대국가의 형성 [Formation of Ancient States through the Lens of Prestige Goods],” Hanguk gogohak jeonguk daehoe balpyomun 한국고고학전국대회 31 발표문 [The Korean Archeological Society Conference proceeding] (2007): 103–27. 34 Mary Harlow, ed., A cultural history of dress and fashion. Vol. 1 (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 1. 35 Nancy Micklewright, “Korean Costume History in a Pan-Asian Context,” in Conference Proceedings of Documenting Korean Costume: Primary Sources and New Interpretations (Stony Brook: State University of New York, 2017), 166. 36 Eicher and Roach-Higgins, “Definition,” 8–28; Joanne B. Eicher, “Dress, the Senses, and Public, Private, and Secret Selves,” Fashion Theory 25:6 (2021): 777–97, DOI: 10.1080/1362704X.2020.1829849.
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37 Lou Taylor, The study of dress history (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002); Charlotte Nicklas and Annebella Pollen, eds., Dress history: new directions in theory and practice (London: Bloomsbury, 2015). 38 Kim K. P. Johnson et al., Fashion foundations: early writings on fashion and dress (Oxford: Berg, 2003); Rebecca Arnold, Fashion: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); Malcolm Barnard. Fashion Theory: An Introduction (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014); Malcolm Barnard, Fashion Theory: A Reader (London: Routledge, 2017); Andrew Reilly, Introducing fashion theory from Androgyny to Zeitgeist (London: Bloomsbury, 2021). 39 Ingrid Mida and Alexandra Kim, The dress detective: a practical guide to object-based research in fashion (London: Bloomsbury, 2015); Ingrid E. Mida, Reading fashion in art (London: Bloomsbury, 2020). 40 Patricia Ebrey, Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 179; Xu, Reconstructing, 16. 41 Xu, Reconstructing, 19. 42 See, among many studies on the topic, M. Angela Jansen and Jennifer Craik, eds., Modern Fashion Traditions: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity through Fashion (London: Bloomsbury, 2018); Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun, Fashion history: a global view (London: Bloomsbury, 2018). 43 Francesca Polese and Regina Lee Blaszczyk, “Fashion forward: The business history of fashion,” Business History 54:1 (2012): 6–9; Jansen and Craik, Modern Fashion Traditions, 1–22; Valerie Steele, “Fashion Futures,” in Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas, eds., The End of Fashion: Clothing and Dress in the Age of Globalization (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), 5–18. As to defining fashion, Steele points out the problem of little scholarly agreement on rate and degree of style change, and that if a style change occurred restrictedly to a tiny elite, to what extent it mattered remains as an unresolved question. 44 Steele, “Fashion Futures,” 16; Yuniya Kawamura, “Sociological discourse and empirical studies of fashion,” in Fashion-ology: An introduction to fashion studies (Oxford: Berg, 2005), 19–37. 45 Jansen and Craik, Modern Fashion Traditions, 7; Sandra Niessen, “Afterword: Fashion’s Fallacy,” Modern Fashion Traditions, 209–18. 46 Chen Shou, Sanguozhi Vol. 30, Book of Wei, Eastern Barbarians, Goguryeo; Han.
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Goryeo (918–1392): Dress in Literature, Bulbokjang, and Visual Arts Jaeyoon Yi
“Korea,” the current name of the country, originated in the Goryeo dynasty (高 麗, 918–1392), which was a bridge between ancient Korea and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). The founder, King Taejo (Wang Geon, r. 918–43), overthrew the Late Goguryeo (Hugoguryeo 後高句麗, 901–18), resettled refugees from Balhae (渤海, 698–926) after her collapse in 926, and received successive surrenders from Silla (新羅, 57 bce –935 ce ) in 935 and Late Baekje (Hubaekje 後百齋, 892– 936) in 936. The Korean peninsula was reunified by Goryeo with territorial expansion to the north, locating its capital in Songdo, present-day Gaeseong in North Korea (see Figure 1.1d). While Buddhism played a dominant role in the multiple realms of people’s lives and culture as the state religion, Goryeo’s political system was based on Confucianism.1 King Gwangjong (r. 949–75) began to institute the state-wide examination (gwageo 科擧) to select government officials based on Confucian knowledge in 958, and issued the dress code (gongbok 公服) for officials in 960. In 992, King Seongjong (r. 981–97) established the National Confucian Academy (Gukjagam 國子監) to foster the state’s workforce based on Confucian scholarship. For 474 years of the dynastic span, the dress culture of Goryeo was closely interwoven with the state’s political and diplomatic policies. The regulations on dress were set off on the bases of two underlying ideas—Buddhism and Confucianism as the order system within Goryeo society as well as extended to foreign relations with the Chinese Song (宋, 960–1279), Ming (明, 1368–1644), Liao (遼, 916–1125), Jin (金, 1115–1234), and Yuan (元, 1271–1368) dynasties.2 This chapter considers select literary, visual, and material sources in contextualizing the dress culture of Goryeo and discusses their advantages and limitations.
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Literary Sources and Their Propositions The oldest extant official history of Korea, History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguksagi 三國史記, 1145), compiled by Kim Busik (金富軾, 1075–1151) during the Goryeo period, brought to light that the dress regulations of Goryeo succeeded those of Silla: Since King Taejo established the country, many realms of customs inherited those of Silla. The dress of men and women nowadays would be of the [old] custom [of Silla], [adopted from Tang] by the request of Chunchu [Kim Chunchu 金春秋, 604–61, r. 654–61, King Taejong Muyeol of the Silla period].3
The author, Kim Busik, also introduced his own experience as an envoy to the Song court in China, and the clothes of his group were similar enough to those of the Song people that one of the ceremonial staff at the Song court could not recognize them as Goryeo men.4 The grounds of the state dress code legislation and its trajectory throughout the dynastic history are explained in the introductory section of the Treatise on Carriages and Dress (Yeobokji 輿服志) in the History of Goryeo (Goryeosa 고려사 高麗史, 1451): Korea, since the Samhan period,5 has maintained its authentic regulations and styles in dress for rites as well as daily life. Since King Taejong Muyeol (Kim Chunchu, r. 654–61) of Silla solicited the bestowment of Tang’s court uniforms, the dress code gradually followed Chinese ways (中華). King Taejo (r. 918–43), occupied with more pressing affairs in establishing his reign in the early period of Goryeo, maintained many of the old customs of Silla. During King Gwangjong’s reign (949–75), the officials’ court uniform code, or gongbok, was firmly established and the distinction between the noble and the humble, the high and the low, became clear in terms of rank and order. But during King Hyeonjong’s reign (1009–31), many documents were lost and detailed regulations became forgotten. During King Uijong’s reign (1127–73), the executive member of the Royal Secretariat Chancellery (Pyeongjangsa), Choe Yunui 崔允儀 (1102– 62), with reference to the articles of royal ancestors and the regulations of Tang, China, prescribed the procedures for the state rituals. From the king’s grand ceremonial ensemble (Kor. myeonbok Chi. mianfu 冕服), to use of carriages, ritual emblems, and officials’ uniforms, all the processes of rituals and the materials were regulated into a complete, integrated system. For nearly a hundred years of the intervention by the Yuan dynasty, people’s hair was plaited and barbaric outlanders’ dress hobok 胡服 was adopted. Only when Emperor Taejo of the Great Ming dynasty (r. 1368–98) bestowed the regalia and grand ceremonial
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ensemble myeonbok on the Goryeo king Gongmin (1351–74) was Goryeo’s former glory revived.6
The influences of foreign power on the dress practices of Goryeo were described in the timely order of Song, Yuan (Mongols), and finally Ming, with a nuanced Sino-centric view on the adoption of the Song and Ming dynasties’ dress code versus the mandated dress code of Yuan. (For many previous studies on Goryeo dress, this view has become a conventional framework in approaching research, reflecting its role as an obstacle that limited understanding of the full picture of the period.) This section continues with detailed prescriptions of dress codes for kings, queens consort, crown princes, court officials, and magistrates on specific occasions. The first article begins with the bestowment of regalia from the Chinese court within the system of investiture (chaekbong 冊封) and bestowment (sayeo 賜與) of dress.7 King Taejo, as the founder of Goryeo, left specific instructions in the form of the Ten Rules (hunyo sipjo 훈요 10조) for his successors, underscoring the importance of civilization through adoption of the rites and music of the Tang, and denouncing the Khitan (later Liao) dynasty as “a state of savages (geumsujiguk 禽獸之國).” Nevertheless, gifts of king’s regalia from the Khitan are recorded five times (in 1043, 1049, 1055, 1057, and 1065), and from the Liao four times (in 1085, 1097, 1104, and 1108); from the Song (1078) and Ming (1370)—which are believed to have inherited the tradition from Tang as the Han clan—only one record is known. Another non-Han dynasty, the Jin, also bestowed their official regalia on Goryeo kings four times, in 1142, 1172, 1199, and 1212.8 Such events, which were contradictory to Goryeo’s state policy, have been interpreted by firstgeneration dress historians in South Korea as practical responses to the pressing military circumstances of the times.9 Japanese dress historian Sugimoto Masatoshi argued that these records are evidence of a tributary relationship between Goryeo and Khitan.10 Historian Bak Yong-un contended that the king’s regalia of Goryeo was in fact modeled on that of Tang and Song.11 Jin and Liao dresses retained local “barbarian” elements, including the way of fastening upper garments to the left side (jwa-im 左䢺), which was distinctive from Han Chinese style (u-im 右䢺).12 In the historiography of History of Goryeo, the theory of hwa-i 華夷 or distinguishing Han-Chinese from non-Han barbarians, prevails. Perhaps it was completed under the circumstances of Neo-Confucianism upheld in Joseon. Goryeo identified itself as a barbarian state (yi 夷) while constantly seeking Sinification as a way to achieve civilized status distinguished from other barbarians.13
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An Illustrated Travelogue of Goryeo (Xuanhefengshi Gaolitujing 宣和奉使高麗圖 經, 1123) written by Xú Jīng, a Song diplomat dispatched to Goryeo, included the dress customs of Goryeo during his stay from May to August of 1123. As the title suggests, it originally accompanied volumes of illustrations supplemental to the text, but those were lost during the Jingkang incident (靖康之變) in 1127. Today, the forty volumes of text are preserved at the National Palace Museum of Taiwan.14 A reprint from 1931 was taken to Korea in the 1970s and has since been studied as key source material for the dress culture of Goryeo.15 The seventh volume is dedicated to official uniforms (gwanbok 冠服), and describes the dress codes from king to low officials. Additional descriptions of various classes of people and their outfits, customs of wearing and production, and training of craftsmanship are found throughout Vols. 19 (People), 20 (Women), and 21 (Lower Officials). Xú Jīng frequently points out the differences between dress in Song and Goryeo, and how Goreyo managed to keep its own way including for the king’s casual wear, which comprised a black head kerchief and a white ramie coat (jogeon baekjeopo Ⲳ巾白紵袍), similar to a style a commoner might wear. Regarding the coexistence of Chinese and Korean indigenous styles in the dress history of Korea, the renowned late dress historian Kim Tong-uk (1922–90) explicated two strands of hierarchy in Korean dress with “dual structure theory (yijung gujoron 이중구조론),” by which historically royal and aristocratic classes were greatly influenced by foreign culture mainly from China, and ordinary people wore more authentically developed styles.16 This theory has continued to be adopted in the historiography of Korean dress to the present day.
Clothing and Textiles from Bulbokjang 佛復藏 Clothing and textile artifacts offer invaluable material information in the contexts of culture and technology of the time, but they rarely survive for more than a couple of centuries in the climate of the Korean peninsula. The earliest extant garments in Korea date to 1302, the late Goryeo dynasty. That clothing and textile artifacts dating to Goryeo remain largely due to the Buddhist ritual practice of bulbokjang, enshrining consecrated objects in the cavities of seated Buddha statues in the belief that the process would empower the statue with sacred spirits. The origin of this practice has been traced to eighth-century China and is thought to have been transmitted to Korea during the Unified Silla period (668–935). Usually a letter of devotion (balwonmun 發願文), including the names of devotees and date of deposit, accompanied the deposited items. The ceremony could be
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performed multiple times over an extended period of time, so discoveries may reveal multiple layers of ritual history. The practice of bulbokjang continued during the Joseon period, though depositing clothing seems to have been more popular in Goryeo. When the ritual process is finished, the statue is sealed, protecting the dedicated objects from exposure to light and air. Several discoveries have been made centuries later, when the surface of the statue needed refurbishing, revealing the enshrined items. Buddhist monk Gyeongwon compiled historic data regarding the ritual processes into a book in 2019.17 The first such discovery of clothing and textiles was at Munsusa Temple in Seosan City in South Chungcheong Province in the 1970s.18 Although the statue itself was lost in 1993, the year of the deposit ritual was identified as 1346, based on an inscription on one of the objects. Designated as Treasure no. 1572 by the South Korean government in 2008, the items are now housed at Sudeoksa Museum in Yesan City in South Chungcheong Province. The most notable item from this discovery is a short-sleeved coat or dapo 답호 (搭胡・搭護・搭忽) with triangular side panels that are open at the side seams from armpit to bottom hem (Figure 3.1d). The material has been identified as a blend of silk and ramie (絲紵 交織) woven with silk warp and ramie weft. This coat and other textile fragments discovered together were exhibited at Sudeoksa Temple in 2004.19 The second discovery was in early 1990. The provenance is unknown, but it is assumed the items were stolen from inside an Amitabha Buddha statue. This discovery drew even more attention from dress scholars due to an inscription noting the year of deposit as 1302. The items included three half-piece upper garments and more than two hundred textile fragments. All of the three garments had inscriptions and had been cut in half at the center back: one right half of a purple coat (ja-ui 紫衣, Figure 3.1a), and two left halves of a jung-ui 中衣 (Figure 3.1b) and a chocheoksam ㎳脊衫 (a top made with thin silk tabby, Figure 3.1c). The main fabric of the purple coat is twill silk damask lined with silk tabby in a similar color. The inscription on the neckband reads “by devoting a purple coat and a thin silk top, etc. [for this Amitabha, I] wish for peaceful a death and afterlife in heaven (. . .氏同生極樂願以腹藏入內紫衣及䔁脊衫等乙施 納).” The inscriptions from the jung-ui and chocheoksam both name the patron: “devoted by wife of Official Yu Hongsin, Yi clan (納宰臣兪弘愼妻李氏).”20 The three consecrated half garments and the textile fragments are currently housed at the Onyang Folk Museum. Technical analyses revealed the fibers, dyes, weaving structures, and construction methods of upper garments of Goryeo.21 However, the context of offering only half pieces and identification of the wearer, such as gender, age, and occupation, remain unknown.
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(a)
(b)
(c)
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Figure 3.1 Garments discovered from the cavity of Buddhas. a, b, c. Three half-piece upper garments from an Amitabha. Created before 1302 (a: A purple coat ja-ui 紫衣, twill silk; b: A middle top jung-ui 中衣, silk tabby; c: A short top chocheoksam ㎳脊衫, silk tabby). © Onyang Folk Museum d. A coat with short sleeves. Created before 1346. Plain weave with silk warp and ramie weft, 62 × 111 cm. Discovered from an Amitabha Buddha in Munsusa Temple. © Sudeok Museum
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Figure 3.1 (Continued). e, f. Discovered from a Vairocana Buddha in Haeinsa Temple, c. 1326 (e: A coat with horizontal tucks at the waist (yoseon cheollik), ramie; f: A jeogori, ramie). © Haeinsa Museum g. A jeogori, complex silk gauze, discovered from a Gwan-eum (Chi. Guanyin) Buddha in Bogwangsa Temple, c. first half of the 14th century. © Buddhist Research Institute of Cultural Heritage
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The third discovery was during the repair of the Wooden Seated Vairocana Buddha at Haeinsa Temple in North Gyeongsang Province in 1992, which uncovered eleven clothing items: four coats, four upper garments, a silk tabby cloth, a pair of sleeves made of hemp, and a patchwork silk pouch that contained a book of sutras. At the end of the sutra book, the completion date was noted as August, 1326 (by the lunar calendar), which suggests the approximate age of the garments and cloth. The most notable item is a yoseon cheollik 요선철릭 腰線帖裏 (a coat with multiple horizontal tucks at waist and gathers below the tucks) with a unique design (Figure 3.1e). The coat was made with finely woven pink ramie and the stitches sewn at the tucks and gathers show exquisite craftsmanship. The inscription on the inside of the side hem of the right bodice reads “[by devoting this, I] wish for the longevity of fifteen-year-old Song Bugae 宋夫介.” Another notable item is a short-sleeved overcoat (dapo) made with hemp with an inscription indicating the wearer’s name as Yi Seungmil 이승밀 李承密 and his social position as low-ranked official. This dapo is similar to the aforementioned one from Munsusa Temple (Figure 3.1d). The style of the yoseon cheollik and dapo shows the influence of Mongol dress during the Intervention of Yuan in Goryeo (1259–1356).22 The unlined ramie jeogori (mosi jeoksam 모시 적삼, Figure 3.1f) is also a valuable finding as one of the rare short upper garments of Goryeo which should be comparatively examined along with jeogori of Joseon. When a silk gauze jeogori (Figure 3.1g) was discovered in the Gwan-eum (Ch. Guanyin) Buddha in Bogwangsa Temple in North Gyeongsang Province in 2007, the ramie jeogori from Haeinsa (Figure 3.1f) was a great comparable source. The jeogori from Bogwangsa was sewn in a single layer without a lining, and fastened with a pair of frogs. The material was woven with four-end complex silk gauze (ra 羅), a popular weaving technique during Goryeo.23 The textiles from the gilt-bronze Bhaisajyaguru statue at Janggoksa Temple, first reported in 1966, suggested that two depositing ceremonies had been performed—forty textile articles consecrated in 1346 in the Goryeo period, and six textile articles in the Joseon era—but they were not examined technically at the time. Textile historian Sim Yeonok examined the forty-six items in 2015 and elucidated trends in the patterned textiles, weaving structures, and gold-thread weaving techniques.24 The clothing and textiles discovered from bulbokjang, all dating from the 1300s under the Mongol’s Interference following the Mongol dress mandate of February 1278 during the reign of King Chungnyeol, reveal details of their material aspects.25 Studies to date have given us better insights into the clothing and textiles of the time. Nevertheless, the full context and narrative still remain
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Figure 3.2 A gilt bronze belt with peony design. Treasure No. 451. Attributed to a King Gongmin’s (r. 1330–74) bestowal on a meritorious official. Housed in Taesamyo Shrine in Andong. Photo © Minjee Kim
to be discovered. Additional discoveries would add new opportunities for capturing the historical development of the dress culture of Goryeo, as the many cases of unearthed dress articles of the later Joseon have helped in delineating stylistic progressions of items. Besides clothing and textiles, refined metallic bodily adornments were created for the royal and aristocratic classes. Repoussé and chasing and engraving techniques were dominant during the Goryeo period. Examples include a giltbronze belt with peony-design plaques thought to have been bestowed on a meritorious official by King Gongmin (r. 1330–74), which were exhibited at Goryeo: The Glory of Korea held at the National Museum of Korea in 2019 (Figure 3.2).26
Visual Representations of Dressed Figures 1. Portraits Most surviving portraits from Goryeo are of figures from the fourteenth century onwards. Earlier figures are rarely depicted, and many are later reproductions.27
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As a rare case of early figures, the portrait of General Kang Mincheom 강민첨 姜 民瞻 (963–1021) in his official court attire dallyeong and hat bokdu is known to be a reproduction by Joseon painter Bak Chunbin 박춘빈 朴春彬 in 1788. The posthumous portrait of the very first Neo-Confucianist of Goryeo, An Hyang 안향 安珦 (1243–1306) was originally completed in 1318; the currently surviving editions are reproductions from 1559 attributed to painter Yi Bulhae 이불해 李不 害 (1529–?). In the portrait, An wears a red robe with the left flap closed at his right side and a soft flat-top hat. This style, along with those depicted in the portraits of Yi Sung-in 이숭인 李崇仁 (1347–92) and Yi Jo-nyeon 이조년 李兆年 (1269–1343) reflect the influence of Mongol. The portrait of Yi Jehyeon 이제현 李齊賢 (1287–1367) in a simui (深衣, a white robe with black trimmings worn by scholars) reveals the introduction of Neo-Confucian study in the late Goryeo. The portraits of Yi Saek 이색 李穡 (1328–96, later copy of 1655, attributed to renowned Joseon painter Kim Myeong-guk) and Jeong Mongju 정몽주 鄭夢周 (1337–92, reproduced by court painter Yi Hancheol 이한철 李漢喆 (1808–?); see Figure 3.3), although reproduced in the mid- and late Joseon, faithfully capture the unique period style of the official uniforms during the end of Goryeo and the beginning of Joseon. Women were not portrayed unless depicted in portraits with their husbands. The portrait of King Gongmin (r. 1330–74) and his Yuan Chinese queen consort Nogukdaejag Gongju (魯國大長公主, ?–1365) was originally completed in 1395 to be enshrined in the Royal Ancestral Shrine of Joseon (Jongmyo 宗廟), and the current version housed at the National Palace Museum of Korea is a replica of the late Joseon. Another portrait of the couple, both clad in Han Chinese-style ensembles, implies his political stance of breaking ties with Yuan and establishing a pro-Ming relationship.28 The portrait of official Jo Ban 조반 趙䘪 (1341–1401) and his wife features late Goryeo or early Joseon clothing style, though it was reproduced in the late Joseon, and thus some details may have been changed accordingly. Similarly, the portrait of Ha Yeon 하연 河演 (1376–1453) and his wife Lady Yi (1380–1465, Seongju clan) of early Joseon has been reproduced over five times.
2. Tomb Murals Tomb murals of Goryeo featuring dressed figures mostly date to the fourteenth century. Surakamdong tomb no. 1 in Gaeseong, the Hyeonneung tomb of King Gongmin (1374) in Gaeseong, and the tomb of Gwon Jun (1352) in Paju, all are located near the capital of Goryeo and the murals have elucidated the court
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Figure 3.3 (Reproduced by) Yi Hancheol (1808–?), portrait of Jeong Mongju (1337–92). Painting on paper, 35 × 61.5 cm. Bongwan 5035. © National Museum of Korea
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uniforms of the period, characterized by a long robe with extremely wide sleeves and a scepter held in the hands.29 The Dunmari tomb murals in Geochang in South Gyeongsang Province dates to the thirteenth or fourteenth century and features female fairies playing music and dancing in long and wide sashes cheonui (天衣), leading the soul of the deceased to heaven, which reflects Taoist notions popular in Yuan in addition to those of conventional Buddhism.30 The tomb of Bak Ik 박익 朴翊 (1332–98) in Miryang in South Gyeongsang Province shows scenes of processions of tribute bearers. The depicted styles of female ensembles and hairstyles are indispensable sources to reconstruct the dress history of the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods.31
3. Buddhist Paintings One of the most famous art forms of Goryeo is Buddhist paintings known as Goryeo bulhwa (高麗 佛畵), created in the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries under the sponsorship of the royal court and individual aristocrats. Approximately 150 extant paintings are now located worldwide (some twenty are in South Korea) so exhibitions have been held across the globe.32 Although they include depictions of great numbers of commoners with delicate and detailed description of textile patterns, these artworks did not draw much attention from dress historians until recently, due to the religious subject matter that called into question their value as genuine reflections of dress culture. Now, there is wide room for examination of the contexts and iconographies of the detailed depictions of dress and textiles in light of Buddhist practice.
4. Sculpture, Ceramics, and Bronze Mirrors A bronze statue of King Taejo was discovered Gaeseong in 1992 and kept in Pyeongyang. This statue confirmed the account of the making of King Taejo’s statue as recorded in the History of Goryeo. The seated nude 135 centimeter statue resembles a Buddha. However, it wears tongcheongwan 通天冠, an emperor’s regal headdress, proving Goryeo’s status of empire in domestic politics while it took on the status of kingdom in international diplomacy with the Song and others. People venerated the nude statue with ceremonial robes: fabric fragments were left on the surface and a gold belt was excavated nearby.33 Elsewhere, a group of five wooden figurines from an anonymous tomb in Bangbae-dong, Seoul, now in a private collection, were initially studied in 1970.34
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The group features three men in long coats cinched at the waist and two female figurines clad in long jackets and skirts. The figures show some trace of coloring. These figurines did not receive much further attention at the time due to a lack of contextual resources, but they are now understood to share similar features with the wooden figurines from the tomb of Byeon Su 변수 邊脩 (1447–1524) in the early Joseon. There is also some interesting imagery on Goryeo-era celadon ceramics (cheongja 靑磁), yet their context is still not fully understood. These include several examples of images of children on celadon pieces, including a girl-shaped celadon water dropper (靑磁彫刻童女刑 硯滴), currently housed at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics Collection in Osaka, Japan. These usually have a figure of boy, sometimes a girl, with a long jacket of hip length and a lotus-shaped hat (yeonhwagwan 蓮花冠), indicating the influence of Buddhism. These images all show the long jeogori that was popular in late Goryeo. Another unique example of imagery on celadon is a prunus vase inlaid with human figures (maebyeong 梅甁) discovered in Yucheon-ri of Buan City in North J eolla Province, famous for its celadon kilns during the Mongol Interference. Currently housed at Ewha Womans University Museum, this work depicts four female figures in full Southern Song style.35 This Song dress style, as represented on Goryeo artworks during the Mongol Interference, seems odd and was once interpreted as a reflection of the general style following that of the Song.36 Again, these partial images alone are unable to provide a complete context without a more thorough comparison with other cultural influences impacting Goryeo. Finally, a number of bronze mirrors (donggyeong 銅鏡) feature stylized human figures. Scholars compare Goryeo bronze mirrors with those of neighboring cultures to delineate the characteristics of Goryeo dress.
Conclusion: Outlook on Future Research The conventional framework that explained major trends in the historical development of Goryeo dress was based on external influences from the changing Chinese dynasties, especially in the dichotomous frame of “han” vs. “barbarian.” To look into how this framework has been applied to research, ninety-one articles were selected through the Research Information Sharing System (RISS, http://riss.kr) of the Korean Ministry of Education. The survey reveals that the most popular approach to the dress culture of Goryeo was to
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examine it in the context of foreign affairs with neighboring countries, which took up 33 percent of the articles: 15.4 percent Mongol, 15.4 percent Song, and 2.2 percent Jin dynasty. The next most popular was subjects related to Buddhism including the practice of bulbokjang, with 23.1 percent. The Sino-centric perspective was dominant in the historiography of Goryeo. However, one must remember that Han-Chinese cultural hegemony was not the only influence. The impact of relationships with the “barbaric” states in China— Liao, Jin, Yuan—on Goryeo was also substantial and visible in artifacts. Scholars should note their influence on Goryeo’s diplomacy, state dress regulations, and ordinary dress culture. To date, historical studies have mostly focused on Song and Yuan, and overlooked the influence of Liao and Jin. One must incorporate further examination on the literature and material artifacts of the Liao and Jin dynasties such as bodily adornments from the tomb of the first emperor of Jin, Taizu Wányán Āguˇ daˇ 完顔阿骨打 (1068–1123) near Beijing; the clothing and textiles from the tomb of Jin, Wányán Yàn 完乿晏 (1102–62) in Heilongjiang Province; and the mural tombs of Liao in Xuanhua and Datong in China. The dress of ordinary people in the Goryeo dynasty, as discrete from that of royals and free from the state dress regulations, needs to be explored. A valuable source could be the painted street views of Kaifeng, Northern Song’s capital, in Along the River during the Qingming Festival (明上河圖) by Zhang Zeduan 張 擇端 (1085–1145) at the Palace Museum in Beijing. A group of Goryeo merchants was identified in this monumental painting, which is over five meters long. International scholars need to create a cross-referenceable site to infer the various styles of dresses worn by people of Song, Goryeo, Liao, and Jin. By doing so, the distinctive characteristics of the dress culture of Goryeo could be better defined in the context of the shared dress culture of medieval Northeast Asia, encompassing Manchuria and the Korean peninsula.
Notes 1 Jeong Inji 鄭麟趾, Goryeosa 高麗史 [History of Goryeo] Jeongdeok ed. (1451), Vol. 2, Annals (Sega 世家) 2, April, the 26th year of King Taejo’s reign (943). 2 For further study of politics, diplomacy, and society of Goryeo, see the following: Remco Breuker, Establishing a Pluralist Society in Medieval Korea, 918–1170: History, Ideology, and Identity in the Koryŏ Dynasty, Vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2010); Remco E. Breuker, “Koryo as an independent realm: the emperor’s clothes?” Korean Studies 27:1 (2003): 48–84.
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3 Kim Busik 金富軾, Samguksagi 三國史記 [History of the Three Kingdoms] (1145), Vol. 33, Miscellaneous Treatise 2, Colored Vestments (Saekbok 色服) 2. “我太祖受命, 凡國衆法度多因羅舊, 則至今朝#t11#t12士女之衣裳, 蓋亦春秋請來之遺制歟.” 4 Kim Busik, Samguk sagi, Vol. 33, Miscellaneous Treatise 2, Colored Vestments (Saekbok 色服) 2. 5 The Samhan period can be understood as: 1) the period when the tribal polities Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan existed; and 2) the late Three Kingdoms period from about the fifth to the mid-seventh century, collectively referring to the Three Kingdoms. 6 Jeong Inji, Goryeosa, Vol. 72, Treatise 26 on Carriages and Dress (Yeobok, 䕯ᴽ) 1. “東國, 自三韓, 儀章服飾循習土風, 至新羅太宗王, 請襲唐儀, 是後, 冠服之制, 稍擬中 華, 高麗太祖開國, 事多草創, 因用羅舊, 光宗, 始定百官公服. 於是, 尊卑上下等威以明. 及 顯宗南行, 文籍散逸, 制度施爲, 莫知其詳. 毅宗朝, 平章事崔允儀, 䣓集祖宗憲章, 雜采唐 制, 詳定古今禮, 上而王之冕服輿輅以及儀衛鹵簿, 下而百官冠服, 莫不具載, 一代之制, 備 矣. 事元以來, 開剃䫲髮, 襲胡服, 殆將百年, 及大明太祖高皇帝, 賜恭愍王冕服, 王妃・群 臣, 亦皆有賜, 自是, 衣冠文物, 煥然復新, 彬彬乎古矣. 謹採國史, 作輿服志.” 7 Sim Jaeseok 심재석, Goryeo gugwang chaekbong yeongu 고려국왕 책봉 연구 [Investiture of Goryeo’s Kings by Imperial Dynasty in China] (Seoul: Hyean 2002). 8 Jeong Inji, Goryeosa, Vol. 72, Treatise 26, Carriage and Dress (Yeobok 輿服) 1. King’s dress (王冠服). 9 Kim Tong-uk 김동욱, Ijojeongi boksigyeongu 李朝前期 服飾硏究 [A Study of costumes in the early Joseon Dynasty] (Seoul: Hangugyeonguwon, 1963), Chapter 2; You Hi-kyung 유희경, Hangukboksiksayeongu 韓國服飾史硏究 [A study of Korean dress history] (Seoul: Ewha Woman’s University Press, 1975), Chapter 2. 10 Sugimoto Masatoshi 杉本正年, Dongyang bokjangsa nongo: jungsepyeon 동양복장사논고: 중세편 東洋服裝史論考 [A study on dress history of the East: Middle age], trans. Moon Gwanghui, Vol. 2 (Seoul: Gyeongchunsa, 1997). 11 Bak Yong-un 박용운, Goryeosidae saramdeurui uiboksik saenghwal 고려시대 사람들의 의복식(衣服飾) 생활 [Dress Culture of the Goryeo Period] (Paju: Gyeonginmunhwasa, 2016), 23–4. 12 Zhao Feng et al., Style from the Steppes : Silk Costumes and Textiles from the Liao and Yuan Periods 10th to 13th Century (London: Anna Maria Rossi and Fabio Rossi Publications, 2004). 13 Choi Jongsuk 최종석, “Goryeohugi jasineul iro ganjuhaneun hwai uisigui tansaenggwa naehyanghwa: Joseonjeok jagi jeongcheseongui motaereul chajaseo” 고려후기 ‘자신을 이(夷)로 간주하는 화이의식’의 탄생과 내향화 - 조선적 자기 정체성의 모태를 찾아서 [Emergence and introversion of ‘Hui (華夷) consciousness that regards itself as I (夷)’ in the late Koryo Dynasty], Korean Classics Studies 民族文 化硏究 74 (2017): 161–220 and “13–15 segi cheonhajilseohaeseo Goryeowa Joseonui gukga jeongcheseon” 13–15세기 천하질서하에서 고려와 조선의 국가 정체성 [The
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Dress History of Korea national identity of Koryo and Chosun under Chinese world order in the 13th–15th century], Critical Review of HIstory 역사비평 121 (2017):10–44. Cho Dongwon 조동원, “Seonhwabongsagoryeodogyeong haeje” 선화봉사고려도경 해제 [Bibliographical essay] in Goryeodogyeong 고려도경 [The Illustrated Account of Goryeo] (Seoul: Hwangsojari, 2005). Kim Tong-uk, “Goryeodogyeongui boksiksajeok yeongu” 高麗圖經의 服飾史的 硏究 –高麗圖經의 風俗史的 硏究–(1) [A Folkloristic Study of Koryodokyung: With a Special Focus on Dress an Its Ornaments], Yeonsenonchong 延世論叢 7:1 (1970). Kim Tong-uk, “On the dual system of Korean dress and clothing,” in Hangukboksiksa yeongu 韓國服飾史 硏究 [A study of Korean dress history] (Seoul: Aseamunhwasa, 1973), 406. Gyeongwon, Hanguk bulbokjang yeongu: Wollyueseo jaehyeonkkaji 한국 불복장 연구: 원류에서 재현까지 [Survey of the Enshrinement Ritual in Buddhist statues in Korea: From origin to reproduction] (Seoul: Minjoksa, 2019). Kang Ingu 강인구, “Seosan Munsusa geumdong yeoraejwasang bokjangyumul” 瑞山 文殊寺 金銅如來坐像腹藏遺物 [Relics enshrined in gilt seated Buddhist statue from Munsusa Temple, Seosan], Misuljaryo 미술자료 18 (1975): 1–18. Jeong-am and Sudeoksa Museum, Jisimgwimyeongrye 至心歸命禮 [Special Exhibition on the bulbokjang relics consecrated in Buddhist statues in Korea] (Yesan: Sudeoksa Museum, 2004). You Hi-kyung, “1302nyeon amitabulbokjang boksigui yangsikgwa teukseong” 1302년 아미타불복장 복식의 양식과 특성 [The style and attributes of the garments enshrined in the Amitabha statue in 1302] in 1302nyeon amitabulbokjangmului josayeongu 1302年 阿彌陀佛服藏物의 調査硏究 [A Study of the Relics Enshrined in the Amitabha Statue in 1302] ed. Onyang Folk Museum (Onyang: Onyang Folk Museum, 1991), 86–104. Kim YeongSuk 김영숙, “Goryeosidae hugi bulbokjang jingmurui ilgochal: Onyangminsokbangmulgwan sojang 1302nyeon amitabulbokjangjingmureul jungsimeuro” 고려시대 후기 불복장 직물의 일고찰 (高麗時代 後期 佛腹藏 織物의 一考察) -온양민속박물관(溫陽民俗博物館) 소장(所藏) 1302 년(年) 아미타불복장직물(阿彌陀佛腹 藏織物)을 중심(中心)으로 [A study of bulbokjang textile in late Goryeo: With a focus on Textile artifacts enshrined in Amita-Buddhist statue made in 1302, housed at Onyang Folk Museum], Korean Journal of Cultural Heritage Studies, Munhwajae 28 (1995): 128–62; Heo Heungsik 허흥식 et al., Goryeoui bulbokjanggwa yeomjik 高麗의 佛腹藏과 染 織 [Textiles of Goryeo as votive offerings in Buddhist statue] (Seoul: Gyemongsa, 1999); Sim Yeonok 심연옥, 5,000 Years of Korean Textiles: An Illustrated History and Technical Survey 한국 직물 오천년 (Seoul: Institute for Studies of Ancient Textiles, 2002). Kwon Young-suk 권영숙, “Haeinsa geumdongbirojanabul bokjanguibokgwa Goryeo hugi uibok teukseong” 해인사 금동비로자나불 복장직물과 고려 후기 의복 특성 [The textile relics interred in a gilt Vairocana Buddhist statue at Haeinsa and costumes of
Goryeo (918–1392)
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the late Goryeo period] in Haeinsa geumdong birojanabul bokjangyumul yeongu 해인사 금동비로자나불 복장유물의 연구 [Survey of the relics interred in gilt Vairocana statue at Haeinsa], Seongbo haksulchongseo 1 (Research Institute of Sungbo Cultural Heritage, 1997); Jeong-am and Sudeoksa Museum, Jisimgwimyeongrye; The Temple of Haeinsa and Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, Haeinsa daejeokgwangjeon, beopbojeon birojanabul bokjangyumul josabogoseo 해인사 대적광전, 법보전 비로자나불 복장유물 조사보고서 [Report on interred relics in Vairocana Buddhist statues at Daejeokgwangjeon Hall and Beopbojeon Hall at Haeinsa] (The Temple of Haeinsa, Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, 2008); Cho WooHyun, Yi Jaeyoon, and Kim Jinyoung, “The dress of the Mongol Empire: Genealogy and diaspora of the terlig,” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 68:3 (2015): 22–9. Park YoonMee 박윤미, “Bogwangsa Goryeosidae gwaneumbosaljwasang bokjang jeogoriui teukseong” 보광사 고려시대 관음보살좌상(觀音菩薩坐像) 복장(腹藏) 저고리의 특성 [Characteristics of jeogori found in the gwan-eum bodhisattva statue in Bogwang Temple of Goryeo Dynasty], Boksik 服飾 [Journal of Korean Society of Costume] 59:10 (2009): 1–9. Sim Yeonok, “Janggoksa geumdongyaksa yeoraejwasang bokjangyumului jingmul bunseokgwa jejak uimi” 장곡사 금동약사여래좌상 복장유물의 직물 분석과 제작의미 [Analysis and production significance of textile from the gilt-bronze seated Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) statue in Janggoksa Temple], Misulsa yeongu 미술사연구 [Journal of Art History] 29 (2015): 85–119. Jeong Inji, Goryeosa, Vol. 72, Treatise 26, Carriage and Costume Section (Yeobok 輿 服) 1. General Regulations (1278). “令境內, 皆服上國衣冠. 開剃蒙古俗, 剃頂至額, 方其 形, 留髮其中, 謂之開剃, 時自宰相, 至下僚, 無不開剃.” National Museum of Korea, Goryeo: The Glory of Korea 대고려 918・2018, 그 찬란한 도전 (Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2019). For surveys of portraits of Goryeo figures, see Cho Sunmie 조선미, Great Korean Portraits, trans. Lee Kyong-hee (Paju: Dolbegae Publishers, 2010) and National Museum of Korea, The Secret of the Joseon Portraits 초상화의 비밀 (Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2011). Choe Haeyul 최해율, “Mongol yeoja boksigui byeoncheon yoine gwanhan yeongu” 몽골 여자 복식의 변천 요인에 관한 연구 [A Study on the transformational factors in Mongolian women’s costumes] (Ph.D. diss., Seoul National University, 2001). Yi Hyejin 이혜진, “A study on the costumes of the Chinese zodiac on the wallpaintings of Koryo tombs 고려 고분 벽화의 십이지상 복식 고찰” (Master’s thesis, Seoul National University, 2004); Seong Seok 성석, “Goryeo gobunbyeokhwa sibiji dosangui jaehaeseok” 고려 고분벽화 십이지 도상의 재해석 [Reconsidering iconography of twelve chinese zodiac signs in tomb murals of the Goryeo dynasty], Korean Journal of Art History 美術史學硏究 297 (2018): 37–62.
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30 Ewha Woman’s University Museum, Dunmari mural tomb, History and Culture of Geochang 2 둔마리 벽화고분, 거창의 역사와 문화 2 (Geochang: Geochang-gun, 2005). 31 Donga University Museum and Sim Bonggeun, The Excavation report of Gobeop-ri mural tomb, Miryang 密陽古法理壁畵墓 (Busan: Donga University Museum, 2002); Han Jeonghui 한정희, “Goryeo mit Joseon chogi gobunbyeokhwawa jungguk byeokhwaui gwallyeonseon yeongu” 고려 및 조선 초기 고분벽화와 중국 벽화와의 관련성 연구 [Stylistic and iconographic comparison of Goryeo and early Joseon murals with Liao and Yuan murals], Misulsahakyeongu 美術史學硏究 [Korean Journal of Art History] 246 (2005): 169–99. 32 Hoam Gallery and Samsung Foundation of Art and Culture, Exhibition of Koryo Buddhist Painting 高麗, 영원한 美 (Seoul: Samsung Foundation of Art and Culture 三 星美術文化財團, 1993); National Museum of Korea, Masterpieces of Goryeo Buddhist Painting: A Long Lost Look after 700 Years 고려불화대전 (Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2010); Choi EungChon and Kumja Paik Kim, Goryeo dynasty: Korea’s age of enlightenment, 918–1392. (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003). 33 Noh Myeongho 노명호, Goryeo Taejo Wanggeon-ui dongsang 고려 태조 왕건의 동상 [Statue of King Taejo of Goryeo] (Paju: Jisik Sanup Publications, 2011); Jeong Eunwoo 정은우, “A study on sculptural features and significance about bronze statue of King Wanggeon in Goryeo period” 고려 청동왕건상의 조각적 특징과 의의 The Journal of Korean Medieval History 한국중세사연구 37 (2013): 199–229. 34 Lee GyeongJa 이경자, “Mogusangui boksik gochal” 목우상(木偶像)의 복식(服飾) 고찰(考察) [A study of costumes of wood figurines],” Journal of Korean Society of Costume 服飾 2 (1978): 23–34. 35 Im MyungMi 임명미, “Goryeosidae inmulgwallyeon jejangmuleul tonghaeseo bon boksige gwanhan yeongu (5) Goryeosidae inmulgwallyeonjejak seokgak mit seokjo inmulsangeul jungsimeuro” 고려시대 인물관련 제작물을 통해서 본 복식에 관한 연구 (5): 고려시대 인물관련제작 석각 및 석조 인물상을 중심으로 [See through Human being Status by the Stone: A Study on the Costume of the Koryo Dynasty 5], Dongdaenonchong 同大論叢 24:1 (1994): 421–60. 36 Kim Hongnam 김홍남, “Ihwayeojadaehakgyo sojang bu-an yucheolli chulto goryeo sanggam cheongja inmulhwamunui juje ‘jomaengbu gwandoseung saakdo’ ryeo-won munhwagyoryuui sanmuloseo” 梨花女子大學校博物館 소장 扶安 柳川里 출토 高麗象 嵌靑瓷 人物畵紋의 주제 ‘趙孟䶢 ・ 管道昇四樂圖’ 麗ㆍ元 문화교류의 産物로서
[The Ewha maebyeong vase with “four scenes from the artistic life of Zhao Mengfu and Guan Daosheng” as a product of Yuan-Goryeo culture], Art History Forum 美術 史論壇 16–17 (2003): 7–63.
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Reading Fashion of Joseon (1392–1910): Textual Sources with Clothing Illustrations Ga Young Park
Documents written during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) survive in great variety and quantity. Valued for their historical significance, many of them are listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Those include Joseon wangjo sillok 조선왕조실록 朝鮮王朝實錄 [The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty], Seungjeongwon ilgi 승정원일기 承政院日記 [The Diaries of the Royal Secretariat], Uigwe 의궤 儀軌 [The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty], and Ilseongnok 일성록 日省錄 [Records of Daily Reflections], all of which contain colorfully illustrated images of clothed figures and/or detailed accounts for the depicted clothing items.1 This chapter aims to introduce various documents of Joseon which stipulated dress, styles, and fashion in the contexts of law, policy, ritual, ceremony, custom, ideas, and philosophy. Most of the documents were written in classical Chinese or Hunmin jeong-eum, the archaic form of the Korean alphabet Hangeul,2 which may overwhelm English readers, though modern Korean translations with commentaries are increasingly available in the sources’ digitized database systems.3 The documents including illustrations of clothing items allow us to peep at the prescribed sartorial principles of the time and their transgression out of repressed human desire. To iterate the significance of such documents as primary sources for study of dress and fashion, the following sections are laid out into five groups for review: 1) government publications; 2) official documents; 3) literati anthologies and other private literary works; 4) encyclopedias and monographs; and 5) travelogues and foreign-language textbooks. Then, the chapter will conclude with several suggestions for further critical use of the said source of information.
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Government Publications (官撰本) As the Joseon government emphasized the conducting of rites and ceremonies as a means to realize Confucian ideas and values, state dress codes were considered effective visual representations of Confucian ideology in the political governance. The fundamental principles behind implementation were inculcated in the law codes (beopjeon 법전 法典), and specific rules in ritual procedures were compiled in the ceremonial books (jeollyeseo 전례서 典禮書). The law codes such as Gyeongguk daejeon 경국대전 經國大典, Sokdaejeon 속대전 續大典, Daejeon tongpyeon 대전통편 大典通編, and Daejeon hoetong 대전회통 大典會通 articulated distinctions between officials of different ranks with regulations on a variety of garments for designated occasions: court ensembles (jobok 조복 朝服), ritual ensembles (jebok 제복 祭服), official ensembles (gongbok 공복 公服), and daily working ensembles (sangbok 상복 常服). The ceremonial books such as Gukjo oryeui 국조오례의 國朝五禮儀 [The Five Rites of the State], Gukjo oryeui seorye 국조오례의서례 國朝五禮儀序例 [The Execution of the Five Rites of the State], Gukjo sok oryeui 국조속오례의 國朝續五禮儀 [The Continued Five Rites of the State], Gukjo sok oryeuibo 국조속오례의보 國朝續五 禮儀補 [The Continued and Augmented Five Rites of the State], and Daehan yejeon 대한예전 大韓禮典 [The Great Han Rites] detail the prescribed items with images and commentaries in accordance with the procedures of royal rites. The law codes and ceremonial books complementarily specified what to wear for royals as well as civil and military officials—for example, the court ensemble for the investiture ceremony for a Crown Prince. If a certain protocol had not yet been established, precedents or cases in China were referenced. Aimed at preventing social problems caused by dress practices, often sumptuary laws were enacted or other solutions were sought. Joseon wangjo sillok [The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty] is a compilation of everyday records of state affairs in the political, economic, military, social, cultural, and institutional sectors during each king’s reign. Seungjeongwon ilgi [The Diaries of the Royal Secretariat] contains the official work logs recorded by Seungjeongwon, a government agency equivalent to today’s presidential secretariat. Ilseongnok [Records of Daily Reflections] was written by King Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800) as his own diary recording state affairs; later, Gyujanggak 규장각 奎章閣, the royal library and academic policy office, took over the recording of increasing official works. A clear distinction between these three documents is noted: for any given event happening on the same day, the record in Sillok appears in one or two lines of the summary, whereas that of
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Seungjeongwon ilgi lays out the details in several chapters, and the king’s perspective is articulated in Ilseongnok. The records on dress at the state level are also found in budgets, finances, and tax reports. Man-gi yoram 만기요람 萬機要覽 [Handbook of Ten Thousand Techniques] is a compiled financial report, and Takjijunjeol 탁지준절 度支準折 contains lists of items required by the royal family and the administrative office, compiled by the Ministry of Taxation. Hullyeon dogam 훈련도감 訓鍊都監 [Military Training Command] retains detailed regulations on military attires worn by those at the main headquarters of cavalry, infantry, and on special duties, specifying dress style, quantity, sizes, costs, and materials procured for individuals. During the reigns of King Yeongjo (r. 1724–76) and King Jeongjo (r. 1776– 1800) in the eighteenth century, many of the royal ceremonial practices were reformed and compiled into books called jeongnye 정례 定例, or customary rules to prevent extravagant state expenditure. Gukon jeongnye 국혼정례 國婚定例, a compilation of lists of foods and objects procured for royal weddings, details dress items in quantity and required amounts of fabric not only for brides and grooms, but also for the court maids who assisted throughout the ceremonies. Sangbang jeongnye 상방정례 尙方定例 is a record of the customary regulations on the royal garments with specified dyes and fabrics to be worn on the birthdays of kings, queens, and crown princes, as well as at state ceremonies, and on celebratory and other special occasions. The rules were instituted in Sang-ui-won 상의원 尙衣院 which managed the royal family’s clothing and living goods generally.
Official Documents (古文書) The Joseon government required its government offices to complete daily work logs. A great number of official documents were handled across multiple institutions, and most of these remain intact, and provide unique and credible information. Recorded by court ladies, Gungjung balgi 궁중발기 宮中發記 reveals lists of clothing and accessories procured for royal ceremonies and seasonal holidays with detailed description of their style and quantities. Gungjung balgi is also called balgi 발기 (撥記), 블긔, geongi 건기 (件記), or danja 단자 (單子) for short. In late Joseon, most women did not write in Chinese characters, so most balgi were written in the early form of hangeul. Balgi offer rich contexts of dress
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culture at court through the lists of royal trousseaux informing varied scales of royal weddings based on the groom’s political status and the state’s financial situation at the given time. Also, the records of number of hairpins offer clues to identifying the hairstyles designated for specific events. The royal library, Jangseogak 장서각 藏書閣, houses over two hundred volumes of balgi concerning royal ceremonies of such as coming-of-age, wedding, holiday, and birthday, as well as skills and techniques relevant to making court garments, from weaving to finishing, buttoning, and dyeing (Figure 4.1).4 Sunhwagung-cheopcho 순화궁첩초 順和宮帖草, attributed to the concubine of King Heonjong, of the Gyeongbin clan of the Kim family, is a guide to dressing queens and royal concubines. Sunhwagung is the name of the palace where Lady Gyeongbin resided; cheopcho refers to a type of balgi that is folded and bound into the form of book. The content is in two parts: Gukgi boksaek soseon 국기복색소선 國忌服色素膳, which designated items of dress for death commemoration ceremonies of past kings and queens, and Sajeol boksaek jajang yoram 사절복색자장요람 四節服色資粧要覽, which specified regulations on the general outfits of royal family members with details of materials and colors as well as on the major holidays. It records court rules on the hierarchy of court women, which strictly dictated every course of their actions. For instance, only the day after a queen changed her clothing for the season could everyone below her in rank change theirs. There was also a principal rule to follow which considered the physical properties of the materials based on climate and temperature when wearing seasonal rings: gold in the winter, silver-cloisonné in spring, and jade or agate in the summer. Deungnok 등록 謄錄 is a compilation of draft documents of state events, through multiple transcription of which relevant institutions communicated. Since the transcription was done in a quick and direct manner, deungnok are often found in a cursive style. The best known are Bibyeonsa deungnok 비변사등록 備邊司謄錄, Uijeongbu deungnok 의정부등록 議政府謄錄, and Gaksa deungnok 각사등록 各司謄錄. Gaksa deungnok is a collection of official documents exchanged between the central and regional government offices. Hunguk deungnok 훈국등록 訓局謄錄, Chongyungcheong deungnok 총융청등록 摠戎廳謄 錄, Eo-yeongcheong deungnok 어영청등록 御營廳謄錄, Geungwiyeong deungnok 금위영등록 禁衛營謄錄, and Ho-wicheong deungnok 호위청등록 扈衛廳謄錄 are concerned with military affairs. Not only do these documents help us to understand the military system at the time, but they also provide data on social and economic life in the camps. We can also see the distinctions between the
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Figure 4.1 Bingung uidae balgi 嬪宮衣㾘件記 [List of the Costumes of the Crown Princess for her Wedding Ceremony], Unknown, 26 × 467 cm. © The Academy of Korean Studies https://jsg.aks.ac.kr/viewer/viewIMok?dataId=RD00988%7C#node? depth=2&upPath=001&dataId=001
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troop uniforms and individual soldiers’ uniforms according to rank, as well as changes in the military dress code. Uigwe 의궤 儀軌 [The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty] is a collection of pictorial documents which detailed the procedure of royal rites and ceremonies such as wedding, funeral, feast, and hospitality of foreign ambassadors, through which future events can be planned with reference to past events. Uigwe literally means “ceremonial canon,” that is, a set of government protocols for major state events that described entire event processes in detail, with lists of personnel and finance reports. Initially produced as recording of exemplars to ensure appropriate operation of a variety of state events regulated in Gukjo orye-ui [The Five Rites of the State] in 1474, the form, contents, and composition of uigwe embodied Confucian ideology.5 The topics were mainly—but not only— concerned with the Five Rites, namely auspicious rites (gillye 길례 吉禮), funerary rites (hyungnye 흉례 凶禮), military rites (gullye 군례 軍禮), foreign ambassador hospitality rites (billye 빈례 賓禮), and celebratory rites (garye 가례 嘉禮), as well as government projects such as publications, building construction, and instrument production. Uigwe were produced in several editions: king’s collection (eoram-yong 어람용 御覽用), and library collection (bunsang-yong 분상용 分上用) housed in multiple local institutions. Editions for the king’s collection were usually bound in high-quality papers with red borders and luxurious covers. Editions for library collections were bound with ordinary papers; the quality of calligraphy and pictorial representation was less sophisticated than those of king’s collection. To organize and conduct state events, a temporary agency called dogam 도감 都 監 was set up. Each procedure was documented into a form of deungnok, then compiled into a volume of uigwe which detailed dress code for each participant with quality and quantity of materials and total expenses. The contents are the concrete records of implementation of events under given circumstances, abiding by the law codes and ceremonial books. For example, Gichuk jinchan uigwe 기축진찬의궤 己丑進饌儀軌 (1829) is a record of the celebration of King Sunjo’s fortieth birthday and the thirtieth anniversary of his accession to the throne. That there were eleven full rehearsals demonstrates that the organizers were aiming for perfection. Each dancer was given two sets of ensembles for the performance: one for the main event and the other for the rehearsal. The personnel of the event management agency (Jinchanso 진찬소 進饌所) would check the inventory of wardrobes and from there plan how to procure costumes for the performers— whether to alter existing costumes or not, what should be newly made, etc. They also calculated the costs of costume production, which they paid to the performers,
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who made their own costumes modeled on the sample costume housed at the agency office. Such information was excerpted from deungnok or official documents. The pictorial representations in uigwe supplement the textual records. In Wonhaeng eulmyo jeongni uigwe 원행을묘정리의궤 園幸乙卯整理儀軌 [The Royal Protocol on King Jeongjo’s visit to his father’s grave] (1795), the performance costumes depicted in the section boksikdo 복식도 服飾圖 [Illustrations of Clothing] reappear as worn over the performers in the sections in which court dance and ritual procession were portrayed (Figure 4.2a). The same contents are illustrated in color in Hwaseong wonhaeng uigwedo 화성원행의궤도 華城園幸儀 軌圖 [The Illustrated Royal Protocol of King Jeongjo’s visit to his father’s grave] (Figure 4.2b, c). It came as an even greater surprise when the illustrated items were found as artifacts in good condition in the collection of the Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig (Figure 4.3 a–c).6
Literati Anthologies and Other Private Literary Works While government publications and official documents reveal events mainly related to royal family members, high-ranking civil and military officials with a focus on men, private literary works such as novels, essays, poetry, uncover ordinary people’s dress practices including subjects of literati, low-ranking officials, especially women and children. Also private ceremonial books only deal with the Four Rites (sarye 사례 四禮) of passage, namely coming-of-age (gwallye 관례 冠禮), wedding (hollye 혼례 婚禮), funeral (sangnye 상례 喪禮), and ancestor worship (jerye 제례 祭禮). Neo-Confucianism, the state ideology of the Joseon Dynasty, is a branch of Confucianism developed by Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) of the Song, China. Joseon’s policy was to pursue Zhu Xi’s version of Family Rites (garye 가례 家禮), which was in reality not well aligned with Joseon customs at the time. In that light, Kim Jang-saeng 김장생 金長生 (1548–1631) published Garye jimnam 가례집람 家禮輯覽 [Exposition of Family Rites] which incorporated various customary procedures of family rites in Joseon and their theories adding his own commentaries on the meanings of the procedures. Yi Jae 이재 李縡 (1680– 1746) also presented his model that was pragmatic and applicable to Joseon in his publication Sarye pyeollam 사례편람 四禮便覽 [A Concise View of the Four Rites]. The two works include the dress codes of the literati and ordinary people for coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and ancestral worship
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Figure 4.2 Illustrations of clothing and clothed figures from Uigwe. a. (part) Boksik-do [Illustration of Clothing] Wonhaeng eulmyo jeongni uigwe 園幸 乙卯整理儀軌 [The Royal Protocol on King Jeongjo’s visit to his father’s grave] (1795), 33.8 × 21.8 cm, 奎 14518-v.1-8. © Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies b. (part) Boksik-do c. (part) Jeongjae-do [Illustration of Feast], b and c are from Hwaseong wonhaeng uigwedo [The Illustrated Royal Protocol of King Jeongjo’s visit to his father’s grave], 1795, 62.2 × 47.3 cm, Shinsu 201. © National Museum of Korea
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Figure 4.3 Royal court banquet costume, late 19th century. © Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, Germany a. A female performer’s robe (mongduri), silk, length 112.8 cm, OAs 7727. b. A pair of sleeve attachments (hansam), silk, 65 × 45 cm, OAs 7727 b, c. c. A sash belt (sudae), silk satin, 364 × 10.8 cm, OAs 7755.
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ceremonies. As an example for the coming-of-age ceremony, a boy is supposed to change his ensemble three times, while a girl—soon to be a marriageable lady—changed hers only once from a semiformal jacket dang-ui 당의 唐衣 to a sleeveless coat baeja 배자 背子, and made her hair into a chignon using a long hairpin binyeo 비녀 ㄴ. The wedding ensembles of grooms and brides prescribed in the Family Rites still inform contemporary wedding traditions for the pyebaek 폐백 幣帛 ceremony (bowing to elderly family members). For pyebaek, brides and grooms wear a hanbok ensemble, then grooms wear a hat (samo 사모 紗帽) and a robe with a round neckband (dallyeong 단령 團領), and brides wear a robe (wonsam 원삼 or hwarot 활옷) and a bejeweled headdress (jokduri 족두리 or hwagwan 화관) (Figure 4.4). Mourning ensembles (sangbok 상복 喪服) followed the Five-Stage Dress Code (obok jedo 오복제도 五服制度), in which density and roughness of hemp fabric, and duration of mourning were prescribed upon the five differentiated degrees of the wearer’s relationship to the deceased. For example, when one’s father passed away, one would wear very rough clothes for three years, whereas for aunts-in-law, less rough clothes were worn, and for only three months. The line drawings of dress items provide approximate, if not precise, information on the silhouette, proportions, size, and structure. In Joseon, reading and writing were highly regarded as a virtue for gentry men to achieve in life. Scholars wrote on various topics and large amounts of these documents are preserved today. An anthology, a collection of a scholar’s writings, is called munjip 문집 文集. For scholars, dress was not only a means to realize Confucian doctrines, especially courtesy (ye 예 禮). They also recognized dress as related to conspicuous consumption and diffusion of style, which have a great impact on society. Therefore, Joseon scholars delved into the origin and social life of items of dress. Yi Yu-won 이유원 李裕元 (1814–88), in his work Imha pilgi 임하필기 林下筆記, examined the history of the transformation of court ensembles (gwanbok 관복 冠服). Jeong Yak-yong 정약용 丁若鏞 (1762–1836) also expressed his thoughts on the court ensembles of his time in his corpus Yeoyudangjeonseo 여유당전서 與猶堂全書 under the subtopic of “discussion on official uniform (gongbogui 공복의 公服議).” He criticized the complex dress codes that were then categorized for ten official occasions including attending court, rituals, military affairs, warfare, etc., and further subdivided by seasons and wearers’ rank. He aimed to simplify these into four categories, thereby saving the state budget and practicing practicality and frugality. Literati personal diaries and essays were often compiled into munjip. A rich, discursive depiction of the sartorial culture of the gentry in the mid-Joseon
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Figure 4.4 Traditional wedding ensembles. a. Groom and Bride, Korea, 1916, National Geography. Photo © Mary G. Lucas b, c. Ensembles for contemporary pyebaek ceremony, courtesy of Matthew Burger and Kayla Crandell, 2015. Photo © Minjee Kim
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period is found in Miam ilgi 미암일기 眉巖日記 [The Diary of Miam], a diary covering ten years written by Yu Huichun 유희춘 柳希春 (1513–77) during his service in different government posts from 1567 to the day before his death in 1577. It reports that Joseon officials’ clothing was basically supplied—either made, purchased, or rented—by their wives, concubines, daughters, and maidservants; however, a significant portion was met with bestowals by kings and gifts from the people to whom they were connected. It also describes the ways of storing—using a wrapping cloth bojagi or a box— and maintaining clothes through washing, dyeing, and ironing.7 The diary Nanjung ilgi 난중일기 written by Admiral Yi Sun-shin 이순신 李舜臣 (1545–98) during the Japanese invasion of Joseon (1592–8) was compiled into Yi Chungmugong jeonseo 이충무공전서 (李忠武公全書 Collected Works of Admiral Yi Sun-sin). In his diary, it is stated that the admiral and his soldiers made leather leg covers (pigun 피군 皮裙) when not engaged in battle. This implies that soldiers prepared and maintained their own armor. It also records that the admiral and his soldiers received winter hats (i-eom 이엄 耳掩) made with sable pelts that were bestowed by King Seonjo (r. 1567–1608). Such personal records deliver candid details of dress practices that could not be otherwise acquired. Three renowned pieces of court literature of the mid- to late Joseon, Hanjungnok 한중록 閑中錄 [Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong], Gyechuk ilgi 계축일기 癸丑日記 [Diary of 1613: Undisclosed Story of the Death of the Crown Prince Yeongchang], and Inhyeon wanghu-jeon 인현왕후전 仁顯王后傳 [A Biography of Queen Inhyeon], offer glimpses of royal dress practice from the authors’ individual female perspectives, either a royal family member or a court lady. Of particular note is Hanjungnok (1795), the autobiography of Lady Hyegyeong, mother of King Jeongjo, which recounts from her birth to her fifty years of life at the palace. It especially informs her husband (Crown Prince Sado)’s uidaejeung 의대증 衣㾘症, namely having trouble putting on clothing, what we would now term obsessive-compulsive behavior due to extreme fear— in this case, fear of his father, King Yeongjo who constantly disapproved of him and eventually ordered that he be confined in a rice chest to death. Her recollection somewhat offers dissent to the descriptions recorded in the official history, thus contributing to the complex, supplementary contexts to the story. The classical novels and lyrics such as Chunhyang-jeon 춘향전 and Chunhyangga 춘향가 illuminate the appearances not only of the protagonists of a female entertainer and a gentry man, but also of various other characters from the commoner and servant classes.8 Hanyang-ga 한양가 [Song of Seoul], written by Hansan geosa 한산거사 in 1844, illustrates its civic history, culture, customs,
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institutions, royal processions, and so on with many descriptions of dress practice, especially of lower-rank officials, ordinary people, and even gisaeng or female entertainers. Gyubang 규방 閨房 literatures written by women in hangeul reflect Joseon women’s daily lives. Gyubang refers to the inner quarters of a house used as a female homeowner’s residential and working space. Gyubang literatures shed light on women’s thoughts on clothing construction and maintenance for their households as part of their duties. Jochimmun 조침문 弔針文 [Funeral Oration for a Needle], for example, portrays how much the author, Lady Yu, cherished her sewing tools; especially the broken needle was described as a personified friend for twenty-seven years, recounting its contribution, in hopes to meet again in her next life. Sewing was one of the most valued realms of gentry women’s work for which they devoted time and effort to reach a high level of skill and aesthetics. Gyujung chilwu jaengnongi 규중칠우쟁론기 閨中七友爭論記 [Debate among the Women’s Seven Friends] is an anonymous novel of social satire which metaphorically discloses the worldly disputes using an analogy to the debates among the seven personified sewing tools that took place when the housewife fell asleep while sewing. In her dream, the seven friends—thread, needle, ruler, iron, mini-iron, scissors, and thimble—debate which one is the most important tool for making clothes. Each of them also complains about its not so well-received status compared to the importance of the role, which speaks for the role and status of women of the time. Written by Lady Yi Bingheogak 빙허각 이씨 憑虛閣 李氏 in 1809, Gyuhap chongseo 규합총서 閨閤叢書 [Corpus of Domestic Work] is more a handbook of women’s duties and virtues than a work of literature. In the chapter Bongimchik 봉임칙 縫㍍則 are enumerated all the instructions for sewing, weaving, embroidery, sericulture, dyeing, and laundry. The author presents how to construct and manage clothing with practical instructions, which illuminates the articulated gender role of Joseon women.
Encyclopedias and Monographs Encyclopedic publications in Joseon were called yuseo 유서 類書. Yuseo often included entries relevant to dress, reflecting authors’ perspectives on specific items. Oju yeonmun jangjeonsango 오주연문장전산고 五洲衍文長箋散稿 [Random Expatiations of Five Continents], the nineteenth-century encyclopedic work of scholar Yi Gyu-gyeong 이규경 李圭景 (1788–1856), encompasses 1,417
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entries from his life-long studies with bibliographical and dialectical approaches. The entries related to clothing and textiles include raw materials—hemp and silk—leather clothing, headdresses, garments, fur-lined socks, shoes, staffs, glasses, and other accessories for ensembles for ritual occasions. Reviewing other encyclopedic publications in chronological order, such as Jibong yuseol 지봉유설 芝峰類說 [Topical Discourses of Jibong] (1614), Seongho saseol 성호사설 星湖僿 說 [Collected Works of Seongho] (eighteenth century), and Songnam japji 송남잡지 松南雜識 [Encyclopedic Knowledge of Songnam] (nineteenth century), elucidates that the description of items of dress became more diversified and better classified over time. Also, we can see how people’s ideas and values were embedded in dress practice, such as Sino-centrism, Confucian propriety, and the pursuit of frugality and practicality, as well as the transformation of those notions aligned with social change.9 The scholars criticized the trend of women’s jeogori (upper garment) constantly being cropped in lengths, calling it bogyo 복요 服妖 [bizarre or coquettish look]. In periods of relative political peace, Joseon saw significant publications in specialized fields. Akhak gwebeom 악학궤범 樂學軌範 [Canon of Music Study] (1493), a corpus of music and dance performance, best exemplifies this. Joseon highly respected traditional-style ceremonial performance as one of the essential elements for realizing Confucian ideology. Music 樂 in East Asian culture was an overarching term encompassing dance performance. The performance of music and dance was at the center of ritual procedures at the court banquets, as it was believed to allow the mind to be harmonious with the natural surroundings. The chapter of Gwanbok doseol 관복도설 冠服圖說 [Illustration of Headdress and Clothing] in the Akhak gwebeom illustrates each item of dress for a variety of performers with both textual accounts and a diagram with size specifications. Books on military tactics are collectively called byeong-seo 병서 兵書. Recognizing the importance of national defense, the Joseon government was always keen on organizing its armed forces with weapons, strategic tactics, and training, and documented them accordingly. A great deal of discussion on military uniforms can be found in Muye dobo tongji 무예도보통지 武藝圖譜通志 [Comprehensive and Illustrated Manual of Military Arts] (1790) and Yungwon pilbi 융원필비 戎垣必備 [Necessities of Military Institution] (1813). Muye dobo tongji was published to educate warriors with martial skills; it features twentyfour different movements with figure images from various positions as well as a variety of weapons. The chapter gwanbok doseol 관복도설 冠服圖說 [Illustrated Accounts of Headdress and Clothing] includes diagrams of items that comprised
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outfits for the four categories of martial art performances—infantry, cavalry, polo games, and equestrian circuses.10 Yungwon pilbi, a manual for military weapons, has concise but crucial information on leather armor (pigap 피갑 皮甲) and helmets (piju 피주 皮߁), which are comparatively examined with over ten pieces of surviving artifacts housed within and beyond Korea.11 The most notable works are the monographs solely dedicated to the subject of dress. Civil official Bak Gyusu 박규수 朴珪壽 (1807–77) completed Geoga japbokgo 거가잡복고 居家雜服考 [A Study on Ordinary Dress] in 1841. This publication was a family project which he took over from his grandfather, the renowned civil official and scholar Bak Jiwon 박지원 朴趾源 (1737–1805), concerning the state’s dress code reform; this was initiated by Bak’s grandfather, but it had not been legislated in his time.12 Geoga japbokgo consists of three parts with discussions and illustrations: garments for gentry males, females, and children. Not only does the book designate proper ceremonial ensembles for diverse occasions, it also provides instructions for clothing construction and wearing headdress and clothing, appropriately followed by Confucian doctrines. The author also discusses the cultural influences of Mongols and Manchus on Joseon dress practice and proposes solutions for reform of state policies.13
Travelogues and Foreign-language Textbooks The underlying diplomatic principle during the Joseon dynasty was to serve the big country [China] and forge good relationships with neighboring countries (sadae-gyorin 사대교린 事大交隣).14 The Joseon envoys dispatched to China were called yeonhaengsa 연행사 燕行使, while those sent to Japan were called tongsinsa 통신사 通信使. Travelogues written by yeonhaengsa were referred to as Yeonhaengnok 연행록 燕行錄 or Jocheonnok 조천록 朝天錄. Damheon yeongi 담헌연기 湛軒燕記 (1766), Eulbyeong yeonhaengnok 을병연행록 乙丙燕行錄 (later than 1766), and Yeolha ilgi 열하일기 熱河日記 [The Jehol Diary] are examples of Yeonhaengnok. The authors, while describing their experience of the visits, compared their dress with that of people in Qing China, and recorded their views and conversations with Qing people on the two countries’ dress codes and practices.15 When they returned to Joseon, they also pursued systematic reformations of the dress culture, seeking practical and reasonable solutions. Their focus revolved around men’s ensembles in the following categories: official uniform (gongbok 공복 公服), daily working uniform (sangbok 상복 常服),
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military uniform (gunbok 군복 軍服), working uniform (sibok 시복 時服), battle uniform (yungbok 융복 戎服), and home wear (pyeonbok 편복 便服). They also criticized the trend of women’s fashion of their time. The women’s upper garment jeogori was getting shorter and narrower to the extremely form-fitting style, and their skirt chima was becoming more voluminous. The women’s hair was groomed extravagantly with huge ornamental wigs gache made with human hair, which was unreasonably costly. The intellectuals’ stance on the adoption of the dress of the Qing was based on Joseon’s conventional diplomatic policy, hwai-ron 화이론 華夷論 (Sino-barbarian dichotomy), which distinguished Han Chinese from non-Han peoples with a corresponding binary notion of civilized vs. barbaric. For the scholars, the dress of the Qing was a barbaric fashion, therefore not regarded as an exemplar that Joseon should follow. The travelogues written by envoys to Japan were called sahaengnok 사행록 使 行錄. Dongsa ilgi 동사일기 東῾日記 is a documentation of a visit to Japan in 1711, while Sinmi tongsin illok 신미통신일록 辛未通信日錄 is of a visit in 1811. These documents can be cross-examined with surviving portraitures of the envoys, such as Tongsinsa hang-nyeoldo 통신사행렬도 通信使行列圖 [The Processions of Tongsinsa] and Tongsinsa boksikdo 통신사복식도 通信使服飾圖 [The Clothing of Tongsinsa]. On these portraitures, various people who accompanied the envoys are represented in a variety of cultural scenes, featuring a wide range of social classes and occupations such as secretaries, interpreters, and performers.16 The diplomatic missions to Japan were performed in tandem with many cultural events. The performers from Joseon wore costumes of better quality with more embellishments than they would ordinarily. Of particular note is the disparity between the formal ensembles of the envoys dispatched to China and Japan. While the latter wore the court uniform jobok, the former wore a black robe with a round neckband, which was then designated as the working uniform sibok.17 The foreign-language textbooks were study materials for interpreters in Chinese, Manchurian, Mongolian, and Japanese. The best known include Nogeoldae 노걸대 老乞大 and Baktongsa 박통사 朴通事 (both c. late fourteenth century) for Chinese; Cheop-haemong-eo 첩해몽어 捷解蒙語 (1737) for Mongolian; and Cheop-haesin-eo 첩해신어 捷解新語 (1676) for Japanese. They include information on clothing, customs, and textile production through which cross-cultural and linguistic comparisons are offered.18 The evolution of terms can be traced through comparative examination of the various editions from the late Goryeo to the late Joseon.19
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Conclusion: Notes on Interpretation of the Sources Literary sources may pose challenges for the history of dress and fashion due to their subjectivity, discrepancies in meanings in multiple descriptions, inaccuracies and errors in usage, distortions in translation, and unintelligibility. I conclude with notes on using literary sources for establishing narratives of the dress history of the Joseon dynasty. Many written sources were lost or damaged during the invasions by Japan (1592–8) and Qing China (1636–7). Currently available sources are concentrated on the period thereafter, resulting in imbalance in quality and quantity of source materials for picturing the whole Joseon period. For uigwe, although it began to be produced after the compilation of Gukjo oryeui [The Five Rites of the State] in 1474, the earliest extant two uigwe date to 1601: Ui-inwanghu salleungdogam uigwe 의인왕후산릉도감의궤 懿仁王后山陵都監儀軌 [Royal Protocol on the Building of Queen Ui-in’s Mausoleum] and Ui-inwanghu binjeonhonjeondogam uigwe 의인왕후빈전혼전도감의궤 懿仁王后殯殿魂殿都監儀軌 [Royal Protocol on the Funeral of Queen Ui-in]. Consequently, contemporary historical movies and dramas featuring Joseon have mostly been produced on the subjects in the late Joseon due to the availability of sources. As seen in uigwe and sillok, the Joseon government officially produced documents with meticulously detailed information. However, no primary source is perfect. One should be wary of errors or missing pages. For example, the osaek hansam 오색한삼 五色汗衫 is frequently mis-transcribed as oksaek hansam 옥색한삼 玉色汗衫.20 Such errors can be resolved through cross-analysis of several editions of uigwe for eoram-yong and bunsang-yong, deungnok, sillok, Seungjeongwon ilgi, etc. For ambiguous phrases such as “wear as usual (如常儀)” or “each person wears his/her own attire (各服其服),” today’s researchers can only conjecture the context using various references. The frequently recorded phrase, “officials’ attire follows the king’s (百官從上服),” actually meant that when the king wore his court ensemble, his officials were required to wear their court ensemble; when the king wore military ensemble, his officials were to wear their military attire. The illustration of each dress item and the depiction of them worn on the body in festival scenes of the documents are not always accurate, as it was not the illustrators who made the patterns and cut and sewed the clothing. The illustrations of Cheoyong Dance costumes in Akhak gwebeom present erroneous proportions in the length of the robe to the length of sleeves when compared with the description of measurements recorded in the same chapter.21
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Also, it should be taken into consideration that measurements were not standardized and changed over time. The unit cheok 척 尺 that measured length varied depending on objects; pobaek-cheok 포백척 布帛尺 was for measuring cloth. Despite the sources’ historical significance, low proficiency in interpreting classical Chinese texts hinders their utilization. Original texts should be readily available in modern Korean and English in digital databases. The Royal Libraries Gyujanggak and Jangseogak, the Cultural Heritage Administration, and the National Museum of Korea provide original texts and images of their uigwe collection for online viewing, and other written sources touched on this chapter are gradually being digitized with translations and modern commentary.22 Last but not least, one may easily misinterpret that the dress culture of Joseon was stagnant and immutable, but the surviving texts and illustrations prove otherwise. Fashion in Joseon may differ from today’s “fast fashion” system, though the written documents reveal cases of clear trends in styles of clothing and the government’s frequent attempts to prohibit certain styles that did not meet the standards of Confucian values.
Notes 1 Find more documents registration here: UNESCO, “Republic of Korea”, http:// www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/ register/access-by-region-and-country/kr/#c184231 (accessed September 17, 2020). 2 The Korean writing system was invented by the order of King Sejong in 1443. 3 Refer to the following digital archives: Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at the Seoul National University, http://kyu.snu.ac.kr; Jangseogak Archives at the Academy of Korean Studies, http://yoksa.aks.ac.kr; Oegyujanggak Uigwe at the National Museum of Korea, https://www.museum.go.kr/uigwe; Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics, https://db.itkc.or.kr/; Korean History Database from the National Institute of Korean History, http://db.history.go.kr; and Korean History Online, http://www.koreanhistory.or.kr. 4 Lee Myung-eun 이명은, “Gungjung balgie natanan haengsa mit boksik yeongu: jangseogak sojangpumeul jungsimeuro” 궁중 발긔에 나타난 행사 및 복식연구: 장서각 소장품을 중심으로 [Study on Royal Ceremonies and Costumes on Gungjung balgi on the Joseon Dynasty: Based on a Collection of Jangseogak] (Master’s thesis, Dankook University, 2003), 16–18; Park Hyejin 박혜진, “Joseonsidae hugi gungjung paemul yeongu: ui naeyongeul jungsimeuro” 조선시대 후기 궁중패물 연구: 의 내용을 중심으로 [Study on Ceremonial Ornaments in the Latter
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Period of Joseon Dynasty: Focused on the Contents of Gungjung balgi] (Master’s thesis, Dankook University, 2005). National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, ed. 국립문화재연구소 편, Segye girok yusan Joseon wangjo uigwe haksul symposium 세계기록유산 조선왕조의궤 학술심포지엄 [Symposium Proceeding Memory of the World ‘Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty’], 6. See this catalogue: Gungnip Munhwajae Yeonguso and Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig, Dogil Laipchihi Geurasi minsok bangmulgwan sojang Hanguk munhwajae 독일 라이프지히 그라시 민속박물관 소장 한국문화재 [Korean art collection, Grassi Museum für Volkerkunde zu Leipzig, Germany] (Daejeon: Gungnip Munhwajae Yeonguso, 2013), 190–1. Lee Minjoo 이민주, “Boksik jangmangwa gwallireul tonghan 16segi sadaebu jibanui uisaenghwal -Mi-am ilgireul jungsimeuro” 복식 장만과 관리를 통한 16세기 사대부 집안의 의생활 『미암일기』를 중심으로 [A Study of Clothing Life of Nobility Family in 16th Century by Preparing and Managing of Costumes: Focused on Miam diary], Hangukhak 한국학 [Korean Studies Quarterly] 35:4 (2012): 7–33. Geum Key-sook 금기숙, “Boksige pyohyeondoen mi-uisige gwanhan yeongu: Chunhyangjeoneul jungsimeuro” 服飾에 表現된 美意識에 관한 硏究: 「春香傳」을 中 心으로 [(The) Aesthetic Consciousness of the Late Joseon Period: Focused on Chunhyang-jeon] (Master’s thesis, Ewha Womans University, 1982); Kim Munja 김문자, “Chunhyangjeone deungjanghaneun juyo yeoja boksik gojeung yeongu” 에 등장하는 주요 여자 복식 고증 연구 [A Study on the Historical Research of ‘춘향전’ the Leading Woman’s Costume in Chunhyang-jeon], Hnabongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 9:2 (2006): 41–58; Lee Eun-joo 이은주, “Jang Jabaek Chunhyangga’e myosadoen Joseonhugi namja boksige gwanhan gochal” 장자백 〈춘향가〉에 묘사된 조선후기 남자복식에 관한 고찰 [A Study on the Men’s Costumes Appeared in Ch’unhyang-ga by Jang Ja-Baek in the Latter Period of Joseon], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 16:2 (2013): 17–34. Lee Kyungmi 이경미, “Joseonhugi yuseoryue natanan boksikgwan” 조선후기 유서류에 나타난 복식관 [An Analysis on the View of Costumes in the Encyclopedic Works of the Late Joseon Period], Yeoksa minsokhak 역사민속학 [Journal of Korean Historical-Folklife] 33 (2010): 73–114 and “Songnam japji ui minsongmunhwa jaryo geomto” 송남잡지의 민속문화 자료 검토 [A Study on the Folk-cultural Materials in the Songnam jabji], Yeoksa minsokhak 역사민속학 [Journal of Korean HistoricalFolklife] 35 (2011): 107–39. Park Ga Young 박가영, “Joseonsidae boyegwanbok mangsu’ui’ui siljiljeok unyong” 조선시대 보예관복 망수의의 실질적 운용 [A Practical Management of the Martial Arts Uniform, Mangsu-ui, in the Joseon Dynasty], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 17:3 (2014): 162.
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11 Park Ga Young, “Joseonhugi pigabui gujowa teukjing” 조선후기 피갑(皮甲)의 구조와 특징 [A Study on the Structure and Characteristics of Leather Armors in the Late Joseon Dynasty], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 69:6 (2019): 136–58. 12 Jo Hyosun 조효순, “Geogajapbokgo’ui boksiksajeok gachi” 居家雜服攷의 服飾史料的 가치 [A Study on the Dress-Cultural Historical Value of Geoga japbokgo], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 3:3 (2000): 5–16. 13 Lee Minjoo, “Osaka burip Nakanoshima doseogwan sojang Geogajapbokgo haeje” 오사카 부립 나카노시마도서관 소장 『거가잡복고』 해제 [An Introduction to Geoga japbokgo in Osaka Prefectural Library’s Collection], Minjongmunhwa yeongu 민족문화연구 [Korean Cultural Studies] 80 (2018): 229–38. 14 Shin Myeongho 신명호, Joseon wangsilui uiryewa saenghwal 조선왕실의 의례와 생활 [Rites and Ceremonies in the Joseon Court] (Seoul: Dolbegae, 2002), 32; Yun Yangno 윤양노, “Joseonsidae sahaengyejeolgwa boksik” 조선시대 사행예절과 복식 [Courtesy and Costume for the Envoys in Joseon Dynasty], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 6:3 (2003): 57–70. 15 Yun Gyeonghui 윤경희, “Bukhakpa Yeonhaengnogeul tonghae bon Joseonboksik yeongu” 북학파 연행록을 통해 본 조선복식 연구 [A Study on Joseon Costume through the Yeonhaengnok as Recorded by Bukak School] (Master’s thesis, Sungkyunkwan University, 2014), 30. 16 Park Sunhee 박선희, “18 segi ihu tongsinsa boksik yeongu” 18 세기 이후 통신사 복식 연구 [A Study on the Attire of Joseon’s Diplomatic Envoys to Japan, Tongsinsa, in the 18th and the Early 19th Centuries] (Ph.D. diss., Ewha Womans University, 2011). 17 Shin Hyesung 신혜성 and Park Sunhee 박선희, “Tongsinsa girogeul tonghan dallyeong chagyong siltae’e gwanhan yeongu” 통신사 (通信使) 기록을 통한 단령 (團領) 착용 실태에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Actual State of Wearing the Dallyeong of the Tongsinsa], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 57:10 (2007): 99–111; Park Juhyun 박주현 and Cho Woohyun 조우현, “Tongsinsa aginui boksik yeongu” 통신사 樂人의 服飾연구 [A Study on the Musician’s Costume of Tongsinsa], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 67:8 (2017): 20–33. 18 Kim Jin-goo 김진구, “Nogeoldae-ui boksik yeongu” 노걸대의 복식연구 [A Study on the Dress in Nogeoldae], Boksingmunhwa yeongu 복식문화연구 [Research Journal of the Costume Culture] 4:1 (1996): 1–14 and “Baktongsa eonhae-ui boksik yeongu” 朴 通事 諺解의 服飾硏究 [A Study on the Costume in Baktongsa eonhae], Boksikmunhwa yeongu 복식문화연구 [Research Journal of the Costume Culture] 8:3 (2000): 155–73. 19 Seo Jeongwon 서정원, “Nogeoldae ganboneul tonghae bon 14–18segi-ui boksikgwallyeon yong-eo bigyo yeongu” 老乞大 刊本들을 통해본 14 – 18세기의
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복식관련 용어 비교 연구 [A Comparative Study on Terminologies Related to Dress
Styles from the 14th to the 18th Century Nogeoldae Editions], (Master’s thesis, Ewha Womans University, 2003). 20 Park Ga Young, “Akhakgwebeom boksigui chagyonge gwanhan yeongu” 『 악학궤범』 복식의 착용에 관한 연구 [A Study of the Costume Wearing in Akhak gwebeom], Gugagwon nonmunjip 국악원논문집 [Journal of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts] 16 (2004): 7–48 and “Gungjung jeongjae boksige sayongdoen hansamui byeoncheon: Joseonsidae ihu iljegangjeomgiggaji” 궁중정재복식에 사용된 한삼의 변천: 조선시대 이후 일제강점기까지 [The Changes of the Hansam as a Royal Court Dancing Costume: Since the Joseon Dynasty until the Japanese Colonial Era], Gugagwon nonmunjip 국악원논문집 [Journal of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts] 34 (2016): 54–6. 21 Akhak gwebeom 악학궤범 樂學軌範 [Canon of Music Study] (1493) Vol. 9, Cheoyong gwanbok 처용관복 [costume of Cheoyong]. 22 See above, note 3.
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Scholarly Discourses on Fashion Change in Late Joseon Lee Talbot
Transformation of Scholarly Discourses in Late Joseon From the late seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries, steady economic growth, heightened consumption, and the blurring of social boundaries ushered in one of the most innovative chapters in Korean dress history. During this dynamic period of artistic and intellectual ferment Korea witnessed great productivity and ingenuity in the visual arts, philosophy, and literature. Whereas Joseon artists and writers previously adhered closely to classical Chinese models, those in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries began to look with newfound interest at things Korean, celebrating the landscape, history, and customs of their native country. This creative energy also manifested in fashion, and a profusion of new silhouettes and styles emerged in Korean dress. This study provides an overview of seventeenth- to nineteenth-century nonfiction texts—including encyclopedias, instruction manuals, government records, and narrative poems—that shed light on the ways that garments were made, used, perceived, and evaluated at the time. A few key examples, chosen among hundreds, bear particular relevance for dress historians. They provide the written record of innovation, emulation, and diffusion of styles in the vibrant fashion culture of late Joseon Korea. This essay concurs with recent scholarship that subverts the long-standing Eurocentric perspective equating fashion with Western modernity.1 Fashion—changing trends in the production and styling of clothing—clearly emerged throughout the Joseon dynasty. Among the richest literary resources for dress historians are the writings of Confucian scholars who followed a line of thought often referred to as silhak (實學, practical learning).2 These scholars sought truths that could be verified through facts, research, and experience. They studied Korea’s political institutions, 91
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agricultural technologies, geography, and history in the attempt to remedy the ills they saw in society and bolster Korea’s national and cultural identity. These efforts grew out of their response to devastating Japanese and Manchu invasions (Imjin War, 1592–8; Byeongja War, 1636–7). The aftermath of military crises in Northeast Asia intensified power struggles among regional factions and inspired scholars to overcome the increasingly esoteric, metaphysical nature of Confucian studies in Korea. Many reform-minded scholars, however, remained staunchly Confucian in outlook, and faithful to the Neo-Confucian worldview that permeated Joseon culture. They emphasized that clothing was instrumental in upholding the fundamental principle ye 禮—propriety, courtesy, ritual, and the proper way of doing things. Many late Joseon literati therefore included clothing among their subjects of study.3
Late Joseon Scholarly Writings on Dress: Yi Sugwang, Yi Ik, and Jo Jaesam Encyclopedic works (類書, yuseo) provide a particularly abundant source of information about late Joseon dress. Previous Confucian scholarly discourse on clothing had focused primarily on garments required for court and household rituals such as ancestral veneration rites. Late Joseon encyclopedias, however, typically included a wide range of clothing-related articles on ritual, courtly, and everyday wear. Among the most influential of these, each containing significant entries on clothing, were Jibong yuseol (芝峰類說, Topical Discourses of Jibong, 1614) by Yi Sugwang (1563–1628), Seongho saseol (星湖僿說 , Collected Works of Seongho, 1723) by Yi Ik (1681–1763), and Songnam jabji (松南雜識, Miscellaneous Knowledge of Songnam, 1855) by Jo Jaesam (1808–66).4 Like many late Joseon encyclopedias, Jibong yuseol includes separate entries for various garment forms, but also mentions clothing in discussions of other topics. The author categorizes and describes clothing and fabrics in articles on headwear (冠巾), clothing (衣服), royal court uniforms (朝章), and textile crafts (綵幣) in the chapter “Dress and Wares” (服用部); relates clothing-related conventions of the era in the article on customs (風俗) in the chapter “Various Countries” (諸國部); and mentions clothing anecdotally in the chapters “Public Administration” (官職部), “Human Behavior” (性行部), and “Human Affairs” (人 事部). Each topic was bounded in scope by the personal interests, social position, and gender of the writer. In the article on hats, for instance, Yi Sugwang mentions several forms of headwear, but not gat (笠), the most common form of men’s hat
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for daily wear.5 For court attire, he primarily describes the clothing and accessories worn and treasured by government officials such as himself, including jobok (朝服, court ensemble), poomdae (品帶, rank belt), and hol (笏, scepter).6 In line with the late Joseon philosophical interest in exploring ways to rectify Korea’s shortcomings through research and the application of practical knowledge, the primary purpose of these discussions of dress typically was to correct sartorial practices seen as undesirable, encourage greater congruence with Confucian ideals such as frugality and modesty, and advocate for a return to forms and practices thought to more closely align with earlier traditions originating in China. After the Manchu conquest of China in the seventeenth century, Korean intellectuals came to view their nation as the last stronghold of an ancient, Sinitic Confucian civilization (junghwa, 中華), superior and in sharp contrast to the lifestyles and customs of the barbarians (yijeok, 夷狄). With the adoption of Manchu dress by the Qing court and bureaucracy in China, clothing prominently proclaimed Korea’s maintenance of Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and earlier Chinese traditions, and late Joseon writers continually urged Koreans to follow examples they thought to be correct models of pre-Qing dress. In Bangye surok (磻溪隨錄, Records of Bangye), an encyclopedic work focusing on the Korean system of government, the author Yu Hyeong-won (1622–73) expressed a viewpoint widely held by late Joseon scholars when he argued: With regard to the system of clothes and hats, Korea should use the Chinese system in all respects. This is because the Chinese system befits the cultured life of inmun (人文, humanity) and embodies lawfulness (法象之正). If there is any error in the current Chinese dress system, we should look up to the ancient system in order to correct the mistake.7
As such, the authors of late Joseon encyclopedic works often sought to trace the origins of various clothing forms. For example, in Seongho saseol, Yi Ik frequently references ancient classics such as the Yegi (禮記) and Seogyeong (書經) and encyclopedias.8 In his entry on dopo (道袍), the wide-sleeved outer robes common among gentlemen at the time, he cites the Jaseo (字書): The dobok (道服) as it was called in the past [in China] is the so-called dopo (道袍) in our country. It later became a garment for ancestral veneration ceremonies . . . It is also called jiksin (直身) in the mundane world, bing-ik (馮翼) during [China’s] Sui and Tang dynasties, and jikcheol (直㼠) nowadays, but all of them in the past were bong-aek (逢掖, closed side seams), worn by people in the old Lu (魯) kingdom. Today they are dopo for the sadaebu (士大夫, scholarofficials) of this world.9
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While present-day researchers can laud the efforts of Yi and other late Joseon writers in seeking documentary evidence, we should bear in mind that the sources available to them were limited and led to erroneous conclusions.10 The main purpose of their research was to conform to the ideals of Confucian civilization. Garments adhering to ancient Chinese precedents, such as the ceremonial robes, were widely praised among Confucian scholars. In Songnam jabji, Jo Jaesam opined that geumguan jobok (金冠朝服), the splendid ceremonial outfit worn by court officials, traced its origin to China’s Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 bce ). He expressed his pride in Korea’s maintenance of pre-Qing Chinese traditions: The Qianlong Emperor said, “Why are you still following the culture of the Shang? People from countries all over the world are visiting us, but I would like to see our dress and culture.” Yu Jeokgi [the Joseon envoy] then wore geumguan jobok and stood among the guests. He was the only one dressed in the Chinese junghwa (中華) style, while everyone else was wearing Manchu clothes.11
Confucian scholars commended certain forms of women’s dress seen as conforming to ancient precedents. For example, Yi Ik wrote favorably of the wedding attire worn at the time: Nowadays, brides at their wedding wear a colorful upper garment with wide sleeves, broad belts, and long skirts in the Chinese (中華) style. Looking back at a story from the Samguksa (三國史), Liu Kui (Kor. Yu Gyu, 劉逵, 1061–1110), the [Chinese] ambassador from the Song dynasty, observed Goryeo courtesans wearing wide sleeves, colorful belts, and long skirts and said, “The ancient style of [Chinese] clothing is unexpectedly in style around here. It is becoming.” This is the current style of our brides’ dress.12
In this passage, Yi goes on to explain that Korean clothing changed to the Chinese style during the Later Silla (668–935), a momentous occurrence he characterizes as “divine.” New fashions, however, particularly the daring styles that arose during the eighteenth century, drew the ire of Yi and many other writers and were the subject of frequent commentary.
Commenting on New Fashion: “Bizarre/Demonic Style” The new fashions described in eighteenth-century literature emerged during a period of great cultural ebullience. From the late seventeenth through the
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eighteenth centuries, Korea experienced an extended period of relative peace and prosperity under the rule of three conscientious kings—Sukjong (r. 1674– 1720), Yeongjo (r. 1724–76), and Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800). By the eighteenth century, strict class delineations had begun to blur. Tax reforms in the late seventeenth century allowed taxes to be paid in rice, cloth, or cash and accelerated commerce for the affluent farmer and merchant classes. The expanding middle class, both urban and rural, demanded an ever-greater quantity and variety of consumer goods.13 In this atmosphere of heightened consumption and social competition, new styles of fashion challenged traditional Confucian propriety.14 Literati disparaged these new trends in dress by calling them bogyo (服妖), or “bizarre/demonic style,” a term sometimes used during the Joseon period to describe clothing thought to dangerously violate sumptuary laws and social norms. The emergence of bogyo fashion was not a new phenomenon in Joseon Korea. In the previous chapter, Park Ga Young mentioned the changes in tight-fitting jeogori seen as bogyo.15 In addition, government records from the fifteenth century record the popularity of a new style that many observers found to be alarming: a layered look in which women wore a jang-ui (長衣, a long coat worn by men at that time) between their jeogori (jacket) and chima (skirt). This is described in the Joseon dynastic annals (sillok), as follows: Women of the nation are wearing men’s jang-ui, but in outfits of three layers, wearing them between jeogori and chima (衣裳). They emulate each other and the whole country is dressing up like this. I have a suspicion that this is the “bizarre/demonic style” (服妖, bogyo) mentioned in historical records . . . How can women wearing men’s clothing possibly be a sign of good fortune?16
In describing sartorial novelty and the emulation and diffusion of these styles among the populace, the above passages reveal the hallmarks of a buoyant fashion system during the middle Joseon. Korean women eagerly sought these new styles not for their utility or functionality, but rather because they embodied widely accepted, socially constructed ideas of what was desirable in dress at that given time and place. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, among the most profound fashion changes was the construction of jeogori. In the “Manmulmun” (萬物門, Ten Thousand Things) and “Insamun” (人事門, Human Affairs) chapters in Seongho saseol, Yi Ik frequently despairs that jeogori were getting shorter and tighter. A jeogori excavated from the tomb of Madam Song (Eunjin clan, 1509– 80) was of loose fit and measured 50 centimeters from shoulder to hem.17 An
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example from the tomb of Lady Yun (Haepyeong clan, 1660–1701) measures 41 centimeters from shoulder to hem.18 The height had reduced to 31 centimeters on a jeogori from the tomb of Lady Yun (Papyeong clan, 1735–54).19 The shortening of jeogori continued. An example measuring just 22 centimeters came from the tomb of King Jeongjo’s sister, Princess Cheong-yeon (d. 1821).20 The width of the bodice and sleeves reduced proportionally, making them significantly tighter and more form-fitting than previously.21 In the instruction book Sasojeol (士小節, Elementary Etiquette for Scholar Families, 1775), the renowned scholar and statesman Yi Deokmu (1741–93) talks about trying on one of these short, tight jeogori: When I put on a woman’s jeogori, it was very difficult to get my arms through the sleeves, and the seams burst open when I bent my arms. Even worse, I could not easily take it off because my arms had swollen from poor blood circulation just a few minutes after squeezing into the jacket. I had to rip off the sleeve to take it off. How wicked these jeogori are!22
As the jeogori become shorter, the chima (skirts) became longer and more voluminous, a fashion that also was ridiculed by male writers. In Bukhagui (北學議, Discourse on Northern Learning, 1778), Bak Jega (1750–1805) wrote: “Women’s jeogori are getting shorter, and the chima are getting longer. It is truly pitiful that women wear them to host guests.”23 The scholar and diplomat Bak Gyusu (1807– 77) derided: Wearing around ten layers of underskirts beneath the outer skirt looks ugly, like an upside-down bell. Wearing these, women cannot move easily or swiftly in front of their parents-in-law. This style is very inconvenient when coming in and out of doors and the kitchen. It therefore must be reformed.24
During the eighteenth century, some women began to hike up their skirts to partially expose the many layers underneath.25 The short jeogori could not cover the entire waistband used to tie chima, so part of the waistband became visible in another sensual reveal of an area that had previously been concealed. These sartorial changes scandalized conservative Confucian scholars such as Yi Ik, who wrote: It is worrying that the clothing of today’s women of all classes has become short and tight . . . The general public does not consider this matter seriously enough. Summer clothing, which is thin and unlined, is even stranger because the top is shorter still, and does not even cover the waistband of the skirt. This bizarre/ demonic style should be forbidden.26
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As jeogori became shorter, small personal items that had previously been fastened to a belt at the waist began to be tied to the sashes of jeogori instead, and ornamental pendants called norigae became popular. Elaborate hairstyles came into vogue, the largest of which were created with wigs (gache, 가체), typically made of human hair and enormously costly (Figure 5.1a). As prominent indicators of conspicuous consumption, these wigs became coveted status symbols. Yi Ik deemed them not only excessively costly but also unseemly, because women did not know whether the hair had come from a man or a woman. He suggested using black silk threads as an alternative.27 The desire for large and imposing headwear also extended into men’s fashion. Gat was the most common form made of lacquered bamboo or horsehair. The height and shape of the gat’s crown and the width of the brim changed continually with fashion. Extra wide brims came into vogue.28 Yi Deokmu disparaged the excessive fondness of many gentlemen for their gat, and described the stylistic change as follows: The hat brims of olden days could barely cover the shoulders, but now they are too broad and take up more space than a person covers when sitting crosslegged. At present, the design of the gat is deplorable and strange, being neither aesthetically pleasing nor easy to use. The excessive size errs on the side of extravagance and wastefulness, and there is a dire need to instigate regulations and discontinue this already-familiar custom.29
The chin straps (gat-yeong), often beaded with semiprecious stones, became increasingly long in the eighteenth century, and men competed with each other in the lavishness of these accessories. Yi Ik admitted that chin straps became more and more ostentatious.30 The fashion for costly chin straps also raised concerns at the royal court, as noted in the annals: Chin straps made of amber (琥珀) are for dangsanggwan [officials higher than grade three], but the trend toward extravagance has become more aggravated day by day, reaching the point now that regardless of their position . . . government officials only use amber with flower patterns. Such a trend runs counter to the original purpose of showing one’s rank through dress.31
In tandem with transformations in hat styles, men’s garments also changed with fashion during the eighteenth century. Men’s clothing began to fit more closely to the body. Many of these new trends also met with stern disapproval from Confucian scholars, as articulated by Yi Deokmu:
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(a)
(b)
Figure 5.1 a. Shin Yunbok, Portrait of a Beauty (Miyindo), c. late 18th–early 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 114 × 45.5 cm. Treasure no.1937. © Kansong Art Museum, Seoul b. Shin Yunbok, Listening to Music from a String Instrument and Appreciating Lotus Flowers (Cheong-geumsangryeon), late 18th century, ink and color on paper, 28. × 35.2 cm. © Kansong Art Museum, Seoul
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A man who acts as follows is a wicked person (人妖): wearing clothes made in small widths; pointy beoseon (socks); sheaths adorned with silver; trimming the eyebrows into a beautiful shape; walking in a soft and swaying gait; being good at talking with wide smiles; having witty thoughts; and avoiding seniors. I would rather die than see my children following the behavior of such people.32
The narrow cut of men’s and women’s garments reflected an emerging body consciousness and desire to show off the figure in eighteenth-century Korea. Yi Ik acknowledged that one motivation for these new fashions was the desire of women to show off their slim waists. Slender waists also were emphasized in portrayals of alluring females in works of contemporaneous fiction, such as Chunhyangjeon (春香傳, The Tale of Chunhyang), and in “paintings of beautiful woman” (美人圖), a popular genre that depicted sensuous ladies in fashionable dress.33 As these new fashions so flagrantly countered Confucian ideals of the ideologically proper, Chinese-influenced style of dress, Yi Ik erroneously sought to blame them on barbarian influence: Our women’s clothing does not cover the waist and I presume that this was derived from the [Mongol] Yuan dynasty. Kublai Khan transformed the clothing styles making men’s pants tighter and women’s sleeves of jeogori tighter, with skirts worn under it. Such practical styles seem to have been adopted during the reign of Goryeo King Chungnyeol [r. 1274–98] and never been reformed since then.34
In fact, innovations in women’s fashion at this time most often began with gisaeng (妓生), who were professional entertainers and courtesans at the time. During an era when women received no formal education, gisaeng were highly trained in poetry, music, calligraphy, conversation, and dancing so as to provide pleasurable company for men (Figure 5.1b). Although they were of low social status, gisaeng were allowed to wear the fine silks and bright colors otherwise reserved for ladies of the yangban (gentry) class. Yi Deokmu describes the route of fashion transmission from gisaeng to yangban as follows: From the past, everything called fashionable in clothes and adornment has derived from female entertainers (娼妓) who display their charms. Secular men are bewitched by their appearance, and not only fail to realize the wickedness of such customs, but also disseminate and acquaint others with these fashions by recommending them to their wives and concubines. Alas! Ladies of the inner chambers [yangban class] use objects that are the same as those of lowly entertainers without studying the classics of poetry and rites. Ladies should remedy this as soon as possible.35
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In Joseon Korea, as in many pre-modern societies, fashions often flowed downwards from the court and aristocracy to those of lower station; as King Yeongjo stated, “When tall topknots are favored in the palace, people all around raise theirs one ja [unit of measurement] in height.”36 Gisaeng, however, were lower in status than yangban women, but they held great influence as arbiters of fashion. With expert training in the arts, access to high-quality materials, and freedom from many of the constraints and duties of wives in strict Confucian households, this subculture group could approach dress with great creativity and individuality. The above quote also reveals the agency of yangban men in late Joseon fashion culture through their role in observing, admiring, and encouraging the dissemination of new styles. The trend for ever-shortening jeogori finally ceased when these jackets could be cropped no further (Figure 5.2). This example, measuring just 19.5 centimeters in height, shows the minimum possible side length under the armhole; cropping any shorter would preclude attaching the sleeves to the bodice. Wigs culminated in a size so large that women could no longer control their mass and weight. This heft impeded body movements and could even cause death, as exemplified by an unfortunate late Joseon “fashion victim” described by Yi Deokmu: A 12-year old young bride who had married into an affluent family adorned her hair with a high and heavy wig. At that moment, her father-in-law came into her room. She abruptly stood up to greet him; however, the weight of the wig broke her neck, resulting in instant death.37
The government discussed banning wigs for many years, and finally did so in 1788. While women did not immediately stop wearing wigs after their prohibition, large wigs fell out of fashion and were replaced by small coronets called jokduri. Geogajapbokgo 居家雜服攷 [Book of Ordinary Dress, 1841] by Bak Gyusu (1807–77) focused exclusively on clothing, and included instructions for making garments along with numerous woodblock print illustrations.38 Bak wrote, “the inadequacy of foolish peasants can be remedied by the proper theory of the shimui (深衣, scholar’s robe) based on the Confucian classics.”39 Bak explains that he encouraged his female family members to wear long jeogori instead of the more popular short ones for everyday dress, and for formal occasions to wear soui (宵衣), a form he thought to better correspond with ancient precedents than the more common wonsam (圓衫, ceremonial robe) and dang-ui (唐衣, semiformal jacket). He suggested that the upper and lower portions of soui should be black and joined together as a symbol of female modesty and generosity. Bak frequently derides the extravagance and impracticality of new
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Figure 5.2 A jeogori (woman’s upper garment), 19th century, silk and cotton, Minsok 006999. © National Folk Museum of Korea. 101
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trends in women’s clothing, such as fashion for layers undergarments including tiered underskirts: Women make a short skirt with dozens of layers and call this style mujokgun (無足裙). It may be regarded as “curious folkway” in some countries, but it does not befit civilized Chinese culture and should be banned at once.40
All of the writers introduced above were males of the yangban class, writing in classical Chinese primarily for an audience of other educated males like themselves. Given the gendered division of labor at the time, particularly among yangban, these men likely had little direct experience with the complicated processes of dressmaking.
Women Writers on Clothing in the Late Joseon Largely confined to the inner quarters of the family home and barred from receiving a formal education, yangban women did not write about clothing in light of classical Confucian doctrine or comment critically on current fashions, but rather focused their attention on the domestic sphere and how clothes were made, experienced, and appreciated. Among the richest of these sources is Gyuhap chongseo (閨閤叢書, Collection of Books for Womanly Work, 1809) by Yi Bingheogak (1759–1824), whose illustrious family included several prominent scholars. Written mostly in hangeul, the phonetic Korean script, Gyuhap chongseo was widely disseminated during the late Joseon period in various editions.41 The ordering of the chapters reflects the widely perceived hierarchy of a woman’s duties in late Joseon Korea, with the primary being the preparation of food and libations for ancestral rites, guests, and family, followed by the production of clothing, furnishings, and other textiles. Women devoted a tremendous amount of time to the production of textiles, which not only clothed their family but also could serve as a type of currency. Taxes could be paid and goods purchased with fabrics, and a yangban family’s store of textiles, typically kept under lock and key by the female head of household, was among the clan’s most valuable assets. The manufacture of clothing and textiles entailed dozens of steps requiring specialist skills—from cultivating, processing, and dyeing fibers to weaving, sewing, and embellishing— and in writing Gyuhap chongseo Yi Bingheogak followed the scholarly trend to collect, classify, and record this complicated body of knowledge previously passed down orally and experientially from mother to daughter.
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“Bongimchik” (縫㍍則, Instructions for Sewing and Weaving) begins with a citation from the ancient text Zhouli (周禮) recounting how the Chinese became civilized people by adopting clothing woven of cloth, then goes on to list and describe many of the garments and accessories common in a yangban household at the time. Unlike the male authors discussed previously, Yi focuses not on Confucian ideals, but rather on practical aspects of measurement and construction. Some entries are short and direct in this regard; the listing for wonsam reads: “The length of the back is three ja [1 ja = approximately 30.3 centimeters] and the front is two ja. The length of the daedae (belt) is seven ja and the length of the sugu (sleeve’s end) is 1 chi [1 chi = approximately 3 centimeters],” while the description of dang-ui simply states: “The length is one ja five chi, but a dang-ui for a bride is one ja three chi.” For dopo, however, Yi lists detailed instructions for their proper construction, “For a man younger than 15 years of age, the front should be longer than the back. For a man older than 60 years, the back should be longer than the front.”42 Yi Bingheogak wrote Gyuhap chongseo for a public audience, and in line with Confucian standards of female modesty, she is guarded in references to her own personal details. Other Joseon women have left writings that were not intended for publication and provide more intimate insight into their everyday lived experience and the role of clothing and textiles in their daily lives. Extant sources include letters as well as gasa (歌辭), a type of narrative poem that became popular among yangban women.43 Gasa written by women, extant examples of which number in the thousands, often are classified as gyubang gasa (閨房歌辭) or naebang gasa (內 房歌辭), meaning “narrative poetry of the inner quarters.”44 Gyubang gasa vary in subject matter, but the majority were lessons for young women marrying. Many gyubang gasa begin with advice that closely follows that of widely circulated instructional texts for women’s behavior. A typical example states: The most important thing when a woman gets married into a family is to be dutiful to her father-in-law and her mother-in-law, to hold good memorial services for the ancestors, and to welcome guests. A woman’s work to accomplish is to sew [make clothes] and to spin [weave].45
By the time she was of marriageable age, a young woman was expected to have made a number of clothes and textile furnishings for her future husband and his family, and when she moved into her new home upon marriage, her craftsmanship was closely inspected as an indicator of her diligence and the quality of her upbringing. The nineteenth-century Jeongssi buin jatanga (鄭氏夫
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人自嘆歌, Song of Self-pity by Mrs. Jeong) recounts this nerve-wracking moment
of scrutiny as follows: They would bring clothes out from the storage box, stretch the seams of the unlined clothes, pull the upper stitches, and spread out the inside of the trousers to assess the bride’s needlework. The villagers would make comments like “the front hem of the jeogori was neatly done and the collar was also well made.”46
Gyubang gasa and works of popular fiction abound with stories of women who helped raise their families up from poverty through their diligence in household management and textile production. Joseon women took great pride in providing beautiful and well-made clothing for their families in cosmologically significant colors and patterns that augured well for their health and longevity. Looking back wistfully at her childhood, one writer remembered: My mother carefully dyed silk and made me a nogui-hongsang (green jeogori/red chima). She made black baji (trousers), sky blue jeogori, and dark blue vests for my brothers. “My dear treasures [children], stay healthy and live long” my mother murmured while attaching a red sash to the willow green durumagi (coat).47
Passages like those above reveal the emotional and deeply personal insights that can be gleaned from the study of gyubang gasa. By critically and analytically examining period literature alongside extant garments and visual sources, present-day researchers can build a deeper and more nuanced knowledge of Korean clothing during this vibrant and formative era.
Notes 1 See, for example, Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun, Fashion History: A Global View (London: Bloomsbury, 2018); M. Angela Jansen and Jennifer Craik, Modern Fashion Traditions: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity through Fashion (London: Bloomsbury, 2016). 2 For a synopsis of silhak 실학 philosophy and its history, see Michael C. Kalton, “An Introduction to Silhak,” Korea Journal 15:5 (1975): 29–46; Song Chu-yong, “Practical Learning of Yi Ik,” Korea Journal 12:8 (1972): 38–45; Yi Wooseong, “The Rise of Silhak Thought,” in Chun Shin-yong, ed., Korean Thought (Seoul: International Cultural Foundation, 1982), 55–64. 3 For an overview of silhak scholarly discourse on dress, see Jeong Hyegyeong 정혜경, “Joseon hugi silhakpa-ui boksik jedoron” 조선후기 실학파의 복식제도론 [Practical
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Science Scholar’s Discussion about a System of Costume in the Late Joseon Dynasty], Hanguk uiryu hakhoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 21:6 (1997): 988–1002. Excerpts from a number of publications by silhak writers are included in Kim Yeongsuk 김영숙 and Son Gyeongja 손경자, Hanguk boksiksa jaryoseonjip joseanpyeon I, II, III 한국복식사 자료선집 조선편 I, II, III [Selections from Classic Literature on the History of Korean Dress] (Seoul: Gyomunsa, 1985). All of these sources are available in multiple print editions, some of which include translations into modern Korean as well as the original Chinese characters. Jibong yuseol and Seongho saseol are available online. Secondary sources that explore dress entries in these late Joseon encyclopedic works include Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Joseonhugi yuseolyu-e natanan boksikgwan Jibong yuseol Seonghosaseol Songnam jabji-reul jungsimeuro” 조선후기 類書類에 나타난 服飾觀 , 芝峯類說, 星湖僿說, 松南雜 識 를 중심으로 [A view on the costume of the late Joseon Dynasty in the Documents Sort of Encyclopedia, Focused on Jibong yuseol, Seongho saseol, Songnam jabji], Yeoksa minsokhak 역사민속학 33 (2010): 73–114 and Yi Minju 이민주, “Seonghosaseol manmulmun-e boineun boksikgirok geomto–sigakjaryowa-ui bigyoreul tonghae” 星湖僿說 만물문에 보이는 복식기록 검토-시각자료와의 비교를 통해 [A Study of the Articles about Clothes in Seongho saseol Manmulmun: Comparison through Visuals], Dongasia godaehak 동아시아고대학 [East Asian Ancient Studies] 26 (2011): 101–45. Yi Sugwang 이수광 李ⶏ光 (1563–1628), Jibongyuseol 지봉유설 芝峰類說 [Topical Discourses of Jibong] Vol. 19 Bogyongbu, gwan-geon 服用部, 冠巾 [Headdress], https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%8A%9D%E5%B3%B0%E9%A1%9E%E8%AA %AA/%E5%8D%B719 (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Sugwang, Jibong yuseol, Jojang 朝章 [Courtly Canon], https://zh.wikisource.org/wi ki/%E8%8A%9D%E5%B3%B0%E9%A1%9E%E8%AA%AA/%E5%8D%B719./ (accessed September 4, 2020). See Lee Kyungmee, “A view on the costume,” 78–9. Yu Hyeong-won 유형원 柳馨遠 (1622–73), Bangye surok 반계수록 磻溪隨錄 [Ban-gye’s Treatises] Vol. 25 Sokpyun sang, uigwan. 續篇上, 衣冠 [Continued Chapter, Garment and headdress], https://www.krpia.co.kr/viewer/open?plctId=PLCT00008016&node Id=NODE07380945#none./ (accessed September 4, 2020). Seongho saseol refers to Jibong yuseol 7 times; Songnam jabji refers to Jobong yuseol 321 times and Seongho saseol 48 times. See Kang Mingu 강민구, “Seongho saseol ui Jibong-yuseol, Songnam-japji ui Jibong-yuseol Seongho-saseol inyong yangsang-e daehan yeongu” 『성호사설(星湖僿說)』의 『지봉유설(芝峯類說)』, 『송남잡지(松 南雜識)』의 『지봉유설(芝峯類說)』『성호사설(星湖僿說)』 인용 양상에 대한 연구
[A study of quotations of Seongho saseol’s in respect of Jibong yuseol and Songnam japji’s in respect of Jibong yuseol and Seongho saseol], Hanmunhakbo 한문학보 24 (2011): 495–533.
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9 Yi Ik 이익 李瀷 (1681–1763), Seongho-saseol 성호사설 星湖僿說 [Collective Works of Seongho] Vol. 5 Manmulmun dopo 萬物門 道袍 [Various Things, Coat (dopo)], http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_BT_1368A_0060_010_0010_2002_002_ XML / (accessed September 4, 2020). 10 For a discussion of some of the errors and misconceptions in Seongho-saseol, see Yi Minju 이민주(2011): 134–9. 11 Jo Jaesam 조재삼, Songnam-japji 송남잡지 松南雜識 [Miscellaneous Writings of Songnam] Uisikryu Geumgwanjobok 衣食類 金冠朝服 [Clothing and Food, Court Uniform] (Seoul: Asea Munhwasa 亞細亞文化社, 1986), 719. 12 Yi Ik, Seongho-saseol Vol. 16 Yinsamun buyinbok 人事門 婦人服 [Human Affairs, Women’s Clothing], https://db.itkc.or.kr/dir/item?itemId=BT#/dir/ node?dataId=ITKC_BT_1368A_0170_010_0330 (accessed September 4, 2020). 13 See Martina Deuchler, “Social and Economic Developments in Eighteenth Century Korea,” in Anthony Reid, ed., The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies: Responses to Modernity in the Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750–1900 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997), 299–320. 14 Regarding social changes from the seventeenth through the eighteenth centuries and concurrent changes in fashion, see Yi Minju 이민주, “17, 18 segi joseonsidae-ui sahoehyeonsang gwa boksik byeonhwa” 17, 18 세기 조선시대의 사회현상과 복식변화 [17th and 18th century Joseon Era Social Phenomena and Changes in Clothing], Minjok munhwa yeongu 민족문화연구 41 (Seoul: Goryeo daehakgyo minjok munhwayeonguwon 고려대학교 민족문화연구원, 2004): 61–84. 15 See Park’s chapter in this volume. 16 Sejo sillok 세조실록 世祖實錄 [Veritable Records of King Sejo], the 2nd year (1457), March 28, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kga_10203028_003 (accessed August 27, 2020). 17 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, “Hoejang Jeogori of Madam Song (Eunjin clan, 1509–80),” Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google. com/asset/hoejang-jeogori-madam-song-s-jacket-unknown/ JAGXj4kOurding?hl=ko/ (accessed August 27, 2020). 18 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, “Embroidered Jeogori of Madam Yun (Haepyeong clan, 1660–1701),” Google Arts & Culture, https:// artsandculture.google.com/asset/soo-jeogori-embroidery-jacket-unknown/ oAEpoSChFrOzpw?hl=ko/ (accessed August 27, 2020). 19 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, “Jeogori of Madam Yun (Papyeong clan, 1735–54),” Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google. com/asset/jeogori-madam-yoon-s-jacket-unknown/NgG7ibUYdACk4g?hl=ko/ (accessed August 27, 2020). 20 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, “Hoejang jeogori of Princess Cheongyeon (1754–1821),” Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.
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com/asset/%EC%B2%AD%EC%97%B0%EA%B5%B0%EC%A3%BC-%ED%9A%8 C%EC%9E%A5%EC%A0%80%EA%B3%A0%EB%A6%AC%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%81/bQFHA8AthhA1kw?hl=ko (accessed January 17, 2022). For a chronological overview of fashion changes using clothing from dated tombs, including the examples discussed here, see Park Sungsil and Koh Bouja, The Style and the Vogue of Korean Traditional Attires [sic] in the Joseon Dynasty: Seok Juseon Memorial Museum (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2011). The Korean edition is titled Joseonsidae uri ot-ui meot-gwa yuhaeng 조선시대 우리 옷의 멋과 유행. Park Sungsil and Koh Bouja, The Style and the Vogue of Korean Traditional Attires. Bak Jega 박제가 朴齊家 (1750–1805), Bukhagui 북학의 北學議 [Discourse on Learning Qing, China] Naepyun yeobok 內篇 女服 Vol. 1 [Women’s Clothing], https://www.douban.com/note/70847446/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Bak Gyu-su 박규수 朴珪壽 (1807–76), Geogajapbokgo 거가잡복고 居家雜服攷 [Book of Ordinary Dress] (1841) Vol. 2 Naebok 內服 [Women’s Clothing] (Seoul: Seokshil 석실, 2000), 154. Gansong Museum 간송미술관, A Secret Meeting at Night by Shin Yunbok 신윤복, late eighteenth century, artsandculture.google.com, https://artsandculture.google.com/ asset/secret-meeting-at-night-shin-yun-bok/sAH4PqC--9nXqg?hl=en/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Ik, Seongho saseol Vol. 16 Yinsamun buyinbok 人事門 婦人服 [Human Affairs, Women’s Clothing],http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ BT_1368A_0170_010_0330_2002_006_XML./ (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Ik, Seongho saseol Vol. 6 Manmulmun balgae 萬物門 髮溔 [Various Things, Hair Style], https://db.itkc.or.kr/dir/item?itemId=BT#/dir/node?dataId=ITKC_ BT_1368A_0070_010_0900 (accessed September 4, 2020). Gansong Art Museum, Festivity in the Valley in Spring by Shin Yunbok, artsandculture.google.com, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/festivity-in-thevalley-in-spring-shin-yun-bok/LAHgrSeSU8AmNA?hl=en/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Translated in Choi Eun-soo and Park Hyeong-bak, Gat: Traditional Headgear in Korea (Daejeon: National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, 2015), 26. Yi Ik, Seongho saseol Vol. 5 Manmulmun okyoung 萬物門 玉纓 [Various Things, Beaded Chinstrap], http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ BT_1368A_0060_010_1130_2002_002_XML (accessed September 4, 2020). Jeongjo Sillok 정조실록 正祖實錄 [Veritable Records of King Jeongjo], the 15th year (1791), April 18, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kva_11504018_001 (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Deokmu 이덕무 李德懋 (1741–93), Cheongjanggwan jeonseo 청장관전서 靑莊館全 書 Vol. 27 Sasojeol sajeonil 士小節 士典一 [Book of Manners], https://db.itkc.or.kr/
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dir/item?itemId=BT#/dir/node?dataId=ITKC_BT_0577A_0280_000_0010 (accessed September 4, 2020). For example, see The Portrait of a Beauty 미인도 美人圖, scroll painting on silk, dated c. 19th century at Gosan Yunseondo Artifact Museum 고산 윤선도 유물박물관, Haenam, South Korea. Another work (National Treasure 1973) is kept at Gangong Art Museum, Seoul. Yi Ik, Seongho saseol Vol. 10 Yinsamun bunyeouibok 人事門 婦女衣服 [Human Affairs, Women’s Clothing], http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ BT_1368A_0110_010_0860_2002_004_XML (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Deokmu, Cheongjanggwan jeonseo Vol. 30 Sasojeol bu-ui 士小節 婦儀 [Book of Manners, Instruction for Women], http://db.mkstudy.com/zh-tw/mksdb/e/koreanliterary-collection/book/reader/8773/?sideTab=toc&contentTab=text&article Id=1242512/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Yeongjo sillok 영조실록 英祖實錄 [Veritable Records of King Yeongjo], the 25th year (1749), September 19, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/kua_12509019_002/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Yi Deokmu, Cheongjanggwanjeonseo Vol. 30 Sasojeol 6, Bu-ui 1 士小節 6, 婦儀 1 [Book of Manners 6, Instruction for Women 1], https://db.itkc.or.kr/dir/ item?itemId=BT#/dir/node?dataId=ITKC_BT_0577A_0300_010_0030 (accessed September 4, 2020). A nineteenth-century edition of Geogajapbokgo is available online through the National Library of Korea, https://www.nl.go.kr/NL/contents/search.do?pageNum= 1&pageSize=30&srchTarget=total&kwd=%EA%B1%B0%EA%B0%80%EC%9E%A1 %EB%B3%B5%EA%B3%A0#!/ (accessed September 4, 2020). Bak Gyusu, Geogajapbokgo Vol. 1 oebok 外服 [Men’s Clothing] (Seoul: Seokshil 석실, 2000), 34. Bak Gyusu, Geogajapbokgo Vol. 1, 38. See Jeong Yangwon 정양원, ed., Gyuhap chongseo 규합총서 閨閤叢書 [Collection of Books for Womanly Work] (1809) (Seoul: Bojingak, 1987) for three different versions of the text with an annotated translation into modern Korean. Yi Minsu 이민수, ed., Gyuhap Chongseo (Seoul: Girinweon, 1988), 145–6. For a dress study using letters as primary sources, see Yi Eunju 이은주, “17 segi jeongi hyeonpung gwakssi jiban-ui uisaenghwal-e daehan sogo” 17 세기 전기 현풍 곽씨 집안의 의생활에 대한 소고 [The Costume Culture in Early Seventeenth Century Perspectives through Excavated Letters of Hyeonpung Gwak’s Family], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 51: 8 (December 2001): 25–41. For an introduction to gyubang gasa, see Sonja Hausler, “Kyubang Kasa: Women’s Writings from the Late Choson,” in Young-key Kim-Renaud, ed., Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth through the Twentieth Centuries (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004), 142–62. While many of the original gyubang gasa manuscripts are in museum
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and private collections, publications with numerous examples include Gwon Yeongcheol 권영철, Gyubang Gasa 규방가사 閨房歌辭 (Daegu: Hyoseong Yeodae Chulpansa, 1985); Gwon Yeongcheol, Gyubang Gasa Gangnon 규방가사각론 閨房歌辭 各論 [A Study of Gyubang Gasa] (Seoul: Hyeongseol Chulpansa, 1986). 45 Gwon, Gyubang Gasa, 410. 46 Gwon, Gyubang Gasa, 169. 47 Yi Heeju 이희주, Ueda Akira 植田憲, Miyazaki Kiyoshi 宮崎, “閨房歌辭にみられる 「針仕事: バヌジル: 韓ഭにおける「針仕事文化」に䯒する⹄究 (2) [Banujil Needlework in Gyubang-gasa: Culture of Needlework in Korea (2)],” Bulletin of Japanese Society for the Science of Design 53:5 (2007): 5.
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Joseon Portraiture Paintings for Dress and Fashion Gilhong Min
Introduction This chapter assesses the value of portrait paintings, court paintings, and genre paintings as primary sources to reconstruct Joseon dress history, and considers their original functions and production methods. Four important genres are: landscape paintings (silgyeong sansuhwa 실경산수화 實景山水畵), documentary paintings (궁중기록화 宮中記錄畵), portraits (chosanghwa 초상화 肖像畵), and genre paintings (pungsokhwa 풍속화 風俗畵). Portraits aimed at realism: “If even one hair is not the same, then it is not me,” says The Daily Records of Royal Secretariat of Joseon Dynasty (Seungjeongwon ilgi 승정원일기 承政院日記).1 Thus, injuries, blemishes, and age spots were depicted candidly. This kind of realism stands out when compared to portraits in China or Japan, and are important sources for researchers. For instance, a medical study used paintings to investigate skin diseases that were dominant during the Joseon dynasty.2 The portraits are valuable historical records for the study of clothes, too. Different belts and rank badges (hyungbae 흉배 胸背) worn over an official’s uniform represented his position and rank in the Joseon court, for example. Scholars can also date garments and accessories based on the sitter’s birth and death years. Genre paintings are also highly useful as they depict the everyday life of the late Joseon dynasty, while portraits were objects of worship to be hung at household shrines for annual rituals. As portraits became worn out over the years, descendants often hired painters to produce facsimiles and then burned the originals. For this reason, scholars must keep in mind possible discrepancies between originals and copies when using portraits as a source for studying dress history.
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Standards of Joseon Painting as Sources of Dress History Landscape paintings depicting real scenery, portraits of real people, and genre paintings portraying everyday life were very popular during the Joseon dynasty. Paintings were also used to record court ceremonies.3 The city of Seoul, for example, restored the valley in Suseong-dong, Ok-in-dong, Jongno-gu, which had lost its original form during the city’s urban development in the twentieth century, based on landscape paintings by Gyeomjae Jeong Seon (겸재 謙齋 정선 鄭敾).4 However, artists also took the liberty of creatively combining the images as necessary to fit the expansive scenery on a fixed screen.5 Documentary paintings and portraits are intended to leave records and depict events and people realistically—for example, by recording ceremonies with exact renderings of buildings and the true number of participants along with their uniforms reflecting their different ranks and positions.6 The Crown Prince Munhyo Boyangcheong Folding Screen Painting (Munhyoseja Boyangcheonggyebyeong 문효세자 보양청계병 文孝世子輔養廳契屛) depicts a ritual in January 1784 (Figure 6.1a). It celebrated the official meeting of Crown Prince Munhyo (1782–?), and two scholars appointed as his teachers, Yi Bokwon (이복원 李福源; 1719–92) and Gim Ik (김익 金⟔; 1723–90).7 The screen describes the individual officials participating in the event in greater detail than any other documentary painting: the figures are drawn in relatively large scale. As it took place in the winter, they wear cold-weather hats under their officials’ hats (gwanmo 관모).8 However, this kind of documentary painting did not always record events based on observation. An example is Giroseryeongyedo (기로세련계도 耆老世聯契圖) by Kim Hongdo (김홍도 金弘道), a famous court painter in the eighteenth century. Gim Hongdo was not present at the event held in 1804; he painted it based on a textual description.9 This is not to say that paintings not based on first-hand observation fail to provide lively representations, but that they have limitations. Gim did not have the time and energy to meet all sixty-four high-ranking senior officials invited to the gathering. A versatile painter like Gim was known for his pictorial skills of likeness and naturalism in the genre of portraiture. However, one must acknowledge that this painting’s goal was not a group portraiture but a documentary painting recording an outdoor banquet with a large group. What about portraits? Portraits realistically reproduce people’s appearance. Joseon period portraits are mostly of male officials at court. The government nominated accomplished officials to be portrayed as exemplary figures for posterity. In principle, commoners or women could not be the subjects of
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(a)
(b)
Figure 6.1 a. Detail of the Crown Prince Munhyo Boyangcheong Folding Screen Painting in Munhyoseja Boyangcheonggyebyeong, 1784, ink and color on silk, 160 × 58 cm each panel, Bongwan 10804. © National Museum of Korea b. Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Jeongbo, c. 18th century, scroll painting on silk, Shinsu 1652. © National Museum of Korea; drawn when Yi was promoted to the position of Panjungchubusa in 1762.
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portraits unless they were officially honored or they were part of a national celebration.10 The typical male dress of the period comprised a long jacket (durumagi 두루마기) worn over a top (jeogori 저고리) and pants (baji 바지). When at the palace to perform official duties, officials usually wore a special type of jacket called dallyeong (단령) with a black official’s hat (gwanmo 관모) and leather shoes (mokhwa 목화). An embroidered rank badge depicting different kinds of animals decorated the chest of the dallyeong, and a belt with bones, jade, and gold ornaments was worn at the waist (Figure 6.4). The details of the rank badge (hyungbae 흉배) and belt materials differed depending on rank. The Great Code of National Governance, originally promulgated in 1460 and expanded in 1484, stipulates peacocks for 1-pum civil officials, cloud patterns for 2-pum civil officials, tigers or leopards for 1- and 2-pum military officials, bears for 3-pum civil officials, giraffes for the Great Prince (daegun 대군 大君), a mystical lion-like animal called haechi (해치 ⦜䊨) for the Inspector-General (daesaheon 대사헌 大 司憲), a lion for the Provincial Military Commander (dotongsa 도통사 都統使), and an imaginary animal called baektaek (백택 白澤) for princes and military officers.11 However, this system was revised many times afterwards throughout the late Joseon dynasty. Women appeared in portraits with their husbands, as in the case of the portraits of Jo Ban (조반 趙伴, 1341–1401) and his wife, Ha Yeon (하연 河演, 1376–1453), and Yi Seokwu (이석우 李錫禹, 1885–1932) and his wife. Portraits of women might also be commissioned posthumously, as in the cases of Choi Yeonhong (최연홍 崔蓮紅, 1785–1846) and Sin Saimdang (신사임당 申師任堂, 1504–51). Officials are distinguished by their official uniforms (gwanbok 관복 冠 服)—which were either green, dark blue, or pink—military uniforms, or regular clothes (yabok 야복 野服) worn in private settings. Officials’ uniforms reveal their public status, while regular clothes show their identities as scholars (seonbi 선비). The portrait of King Taejong (태종) was completed posthumously in 1444 (the twenty-sixth year of King Sejong 세종). When King Taejong commissioned the portrait, he decreed that the painting would be burned should even one hair differ from his true appearance.12 In 1472 (third year of King Seongjong 성종), when Japanese envoy Shiroemon Masahide (四良衛門正秀) presented the court with a portrait of King Sejo (세조), which he had painted based on his meeting with the former king several years before, court officials objected, quoting Cheng Yi (정이 程乔, 1033–1107), a Confucian philosopher of China’s Song dynasty. Yi said, “When painting the portrait of one’s parent, if even one tip of the hair is not the same, than it is not one’s parent (人寫父母之眞 一毫一髮不似則非父母矣).” That is, accurate portraits are difficult to achieve even from life, so even if
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Masahide had seen the king’s face (yongan 용안 龍顔), it is unthinkable that his would be a faithful depiction. Historical records show that the court decided to receive the portrait but burn it, rather than refuse the gift.13 Exact resemblance was also demanded for portraits awarded to civil and military officials for noteworthy service to the country (공신초상). To this end, tens of sketches (초본) were made. The text below presents the case of the portrait of Yi Gwangjeong (이광정 李光庭, 1552–1629): In the fall of Gapjin year during the reign of Emperor Wanli (萬曆) of the Ming dynasty, the King ordered the names of the officials who escorted the King and the Crown Prince to safety (Hoseong gongsin 호성공신 扈聖功臣) to be recorded and for a special department to be established for painting their portraits. My name was also in this list. Artists came and went, drawing thirty draft paintings (賤眞), yet, they were unable to produce an exact resemblance, except for the portrait of Gim Suun (김수운 金水雲), which came close. Eventually, a sketch was drawn on silk and sent to the special department, which was presented to me to keep at home.14
Yi Seongnak, a medical doctor examined about five hundred portraits from the Joseon dynasty and identified about twenty types of skin lesions, such as melanocyte nevus (black spots) and age spots (liver spots) and revealed that 14.06 percent of the subjects had been infected by smallpox at some time in their lives.15 Historical records mention smallpox outbreaks in the period, and Yi’s analysis confirmed them. Meticulous accuracy in portraiture is most unrelentingly pursued in Korea. The self-portrait of Yun Duseo (윤두서 尹斗緖, 1668–1715), for example, is remarkable for its photographic realism.16 In the Joseon dynasty, jeong 1-pum (정1품) officials wore the seodae (서대 犀 帶) belt made of water buffalo bones, jeong 2-pum (정2품) officials wore the sapgeumdae belt (삽금대 鈒金帶) with gilded animal or flower patterns, jong 2-pum (종2품) officials the sogeumdae belt (소금대 素金帶) with gold lines without patterns, and jeong 3-pum (정3품) officials the sapeundae belt (삽은대 鈒銀帶) with patterns in silver, according to the guidelines stipulated in the Great Code of National Governance (Gyeongguk daejeon 경국대전 經國大典). This distinction is reflected in the portraits. Portrait of Yi Jeongbo (이정보 李鼎輔, 1693–1766) depicts a seodae belt (Figure 6.1b), and a rank badge with a pair of cranes.17 Based on this information, historians presume that this portrait, whose production date is unknown, dates to 1762, when Yi was promoted to the position of Panjungchubusa (판중추부사 判中樞府事).
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Most of Joseon portraits were produced by the Royal Bureau of Painting (궁정화원). Some court painters’ names are known. They also produced court documentary paintings and decorative paintings. Some were created by one artist; in other cases, one created the face and the other the clothes. Since official uniforms were set by national regulations, more attention was given to capturing facial details. As a result, the clothes featured in portraits are generally uniform in style, drawn using conventional coloring techniques, while it is evident that a lot of work was put into drawing the faces with diverse skin tones, wrinkles, and skin conditions. Genre paintings portray the everyday lives of people in the late Joseon dynasty (Figure 6.2). The genre paintings from 1800 to 1820 by Shin Yunbok (신윤복 申潤 福, 1758–?) are invaluable sources to study traditional dresses and other cultural activities in the eighteenth century.18 Art historian Yi Taeho (이태호) agrees with Yi Yik (이익李翊, 1629–1690) and Yi Deokmu (이덕무 李德懋, 1741–1793), Confucian authors of the late Joseon, that Shin Yunbok’s paintings accurately depicted women’s fashion transformations in the late 1790s (Figure 6.2a and b). According to Yi, the shorter length of the top (jeogori), narrow sleeves, voluminous wigs (gachae 가체), and longer and larger skirts in Shin Yunbok’s paintings are distinctively different from Kim Hongdo’s (김홍도 金弘道) genre paintings of the late 1780s, showing that these changes became a trend by the early 1800s.19 In the modern era, Gisan Kim Jungeun (기산 箕山 김준근 金俊根) painted various aspects of Joseon’s manners and customs in response to overseas demand for genre paintings (Figure 6.2c and d). Various records confirm transactions between Westerners and Kim, and around a thousand of his works are found overseas today.20 Kim’s paintings depict court officials’ ceremonial uniforms (금관조복 金冠朝服) and the dress of ordinary people.
Assessing Pictorial Representation of Dresses in Joseon Portraiture The following types of clothing were worn by men of the gentry class (yangban 양반) in public roles as Confucian scholars and government officials: daily robes with round necks (dallyeong), black official’s hats (gwanmo), leather shoes (mokhwa), and square, embroidered rank badges (hyungbae) depicting a different animal for each rank (Figure 6.4). At the waist, a belt decorated with animal bones, jade, or gold ornaments was worn to indicate the official’s position along with the rank badge.
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(a)
(b)
Figure 6.2 a. Shin Yunbok, Woman at Yeondang in Yeosokdocheop, c. early 19th century, ink and color on silk, 31.4 × 29.6 cm. © National Museum of Korea b. Shin Yunbok, Woman Wearing Jeonmo in Yeosokdocheop, c. early 19th century, ink and color on silk, 31.4 × 29.6 cm. © National Museum of Korea
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(c)
(d)
Figure 6.2 (Continued). c. Gisan Kim Jungeun, A Minister in Court Attire in Gisan Pungsokhwacheop, c. late 19th century, ink and color on paper, 29.7 × 35.6 cm, 33.215:64_52 © Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg d. Gisan Kim Jungeun, Women Weavers in Gisan Pungsokhwacheop, c. late 19th century, ink and color on paper, 29.7 × 35.6 cm. © National Folk Museum of Korea
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The different types of official’s robes were differentiated by color. Red official’s robes (hongdallyeong 홍단령) were a daily uniform that symbolized frugality, and black robes (heukdallyeong 흑단령) could be decorated with patterned silk (mundan/munsa 문단/문사 紋緞/紋紗) by officials of jeong 3-pum or above and were used as for rituals. For national events, diplomatic ceremonies, and national holidays, ceremonial clothes called jobok were worn instead, which had no rank badge; the matching hat (관) was completely different from the regular hat (Figure 6.2c for jobok). The outer jacket called shimeui (심의 深衣), daily dress reflecting the wearer’s status as a Confucian scholar, was usually worn when studying or greeting guests at home (Figure 6.5d). The king’s robes followed the court dress system of China’s Ming dynasty when conducting affairs: a royal dragon robe called Gollyngpo (곤룡포 㺞龍袍), with a round neckline and dragon patterns on the chest, back, and shoulders, and a black hat called Ikseongwan (익선관 翼善冠) (Figure 6.3cd). For coronation ceremonies, diplomatic events, and important national events, the he wore special robes called Myeonbok (면복 冕服) or jobok.
1. Prototypes and Facsimiles of Portraiture for Kings and Court Officials As mentioned, when a portrait became too old and worn, the custom was to create a facsimile and bury the original. Originals of royal portraits were buried near the tombs of the subjects (maean 매안 埋安). Due to this custom, there are many cases where facsimiles, not originals, have been passed down the generations. Facsimiles were produced even in non-royal elite households. Portraits of the Joseon dynasty not only have characteristic styles in how the facial expressions are drawn, but the clothing depicted in reproduced portraiture also reveals whether they are facsimiles. Therefore, when studying the dress of meritorious subjects of the first half of the seventeenth century after the Imjin War, it is necessary to review many portraits and check changes or modifications in clothing by comparing them with existing artifacts, such as unearthed garments.21 A reproduction of royal portraits is found in black-and-white photographs of court painter Kim Eunho. Kim copied King Sunjong’s portrait in Changdeokgung in 1928 (Figure 6.3a). He is shown copying the original, hanging on the wall (Figure 6.3b). The original is now lost and the production date unknown. Only a sketch (초본) remains at the National Palace Museum of Korea.22 Five royal portraits remain, of Taejo (태조), Jeongjong (정종), Yeongjo (영조), Munjong (문종), and Sunjong (순종). Many duplicates were produced, and were
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(a)
(c)
(b)
(d)
Figure 6.3 a. Kim Eunho reproducing the portraits of King Sunjong in 1928. b. Kim Eunho reproducing the portraits of King Sejo in Changdeokgung in 1935. c. King Taejo. One is the portrait designated as National Treasure No. 317 in which King Taejo is dressed in a blue dragon robe, painted in 1872 (the ninth year of King Gojong) by Jo Jungmuk, an artist of the Royal Bureau of Painting. d. King Taejo in a red dragon robe, dated 1900. This portrait was partially burnt during a fire, so only half of the painting remains intact. © National Palace Museum of Korea
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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
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Figure 6.4 a. Anonymous, Portrait of Hwang Seongwon (?–1667), c. 17th century, scroll painting on silk, 180 × 103 cm. © Gyeonggi Provincial Museum b. Anonymous, Portrait of Hwang Jin (1550–93), c. 17th century, scroll painting on silk, 172 × 105 cm. © Gyeonggi Provincial Museum c. Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Sanhae (1539–1609), c. 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 161.5 × 82.7 cm, Deoksu 6157. © National Museum of Korea d. Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Chungwon (1537–1605), c. 1604, scroll painting on silk, 164 × 89 cm, F10101-01-W000003. © Jangseogak Archives, The Academy of Korean Studies
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(e)
(f)
(g)
(i) (h)
Figure 6.4 (Continued). e. Anonymous, Portrait of Jeong Gonsu (1538–1602), scroll painting on silk, 174.5 × 98 cm, Bongwan 6503. © National Museum of Korea f. Anonymous, Portrait of Seong Su-ung. c. 18th century, scroll painting on silk, 134.5 × 70 cm, Bongwan 12413. © National Museum of Korea g. Anonymous, Portrait of Jo Gyeong (1541–1609), scroll painting on silk, 165.5 × 90 cm, Shinsu 14054. © National Museum of Korea h. Haechi hyungbae [A rank badge with a haechi], excavated from Jo Gyeong’s tomb, 34.5 × 35 cm, Seoulyeoksa 002187. © Seoul Museum of History i. Kim Huigyeom, Portrait of Jeon Ilsang (1700–53), 1748, scroll painting on silk, 142.5 × 90.2 cm, kept at the Jangchungyeounggak House of the Damyang Jeon Clan’s Boryeonggong Sect in Yesan
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enshrined and preserved in various places around the country. They were collected and taken to Busan for refuge during the Korean War (1950–3), but most were destroyed in a warehouse fire.23 There are currently two portraits of King Taejo. In one by Royal Bureau of Painting artist Jo Jungmuk (조중묵 趙重 默, 1820–?) from 1872 (ninth year of King Gojong), designated as National Treasure No. 317, King Taejo wears a blue dragon robe (Figure 6.3c). In the other, from 1900, he wears a red dragon robe. This portrait at the National Palace Museum of Korea was partially destroyed in a fire in 1945 and restored in 2012 (Figure 6.3d). The earlier portrait caused confusion because the king’s official dragon robe (gollyongpo) was traditionally red, evidenced by King Yeongchin’s robe, which is preserved as a relic at the National Palace Museum. King Sukjong also wondered why King Yeongjo’s portraits at Gyeonggijeon Shrine (경기전 慶 基殿) depicts him in blue robes, and discussed the matter with court officials.24 In fact, it was in 1444 (twenty-sixth year of King Sejong) that the kings of Joseon began to wear red robes: the blue robes were from the dress system of the previous Goryeo dynasty, and King Taejo never wore a red robe, making his portraits an example of how changes are applied in later reproductions.25 There also exists an oil painting of King Gojong wearing a yellow dragon robe after he proclaimed the Korean Empire and declared himself emperor.26 Cases where the color of clothes depicted in portraits are changed in the process of copying can also be found in portraits of meritorious subjects, or Yeongsa Gongsin (영사공신 寧社功臣). Hwang Seongwon (황성원 黃性元, ?–1667) was honored as a second-place meritorious subject (영사공신 2등) for revealing the planned rebellion of Yu Hyorip (유효립 柳孝立) in 1628, but little else is known about him. In Portrait of Hwang Seongwon at Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Hwang wears a green official’s robe (Figure 6.4a) and a rank badge with a white pheasant called baekhan (백한 白 吣), which indicates a 3-pum rank, with a hakjeonggeumdae (학정금대 鶴頂金帶) belt for 2-pum officials.27 Thus, Hwang’s dress lacks consistency in terms of the rank each item signifies. It seems that an error was made in the process of copying the portrait, which could be presumed from the blue undergarment worn beneath the robe. This undergarment began to be worn during the reign of King Hyojong (효종, 1629–59), so this is a later facsimile of the portrait produced in 1628.28 As can be seen from same museum’s portrait of Hwang Jin (황진 黃進, 1550–1593), also a meritorious subject, produced during the same period (Figure 6.4b), while all other meritorious subjects of the seventeenth century wear black [dark blue 아청색 鴉靑 色] robes in their portraits (1561–1649), Hwang Seongwon, Heo Gye (허계 許棨, 1561–1649), and Heo Seon (허선 許選 1591–1665) wear green. It may be that the color was changed in the process of reproduction.29 Portrait of Heo-seon, which
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depicts Heo in the green official’s robe, has a seven-jewel pattern (chilbomun 칠보문 七寶紋), characteristic of official’s robes after the reign of King Sukjeong (숙종), which suggests that this is also a later copy. A historical record from 1637 (fifteenth year of King Injo) discusses the burial of an old portrait of King Taejo, which was suggested by King Yejo (예조): When the King consulted the court officials about renewing the portrait of King Taejo for the Yeongsungjeon Shrine (영숭전 永崇殿), Chief State Councillor Gim Yu 김유 金⪜ 1571–1648 and Third State Councillor (Uuijeong 우의정 右議政) Yi Seonggu (이성구 李聖求, 1584–1643) said, ‘King Taejo’s portraits are enshrined in many places, but it is said that the faces depicted in them are not the same. This seems to be because they were drawn during the later life of King Taejo. They say that this portrait that was enshrined in Ganghwa recently was a facsimile of the Jinjeon Shrine in Jeonju. It was unavoidable that the portraits drawn at the time were kept in various places. However, since then, whenever a portrait became misplaced due to many misfortunes, facsimiles were made based on one portrait, which is greatly regrettable. And since the original portrait cannot avoid becoming contaminated when it is copied, many have expressed their regrets about this. It is deeply troubling that such a devastation has occurred. In our opinion, the old portrait should be buried in a chaste and pure place, while there is no need to renew the existing portrait.’ Ultimately, the old portrait of King Taejo was buried above the northern stairs of the Royal Ancestor’s Shrine (종묘). [see the sentences underlined for emphasis by the author, Min.]
Worn portraits of kings were destroyed (secho 세초 洗草) and buried (maean). Veritable records or portraits of kings were soaked in water to render the contents no longer discernable. In the case of the veritable records, the pages were washed with water or burned. However, in the case of portraits, there is no specific record about how they were handled. The only extant record says that King Taejo’s portrait was destroyed, placed in a white porcelain jar, and buried in the northern grounds of Gyeonggijeon Shrine (경기전 慶基殿) during Gojong’s reign (1872). Portraits of literati (sadaebu 사대부) were handled in a similar way. According to The Track Records of the Portrait Hall (Yeongdang-gijeok 영당기적 影堂紀蹟), which recorded the portraits of Yun Jeong (윤증尹拯, 1629–1714) preserved by the head family of the Yun Clan, the original portrait by Byeon Ryang (변량卞良) in 1711 was put in a separate box while making a facsimile in 1744. Then the original was destroyed and buried behind the household fence in 1777.30 In 1788, another facsimile, the third (3본), was commissioned to Yi Myunggi (이명기 李命基). There is a record of destroying and burying the previous portrait. There currently exist fifteen portraits of Yun Jeung, including full body, half body, and sketches (초본).
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Yi Sanhae (이산해 李山海, 1539–1609), Chief State Councilor, presents a case of alteration in a facsimile (Figure 6.4c). He wears a green-blue official’s robe with cloud patterns (chilbounmundan 칠보운문단), a rank badge embroidered with peony and pheasants, and official’s hat (samo 사모) and belt (seodae). He sits on a chair, facing right so that three quarters of the left side of his face are visible (좌안칠분면 전신좌상).31 This rank badge and belt are commonly featured in the portraits of meritorious subjects who served King Seonjo when he took refuge in the Imjin War period in 1604 (hoseong gongsin 호성공신 扈聖功臣), such as Yi Chungwon, Yi Homin, and Hong Jin. Compared with Portrait of Yi Chungwon held by the Deokcheon-gun sect of the Jeonju Yi Clan (Figure 6.4d), only the faces are different. Both portraits maintain the dress system of the seventeenthcentury original, which means the painter imitated the original faithfully in the nineteenth-century facsimile. Nonetheless, art historians identify Yi Sanhae’s portrait as a work of the nineteenth century due to the clear outlines defining the shapes, fine brushstrokes used to draw the face, the visible pattern combined with strong shading applied to the robe, the robe’s knot placed to the side of the rank badge, and the drawing style of the floral-patterned mat. One must also remember that original portraits were not always drawn from life: in some cases, they were produced from memory, after meeting the subject or even posthumously.
2. Alterations and Restorations in Portraiture Painting: Comparison with Regulations of Official Attire and Excavated Clothes In the seventeenth century, literary men of Joseon traveling to Yanqing (now Beijing) used to return with portraits by Chinese artists. There are cases where original paintings, invisible to the naked eye, have been discovered beneath these and other portraits. An example is Portrait of Jeong Gonsu (정곤수 鄭崑壽, 1538– 1602) at the National Museum of Korea (Figure 6.4e).32 An X-ray photographic analysis revealed that the subject was originally drawn wearing typical dress of the Qing dynasty. In other words, a portrait of a Joseon person was produced by revising a portrait of a Chinese person; the existence of the original was not revealed for hundreds of years.33 Sometimes the official position and the rank of the sitter do not match. Scholars need to read the difference in pictorial representation and reality by looking at the rank badge (hyungbae) and the belt drawn in the portrait. For example, is Portrait of Seong Suung (성수웅 成壽雄) at the National Museum of
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Korea (Figure 6.4f).34 Seong Suung was born in 1659 and served as Deputy Magistrate (Seoyoon 서윤 庶尹) of Pyongyang. In the portrait, the crane on his rank badge is looking down, suggesting that there were originally two cranes.35 We can presume, however, that would not have allowed him to wear the double crane rank badge and the sapeundae belt. Double cranes were only allowed for officials of the third rank and above; he was jong 4-pum as indicated by text at the top of the portrait: “Deputy Magistrate of Pyongyang Seong Suung (Seoyun Seonggongsuung Hwasang 서윤성공수웅화상庶尹成公壽雄畵像).” After all, his rank badge and belt in the portrait were of higher ranks than what he was prescribed to wear by his occupational position. The portrait of Jo Gyeong, who died in 1609, shows a tiger rank badge (Figure 6.4g).36 An excavated rank badge with a haechi (해치)—a mythical creature resembling a lion that distinguishes between good and evil and preserves justice, whose whole body is covered with scales, and has a horn on its head—is among relics from his tomb, now in the collection of the Seoul Museum of History (Figure 6.4h). This is the earliest relic featuring a haechi rank badge. Why was Jo depicted with a tiger rank badge? This badge was established during the reign of King Danjong (단종) to be worn by the Inspector-General (Daesaheon 대사헌 大 司憲), and military officials wore a tiger rank badge.37 However, influenced by Ming Chinese military officials who wore haechi rank badges, Joseon’s military officials began to wear them from the early seventeenth century.38 Up to the eighteenth century, the haechi badge is said to have been worn by 2-pum military officials. Since Jo Gyeong was made a Seonmu meritorious subject in 1604 and died in 1609, it may be that the tiger rank badge of military officials was changed to a haechi rank badge in that time, and he wore both types. Scholars conjecture that Jo wore a tiger rank badge in life but had a haechi badge embroidered as a keepsake. The excavation report notes that the haechi badge was not found on a robe but was excavated separately. The fact that he wears a tall hat (samo) and is depicted with dark shading between the eyes along with rough brushstrokes for the beard suggests that the portrait is a facsimile. Portrait of Jeon Ilsang (전일상 田日祥,1700–53),kept at the Jangchungyeounggak House (장충영각) of the Damyang Jeon Clan’s Boryeonggong Sect, is another relevant example (Figure 6.4i). This portrait is said to have been painted by Kim Huigyeom (김희겸 金喜謙) of the Korean Royal Academy of Painting (dohwaseo 도화서) in 1748 at the request of Jeon Ilsang, military commander of Jeolla province (전라우수사). Why would a person born into a family of military officials and advancing a military career wear the robe of a civil official with two cranes? A record from the reign of King Yeongjo confirms that the king
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ordered military officials not to use the double crane rank badges of high civil officials. The royal edict suggests repeated violations of this rule by military officials for a prolonged period. Scholars must be aware that the officials at the time did not faithfully adhere to the court dress system as stipulated in the written policies.
3. Seeking Sitters’ Identities Through Dresses in Portraiture Painting In portraits, the identities of sitters were expressed through their clothes or the objects placed around them. Like the portraits of court officials in officials’ robes that reveal their identities and ranks, sitters wearing military uniforms also indicate their identities. In Portrait of King Cheoljong (Figure 6.5a), held by the National Palace Museum of Korea, the king wears a sleeveless long military vest (jeonbok 전복 戰服) over a military outfit (yungbok 융복 戎服), with yellow bodice and red sleeves. On the shoulders and chest is a dragon pattern insignia (bo 보 補). In the 2017 film Warriors of the Dawn (Daeripgun 대립군), King Gwanghaegun is portrayed in a similar military outfit. The privately owned Portrait of Yi Changwun (1782) is a rare example of a portrait featuring a subject dressed in a military uniform (Figure 6.5b). In this portrait, Yi has both a military sword (hwando 환도 環刀) and a horse whip made of wisteria and silk or leather straps (deungchae/deungchaek 등채/등책 藤策), objects owned by military officials. Compared with a black-and-white photograph of a military official preserved from the late Joseon period, the portrait faithfully reflects the dress system of the time (Figure 6.5c). Portraits of subjects wearing the everyday outer jacket (shimeui) reflected their status as Confucian scholars. In Portrait of Yu Seokgeun (유석근 劉錫謹 1860–1931, Figure 6.5d), the sitter is holding a book titled The Collected Writings of Neo-Confucianism (Seongrijeonseo 성리전서 性理全書).39 It is identical to The Complete Collection of Neo-Confucianism (Seongri Daejeon 성리대전 性理大全), a publication on the theories of neo-Confucianism compiled in 1415, during the Ming dynasty, by forty-two scholars including Hu Guang (호광 胡廣). In Joseon, King Sejong ordered this collection of books to be republished in 1419, and it became an encyclopedic reference for the study of neo-Confucianism among Joseon scholars from the sixteenth century. Portrait of Yi Chae (이채 李采, 1745–1820) has a long inscription explaining that the sitter wore shimeui, the Confucian scholar’s jacket, as the robe represented Zhu Xi, founder of Neo-Confucianism (Figure 6.5e).40 It says:
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Figure 6.5 a. Anonymous, Portrait of King Cheoljong, 1861, scroll painting on silk, 202 × 93 cm, Changdeok 6364. © National Palace Museum of Korea. The king is wearing a sleeveless long military vest (jeonbok) over a military outfit (yungbok), with yellow bodice and red sleeves. b. Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Changwun, 1782, scroll painting on silk, 153 × 86 cm. A rare example of a portrait featuring a subject dressed in a military uniform. c. A black-and-white photograph of a military official preserved from the late Joseon period; a military sword (hwando) at the waist and a horse whip made of wisteria and silk or leather straps (deungchae)
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(e)
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Figure 6.5 (Continued). d. Chae Yong-sin (1850–1941), Portrait of Yu Seokgeun, 1915, scroll painting on silk, 106.3 × 71.7 cm, Shinsu 13519. © The National Museum of Korea. The sitter is holding a book in his hand, which is titled The Collected Writings of Neo-Confucianism, Seongrijeonseo. e. Anonymous, Portrait of Yi Chae (1745–1820), c. late 18th–early 19th century, scroll painting on silk, 98.4 × 56.3 cm. © The National Museum of Korea. The Confucian scholar’s jacket was viewed as representing Zhu Xi himself. f. Byeon Sangbyeok (before 1726–75), Portrait of Yun Bonggu (1681–1767), 1750, scroll painting on silk, 119.38 × 90.17 cm. © Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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Wearing a literati’s hat (jeongjagwan 정자관 程子冠) on the head and a Confucian scholar’s jacket (simeui) described by Zhu Xi (朱子), Who is this that sits upright and proper? Dark eyebrows and a white beard, with ears towering high and eyes shining, Are you truly the man called Gyeryang Yi Chae (계량季亮 이채李采)? (. . .)
Similar portraits of Confucian scholars and their students were common and desirable. A notable example is that of Yun Bonggu (윤봉구 尹鳳九, 1681–1767), a student of Song Siyeol’s prized disciple Kwon Sangha (Figure 6.5f). Yun wrote a letter of self-vigilance (jagyeongmun 자경문 自警文) to himself, aimed to check himself every time he looked at his portrait, which read, “You have a round head and square feet, but you received the true spirit (gi 기 氣) of the heaven and earth, and you live righteously, which is also a gift from the heaven and earth.”41 The scholar-officials of the Noron faction who inherited Song Siyeol’s academic philosophy, such as Kwon Sangha (권상하 權尙夏, 1641–1721), Han Wonjin (한원진 韓元震, 1682–1751), Gim Wonhaeng (김원행 金元行, 1702–72), and Gim Ian (김이안 金履安, 1722–91) also chose to commission portraits identical in format to this one. Yun Bonggu sits on a floral-patterned mat wearing black Confucian scholar’s ritual attire (nansam) with a round neckline (Figure 6.5f). This is a more formal wear than a scholar’s jacket called shimeui. The trapezoid-shaped hat made of horsetail is called dongpagwan (동파관 東坡冠), different from a crown-shaped jeongjagwan of Yu Seokgeun (Figure 6.5d).42 The text in the lower right, Hwasa Byeonsangbyeoksa (화사변상벽사 畵師卞相壁寫), indicates that court painter Byeon Sangbyeok (변상벽 卞相壁, before 1726–75) painted it in 1750 (twentysixth year of King Yeongjo). A full-length seated portrait of Yun wearing the same clothes and hat is kept by a family of the Andong Kwon Clan’s Hwacheongun Sect. In addition, the National Museum of Korea holds a painting album containing two works, one depicting Yun from the chest up, in which he is facing right to show 80 percent of the left side of his face (좌안팔분면 左顔八分面), and the other a half-length portrait where he is wearing a Confucian scholar’s jacket (shimeui) and hat (bokgeon).43 One can see the pictorial style of the late Joseon Confucian portraiture in portraits of Yun Bonggu and Yi Chae. Both were depicted with vivid, bright colors and shown dressed in Confucian scholar’s ritual attire (nansam 난삼 䤈衫) and literati’s hats (donpagwan), instead of the Confucian scholar’s jacket and loose hat made of black cloth (bokgeon 복건 幅巾). These eighteenth-century portraits reveal a wide range of changes that took place over time in the development of Confucian portraiture in the Joseon dynasty.
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Conclusion Since traditional Korean paintings were painted on paper and silk, making them vulnerable to environmental conditions and fire, few works currently remain after the destruction of the Imjin (1592) and Korean (1950) Wars. However, because portraits represented one’s ancestors, who were to be revered and worshipped in Confucian tradition, they were collected and protected even in wartime. Thus, greater numbers of portraits have survived compared to any other genre. As the saying “If even one hair is not the same, then it is not me” shows, portraits were also the genre of Joseon paintings that placed the greatest importance on realism. Requests made by those who donate the portraits in their care to museums to be handled with care, as if they are entrusting their relatives to the care of a nursing home, could be understood along these same lines.44 Portraits, court documentary paintings, and genre paintings have immense value as primary sources for research on Joseon’s dress system, especially as few clothing artifacts remain from the period. However, one must bear in mind limitations of pictorial representations of dress as discussed in portraiture painting of the Joseon dynasty. Multidisciplinary research should encompass both the study of portraits and dress history of Korea. Collaboration by art historians, dress historians, scientists, historians, and anthropologists may be highly beneficial in the sense that in-depth study of traditional dress could be achieved by examining representation of dresses as well as surviving artifacts. Especially an understanding of the making process of portraiture, both original and replicas, may shed a light on a complicated evolution of dress and fashion in the context of history of luxury while the outcomes of dress history research could also inform the interpretation of portraits.
Notes 1 Seungjeongwon ilgi 승정원일기 承政院日記 Vol. 743, Yeongjo 8th year (1732), May 16. “壬申年. 䈆本之堅固, 軸子之貌樣, 無非可疑, 古人之䈆像, 一毫不似, 便是別人。此則可 疑之端, 若是其多, 何以取信耶?” 2 Lee Sung-nak 이성낙, “Joseonsidae chosanghwa-e natanan pibu byeongbyeon yeongu” 朝鮮時代 肖像畵에 나타난 皮膚 病變 연구 [Study of Skin Manifestation on Portraits during Joseon Dynasty of Korea (1392–1910)], Myongji University Ph.D. diss., 2014. Lee is a dermatologist who studied 527 portraits for his dissertation to
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diagnose the skin lesions represented on portraiture painting. In his doctoral dissertation for art history, Lee was able to diagnose rare skin lesions such as Atrichosis, Hypertrichosis, Vitiligo, Rosacea, Icterus Melas, Nevus of Ota, En coup de sabre (Morphea), and Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosusas, as well as Strabism and Blindness. He observed that about 14 percent of portraits he examined showed a sitter suffering from smallpox (variola) as paintings depicted small scars on the face. See “Munhwagang-yeon: Joseonsidae chosanghwa-e natanan pibu jilhwan” 문화강연: 조선시대 초상화에 나타난 피부 질환, Daehanpibugwahakhoe haksulbalpyodaehoejip 대한피부과학회 학술발표대회집 [The Korean Dermatological Association Proceedings] 61:2 (2009): 78; Lee Sung-nak, “Inmunhak gyoyugi wae uihak gyoyuk-e piryohanga” 인문학 교육이 왜 의학 교육에 필요한가 [The Reason the Medical Education Needs the Cultural Studies], Inmunyeongu 인문연구 38 [Journal of the Humanities] 38 (2000): 27–32. See Gayoung Park’s chapter in this volume. Moon Joo-young 문주영, “300nyeon jeon kyeomjae jeongseon-ui geurim sok ‘susengdong gyegok’ wonhyeong-e ga-kkap-ge bokwon” 300년 전 겸재 정선의 그림 속 ‘수성동 계곡’. . . 원형에 가깝게 복원 [‘Suseongdong Valley’ in Gyeomjae Jeongseon’s painting 300 years ago . . . Restoring to the original shape], The Kyunghyang Shinmun 경향신문, July 10, 2012, http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/ khan_art_view.html?artid=201207102152065&code=950201/ (accessed May 6, 2021). Cho Kyu-hee 조규희, “Jeongseonui geumgangsan geurimgwa geurim gateun si-jingyeongsansuhwaui uimi jaego” 정선의 금강산 그림과 그림 같은 시진경산수화의 의미 재고 [JeongSeon’s Geumgang-san Paintings and the Picturesque Poetry-Reconsideration of the Terminology, ‘True-view Landscapes], Hangukanmunhagyeongu 한국한문학연구 [Journal of Korean Literature in Classical Chinese] 66 (2017): 213–50. For a comprehensive illustrative book on the court documentary paintings preserved at the National Museum of Korea, see Guklip-jung-angbakmulgwan hangukseohwa yumuldorok je18, chyeold19, 20jip-joseonsidae gungjunghaengsado I, II, III 국립중앙박물관 한국서화유물도록 제18, and 19, 20집-조선시대 궁중행사도 I, II, III [Korean Paintings and Calligraphy of National Museum of Korea Volume 18, 19, 20] (Seoul: Graphicnet 그라픽네트, 2010–12). Park Jeonghye 박정혜 also presents a comprehensive study on court events during the Joseon period. See Park Jeonghye, Joseonsidae gungjung-girokhwa yeongu 조선시대 궁중기록화 연구 [A study on Royal Paintings during the Joseon Dynasty] (Seoul: Iljisa, 2000). On the Crown Prince Munhyo Boyangcheong Folding Screen Painting, see Min Gil-hong 민길홍, “-1784nyeon munhyosejawa boyanggwanui sanggyeollye haengsa” -1784년 문효세자와 보양관의 상견례 행사 [The 1784 screen painting Crown Prince Munhyo having sanggyeonnye with Boyanggwan at Boyangcheong(文孝世子輔養廳契ቿ)],
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Misuljaryo 미술자료 80 (2011): 97–114; Yoo Jae Bin 유재빈, “Jeongjodae wangwi gyeseungui sangjingjeok jaehyeon: Munhyosaja-boyangcheonggyebyeong(1784)eul jungsimeuro” 정조대 왕위 계승의 상징적 재현: (1784)을 중심으로 [Symbolic Representation of the Succession to the Throne in the Reign of King Jeongjo-with a focus on Screen Painting of Crown Prince Munhyo Having an Introduction Ceremony at Boyangcheong (1784)], Misulsahagyeongu 미술사학연구 293 (2017): 5–31; Min Gil-hong 민길홍, “Munhyoseja-boyangcheonggyebyeongmunhyosejawa seuseung-ui cheot mannam” 문효세자보양청계병-문효세자와 스승의 첫 만남 [Munhyoseja-boyangcheonggyebyeong—The first meeting between Prince Munhyo and his teacher], Gunklip-jung-ang bakmulgwan curator chucheon sojangpum wongo 국립중앙박물관 큐레이터 추천 소장품 원고 [The collection recommendation by the curator of the National Museum of Korea], https://www. museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/recommend/view?relicRecommendId=165928 (accessed May 6, 2021). Kim Hyeonseung 김현승, “ boksik gojeunggwa dijital contents-hwa”〈문효세자 보양청계병〉복식 고증과 디지털 콘텐츠화 [Analysis of historical costume for 〈Crown Prince Munkyo Folding Screen Painting〉 and digitalizing the contents] (Master’s thesis, Dankook University, 2016). Cho Kyu-hee, “Kim Hongdo pil wa tpungsokwatjeong pyohyeonui uimi” 김홍도 필 〈기로세련계도〉와 ‘풍속화’적 표현의 의미 [Kim Hongdo’s Visual Strategies and the Effects of Genre Painting], Misulsawa sigak-munhwa 미술사와 시각문화 [Art History and Visual Culture] 24 (2019): 126–57. See Jaeyoon Yi’s chapter in this volume about portraiture in the late Goryeo and early Joseon dynasties. Women’s portraiture was made as a couple’s portraiture if a husband was a high-ranking minister with notable accomplishments. Jo Ban 조반 趙䘪 (1341–1401) and her wife were portrayed as such a rare case. For the Great Code of National Governance called Gyeongguk daejeon 경국대전 經國 大典, see Park’s chapter in this volume. The Code was composed in 1460 during the reign of King Sejo (r. 1455–68) and revised several times. The current version is the 1484 edition from King Seongjong’s reign (r. 1469–94). The 1484 Great Code was enforced from January 1, 1485 (lunar calendar). Sejong sillok 세종실록 世宗實錄 [Veritable Records of King Sejong], the 26th year (1444), October 22. Seongjong sillok 성종실록 成宗實錄 [Veritable Records of King Seongjong], the 3rd year (1472), June 6. “萬曆甲辰之秋, 命錄扈聖功臣, 設都監畵像小肖. 臣光庭之名, 亦在其中. 畵師輩來, 寫賤 眞數三十本, 不能肖. 惟金水雲之畵, 似乎彷彿. 遂登䔁上都監頒之而藏於家.” This text was written at the back of the painting in the form of a note (별지). Lee Kyung-hwa 이경화, “Yi gwang-jeong chosang: junggukgwa joseoneseo geurin joseon muninui
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chosanghwa” 이광정 초상: 중국과 조선에서 그린 조선 문인의 초상화 [Yi Gwangjeong and Portraits of Joseon Envoys by Chinese Painters from the Ming and Qing Periods], Misulsahak 미술사학 [Art History] 36 (2018): 189–216. Yi Seong-nak 이성낙, “Joseonsidae chosanghwa-e natanan pibu byeongbyeon yeongu” 朝鮮時代 肖像畵에 나타난 皮膚 病變 연구 [Study of Skin Manifestation on Portraits during Joseon Dynasty of Korea (1392–1910)] (Ph.D. diss., Myongji University, 2004). This painting is in a private collection in Haenam, Jeolla Province. https://www. heritage.go.kr/heri/cul/culSelectDetail.do?VdkVgwKey=11,02400000,36&page No=1_1_1_0 (accessed May 15, 2022). The Great Code of National Governance established the regulation requiring the crown prince and the jeong 1-pum and jong 1-pum officials to wear the seodae belt on their official uniforms. This was maintained until the publication of the Comprehensive Update of the National Code (Daejeonhoetong 대전회통 大典會通) in 1865 (the 2nd year of King Gojong). See http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/contents/item/ E0027687 (accessed May 6, 2021). Park Kyung-ja 박경자, “Hyewon-pungsokhwa-e-seo bon 18segi ilbanboksik” 惠園風 俗畵에서 본 朝鮮後期의 一船服飾 [The general costume of the late Joseon dynasty seen in Hyewon folk painting], Sungsinyeoja-daehakkyo yeongu-nonmunjip 誠信女子 大學校硏究論文輯 [Seoul: Sungshin Women’s University, Collection of Dissertations] 14 (1981): 49–71. Many other dress history studies examine Shin Yunbok’s album of genre paintings (Hyewon jeonsincheop 혜원전신첩 蕙園傳神帖) as a source for eighteenth-century dress. Lee Tae Ho 이태호 and Yang Suk Hyang 양숙향, “Kansongmisulkwan sojang ul tonghae bon 19segi(sunjong-gojongnyungan) mingan-ui boksikgwa saenghwalsang” 간송미술관 소장 을 통해 본 19 세기(순종-고종년간) 민간의 복식과 생활상 [Living Scenes and Folk Costumes during the Nineteenth Century Revealed by Hyewon’s Folk Paintings in the Collection of Kansong Art Gallery], Gangjwa-misulsa 강좌미술사 [The Art History Journal] 15 (2000): 203–50. Much is yet unknown about the life of Kim Jungeun, but his activities could be traced through the records left by Westerners who were the consumers of his works. P. G. von Molendorff (1847–1901), who lived in Joseon from 1882 to 1885, was presented one of Kim’s paintings by King Gojong or may have obtained it through Sechang Trading Company (Sechang Yanghaeng 세창양행), a German company founded in Jemulpo (제물포) at the time. There is also a record that Kim Jungeun drew an illustration for the book Korean Games in 1886 upon the order made by Mary Shufeldt, the daughter of US Admiral Robert Wilson Shufeldt. There are other records as well, such as those of the French scholar Charles Louis Varat (1842 – 93), who visited Joseon on a mission to conduct research on Korean folk culture, and
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A. E. J. Cavendish, who traveled around Joseon. Shin Seon-yeong 신선영, “Gisan Kim Jungeun pungsokwa-e gwanhan yeongu” 기산 김준근 풍속화에 관한 연구 [A Study of Albums of Genre Paintings by Kim Jun-geun], Misulsahak 미술사학 [Art History] 20 (2006): 105–41. In 2020, the National Folk Museum of Korea held an exhibition featuring Kim Jungeun Gisan genre paintings. National Folk Museum of Korea, “Finding Folklore in Gisan’s Genre Paintings,” May 20–October 5, 2020, https://www. nfm.go.kr/user/planexhibition/home/65/selectPlanExhibitionLView.do?plan ExhibitionIdx=743&page=1 (accessed May 6, 2021). For historical accuracy and validity of the unearthed garment, see In-woo Chang’s and Myung-eun Lee’s chapters in this volume. See Sejo-eojin-chobon 세조 어진 초본 [Sketch for the portrait of King Sejo] by Kim Eun-ho 김은호 (1892–1979), National Palace Museum of Korea. There are few clothing artifacts of the dress worn by the kings of Joseon left. Apart from the dragon robes, there is a robe of King Yeongjo’s, which was found enshrined within the Buddha statue (관세음보살) at Pagyesa Temple (파계사), Daegu, in 1979. With the robe was a text written on a paper scroll which read, “In September 1740 [16th year of King Yeongjo], the Great Dharma Hall (대법당) of Pagyesa Temple was repaired, and King Yeongjo made a gift of a Buddha painting (Taenghwa 탱화 幀䈆). Thus, this place shall be a space for prayers for the royal family, and King Yeongjo’s robe shall be enshrined within this statue.” In the portrait of King Yeongjo that remains, he is wearing a red dragon robe. Sukjongsillok 숙종실록 肅宗實錄 Vol. 19 [Veritable Records of King Sukjong], the 14th year (1688), April 8. “上曰 瞻拜影幀, 則所御袞衣色靑似非禮服, 而無乃國初服色, 尙靑而 然乎?” 領府事金壽興曰: “人謂高麗尙靑云. 太祖朝去高麗未遠, 故或者用靑爲袞矣.” Currently, the National Museum of Korea holds a black-and-white glass-plate photograph dated 1913 which depicts the portrait of King Taejo enshrined at the Junwonjeon Portrait Hall (준원전), through which one can see the original of the portrait of King Taejo in a red dragon robe. See Kyungmee Lee’s chapter in this volume. Hakjeong (학정 鶴頂) refers to the red part on the crown of a crane. It is said to be made using the bones of hakjeong fish, but it is not known whether this was actually the case. Although this belt does not appear in official books of codes such as the Great Code of National Governance, based on many examples of its use, it is a kind of belt (sogeumdae 소금대 素金帶, a belt with gold plaques without inscribed pattern) for jong 2-pum officials. Regarding the dresses in the portraits of meritorious subjects, see Lee Eun-joo 이은주 and Kim Mi-gyung 김미경, “Seonjodae gongsinchosang-ui boksing gochal” 선조대宣祖代 공신초상功臣肖像의 복식 고찰 [A Study on the Costumes of Meritorious Vassals’ Portraits in the reign of King Seonjo], Munhwajae 문화재 [Korea Journal of Cultural heritage studies] 52:1 (2019): 120–47.
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29 It is presumed that dark blue was called black simply from the ancient perception of dark colors as being black. Lee Eun-joo 이은주, “Hanguk-jeontongboksik-e-seoui cheongsaekgwa heuksaek-cheongsaeg-ui beomjumunjereul jungsimeuro” 한국전통복식에서의 청색과 흑색-청색의 범주문제를 중심으로 [A Study on the Blue and Black Colors in Korean Traditional Costume—About the Category of Blue Color], Hanguk-uiryuhakoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 18:1 (1994), 125–26. 30 See Kim Kyung-eun 김경은, “Yunjeung chosang-ui mosabon-e gwanhan yeongu” 윤증 초상의 모사본에 관한 연구 [The Study of Portraits of Yun Jeung] (Master’s thesis, Hanseo University, 2013), 13. 31 See Hanguk-seohwa-yumul-dorok je16jip-joseonsidae chosang-hwa 한국서화유물도록 제16집-조선시대 초상화 II [Korean Paintings and Calligraphy of National Museum of Korea Volume 16—Joseon Portraits] (Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2009). 32 See https://www.museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=529 (accessed May 6, 2021). 33 Hanguk-seohwa-yumuldorok je16jip, see the note about Plate 42, 258–9. 34 Hanguk-seohwa-yumuldorok je16jip, Figure 19, 95. 35 Jo Sunmie 조선미, “17segi gongsinsang-e daehayeo” 17세기 공신상에 대하여 [About Public Portraits in the seventeenth century], Dasi boneun uri chosang-ui segyejoseonsidae chosanghwa haksul-nonmunjip 다시 보는 우리 초상의 세계-조선시대 초상화 학술논문집 [Re-examining Korean Portraiture-Studies of the Portrait Paintings in the Joseon Dynasty] (Daejeon: Guklip munhwajae yeonguso 국립문화재연구소 [National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage], 2007), 64. 36 See https://www.museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=2307 (accessed May 6, 2021). 37 Danjong sillok 단종실록 端宗實錄 [Veritable Records of King Danjong] Vol. 12, the 2nd year (1454), December 10. 38 See the article on hyungbae (흉배) in the Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, https:// folkency.nfm.go.kr/kr/topic/detail/7278/ (accessed May 6, 2021). 39 See https://www.museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=2284 (accessed May 6, 2021). 40 “彼冠程子冠, 衣文公深衣, 㢘然危坐者, 誰也歟. 眉蒼而鬚白, 耳高而眼朗. 子眞是李季亮 者歟. 考其迹則三縣五州, 問其業則四子六經. 無乃欺當世而竊虛名者歟. 㔟嗟乎. 歸爾祖 之鄕, 讀爾祖之書. 則庶幾知其所樂, 而不愧爲程朱之徒也歟. 華泉翁自題, 京山望八翁書.”
Quoted from Lee Sumi 이수미, “Yi-chae chosang-Joseonhugi munin” 이채 李采 초상 肖像-조선후기 문인 [Portrait of Yi-Chae—A literary man in the late Joseon Dynasty],
Navercast guklip-jung-ang-bakmulgwan sunjeong uri yumul 100seon 네이버캐스트 국립중앙박물관 선정 우리 유물 100선 [100 Korean artifacts selected by the National
Museum of Korea], August 20, 2012, https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=357 4917&cid=58840&categoryId=58851 (accessed May 6, 2021).
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41 Kang Kwan Sik 강관식, “Joseonsidae chosanghwareul ingneun daseot gaji code” 조선시대 초상화를 읽는 다섯 가지 코드 [Five Codes for the Reading Portraits of Joseon], Misulsa-hakbo 미술사학보 [Korean Bulletin of Art History] 38 (2012): 154–5. 42 See https://collections.lacma.org/node/199451/ (accessed May 6, 2021). 43 See https://www.museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=4377 (accessed May 6, 2021). 44 Prominent clans such as Yi, Park, Kim, Yoon, Chung, and other families operate associations called jongchinhoe 종친회 宗親會. For example, Jeonju Yi Clan, where the royal family of the Joseon dynasty originated from, maintains a robust schedule of research, programming, and ceremonies to honor their ancestors. Anniversaries and major holidays are observed for prominent historical figures. If a portrait is available, ceremonies would take place in front of it. Thus, some clansmen ask for good care when they donate a portrait to a museum if the painting itself carries cultural values beyond the circle of clansmen and descendants. In the Confucian tradition, honoring one’s ancestors and their souvenirs bearing likeness is somewhat related to the religious practices of honoring sacred relics or icons. See an interview with Yong-in Yi Clan’s descendants when they donated portraits and other works to the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum. Park bonsu 박본수, “Gyeonggido bakmulgwan gijeungyumul iyagi(7)] goryeosidaebuteo e-u-on ppuri gipeun gamun” 경기도박물관 기증유물 이야기(7) 고려시대부터 이어온 뿌리 깊은 가문 [The Story of Donated Relics of Gyeonggi-do Museum (7), A Historic Family from the Goryeo Dynasty], Gyeonggi Shinmun 경기신문, December 28, 2020, https://ggc.ggcf. kr/p/60111624e09fc12d0f584e86 / (accessed May 15, 2022).
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Bodily Ornaments in Korean Archaeology and Dress History Kyeongmi Joo
Introduction In contemporary society, fashion accessories and jewelry are portable or wearable items of dress culture that attract global consumers and are integrated into wearers’ expression of their personal tastes and desire for an enhanced look. However, wearable ornaments in pre-modern Korea and other East Asian countries were social manifestations of the wearer’s social status and prestige. In the scholarship of dress history, archaeology, and art history in Korea, ornaments for body and dress have been commonly called jangsingu 장신구 (裝身具), a word that refers to objects that adorn the body such as earrings, rings, necklaces. They are often translated into jewelry made of precious metal or gemstones. Moreover, the word also includes decorative ornaments added to dress ensembles such as brooches, belts, or norigae (hanging ornaments for women) as well as headgear such as crowns, hair bands, jokduri (small cap for brides in Joseon dynasty), binyeo (hairpins for fastening a bun), duikkoji (short hairpins to insert in braids), and cheopji (hairbands for court ladies with extended braids).1 Bodily ornaments are part of both dress history and archaeology, and studying them may require training in several disciplines such as Korean history, archaeology, art history, and costume history. Due to disciplinary boundaries and insulated training programs, scholars have tended to confine themselves to specific areas. Another challenge in the scholarship of bodily ornaments is the Confucian disapproval of luxury, indulgence, and conspicuous consumption.2 During the Joseon dynasty and the Korean Empire which lasted from 1392 to 1910, Confucianism was the most important ideology of the nation. It has remained influential, and contemporary Korean society is still influenced by Confucian ethics of modesty and conformity. 139
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The present study discusses objects of decorative art, as is understood in art history. Most traditional bodily ornaments are made of precious metal, gemstones, lacquer, animal or fish skins, horns, bones, feathers, wood, or textiles. By “ornaments” (jangsingu), I mean accessories including headgear, shoes, and pouches, but I have chosen to limit my discussion to objects of decorative rather than textile art. First, I probe the etymology of the word jangsingu in historical records and its application in Korea. Second, I examine how Confucian discourse shaped the scholarship of body ornaments and embellishments. Written sources on luxurious ornaments of metal or gemstones, imbued with Confucian doctrines, appeared in the context of sumptuary laws.3 The legal authorities discouraged people from wearing embellishments and decorative ornaments exceeding their social status, but material artifacts tell a different story. Third, I assess the impact of use The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments (1976), a fundamental compendium of historical records of these ornaments by Hwang Hogeun (黃㐟根, 1924–96), who was a famous screenwriter and amateur historian (Figure 7.4a). However, his book should be revised in the future, for many archaeological projects brought new findings in the 1980s and beyond, making apparent the disparity between the historical documents and excavated artifacts.
A Confucian Discourse on Luxurious Ornaments Primary historical sources mention individual items like rings or belts but lack a collective term for ornaments. The word 裝身具 (Kor. jangsingu, Jap. sōshingu), translated in many ways including jewelry, fashion accessory, adornment, ornament, or body ornament, has been used mostly in Korea and Japan. It is an modern academic term that has circulated since the early twentieth century as archaeology and art history established genres and categories of scientific investigation. On Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias, it is often translated as “fashion accessories.” The Chinese term fuzhuang peishi (服裝配飾) literally means “dress accessories.”4 On Wikipedia the English word jewelry has been transliterated as juerli (주얼리) in Korean and translated as zhubao (珠寶) in Chinese.5 The origin of the word 裝身具 (literally, tools/objects to decorate the body) in Korea and Japan is not known. It most likely circulated in the modern era as an equivalent to European words for jewelry, fashion accessories, and body ornaments. “Body” is an interesting choice because in Confucian societies like Joseon publicly displaying the body (nudity) was not condoned, and propriety
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required the appropriate dress for everybody in accordance to their rank in the social hierarchy. Therefore, these decorative objects were actually displayed on the clothes, and were regulated by social customs and legal statutes for hundreds of years. Therefore, I argue that jangsingu is best translated as “ornaments.”6 This is because “ornaments” conveys the original function of both archaeological prehistoric artifacts and dress ornaments of various materials in later periods. There were many kinds of ornaments in Korean history. Between the 1920s and 2020, thousands of ornaments from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages and the Three Kingdoms period were discovered at archaeological sites.7 Neolithic ornaments were primarily made from natural materials such as shells, animal teeth or claws, stones, and terracotta. Royal tombs from Baekje and Silla contained a large quantity of ornaments such as gold crowns, earrings, bracelets, rings, belts, shoes, weapons (sword, daggers, knives, quivers), bells, mirrors, and beads in metal, gemstone, or organic materials. After the introduction of Buddhism, the burial service had changed and the ornaments as ostentatious burial goods simultaneously had diminished. However, several bodily ornaments were discovered in the Buddhist sites as the devotional objects. Historians agree that the Unified Silla and Goryeo dynasty maintained luxurious ornaments for the royal family and their courtiers. But few have been discovered in archaeological excavations due to Buddhist funeral customs. In the Joseon dynasty, when Neo-Confucianism became a sociopolitical principle, personal ornaments were reserved for official attire and special rituals. Frugality was an essential virtue. The public were to eschew luxury, including jewelry and other decorative embellishments made of gold and gemstones. The authorities issued regulations on the materials, colors, and shapes of ornaments. According to Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the first law restricting the use of gold and silver was enacted in 1394, just two years after the establishment of the dynasty.8 According to the law, all gold and silver ornaments and decorations were prohibited with two exceptions: objects to be presented to the king and the royal family, and to metal belts worn with the official robes of government employees. This means that most people were enjoined from using gold vessels and ornaments. Nonetheless, the material culture of Joseon tells us that neither the elite nor ordinary citizens obeyed the sumptuary laws or the prohibitions on ornaments. From the surviving artifacts in museum collections, we know that most elite women in the late Joseon dynasty owned a gold hairpin (binyeo) or wedding rings of precious metal or gemstones like jade or amber, although earrings and necklaces were extremely rare in Joseon material culture. As emphasized in other chapters in this volume, regulations and written documents must be interpreted
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in comparison with archaeological findings and inherited artifacts, through which we know that people in all periods of Korean history adorned their bodies and clothes.
Archaeological Artifacts as Ornaments In the early twentieth century, the royal tombs in Gyeongju, the capital of Silla and Unified Silla, received attention from the Japanese colonial government. The Gold Crown Tomb in 1921, the Gold Bell Tomb in 1924, and the Auspicious Phoenix Tomb in 1926 revealed a number of gold ornaments. While Japanese scholars wrote reports on these artifacts for an international audience, they were neither comprehensive nor objective.9 Their selection of materials was partial or arbitrary and omitted many objects to comply with the imperialist ideology of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In other cases, items were separated from their original archaeological contexts. Some objects were even illegally sent overseas when Japan controlled cultural monuments in the Korean peninsula. After Korea gained independence in 1945, Korean historians began reassessing knowledge of the ancient history of Korea which had been tainted by the colonial perspectives of Japanese scholarship, which underestimated the wealth and originality of Korean material culture. Many archaeological artifacts were newly discovered in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Especially after the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, Korea’s economic development resulted in large investments in real estate, and many new buildings were constructed, not only in Seoul but all over South Korea. In tandem with this construction boom, the Cultural Properties Protection Law mandated archaeological surveys for new buildings and roads if they included historical artifacts.10 Many prehistoric and other historical sites were excavated, and scholars found a large amount of material artifacts. As the number of excavations increased in the 1980s, techniques of systematic conservation and scientific analysis of the excavated artifacts also improved.. The development of new scientific methodology has uncovered new details about archaeological artifacts and thus brought new interpretations and hypotheses. Moreover, scholars reassessed older, less-studied or neglected materials acquired during the colonial period. New dating or new analysis of materials brought revisionist interpretations that questioned the theories of Japanese colonial scholars.11 In 1993, archaeologists found several tombs from the late Neolithic period, c. 5000–4500 bce , on Youndae Island (煙臺島) in Tongyeong. The well-preserved
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occupant of the seventh tomb wore an ankle bracelet of 124 animal teeth,12 one of the oldest body ornaments ever found in Korea. From the scientific analysis of the body, scholars concluded that it was a man of high status. In 2010, at the Janghang (獐項) excavation site on Gadeok Island (加德島) in Busan, archaeologists discovered more than forty human bodies. Only four or five of them had shell bracelets along with various body ornaments, but the occupant of grave no. 6 was a man with many shell bracelets on both arms (Figure 7.1a).13 He also wore a long necklace made of shells. Prior to this excavation, archaeologists believed that shell bracelets were worn only by women—an error caused by modern East Asian scholars’ unconscious Confucian prejudices. As privileged, educated, socially elite males, they shared a value system with elite Confucian men of previous eras in Korean history, which dictates that proper gentlemen do not decorate their bodies with ornaments. While as mentioned above, Neolithic era ornaments were primarily made of organic materials, they were replaced with precious metals and stones with the development of metal production. Gold and silver were likely introduced to Korea around the second century bce (the early Iron Age). People also created many ornaments made of jade, amethyst, crystal, amber, and colored glass beads during the early Iron Age and the Three Kingdoms period (Figure 7.1b).14 These precious materials were used for prestige goods, which were likely owned only by high-class people as expressions of their social status. During the Three Kingdoms period, gold and silver ornaments were used by the ruling class regardless of gender. It was only after many archaeological excavations of ancient Silla tombs in the twentieth century that scholars acknowledged that ancient royals had many gold ornaments including crowns, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, and belts: written sources provided very few historical records or inscriptions of these ornaments in the Three Kingdoms period.15 More archaeological excavations were processed in 1971. For example, the tomb of King Muryeong (武寧王, 462–523) and his queen was discovered in Gongju, the ancient capital of Baekje, and contained many gold and silver ornaments.16 The king and the queen each wore a set of gold head ornaments. In addition, the queen wore silver bracelets with engraved inscriptions of the maker’s name Dari (多利), the date of February 520 ce , and the owner’s status as daebuin (大夫人, the highest lady).17 In 1973, the famous Heavenly Horse Tomb and the Great Tomb of Hwangnam were excavated in Gyeongju by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.18 It revealed two gold crowns and many other luxurious ornaments. The most important excavation was the north mound of the Great Tomb of
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(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 7.1 a. A body with shell ornaments. Excavated from the Grave no. 6 of Janghang site. Gadeok Island, Busan. Neolithic period. © The Korea Archaeology & Art History Research Institute b. Beaded necklaces. c. 3rd–4th century, Geumgwan Gaya. Excavated at Daeseong-dong Tomb no. 76, Gimhae. Total of 2,473 beads: crystal bead 10, carnelian bead 77, colored glass beads 2,386, length 210.4 cm. © Daeseongdong Tombs Museum, Busan c. Gold ornaments in the coffin, c. 5th century (ancient Silla), in situ during the excavation in 1973. The north mound of the Great Tomb of Hwangnam. © The Gyeongju Research Institute of Cultural Heritage
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Hwangnam, whose occupant was a woman wearing a gold crown with six pendants and many gold ornaments, including earrings, a belt with many pendants, a necklace and body ornament made of many elaborate glass and gold beads, as well as many gold bracelets and finger rings (Figure 7.1c). Additional gold and silver jewelry was buried in the tomb, including a silver belt-pendent engraved with buindae (夫人帶, belt of a lady). According to this inscription and bone analysis of the tomb occupants, the lady with a gold crown in the north mound of the Great Tomb was the wife of the man in the south mound, who might be a king of ancient Silla in the late fourth to the early fifth century. This excavation revealed a queen wearing a gold crown, and a king wearing a giltbronze one. This led to many controversies on the social status of gold crown wearers, but current scholars have presumed that this queen might have had higher social rank than her husband. According to historical records, in addition to gold, silver, or jade, many luxury ornaments were made using tortoise shells, mother-of-pearl, rhinoceros horn, ivory, pearls, and peacock or kingfisher feathers during the Unified Silla period. In 834, King Heungdeok of Silla (興德王, r. 826–36) announced the first sumptuary law on costume and ornament in Korean history.19 The law prohibited the usage of several colors of costumes, ornament types, and precious materials such as jade, gold, and rhinoceros horn, according to rank. Although there are very few surviving artifacts from that time, the law’s existence reveals the use of these materials in the Unified Silla period. Similar laws followed during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. They restricted the common usage of luxury materials to maintain the social and constitutional order of the nation.20 However, as mentioned above, the social elite often disobeyed the law and adorned themselves with ornaments made of precious metal and stones. Many examples of Joseon era women’s dress ornaments remain in museums or passed down in families, including norigae, binyeo, and cheopji, as well as colorful shoes made of leather. In the late Joseon dynasty, elite men also wore lavish ornaments on their hats and clothing, as shown in paintings and museum objects.21 The most controversial issue in material culture brought by post-1970s archaeological excavations is ear piercing; whether people in Korea had their ears pierced or not created a heated debate among scholars. A long-standing consensus was that the Confucian emphasis on taking good care of one’s body might have prohibited people from piercing their ears during the Joseon dynasty, the rationale being that one’s life and body were gifts from one’s parents and ancestors, who were to be venerated. According to The Classic of Filial Piety (Chi.
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Xiaojing 孝經, Kor. Hyogyeong 효경), “Your physical person with its hair and skin are received from your parents. Vigilance in not allowing anything to do injury to your person is where family reverence begins.”22 From this epigram, conservative Confucian elites in Joseon saw ear piercing as harmful to Confucian morals and unfilial, and indeed, as early as 1572 King Seonjo promulgated the first prohibition on ear piercing. Many scholars thought that this prohibition may have been aimed at distinguishing the learned Confucian culture of the Joseon from the “barbaric” non-Confucian tribes in the northern provinces of Manchuria. However, scholars now agree that ear piercing did not totally vanish during the Joseon.23 In fact, it is a very old cultural tradition, continuously observed from the Neolithic period. Ear plugs and earrings for pierced ears were found in many archaeological sites in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Gold and silver ornaments from ancient Silla tombs might have been worn in pierced and stretched earlobes. In the later historical records, it is often said that the people of the Joseon dynasty had their ears pierced and could be easily distinguished from the Chinese and Japanese, who did not.24 Gradually, however, the tradition declined, and vanished from high society during the late Joseon period. Scholars in the early twentieth century, including Hwang Hogeun, thus assumed that the custom of men wearing earrings, for example, was nonexistent in Joseon. The second most important controversy over prohibition laws falls on imported luxuries such as pearls, corals, and amber, and on precious metals. Both the ruling and ordinary classes of people did not always follow the prohibitions, despite repeated enforcement found in written records.25 However, in many museum collections, we can see conspicuous ornaments made of the many precious materials prohibited by the law in Joseon period.26 For example, daesamjak norigae is an ornament that hangs from the closure ribbons of a jacket (Figure 7.2a). Daesamjak refers to a large ornament of three norigae, worn for special occasions, such as butterflies of jade and gilt-silver and decorated with pearls, coral, and amber. This norigae is one of many examples witnessing the contradiction between the historical records of many sumptuary laws and the existing material artifacts in traditional Korean costume culture. Among pictorial representations on the ornaments in the Joseon period, Paintings of a Nobleman’s Life (Pyeongsaengdo 平生圖) depict the use of luxurious materials. The most important scene is a celebration of sixty years of marriage (Figure 7.2b).27 In this Diamond Wedding Anniversary scene, the main male figure, who might be a high-ranking government officer, and his wife sport extraordinary
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(a)
(b)
Figure 7.2 a. Daesamjak Norigae, late Joseon period, made of gilt silver, amber, corals, jade, pearls, silk. Length: 23.5cm. © National Museum of Korea b. Anonymous, detail of the Feast of a Diamond Wedding Anniversary from Pyeongsaengdo. c. 18th–19th century, part of an eight-folding screen, original painting size 53.9 × 35.2 cm, Deoksu 681. © National Museum of Korea
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ornaments such as special ceremonial hats and gold belts. The wife wears a red wedding robe with an ornamental headdress. Attendants at the feast can be divided into three groups according to their types of clothing: the main couple; their families and guests of the elite class; and ordinary people. The elite women standing inside the pavilion wear luxurious dresses in colorful hues with decorative hair ornaments. Their fashion is contrasted with that of the ordinary women dressed in humble clothing in pale colors who stand outside the pavilion. This image suggests that despite the accounts in the historical records prohibiting luxurious stones and precious metals, hairpins (binyeo) for women and belts for men in gold or silver might have been allowed to the social elite on special occasions such as the one depicted. It must also be noted that jangsingu, whether for the body or for the dress, are not fully described or accounted in the written sources or pictorial representations because these sources were products of the Confucian male elite who wanted to control and perpetuate the social norms of the time. Most modern Korean or East Asian scholars specializing in history and archaeology had accepted these historical accounts.
Overcoming Hwang Hogeun’s The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments One of the most important and influential sources in the scholarship of Korean dress history is the 1976 book Hanguk Jangsingu Misul Youngu (韓國裝身具美術 硏究, The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments) by Hwang Hogeun. With 494 pages including thirteen color and 547 black-and-white images, the book includes all the primary sources relevant to the traditions of Korean bodily ornaments. Hwang’s sources include the basic historical documents on dresses and ornaments along with Chinese and Korean literary works such as Samguksagi (三國史記), Samgukyusa (三國遺事), Goryeosa (高麗史), Koryo Dokyong (高麗圖 經), Joseon wangjo sillok (朝鮮王朝實錄), Gyeongguk daejeon (經國大典), and Oju yeonmun jangjeonsango (五洲衍文長箋散稿). Many modern Korean designers and scholars in postwar Korea have relied on this work. In this section, I discuss the impact of Hwang’s research and point out its limitations. Hwang was born in 1925 in Gyeongju (慶州), the ancient capital of Silla, four years after the first excavation of a Silla gold crown at the Gold Crown Tomb in 1921. He grew up during the active archaeological excavation projects by Japanese colonial archaeologists, when there was a sense of nostalgia for the
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grand Silla. According to his 1972 memoir he began studying the ancient ornaments and everyday objects of Korea after meeting Yu Eokgyum (兪億兼, 1896–1947), a famous educator and friend of Hwang’s father. Yu advised Hwang to study the history of decorative arts and introduced him to the gold crown of Silla.28 Hwang studied history at Daegu Teachers College and became a teacher of Korean literature and history at Gyeongju High School in the 1950s. In the 1960s, he became a screenwriter. According to the Korean Movie Database, he wrote twelve movie scenarios, and was a historical consultant for an additional three films.29 His scripts include original historical movies, adaptations of novels by well-known authors, and documentaries and propaganda movies on cultural heritage. Due to his background as a native of Gyeongju and his academic background in Korean literature and history, he wrote many scripts using historical accounts of Silla. Hwang’s first movie script was Lee Chadon (異次頓, 1962), an adaptation of the novel The Death of Lee Chadon written by Yi Gwang-su (李光洙, 1892–1950). Lee Chadon was the first Buddhist martyr in Silla, and the original story was recorded in Samgukyusa (三國遺事, The Heritage of the Three Kingdoms). Yi dramatized the story as a novel, and Hwang transformed it as a scenario for film. The movie poster has a reproduction of a gold crown and other jewelry items of Silla, faithfully imitating the archaeological artifacts (Figure 7.3).30 Both poster and film were in full color, a new technology of the late 1950s. Color production brought more attention to set design, costume, and accessories. In 1962 Hwang wrote another movie scenario: King Dongmyeong, the story of the first king of Goguryeo, also based on a novel by Yi Gwang-su. He continued to produce historical dramas and cultural heritage documentaries in the 1960s and early 1970s. Hwang emerged as one of the most brilliant new leaders of the modern Korean film and broadcasting industry and became a reliable scholar of decorative arts. He wrote the first pocketbook on the history of Korean ornaments in 1972: Hanguk Jangsingusa.31 This publication became important as the color television system was first introduced to Korea in 1973. The Korea National Electric Company started to manufacture color television sets in the next year.32 These machines were all exported to the US as the sumptuary law of President Park Chung-hee banned domestic consumption of luxury items including color TVs.33 Color television broadcasting in Korea became available only after December 1980 with President Chun Doo-hwan.34 The Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) and other broadcasting companies, however, started preparing
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Figure 7.3 A Movie Poster of Lee Chadon, 1962, printed on paper, 128 × 47 cm. © Yang Haenam Collection
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color television broadcasting programs in the early 1970s.35 One of those early efforts was the historical research project of dress culture for television programs. KBS founded its first advisory committee for the historical investigation and reproduction project of Korean traditional costume culture in November 1974. Hwang was the primary member of the committee, and other members included Professor Chin Hong-sup (秦弘燮, 1918–2010) and You Hi-kyung (유희경, 1921– 2021) at Ewha Womans University.36 The committee worked for three years. Under their guidelines, KBS had reproduced many traditional costumes and ornaments to be used in television programs that were broadcast since January 1977.37 In 1986, KBS selected the costume reproductions that were used in the historical dramas of KBS and published a three-volume book set titled Hanguk Boksik Dogam (韓國服飾 圖鑑, Illustrated Books on Korean Traditional Costume).38 In March 1975, project committee member You Hui-gyeong published her grand survey book, Hanguk Boksiksa (韓國服飾史, The Study of Korean Costume), based on her doctoral dissertation; it remains important in the study of Korean costume history.39 She went to Japan and Taiwan for the KBS project on the traditional costume research in February 1975.40 After she finished the KBS project, she held a special exhibition of the reproduced costumes for the historical dramas of KBS in February 1977.41 Hwang Hogeun published his greatest masterpiece in 1976 (Figure 7.4ab). His book, which summarizes his thirty years of research along with the three-year KBS project, deals with all the surviving material artifacts and historical records on ornaments available at the time. The book is a remarkable survey of nearly all the available research materials, both excavated objects and literary documents, from the prehistoric period through the Joseon dynasty (Figure 7.4cdef).42 The book is still an essential survey of traditional ornaments, but it has limitations for scholars today. Hwang’s book includes the first publication of the entire text of Sajeol Boksaek Jajang Yoram (사절복색자장요람 四節服色資粧要覽), a short manuscript in vernacular Korean detailing royal costumes and accessories for women for yearround rituals and festive ceremonies in the late Joseon period.43 For example, royal women of late Joseon conventionally wore the dragon hairpin in October, the peony hairpin in February, the hairpin with a Japanese apricot flower and bamboo motive or peony hairpin made of jade in April, August, and September. Also, they wore norigae with beads in the spring, summer, and fall, and norigae with jade decorations or with an incense pouch in winter. However, as an amateur historian, Hwang made several mistakes in his record collecting and did not pay attention to critical analysis of the historical and nonhistorical records. He also misread Jajang in the title Sajeol Boksaek Jajang Yoram as Sajang.
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(a)
(b)
Figure 7.4 a, b. The title page and the last page of Hwang Hogeun, Hanguk Jangsingu Misul Yeongu (1976). Photographed by Hwang Jihyun © Hwang Jihyun
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(d)
(e)
(f)
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Figure 7.4 (Continued). c. Pages 170–1 with the golden crown from Gaya (National Treasure 138 of Samsung Leeum Museum). d. Pages 278–9 Gilt-bronze Pensive Bodhisattva, late 6th century (National Treasure 78 of National Museum of Korea). e. Pages 292–3 with surviving armor from Yuan for Goryeo dynasty. f. Pages 430–1 with cheopji and ddeoljam, hair ornaments of Joseon.
Another limitation of Hwang’s book came from his own intellectual position as a successor of the elite Confucian gentleman in the 1970s, along with the unearthed new materials that were unknown to him at the time. Regrettably speaking, the historical documents and written records do not always reflect the reality of sartorial practices in people’s lived experiences: Joseon people might pierce their ears; a Silla king might have worn a lesser crown than his queen; Joseon people used precious or luxurious materials to make bodily ornaments, ignoring sumptuary laws—all violations of Confucian principles. More problematic is Hwang’s innate bias regarding gendered practice of ornamentation—a view prevalent among scholars during the Japanese occupation period.44 Hwang was influenced both by rigid gender assumptions (for example,
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that women wore more lavish accessories) and a Confucian worldview. He assumed that the gold crowns from the Silla tombs were owned only by kings; and that decorative earrings and bracelets were for women. He also assumed that gold crowns and earrings were made only for the funeral rites.45 Finally, as recent scientific analytical techniques have advanced, many new facts and data have become known. For example, body ornaments from King Muryeong in Baekje had many black beads made of jet, a kind of gemstone, which were previously misidentified as burnt charcoal.46 Other beads from this tomb are now known to be soda glass from Thailand.47 Despite these shortcomings, his book had a significant impact, including on costume designers. Many subsequent studies of dress history or historical ornaments have cited Hwang’s book without verifying his primary sources or referring to newly discovered artifacts. In addition, several catalogues of private collections or handbooks on ornaments for the general public were published without revisions of Hwang’s scholarship, despite the large number of new artifacts excavated after 1976. We have to reinterpret his book carefully and find a new way to study the Korean traditional bodily ornaments.
Conclusion In the late nineteenth century, Korea opened its ports to the West and began to accept Western styles of dress and jewelry. In 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan, introducing modern Japanese culture. Although Korea generally accepted the Westernized costume culture under Japanese occupation, adoption by individuals was complicated and inconsistent, depending on gender or social and political status under colonialism. This incongruent cultural situation of a materially and compulsively modernized Korea with the traditional Confucian identity of the Joseon period continued until the 1970s, when Korea started to develop economically. It was during this period that attention began to be paid to the study of traditional bodily ornaments with an eye toward modernized costume culture. Now we have access to far more material artifacts from archaeological excavations and family heirloom collections than Hwang did in the 1970s. Quantitative data analysis aided by scientific conservators has brought an unprecedented amount of information in recent decades. Although few new historical records have been discovered, the quantity and variety of material artifacts on the traditional Korean bodily ornaments have increased greatly. Therefore, we must resolve or address the incongruity between the excavated
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artifacts and the new data we can glean about them with contemporary methods, and the historical records. We should reconsider previous scholarship through the critical lens of the context of the researchers’ academic and social backgrounds. Reclassifying old and new materials would bring a new vision of this field.
Notes 1 For cheopji and other hair accessories, see Kyeongmi Joo, “Gendered Differences in Modern Korea toward Western Luxuries,” in Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, eds., Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 150–2. 2 Joo, “Gendered Differences in Modern Korea,” 144–5. See Lee Talbot’s chapter in this volume. 3 See Lee Talbot’s chapter in this volume. 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_accessory (accessed May 4, 2020). 5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewellery (accessed May 4, 2020). 6 Jewelry: The Body Transformed was a special exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2018–19. The exhibition defined jewelry as the world’s oldest art form, items that “extend and amplify the human body, accentuating, enhancing, distorting, and transforming it.” See the accompanying catalogue for themes based on the function of jewelry: the divine Body, the regal body, the transcendent body, the alluring body, and the resplendent body. 7 Lee Songran 이송란, Silla geumsokgongye yeongu 신라 금속공예 연구 [Research of Silla Metal Crafts] (Iljisa, 2004); Lee Hansang 이한상, Jangsingu sayeochejero bon baekjeui jibangjibae 장신구 사여체제로 본 백제의 지방지배 [The Power Realtions in Baekjae through its Distribution of Ancient Ornaments] (Seogyeongmunhwasa, 2009); Lee Hansang, Dong-asia godae geumsokje jangsingu munhwa 東아시아 古代 金屬製 裝身具文 化 [Ancient Metal Accessories Culture in East Asia] (Gogo 考古, 2011); Kyeongmi Joo, “The Gold Belt Buckle of Nangnang and Central Asia,” in Civilizations of the Great Silk Road from the Past to the Future; Perspectives through Natural, Social and Human Science, Proceedings of the International Academic Conferences, Samarkand, September 28–9 (Samarkand: IICAS, 2017), 299–310 and “Critical Review on the Metalworks in the Tomb of King Muryeong,” Journal of Korean Art & Archaeology 16 (2021): 56–73. 8 Taejo sillok 태조실록 太祖實錄 [Veritable Records of King Taejo] Vol. 6, the 3rd year, June 1; June 26; Kyeongmi Joo, “Joseon jeonbangi geumsok gong-ye daejoong gyoseop” 조선전반기 금속공예의 대중교섭 [The Metal Craft Bargain in the early period of Joseon dynasty], Hanguk-milsusahakhoe 한국미술사학회 [Art History Association of Korea] ed., Joseon jeonbangi misul-ui daeoe gyoseop 조선 전반기 미술의 대외교섭 [The Negotiation in Art in the early period of Joseon dynasty] (Goyang: Yekyong, 2006), 249–50.
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9 For the recent studies on these archaeological artifacts and their history, see below. Hansang Lee, ed., Gold Crowns of Silla: Tresures from a Brilliant Age (Seoul: The Korean Foundation, 2010); Soon-seop Ham, “Gold Culture of the Silla Kingdom and Maripgan,” in Soyoung Lee and Denise Patry Leidy, eds., Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013), 31–67. 10 The Cultural Properties Protection Law Act No. 961, which was first enacted in 1962, has undergone several revisions. It was revised to the Cultural Heritage Protection Act No. 18522 on November 30, 2021. 11 For example, see Joo’s research on Nangnang gold belt buckles and lacquers. Kyeongmi Joo, “Uidodoen odok: Iljegangjeomgi Nangnang Munyang-ui Changchul” 의도된 오독(誤讀): 일제강점기 낙랑문양(樂浪文樣)의 창출 [Colonial Appropriation of Nangnang Patterns: Fabricated Legacy of Archaeology and Modern Art], Misulsa wa sigakmunhwa 美術史와 視覺文化 [Association of Art History and Visual Culture] 18 (2016): 120–53. 12 Jinju National Museum 국립진주박물관, Yeondae-do yujeok 연대도 유적 I [Yeondaedo Site I] (Jinju: Chinju National Museum, 1993), 187; 245; Bokcheon Museum 복천박물관, Godaejangsingu-gue areumdaum-gwa him-ui johwa 고대장신구–그 아름다움과 힘의 조화 [Ancient Ornaments: Harmony of Beauty and Power] (Busan: Bokcheon Museum, 1999), 15. 13 The Korea Archaeology & Art History Research Institute 한국문물연구원, Busan Gadeokdo Janghang-yujeok (sang) 부산가덕도 장항유적 (상) (Busan: The Korea Archaeology & Art History Research Institute, 2014), 85–110. 14 For the beads culture in ancient Korea, see these museum catalogues. Bokcheon Museum 복천박물관, Seonsa godae ogui segye 선사・ 고대 옥의 세계 [The World of Ancient Bead] (Busan: Bokcheon Museum, 2013); National Naju Museum 국립나주박물관, Geumeunboda gwihan ok 금은보다 귀한 옥 [Bead: More Precious than Gold] (Naju: National Naju Museum, 2021). 15 The first discovered golden tomb of ancient Silla was the Gold Crown Tomb in Gyeongju, excavated in 1921. For the brief history of the excavations of ancient Silla and her gold culture, see below. Kyeongmi Joo, “The gold Jewelry of Ancient Silla: Syncretism of Northern and Southern Asian Cultures” in Youn-mi Kim, ed., New Perspectives on Early Korean Art: From Silla to Koryo (Cambridge, MA: Early Korea, Harvard University, 2013), 249–57. 16 For the detailed information on the gold and silver ornaments from the tomb of King Muryeong and his queen, see the new special exhibition catalogue book in 2021. Gongju National Museum 국립공주박물관, 50th Anniversary of the Excavation of King Muryeong’s Tomb: Preparing for the Next Half Century (Gongju: Gongju National Museum, 2021); Kyeongmi Joo, “Critical Review on the Metalworks in the Tomb of King Muryeong,” Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology 16 (2021): 56–73.
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17 Cultural Administration of Korea 文化財管理局, Excavation Report of the Tomb of King Muryeong 武寧王陵發掘 調査報告書 (Seoul: Samhwa Publishing Co. 三和出版社, 1973), 29–30. 18 For the artifacts from the Heavenly Horse Tomb, see this special exhibition catalogue. Gyeongju National Museum, Cheonmachong, the Royal Tomb of Silla (Gyeongju: Gyeongju Naitonal Museum, 2014). For the artifacts from the Great Tomb of Hwangnam, see below. National Museum of Korea. Golden Splendors: The Royal Tomb of Silla – Hwangnamdaechong (Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2010). 19 Jeon Hyun-Sil 전현실 and Kang Soon Che 강순제, “Heungdeogwang boksikjedo wonjeon gochal mik bunseok” 흥덕왕 복식제도 원전 고찰 및 분석 [A Study and Analysis on King Heungdeok’s Prohibition of Clothing], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 63 (2013): 132–50. 20 Choo Won-Gyo 추원교, “Hangukjangsinguui sachi geumje gochal” 한국장신구의 사치 금제 고찰 [A Study on Luxury Prohibition of Korean Personal Ornaments], Design-hak yeongu 디자인학연구 [Journal of Korea Society of Design Science] 2 (1989): 43–62; Park Kyung-Ja 박경자 and Koh Bou-Ja 고부자, “Joseonwangjosillok-e girok-doen 15segi jungban-e-seo 17segi jungban-ui boksikgeumje” 조선왕조실록(朝 鮮王朝實錄)에 기록된 15세기 중반에서 17세기 중반의 복식금제(服飾禁制) [Regulations on Dress and Its Ornaments in the True Record of Joseon Dynasty between the mid-fifteenth Century and mid-seventeenth Century], Boksinkmunhwayeongu 복식문화연구 [The Research Journal of the Costume Culture] 16 (2008): 748–61. 21 See Talbot’s chapter in this volume. 22 Henry Rosemont and Roger T. Ames. The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence: A Philosophical Translation of Xiaojing (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009), 105. 23 Cho Hee Jin 조희진, Seonbiwa piercing 선비와 피어싱 [Seonbi and piercing] (Seoul: Dong-asia 동아시아, 2003), 149–64; Kyeongmi Joo, “Form and function of the Craft: A Study on the Women’s Jewelry in Modern Korea,” Misulsawa Sigakmunhwa 2 (2003): 45–6 and “Samguk sidae isik ui chakjang bangsik yeongu” 三國時代耳飾의着 裝方式硏究 [Study of the modes of wearing earrings in the Three Kingdoms period of Korea], Yeoksa minsokhak 歷史民俗學 17 (2003): 31–54; Bokchen Museum 복천박물관, Godaeinui meot gwigeori 고대인의 멋 귀걸이 [Beauty of the Ancient Earrings] (Busan: Bokcheon Museum); Seoul Museum of Crafts Art 서울공예박물관, Gwigeori, gwageowa hyeonjaereul kkweda 귀걸이, 과거와 현재를 꿰다 [Earrings, Connecting the Past and Present] (Seoul: Seoul Museum of Crafts Art, 2021). 24 Cho, Seonbiwa piercing; Seoul Museum of Crafts Art, Gwigeori. 25 Jung Jin Young 정진영, “Joseonsidae bopaeryuui sayonggwa geumje-e gwanhan yeongu” 조선시대 보패류의 사용과 금제에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Use and
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28 29 30
31 32
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Prohibition of Jewelry during the Joseon dynasty] (Master’s thesis, Ewha Womans University, 2008), 63–7. For norigae and other small ornaments in the Joseon period, see these catalogues. The National Folk Museum 국립민속박물관, Hangukboksik 2cheonnyeon 한국복식2 천년 [The Exhibition of History of Korean Costumes] (Seoul: The National Folk Museum, 1995), 134–8; The Cang Budeok Memorial Gallery in Ewha Womans University 이화여자대학교 담인복식미술관, Joseonsidae yebokgwa jangsingu 조선시대 예복과 장신구 [Ceremonial Dress from Joseon Dynasty] (Seoul: The Cang Budeok Memorial Gallery in Ewha Womans University, 2015), 28–33; Choi Okja 최옥자 ed. Joseon yeoindeurui jangsingu 조선 여인들의 장신구 [The Ornaments of Joseon women], Daeyangmunhwa-chongseo 대양문화총서1 (Seoul: Minsokwon, 2016), 11–131. “Pyeongsaengdo” is a pictorial theme on the Elite Man’s Ideal Life painted in the late Joseon dynasty. Most of the remaining works are painted on the eight to twelve folded screens. Each panel illustrates the important ceremonies and rituals of the elite man in Joseon, consisting of the first age anniversary, marriage, passing a state examination as the first list, diamond (60th) wedding anniversary, and so on. Among these paintings, the first age anniversary and the marriage scenes reveal both male and female attendants. For detailed information on the Pyeongsaengdo illustrations, see below. Choi Sunghee 최성희, “19segi pyeongsaengdo yeongu” 19세기 평생도 연구 [A Study on the Picture of a Man’s Ideal Life: Pyeongsaengdo (平生圖)], Misulsahak 미술사학 [Art History] 16 (2002): 79–110; Hong Sunpyo 홍선표, “Joseon malgi pyeongsaengdoui hollye image” 조선 말기 평생도의 혼례 이미지 [Wedding Images in Pyeongsaendo during the Latter Period of the Joseon Dynasty], Misulsanondan 미술사논단 [Art Studies] 47 (2018): 161–84. Hwang Hogeun 황호근, Hanguk jangsingusa 한국장신구사 [The History of Korean Ornaments] (Seoul: Seomoondang 서문당, 1972), 4. See http://www.kmdb.or.kr/db/per/0004808/filmo (accessed May 6, 2020). Yang Hae-nam 양해남, Postero ingneun uri yeonghwa samsip nyeon 포스터로 읽는 우리 영화 삼십 년 [Thirty Years of Korean Movies Seen through Posters – A Collection of Movie Posters 1950–1980] (Seoul: Youlhwadang 열화당, 2007), 51. Hwang, Hanguk jangsingusa. “Naenyeon 3wol color TV saengsan” 내년 3월 칼라 TV 생산 [Starting the production of Color TV in March next year], Maeil gyeongje sinmun 매일경제신문 [Maeil Business Newspaper], December 29, 1973, 12; 29. Regarding the production and regulation of color TV in the 1970s, Korean politician Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship regulation in the 1970s is related. Cho Hangje 조항제, Hanguk bangsong-ui yeoksawa jeonmang 한국 방송의 역사와 전망 [The History and Prospect of Broadcasting in Korea] (Seoul: Hanul Academy 한울아카데미, 2003), 151–6; 254–87.
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34 정영희, “Je5gonghwaguk sidae gongyeongbangsongui jeongchiseong” 제5공화국 시대 공영방송의 정치성 [The politicality of public broadcasting in the era of the 5th republic], Gwanjeomi inneun hanguk bangsongui sahoemunhwasa 관점이 있는 한국 방송의 사회문화사 [Prospectives on Sociocultural History of Korea Broadcasting] (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2012), 123–4. 35 “Color TV-hwa josimjosim yuhaeng” 컬러TV化 조심조심 進行 – KBS [The Gradual Trend: Color TV-KBS], Dong-a Ilbo 동아일보, December 25, 1974. 36 “Gojeung jamunwi guseong” 考證자문委 구성 [Historical consultant committee was organized], Dong-a Ilbo, November 9, 1974. 37 “Gojeung uisang jangsingu 3cheonjeom KBS-seo 3nyeonmane jejak” 古典의상 裝身 具 3千점 KBS 서 3년만에 製作 [3,000 pieces of Ancient Clothing Collections designed through three years], The Kyunghyang Shinmun 경향신문, January 5, 1977. 38 Park Han-sik 박한식 朴漢植 ed., Joseon boksik dogam 조선복식도감 韓國服飾圖鑑 I. 三國 時代 ʷ 統一新羅 編; II. 高麗 ʷ 朝鮮王祖(初中 ʷ 中後期)編; III. 朝鮮王祖(末期) ʷ 開化期
39
40 41 42
43
[The Illustrated Book of Korean Costume I. Three Kingdoms Period and Unified Silla Dynasty; II. Goryeo and Early to mid-Joseon Dynasty; III. The late Joseon Dynasty, the Period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ] (Seoul: 한국방송공사 KBS, 1986). “Ewha Yeodae Yoo Hee-kyung gyosu hangukboksiksa chulgan junbi” 이화女大 유희경敎授 韓國服飾史 출간 준비, Dong-a Ilbo, August 27, 1974; You Hi-kyung 유희경 柳喜卿, Hangukboksiksa-yeongu 한국복식사연구 韓國服飾史硏究 [The Research of Korean Costume History] (Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press, 1975). “Boksik gujeung wiwon chulguk” 복식 考證委員 출국 [A member of the committee for Historical Costume is going abroad], Dong-a Ilbo, February 22, 1975. “Goboksik Jeonsihoe” 古服飾 전시회 [The exhibition of ancient ornaments], The Kyunghyang Shinmun, February 15, 1977. “Hangukjangsingu yeongu pyeo-nen Hwang hogeun ssi”「韓國장신구硏究」 펴낸 黃 㐟根씨 [The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments by Hwang Hogeun], The Kyunghyang Shinmun, September 21, 1976; Hwang Hogeun, Hanguk jangsingu misul yeongu 한국장신구미술연구 韓國裝身具美術硏究 [The Study on Art of Korean Ornaments] (Seoul: Iljisa, 1976). Hwang Hogeun, Hanguk jangsingu misul yeongu, 464–5. Hwang did not know the author of the manuscript, who has since been identified as Kyeongbin Kimssi (慶嬪 金氏, 1831–1907), a royal concubine of King Heonjong (憲宗, 1827–49). There two extant versions, one by Kyeongbin Kimssi held at the Sookmyeong Women’s University Museum, and the other by an unknown royal concubine kept at Euhwa Womans University. Ha Shin-hye and Gwon Young-Suk, “Royal Female Costumes of Late 19th Century in Sajeol Boksaek Jajang Yoram and Beobbok Sajeol Bok Saek,” Journal of Korean Traditional Costume 19 (2016): 55–72.
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44 Hwang, Hanguk jangsingu misul yeongu, 40; 457–8. 45 Hwang, Hanguk jangsingu misul yeongu, 155–8. 46 Yoo Hyeseon 유혜선, “Muryeongwangneung chulto tanmokjepumui gwahakjeogin bunseogeul tonghan myeongching jaego min hanbando nae chulto hyeonhwang geomto” 무령왕릉 출토 탄목제품의 과학적인 분석을 통한 명칭 재고 및 한반도 내 출토 현황 검토 [King Muryeong’s Tomb, Tanmok, tanjeong, jet, heugok (black jewel), Baekje munhwa 백제문화 46 (2012): 33–66. 47 No-Ji Hyun 노지현, Hirao Yoshimitsu 平尾良光, Kim Gyu Ho 김규호, Noh Gi Hwan 노기환, “Baekje-yujeok chulto yurijepumui napdongwiwonsobi bunseokgochal” 백제유적 출토 유리제품의 납동위원소비 분석고찰 [Investigation of Lead Isotope Ratios on Lead Artifacts Excavated from Baekje Sites], Gogohak balgulgwa yeongu: 50nyeonui seongchal 고고학 발굴과 연구: 50년의 성찰 [Archaeological Discovery and Research], ed. Bae Ki-dong 배기동 (Seoul: Juryuseong 주류성, 2011).
8
Shift of Worldview: Changes of Dress in Korea, 1870s–1910s Kyungmee Lee
With the opening of the ports to the Western empires in late-nineteenth-century Joseon, Western suits were received as a new form of clothing and were eventually incorporated into the state’s dress regulations in the process of modernization. In the case of Japan, Japan opened its ports to the United States in 1853, after which the country implemented reforms on military uniforms in 1871 and court uniforms in 1872, adopting Western fashion. Joseon signed its first modern treaty with “Westernized” Japan in 1876 and opened the country, which was followed by the adoption of Western-style military and police uniforms in 1895 and Western-style court uniforms in 1900. Unlike Japan, however, Western clothing for Joseon women was not a part of the reforms during this time.1 Traditional clothing in Korea and Japan also underwent changes. In Japan, the haori hakama 羽織袴 which was worn as simple formal attire during the Edo period came to the forefront, while Joseon designated heukdallyeong 흑단령 黑團領 (black court robe with a round neckband) for the government officers’ official wear (gongbok 공복 公服), and durumagi 두루마기 周衣 (coat with no slit) for their casual wear (sabok 사복 私服). As such, the modernization of dress policies and procedures in Korea and Japan was motivated by exposure to the West, and involved two paths: (1) adoption of Western dress; and (2) modification of traditional dress. These changes were initiated by state-led dress reforms, and later widely impacted on the changes of everyday dress of the people. The available sources for the study of modern Korean dress history are relatively abundant, and has allowed investigation of the subject in minute detail.2 This chapter sets out to introduce the primary sources which have been employed in academic explorations of Korea’s modern dress history thus far, especially with regard to the modernization process from the institutional history perspective. Notable studies pertaining to specific topics are mentioned 161
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in the endnotes, as it is not the purpose of this chapter to provide a comprehensive review of the published research. The sources informing us of the changes in dress during this period broadly consist of written texts, artifacts, and visual sources—especially photographs which are available for this period.3 Based on their nature, they could primarily be classified into sources concerning the systemizing import of Western dress and the modification of traditional dress. This chapter outlines the sources for the state dress regulations focusing on three periods: (1) from the opening of the ports in 1876 to the Gapsin Dress Reform (Gapsin uije gaehyeok 갑신의제개혁 甲申衣制改革) in 1884; (2) the Gabo Dress Reform (Gabo uije gaehyeok 갑오의제개혁 甲午衣制改革) in 1894 and the Eulmi Dress Reform (Eulmi uije gaehyeok 을미의제개혁 乙未衣制改革) in 1895; and (3) the Korean Empire (Daehan jeguk 대한제국 大韓帝國, 1897–1910). To facilitate readers’ understanding and access to the source materials, information on the libraries and museums holding these materials and selected exhibitions and catalogues concerning this topic are also provided.
From the Opening of the Ports in 1876 to the Gapsin Dress Reform in 1884 Joseon had maintained conventional state dress codes by the time Westerners first entered the country. Westerners were viewed as invaders and referred to as “savages from the West” (yangi 양이 洋夷), so Western suits were merely received as barbarian clothes, rather than a cultural thing of civilized people that can be adopted.4 Joseon first opened its ports to Japan in 1876, and then to Western countries, starting with the United States in 1882. From 1876, delegations (susinsa 수신사修信使) were dispatched to Japan on multiple occasions, and in 1883, a cohort of emissaries (bobingsa 보빙사 報聘使) was sent to the United States. As the dispatches were made before the state dress reforms, these delegates wore conventional-style Joseon dress when they delivered the king’s letters to the Japanese emperor and the US president and attended the official banquets.5 Written sources include the two official histories published by the government—Gojong sillok 고종실록 高宗實錄 [The Veritable Records of Gojong] and Seungjeongwon ilgi 승정원일기 承政院日記 [The Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat of Joseon Dynasty], and the reports and notes taken by the envoys and their secretaries which are collectively called bongmyeongseo 복명서 復命書. Notable bongmyeongseo include: Susinsa ilgi 수신사 일기 修信使日記 [Diary of
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an Ambassador] (1876) and Ildonggiyu 일동기유 日東記游 [Record of a Journey to Japan] (1877), both by Kim Gisu 김기수 金綺秀 (1832–?, one of the first envoys to Japan); Mungyeonsageon 문견사건 聞見事件 [Japan Travelogue] (1881) by Bak Jeongyang et al.; and Sahwagiryak 사화기략 使和記略 [Essential Records of My Trip to Japan] (1882) by Bak Yeonghyo 박영효 朴泳孝 (1861–1939). These materials were originally written in Chinese characters, but Korean translations are available online along with the original texts at the Integrated Korean History Information System (한국역사통합정보시스템).6 Bak Yeonghyo’s Essential Records is particularly useful in understanding his diplomatic activities in Japan and his perspectives on changing dress, as the records are organized by date. Notably, it includes the invitation letter requesting his attendance at the Japanese emperor’s birthday ceremony (cheonjangjeol 천장절 天長節) with dress code of the Great Court Uniform (daeryebok 대례복 大 禮服) and to the following evening reception with dress code of the Semiformal Court Uniform (soryebok 소례복 小禮服), scheduled for 6 p.m. and at 9 p.m. on November 3, respectively. The record shows that he confirmed his intention to attend and indeed did so. From these records, it is possible to infer that by around 1882, Joseon had come to understand the changing paradigm of dress practice and perhaps recognized the need for changes in preparation for treaties with the West. Regarding the clothing worn by the emissaries dispatched to the United States in 1883, the descriptions in the article published in the New York Times and other local newspapers and magazines are helpful. An illustration in the 1883 Times provides a rough image of the emissary’s appearance (Figure 8.1a). The emissaries seem to have obtained and used certain Western accessories, such as shoes and umbrellas, while in the US the New York Times on December 27, 1883, reports the purchase of several suits by the Joseon emissaries, along with an advertisement of the store that provided the information. This advertisement includes a detailed list of the items they had bought as well as the name of the store and the signature of the emissary, Min Yeong-ik 민영익 閔泳翊 (1860–1914), the mission’s leader (Figure 8.1b).
Gapsin Dress Reform in 1884 On the lunar leap month of May in 1884, the year of gapsin 갑신 甲申 by the Korean lunar calendar, Joseon announced its first dress reform since the opening of the ports. The reform, recorded in the Gojong sillok [Veritable Records of
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(a)
(b)
Figure 8.1 a. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 29, 1883. The Joseon emissary is meeting with US president Chester A. Arthur. Photo © National Museum of Korean Contemporary History b. The New York Times, December 27, 1883. An advertisement showing the list of Western clothing items purchased in the US by the Joseon emissary Min Yeong-ik. © The New York Times
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Gojong], is concerned with two main issues: designating heukdallyeong (black court robe with a round neckband and narrow sleeves) for officials’ ranked uniform system (gwanbok 관복 官服), and designating durumagi (narrowsleeved coat without a slit(s) at seams) for casual wear (sabok 사복 私服). Although this reform did not include adoption of Western-style clothing, and mainly dealt with conventional dress codes for officials, it was widely opposed— both by government officials and by the aristocratic class in general, who viewed the heukdallyeong as an imitation of the black suits of Westerners and Japanese of the time and their reform to narrow sleeves as withdrawal of the status markers, generally embedded in wide-sleeved overcoats of the literati such as dopo 도포 道袍 (wide-sleeved coat with an extra back panel). Many people from all classes protested against the reform and delivered petitions to retract the reform to the government and King Gojong (r. 1863–1907). Both the enactment of the Gapsin Dress Reform and its public reception were published in the newspaper Hanseong sunbo 한성순보 漢城旬報 as well as in the collections of essays such as Maecheon yarok 매천야록 梅泉野錄 by Hwang Hyeon 황현 黃玹 (1856–1910). Despite King Gojong’s determination to implement the Gapsin reform, after the failure of the Gapsin jeongbyeon 갑신정변 甲申政變 (the Coup led by the radical reformists in October 1884), the edict was revoked and officials returned to the previous dress code. Some research on the Gapsin Dress Reform was conducted in the fields of diplomatic and political Korean history to gain a fuller understanding of the political and diplomatic dynamics of this period.7
Gabo and Eulmi Dress Reforms (1894–5) 1. Court Uniforms: Hybridity Ten years after the withdrawal of the Gapsin Dress Reform, a new dress code was announced in December, 1894 (the year of Gabo 갑오 甲午) in the course of the Gabo Political Reform (1894–6) led by the Japanese authorities after their victory in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–5). The Gabo Dress Reform again pronounced that the Great Court Uniform (daeryebok 대례복 大禮服) of court officials shall be a heukdallyeong and the the Semiformal Court Uniform (tongsangyebok 통상예복 通常禮服, same as soryeobok소례복 小禮服 for this short period) shall consist of a durumagi, a dapo 답호 㽑護 (short-sleeved coat with open sides), a samo 사모 紗帽 (black hat), and hwaja 화자 靴子 (black boots), which actually saw the first execution
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of the new court uniform system which partially incorporated the Japanized Western dress code into the Joseon’s traditional dress code.8 In the next year, 1895, the year of Eulmi 을미 乙未, the dress reform further stipulated as follows: (1) The Great Court Uniform (daeryebok 대례복 大禮服) of officials should consist of a heukdallyeong (black robe), a samo (black hat), a rank belt, and boots, and should be worn on outings of the king (dongga 동가 動駕), public holidays (gyeongjeol 경절 慶節), and daily greetings (munan 문안 問安) and for entering the presence of the king (yejeop 예접 禮接): (2) the Semiformal Court Uniform (soryebok 소례복 小禮服) should be composed of a heukdallyeong with narrow sleeves, a samo, a belt and boots (this ensemble could be worn in place of the Great Court Uniform or for meetings with the king on regular occasions); (3) the Daily Working Uniform (tongsangboksaek 통상복색 通常服色) should consist of a durumagi, a dapo (short-sleeved coat with open sides), and a braided silk cord with tassels (sadae 사대 絲帶), to be worn for court attendance but not for entering the presence of the king; and (4) commoners are not allowed to wear garments with broad sleeves except for ceremonial occasions, and should be as modest as possible within their convenience in styles.9 As such, the Eulmi reform mainly concerned the Great Court Uniform with distinction of the “broad-sleeved” black robe, the Semiformal Court Uniform with the “narrow-sleeved” black robe, and the Daily Working Uniform with the “narrowsleeved” overcoat. This shows the state’s codification of dress in systematic transition. The framework for the state dress code is based on Western fashion but the regulated clothing within the framework remained traditional with slight modifications. This transitional system in a hybrid phase differs from the way in which Japan adopted Western court uniforms. The Gabo and Eulmi Dress Reforms reflect the Joseon government’s resistance to the radical change of clothing and its will to strive to hold equal ground in the diplomatic arena with the Western empires.10
2. Changes of Military and Police Uniforms into Western Style The Eulmi Dress Reform set forth Western military suits for their first modern army byeolgigun 별기군 別技軍 [The Special Skills Force], active from 1881 to 1882. The Western style army uniforms included four differentiated ensembles for specific occasions: formal (jeongjang 정장 正裝), ritual (yejang 예장 禮裝), military (gunjang 군장 軍裝), and daily (sangjang 상장 常裝).11 From this reform, the regulations on military and police uniforms were put in place for the fullfledged enactment and enforcement, and several modifications were made afterward.
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Joseon instituted the State Police Department (Gyeongmucheong 경무청 警務 廳) as its first police system during the Gabo reforms in 1894. One year later, on April 19, 1895, the dress code of police uniforms was announced by Royal Ordinance No. 81 on “the Matter of Police Uniforms: from Chief to All Policemen.”12 The uniforms for the police and the army were similar in style, with minor differences in the color of the lines running on the sides of the pants and the decoration of the sleeves. Information on the Gabo and Eulmi Dress Reforms is also found in Gojong sillok [The Veritable Records of Gojong] and Seungjeongwon ilgi [The Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat of Joseon Dynasty], as well as gwanbo 관보 官報 [Government Gazette]. The Government Gazette, issued from the Gabo reform in 1894, is the first modern journal published by the Korean government. The dress code reform was announced through the Gazette. The original texts with Korean translation are available on the National Library of Korea website.13 The extant heukdallyeong with broad sleeves can be deemed as the Great Court Uniform (Figure 8.2a); those with narrow sleeves can be attributed as the Semiformal Court Uniform (Figure 8.2b). Other notable examples are the robes of Yu Giljun 유길준 ؎吉濬 (1856–1914) kept at the Korea University Museum and robes worn by the royal family members of Heungwangun (흥완군 興完君; 1814–48), currently housed at the Sookmyung Women’s University Museum.14 As the codes of modern army uniforms have been enacted and revised several times, the uniforms have evolved in shape.15 The Korea Army Museum of the Korea Military Academy holds the largest collection of army uniforms from this period.16 The National Palace Museum,Yonsei University Museum, Independence Hall of Korea, and Seok Juseon Memorial Museum also house early modern army uniforms. At present, no police uniforms from this period remain; therefore, their shape can only be surmised from the surviving army uniforms.17
3. The Haircutting Ordinance The Haircutting Ordinance (Danballyeong 단발령 斷髮令) was decreed on December 30, 1895 (November 15 by the lunar calendar), and publicized in the Government Gazette on January 4, 1896.18 It was an order to follow King Gojong’s lead who had gotten his topknot cut off for the sake of political reform for national prosperity, as the short Western hairstyle was more hygienic and convenient. Along with this, wearing Western suits was officially permitted for the first time in Joseon. However, the Haircutting Ordinance was forcibly enacted before a consensus was formed. The ordinance added fuel to the anger of the
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(a)
(b)
Figure 8.2 a. A broad-sleeved heukdallyeong (Great Court Uniform). © Korea University Museum b. A narrow-sleeved heukdallyeong (Semiformal Court Uniform). © Korea University Museum
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people which had been brewing over the assassination of Queen Min by Japanese military officers in October 1895 (Eulmi sabyeong 을미사변 乙未事變), and consequently sparked the Civil Resistance (Eulmi uibyeong 을미의병 乙未義兵). People perceived cutting off the topknot as abandonment of one’s identity as a Joseon man and of one’s commitment to filial piety, one of the highest virtues of Confucianism.19 Gojong, who felt threatened by the assassination of his consort, escaped to the Russian legation with the crown prince to seek refuge (Agwan pacheon 아관파천 俄館播遷; 1896–7). After that, the dress reform was again revoked with Gojong promising not to enforce any of it, including the Haircutting Ordinance.20 Foreigners who visited Joseon during this period left eyewitness accounts regarding the implementation of the Haircutting Ordinance. A major example is Korea and Her Neighbors by Isabella Bird Bishop.21 In summary, the several attempts to reform the state’s dress code, however, saw the adoption of an early modern framework of the Western court uniform system, which was enacted in hybrid format, combining adoption of Western clothing items and modification of Joseon’s conventional clothing items. These attempts continued during the early years of the Korean Empire (1897–1910).
Korean Empire (1897–1910) 1. The Imperial Dress Code, The Ritual Codes of the Korean Empire, and Other Royal Artifacts After returning from his refuge at the Russian legation, Gojong renamed Joseon as Daehan 대한 大韓 and declared Gwangmu 광무 光武 as his reign name in August 1897. On October 12, 1897 (September 17 by the lunar calendar), Gojong proclaimed himself emperor of the Korean Empire (Daehan jeguk 대한제국 大韓 帝國) at the altar complex (Hwangudan 환구단 ൌ丘壇). With this upgraded status of Joseon into an empire, the dress code for the imperial family and the court officials for his official enthronement ceremony followed the dress code of imperial China. What Emperor Gojong wore in accordance with the coronation protocols are detailed in Gojong daerye uigwe 고종대례의궤 高宗大禮儀軌 [The Protocols of the Enthronement of Gojong]. Also, Daehan yejeon 대한예전 大韓禮 典 [The Ritual Codes of the Korean Empire] (c. 1898) provides detailed information and illustrations of ceremonial clothing items.22 It includes robes and dresses worn by the emperor, the empress, the crown prince and princess, and government officials (Figure 8.3).23
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Figure 8.3 The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Daehan yejeon). © Jangseogak (archival collection at the Academy of Korean Studies)
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Emperor Gojong’s coronation ensemble (myeonbok 면복 冕服) should be composed of a headdress (myeollyugwan 면류관 冕旒冠) with twelve strings, each with twelve beads, and multiple layers of clothing with twelve motifs.24 The decorative motifs emblazoned on the layers of clothing were either painted or embroidered.25 The coronation ensemble best manifests the authority of a ruler. In light of the tradition in the interstate dress codes in East Asia, the number twelve was associated with the emperor for strings and beads of the headdress and decorative motifs on the clothing, while the number nine was associated with the king of a “tributary state.” Therefore, the wearing of a twelve-string headdress and a twelve-motif ensemble presented the Korean Empire as an imperial country. The emperor’s court ensemble (jobok 조복 朝服) was also upgraded to a set consisting of a crown (tongcheongwan 통천관 通天冠), a red robe (gangsapo 강사포 絳紗袍), etc. The emperor’s daily working ensemble (sangbok 상복 常服) was designated with a hat (ikseongwan) and a yellow dragon robe (hwangnyongpo 황룡포 黃龍袍).26 For precedent kings of Joseon, the crown of court ensemble was different—it was called wonyugwan 원유관 遠遊冠; the robe of daily working uniform was a red dragon robe (hongnyongpo 홍룡포 紅龍袍), as yellow was equated with emperors. The extant portraits of Emperor Gojong feature the transitioned dress codes. The first portrait shows his court ensemble with tongcheongwan and gangsapo (Figure 8.4a).27 In another portrait, the emperor is dressed in his daily ensemble for his office with ikseongwan and hwangnyongpo (Figure 8.4b).28 The upgrade of the dress codes to the imperial standard applied to the imperial family members and the government officials. Along with tuning up the traditional dress codes, the modern Western dress code was also partially integrated into the whole implementation. On June 22, 1899, the Board of Marshals (Wonsubu 원수부 元帥府) was officially established for the governance of the military, with the emperor presiding as supreme commander (daewonsu 대원수 大元帥) and the crown prince as commander (wonsu 원수 元帥). With these entitlements, it is presumed that Emperor Gojong wore the supreme commander’s uniform. The details of composition of the uniforms are yet unknown; several photographs feature Emperor Gojong in Western-style military uniforms.29 The photo taken around 1900 shows Emperor Gojong and the crown prince (Figure 8.4c). They wore gorgeously embroidered uniforms with metal caps engraved with plum -flower motif on the front.30 These uniforms are speculated to be yebok 예복 禮服 worn for Great Military Rites. In another image, the uniforms and caps worn by Emperor Gojong and the crown
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(a)
(b)
Figure 8.4 a. Anonymous, Portrait of Emperor Gojong dressed in a court ensemble (jobok) with a crown (tongcheongwan) and a red robe (gangsapo), 1918, ink and color on silk, 162.5 × 100 cm, Changdeok 6590. © National Palace Museum of Korea b. Anonymous, Portrait of Emperor Gojong dressed in an ensemble for daily work (sangbok) with a hat (ikseongwan) and a yellow dragon robe (hwangnyongpo), c. early 20th century, scroll painting on silk, 137 × 70 cm. © Wonkwang University Museum
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(c)
(d)
Figure 8.4 (Continued). c. Emperor Gojong and his Crown Prince in Western-style military uniforms, presumably worn for Great Military Rites, Gogung 543. Photo © National Palace Museum of Korea d. Emperor Gojong and his Crown Prince in Western-style military uniforms, presumably worn for less formal Military Rites, and his seventh son, King Yeongchin in a traditional ensemble. Photo © National Palace Museum of Korea
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prince look rather simpler (Figure 8.4d), although they are of the same kind in the 1900 photograph (compare this with Figure 8.4c). These ensembles are presumed to be sangbok 상복 常服 worn for Daily Military Rites. In Daehan yejeon [The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire] (c. 1898), there is mention of the “emperor’s uniform for Great Military Rites” in line with the dress protocols for the state’s military rites (gullye 군례 軍禮),31 which invites speculation that the imperial Western military uniforms were codified before the Imperial Marshal Department was established in 1899. Most of the formal information on the emperor’s traditional and Westernstyle dress has been gained through examination of photographs, as there are no artifacts remaining today. In such a situation, photographs serve to show the form of specific clothing items in two-dimensional view as worn on the body. However, photographs of unknown dates may result in items being assigned the wrong context. Careful attention is therefore necessary for accurate dating of photographs, which can be achieved by comparative examination of the techniques of photographers who were active in specific periods; identification of the location and background props, such as buildings, curtains, tables, and rugs; observation of the way in which people are posed in the photograph; and comparison with other photos which are presumed to have been taken at the same place on the same day.32 The original photographs of the Imperial Family of the Korean Empire have been exhibited through 100 Years Past: Memories of the Korean Empire [100년 전의 기억, 대한제국] in 2010 at the National Palace Museum; Photographs of the Daehan Imperial Family 1880–1989 [대한제국 황실의 초상 1880–1989] in 2012 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art; and Imperial Attire of the Daehan Empire [대한제국 황제복식] in 2018 at the Cultural Heritage Administration Deoksugung Palace Management Office. In particular, the Imperial Attire of the Daehan Empire showcased the reproduced imperial attires, of which no artifacts survive, in an effort to provide a comprehensive outline of the dress of the royal family and privileged class in the early modern era. The items of dress worn by the family members of the last crown prince of the Korean Empire, Yeongchinwang (1897–1970) were repatriated from Japan to South Korea and housed at the National Palace Museum. They are invaluable for studying the imperial dress of the Korean Empire. Those include the king’s red dragon robe (hongnyongpo 홍룡포 紅龍袍) and the queen’s supreme ceremonial ensemble (jeogui 적의 翟衣), ceremonial robes (wonsam 원삼 圓衫), and semiformal jackets (dang-ui 당의 唐衣).33
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2. Great Court Uniform of Civil Officials On April 17, 1900, the Korean Empire issued Royal Ordinance No. 13 on “heraldry” (Hunjang jorye 훈장조례 勳章條例), No. 14 on the “civil officials’ uniform” (Mungwan bokjang gyuchik 문관복장규칙 文官服裝規則), and No. 15 on the “Great Court Uniform of civil officials” (Mungwan daeryebok jesik 문관대례복제식 文官大禮服制式), all in Western style, thereby modernizing the court uniforms for officials.34 The modern uniforms had previously been adopted for the army and police through the Gabo and Eulmi Dress Reforms, and for imperial family members’ military uniforms with the institution of the Board of Marshals in 1899. Therefore, civil officials were the last to adopt Western-style uniform. Royal Ordinance No. 13, the first heraldry regulation in the dress code of Korea, was issued for the imperial family and civil and military officials. It includes articles on Geumcheok Grand Heraldry (Geumcheok daehunjang 금척대훈장 金 尺大勳章), Seoseong Grand Heraldry (Seoseong daehunjang 서성대훈장 瑞星大勳 章), Ihwa [Ewha] Grand Heraldry (Ihwa daehunjang 이화대훈장 李花大勳章), and Taegeuk Heraldry (Taegeukjang 태극장 太極章). Royal Ordinance No. 14, on the “civil officials’ uniform,” consisted of twelve regulations on the Great Court Uniform (daeryebok), Semiformal Court Uniform (soryebok), and Daily Working Uniform (sangbok) of civil officials, with detailed guidelines of composition of dress based on rank and occasion. For example, the Great Court Uniform of civil officials comprised a hat (daeryemo 대례모 大禮帽), a coat (daeryeui 대례의 大禮衣), a waistcoat, pants (daeryego 대례고 大禮袴), a sword, a sword belt, a white detachable collar, and a pair of white gauntlets. The Semiformal Court Uniform (soryebok) included a silk hat (jinsagomo 진사고모 眞絲高帽), a tailcoat, a waistcoat, and pants. The Daily Working Uniform (sangbok) consisted of a hat (tongsangmo 통상모 通常帽), a jacket (tongsangui 통상의 通常衣), and pants. Royal Ordinance No. 15 on the “Great Court Uniform of civil officials” describes the rules for making each component—the top, vest, pants, hat, sword, and belt on shapes, colors, materials, and dimensions, etc. On September 3, 1901, one year after the promulgation of No. 14, the schematic diagrams of the items that composed the Great Court Uniform of civil officials were published (Figure 8.5a). The style of the Great Court Uniform conformed to that of modern European countries. The most significant feature is the emblazoning of the national emblem of the Korean Empire, the rose of Sharon (mugunghwa 무궁화 無窮花), on the
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(b)
(a)
(c)
Figure 8.5 a. An illustration of Great Court Uniform of first rank officials, published in the Government Gazette in 1901. © National Library of Korea b. Great Court Uniform of first-rank official, worn by Min Cheolhun. © Seoul Crafts Museum c. Detail of b. The red embroidery signifies the owner, Min Tchul Whin (Min Cheolhun). JULES MARIA is the name of the tailor, and “14. R.du 4 Septembre. PARIS” is the address of the boutique. Photo © Kyungmee Lee
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front, back, collar, pocket, and sleeve cuffs of the coat and the right side of the hat, as well as on buttons and swords. This marks the first use of the mugunghwa motif as a national symbol, conferring legitimacy on mugunghwa as Korea’s national flower.35 Information on the civil officials’ Great Court Uniform can be drawn from written documents such as the Royal Ordinances published in the Gojong sillok [The Veritable Records of Gojong] and Seungjeongwon ilgi [The Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat of Joseon Dynasty], as well as Gwanbo [Government Gazette]. Currently seven surviving pieces are known. A preeminent example is of a first-rank official (chigimgwan 칙임관 勅任官), Min Cheolhun (민철훈 閔哲勳, 1856–1925), which is housed at the Seoul Craft Museum (Figure 8.5b). Min Cheolhun served as a diplomat for Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom in 1901. His coat has a label denoting the address and name of a French tailor (Figure 8.5c). The information that is not conveyed in text-based sources can be gained from artifacts. Since photographs of this period are available, it is possible to cross-examine the Great Court Uniforms in images with the changes in the written regulations. However, as mentioned earlier, since photographs are often undated, research should be approached cross-disciplinarily with the history of photography, diplomacy, art, or graphic design. There has been growing interest in the Korean Empire period with positive reevaluation of its history, which has encouraged reenactment performances entailing reproduction of period costumes.36
Conclusion This chapter has examined the primary sources of information for the research of the early modern Korean dress/fashion history, with particular focus on the governmental dress regulations codified into laws. The introduction of Western dress to Joseon from the opening of the ports to the Korean Empire era not only proceeded to its adoption by the royal family and the privileged class, but also had an impact on reforms of existing traditional dress. The articles of Western dress were incorporated into the two realms of the state dress code: ritual wear and daily wear. The realm of the ritual wear encompassed the Great Court Uniform for formal transnational diplomatic occasions as well as for audiences with the emperor, and the Semiformal Court Uniform for attending banquets or meetings with superiors. What was unique in this process was that Joseon first adopted only this framework—the Great and Semiformal Court Uniform system
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from the West—and assigned their traditional clothing to the system. Later, actual Western clothing was infiltrated into the dress code over time. With the birth of the Korean Empire in 1897, the traditional dress codes for royal family members and officials were upgraded to the imperial level. For gentry men, various styles of coat were proscribed except for one style, durumagi, a narrowsleeved coat without a slit. Korea’s early modern dress regulations, as this chapter has shown, are based upon the coexistence of the traditional and the modern, and the Eastern and the Western. Accordingly, the sources of information lying at its foundation are also a mixture of these contrasting qualities. The Veritable Records, The Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty, and The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire provide valuable information on traditional dress regulations. Information on Western-style dress regulations can be found in the Royal Ordinances announced through the Government Gazette. The Royal Ordinances were later compiled and published in collections of laws and regulations, such as the Collection of the Legislations and Ordinances in the Early Twentieth Century (Beopgyuryupyeon 법규류편 法規類編). Newspapers and magazines, first published in Korea around this time, and the records left by foreigners, are also indispensable. Extant garments of this period also reflect the mix of traditional and Western dress. A large number of surviving photographs provide valuable information on how the wearers styled their dress and appearances. Compared to previous eras, a relative abundance of sources from this time allows researchers to delve into minute detail. Recently, the scope of research has expanded to reproduction of period dress items for reenactment performances. Therefore, the research outcomes have been utilized for various cultural purposes.
Notes 1 Etsuji Tanida and Mitsue Koike examined the regulation of women’s ritual dress during the Meiji era in Japan as follows: “The Great Court Uniform (大禮服) for New Year’s worship and various court ceremonies shall be the Manteau de cour; the Moderate Court Uniform (中禮服) for attending the imperial family’s public greetings (參賀) or evening receptions (夜會) shall be the Robe décolleté; and the the Semiformal Court Uniform (通常禮服, same as 小禮服) for meeting with superiors (拜謁) and attending feasts (饗宴), etc. shall be the Robe montane.” Etsuji Tanida 谷田閱次 and Mitsue Koike 小池三枝, Nihon fukushokushi 日本服飾史 (Tokyo: Koseikan, 1989), 159.
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2 Representatively, see Lee Kyungmee 이경미, Jebogui tansaeng: Daehan jeguk seogusik daeryebogui seongnipgwa byeoncheon 제복의 탄생–대한제국 서구식 대례복의 성립과 변천 [Uniform Begins: The Establishment and Transition of Western-style Court Attire in the Korean Empire] (Seoul: Minsokwon 민속원, 2012). 3 For the early modern photography search, the following sites are helpful. The Museum of Photography, Seoul, “Collection Search –Historical Photography,” The Museum of Photography, May 11, 2022, http://photomuseum.or.kr/front/ collectionWorkHistoryList.do; National Museum of Korea, “Collection Search,” EMuseum, May 11, 2022, https://www.emuseum.go.kr/main. 4 For the reception of Western dress in Joseon around the time of the opening of the ports, see Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “19segi mal seogusik daeryebok jedoe daehan joseonui choecho sigak: seogye jeopsu munjereul tonghae” 19세기말 서구식 대례복 제도에 대한 조선의 최초 시각-서계 (書契) 접수 문제를 통해 [The First Perspective on Western-style Court Costumes in the Late Nineteenth Century of Joseon Dynasty– Through the Problems Receiving the New Styled Credential–], Hanguk uiryuhakhoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 33 (2009): 54–62. This study analyzed how the Joseon government rejected the diplomatic letter (seogye 서계 書契) from Japan around 1875, due to the perception of Western dress as worn by Western barbarians (yangi 양이 洋夷). 5 Regarding Joseon ambassador Kim Gisu’s dress and appearance, and his experience of the modern diplomatic rituals and banquets during his visit to Japan, see Lee JungHee 이정희, “Je ilcha susinsa Gim Gisuga gyeongheomhan geundae ilbonui oegyo uiryewa yeonhoe” 제1차 수신사 김기수가 경험한 근대 일본의 외교의례와 연회 [The Formal Ceremony and Party of Modern Japan Experienced by Kim Gi-Soo, the first Susinsa], Joseonsidaesahakbo 조선시대사학보 [Journal of the Choson Dynasty History Association] 59 (2011): 173–207. Regarding other Joseon ambassadors to Japan and the US and their thoughts on the changing of dress, see Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Gapsin uije gaehyeok (1884nyeon) ijeon ilbon pagyeon susinsawa josasichaldanui boksik mit boksikgwan” 갑신의제개혁 (1884년) 이전 일본 파견 수신사와 조사시찰단의 복식 및 복식관 [The Costume and the Thought to Costume of the Ambassador Extraordinary (修信使) and the Inspectors (朝士視察團) Detached to Japan before the Reform of Dress Regulation in 1884 (甲申衣制改革)], Hanguk uiryuhakhoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 33 (2009): 45–54 and “Gaehang ihu Daehanjeguk seongnip ijeon oegyogwan boksik yeongu” 개항이후 대한제국 성립 이전 외교관 복식 연구 [A study on the costume of diplomats between the port-opening and the establishment of the Korean Empire], Hangungmunhwa 한국문화 [Journal of the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies] 63 (2013): 129–59. 6 See the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty website (http://sillok.history.go.kr) and the Integrated Korean History Information System website (http://www.
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8 9 10
11 12
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koreanhistory.or.kr). These two sites are currently linked to the National Institute of Korean History. Gang Sanggyu 강상규, “1884 nyeon uijegaehyeoge daehan jeongchijeok dokhae” 1884년 ‘의제(衣制) 개혁’에 대한 정치적 독해 [A Political View on the Dress Reform in 1884] in Hanguk geunhyeondae jeonchiwa ilbon I 한국 근현대 정치와 일본 1 [The Korean Politics and Japan in the Early Modern I], eds. Yi Chang-hun and Jeon Sang-suk (Seoul: Seonin 선인, 2010); Yi Hyeona 이현아, “1884nyeon gapsin uije gaehyeok yeongu” 1884년 甲申衣制改革 연구 [The Reform of Dress Regulation in Kapshin 1884], (Master’s thesis, Dankook University, 2016); Jo Jeonghyeon 조정현, “Gaehwagi uijegaehyeok ihu yangbok chagyonggwa geu sahoemunhwasajeok uimi” 개화기 의제개혁 이후 양복 착용과 그 사회・문화사적 의미 [A Study on the Social and Cultural Historical Implications of Wearing Western Clothes after the Reform of Dress Regulation in the Enlightenment period in Korea], (Master’s thesis, Dongguk University, 2019). The Government Gazette 관보 December 16, 1894. The Government Gazette no. 26 special edition, August 11, 1895. Lee Kyungmee, “Dress Policy and Western-Style Court Attire in Modern Korea,” in Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, eds., Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 47–68. The Government Gazette no.10, April 11, 1895. Royal Ordinance no. 78. The Government Gazette no. 19, April 21, 1895. Royal Ordinance no. 81. Also see Kim Jeong-Min 김정민, “Guhanmal gyeongchalbok yeongu” 구한말 경찰복 연구 [A Study on Police Uniforms during the Late Joseon Dynasty] (Master’s thesis, Ewha Womans University, 2016); Cho Woo-hyun et al., eds., Hanguk gyeongchal bokjesa 韓國警察服制史 [History of Police Uniform in Korea] (Seoul: National Police Agency, 2016). The original copies of the Government Gazette are kept at the National Library of Korea, and their digital contents are available here: https://www.nl.go.kr/NL/ contents/N20301000000.do. For the Semiformal Court Uniform of officials, refer to Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Gaehanggi jeontongsik soryebok yeongu” 개항기 전통식 소례복 연구 [Study on the Evolution of the Traditional-Style Soryebok in Korean Modern Dress], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 64 (2014): 162–75; Korea University Museum, ed., Boksingnyu myeongpum dorok 服飾類名品圖錄 [Catalogue: Select Dress Artifacts] (Seoul: Korea University Museum, 1990); Sookmyung Women’s University Museum, ed., Heung-wan-gun boksikjeon dorok 興完君 服飾展 圖錄 [Exhibition catalogue: Dresses from the royal family of Heung-wan-gun (1815–1849)] (Seoul: Sookmyung Women’s University Museum, 1983). For the army uniforms, see Lee Kyungmee et al., “Daehanjegukgi yukgun bokjang beomnyeongui sigibyeol byeonhwa” 대한제국기 육군 복장 법령의 시기별 변화 [A Study on the Time-Specific Characteristics of Military Uniform in the Daehan
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17
18 19 20
21
22
23
24
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Empire], Hangungmunhwa 한국문화 [Journal of the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies] 83 (2018): 475–513. Refer to the Army Museum website at https://museum.kma.ac.kr/, and their catalogue, The Army Museum, ed., Yukgunbangmulgwan sojang gunsaboksik 육군박물관 소장 군사복식 [Military Uniforms in the Army Museum], (Seoul: Daehan jengbo inswae Ltd., 2012). For police uniforms, see Michiyo Nomura, “A Spectacle of Authority on the Streets: Police Uniforms in Imperial Japan and Colonial Korea,” in Pyun and Wong, eds., Fashion, Identity , 115–39. From January 1, 1896, Joseon began to use the Solar Calendar system and the reigning title Geonyang (건양 建陽). Lee Kyungmee, “Dress Policy,” 47. For the political and diplomatic implications of the Haircutting Ordinance, see Kim Eo-jin, “Munmyeong pyojuneuroseoui dubal yangsik: 1895nyeon Joseon danballyeongui gukje jeongchi” 문명 표준으로서의 두발 양식: 1895년 조선 단발령의 국제정치 [The Hairstyle as a Standard of Civilization: International Politics of the Choson’s Haircutting Decree in 1895] (Master’s thesis, Seoul National University, 2003). Isabella L. Bird, Korea and her Neighbors; a Narrative of Travel, With an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country. (London: John Murray, 1898; repr. Boston, MA: Elibron Classics, 2005). Kim Munsik 김문식, “Jang Jiyeoni pyeonchanhan Daehan yejeon” 장지연이 편찬한 대한예전 [The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire compiled by Jang Jiyeon (1864–1921)], Munheongwa haeseok 문헌과 해석 [Journal of Documents and Interpretation] 35 (2006): 111. The only original copy of The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire is in the Janseogak of the Academy of Korean Studies, and online access is also available here: https://jsg. aks.ac.kr/dir/view?catePath=&dataId=JSG_K2-2123. Also refer to the following edition: Im Minhyeok 임민혁 et al., Gugyeok Daehan yejeon 국역 대한예전 [(Korean Translation) The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire] (Seoul: Minsogwon 민속원, 2018); Choi Yeon-woo 최연우, “Daehan yejeon boksikjedoui seonggyeokgwa uimi” 복식제도의 성격과 의미 [The meanings of the dress codes in The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire] in Daehanjegugui jeollyewa Daehan yejeon (Jangseogak hanguksa gang-ui 12) 대한제국의 전례와 대한예전 (장서각 한국사강의 12) [The Codes of Rites in the Korean Empire and The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Korean History Lecture 12 by the Jangseogak Royal Library)] by Yi Uk et al., eds. (Seoul: Academy of Korean Studies Publisher 한국학중앙연구원출판부, 2019). The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Jangseogak edition) Vol. 4 Jebok doseol 祭服圖說 [Diagrams and Accounts of Sacrificial Ensemble].
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25 For the Emperor’s coronation regalia, see National Palace Museum of Korea, ed., Wang-ui myeonbok bogwon, bokje jejak gisulseo 왕의 면복 복원 ・복제 제작 기술서 [A Report of Reconstruction of King’s Coronation Regalia, Myeonbok] Vol. 8 (Seoul: National Palace Museum of Korea, 2011); Choi Yeon-woo 최연우, Kiwodeu hangungmunhwa 14 Myeonbok 키워드 한국문화 14 면복 [Keyword Korean Culture 14 Myeonbok], (Seoul: Munhakdongne 문학동네, 2015). 26 The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Jangseogak edition) Vol. 5 Gwanbok doseol 冠服 圖說 [Diagrams and Accounts of Hats and Clothing]. 27 Seoul Museum of History, ed., Heungseon daewongun gwa Unhyungung saramdeul 흥선대원군과 운현궁 사람들 [The Grand Internal Prince Heungseon and his people in Unhyeon Palace] (Seoul: Seoul Museum of History, 2007), 75. 28 National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, ed., Hanguk misul 100nyeon 1 한국미술 100년 1 [A Hundred Years of Korean Art I], (Seoul: Hangilsa 한길사, 2006), 45. 29 For the portraits and photographs of Emperor Gojong, see Gwon Hangga 권행가, Imagewa gwollyeok: Gojongui chosanggwa imijiui jeongchihak 이미지와 권력: 고종의 초상과 이미지의 정치학 [Image and Power: Gojong’s Portraits and Image Politics], (Paju: Dolbegae 돌베개, 2015). 30 Hanmi Sajin Misulgwan, Daehanjegug hwangsilsajinjeon 대한제국 황실 사진전 [Imperial Photographs of the Korean Empire] (Seoul: Hanmi Sajin Misulgwan. 2009), 73. 31 The Ritual Codes of Korean Empire (Jangseogak edition) Vol. 5 Gullye 軍禮 [Military Rites]. 32 Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Sajine natanan Daehanjegukgi hwangje-ui gunbokhyeong yangboge gwanhan yeongu” 사진에 나타난 대한제국기 황제의 군복형 양복에 대한 연구 [A Study on the Military Suit of the Emperor of the Daehan Empire in Photos], Hangungmunhwa 한국문화 [Journal of the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies] 50 (2010): 83–4. 33 National Palace Museum of Korea, ed., Yeongchinwang ilga boksik 영친왕 일가 복식 [The Costume of Imperial Prince Yeong Family], (Seoul: National Palace Museum, 2010). 34 The Government Gazette special edition, April 19, 1900. 35 The emblem of military uniforms was a plum flower; but the emblem on the Great Court Uniform of civil officials was a rose of Sharon (mugunghwa). The mugunghwa motif was first employed for the emblem of the Great Court Uniform, and then became a national symbol of Korea during the Japanese colonial period. Refer to Mok Soo-hyun 목수현, “Han-guk geundae jeonhwangi gukga sigak sangjingmul” 한국 근대 전환기 국가 시각 상징물 [A Study on the National Visual Symbol of Korea in Modern Transitional Period] (Ph.D. dissertation, Seoul National University, 2008); Lee Kyungmee, “Daehan jeguk 1900 nyeon (Gwangmu 4) mun-gwan daeryebok jedo
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wa mugunghwa munyang ui sangjingseong” 대한제국 1900년 [光武4] 문관대례복 제도와 무궁화 문양의 상징성 [The Institution of Court Costume in the Year 1900 (the 4th Year of Korean Empire Gwangmu) and the symbolism of mugunghwa, the Rose of Sharon], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 60 (2010): 123–37. 36 The Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation held the annual reenactment event, “The Diplomatic Reception for Envoys to the Korean Empire,” from 2010 to 2019 in the Jeonggwanheon Hall of Deoksugung Palace. The event costumes were produced based on the studies on the court uniforms of the emperor, civil officials, soldiers, police, and performance costumes for military bands, and sword dancers. See Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Daehanjegukgi oegukgongsa jeopgyeonnye-ui boksikgojeung-e gwanhan yeongu 대한제국기 외국공사 접견례의 복식 고증에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Historical Research of Costume at the Reenactment of Diplomatic Ministers’ Reception Ceremony in the Korean Empire], Hangungmunhwa 한국문화 [Journal of the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies] 56 (2011): 139–83; Lee Kyungmee 이경미, “Daehanjegukgi seogusik mungwan daeryebok sang-ui ui jejage gwanhan yeongu” 대한제국기 서구식 문관 대례복 상의의 제작에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Construction of Court Dress Coat in the Daehan Empire], boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 66 (2016): 17–31.
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Magazines and Photographs for Fashion History of Korea Yunah Lee
With technological developments and rapid growth of the circulation of printed materials since the nineteenth century, magazines have been one of the most effective ways to disseminate fashion information and became an essential part of fashion and the fashion system. In Fashion System, Roland Barthes called it l’écriture: fashion and dress were mediated and translated into words and images in literature.1 The represented clothing is in two forms: written clothing (le vêtement écrit) and image-clothing (le vêtement-image) and the careful intertextual relationship of words and images would create fashion rhetoric and signs that we recognized, identified, and consumed. Barthes was interested in exposing the meanings endowed upon clothing and garments by social usage through semiological study of the images and texts of fashion and dress. They are intricately bound with the society and culture that created them, and the careful decoding and reading of fashion on the page reveal far more than the actuality of garments that were represented. Society magazines in Europe were a vehicle to disseminate new fashionable information, describing clothing in words with accompanying fashion plates. These images often indicated appropriate models of female beauty and posture and the rules of polite behavior of the society. From 1830s, European magazines for middle-class female readers were published and circulated widely and much of the literal descriptions of the garments were around colors, textures, and patterns. It was accompanied by fashion plates, often in color, visually recreating and representing fashionable dresses for the readership which comprised of the producers and consumers of clothing and fashion. As Jennifer Craik summarized, these magazines “promoted attributes of domesticity and the management of everyday life” and “ideal ways of being on display and projecting the female 185
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body.”2 Magazine advices reflected social and moral concerns about femininity and its representation through the choices of clothes, cosmetics, and demeanor and constructed “symbols of identity, social position and sexuality.”3 In Korea, during the late Joseon dynasty, magazines emerged as a crucial vehicle of sharing and disseminating information. From the 1880s, reformminded intellectuals published newspapers in vernacular Korean.4 Men and women in late Joseon were conscious of changing trends in fashion.5 Photographic images of courtiers, diplomats, and royal families were carefully planned and disseminated to establish a modern nation domestically and internationally.6 In an official portrait photograph, Emperor Gojong’s short haircut and his European military uniform sent a message to Korean citizens: this is a look of a modern ruler for a new age. After Korea was annexed by Japan, nationalists were eager to spread practices of modernity and to prepare for industrial transformation by publishing magazines and newspapers of enlightenment. From the 1920s, women gained importance as readership was expanded beyond educated male citizens. Grooming, styling, sewing, and other household management skills were introduced along with the modern look. Newspapers and magazines also carried line drawings to promote tailored suits and dresses. Advertisements of shoes, clothes, and luxury objects also provided visual resources for readers to follow a fashion trend or to augment their consumption.7 The publication and circulation of magazines expanded after the Korean War (1950–3) with their contents addressing societal and cultural changes and introducing to the readers aspiring lifestyles as well as desirable consumer products. Textual contents of the magazines accompanied with visual information from these magazines played an important role in recording and changing fashion and sartorial practices of Korean people, and photography took a central position in creating imageries and visual effects. What do illustrations and photographs on these printed pages tell us about the historical development of fashion practices in Korea during the latter part of the twentieth century? How much do they reveal about each actant (designers, photographers, fashion pundits, and consumers) and their place in making and consuming fashion in the everyday? What are the values of studying magazines and photographs for the study of Korean fashion and dress? What problems should we consider in approaching these primary materials? This chapter addresses these issues of Korean fashion in the context of the print culture and the development of photography during the heyday of print media from the 1960s through the 1980s.
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Methodological Issues Magazines provide almost an inexhaustible amount of resource. It is an established practice for fashion and dress historians to utilize them when studying dress and fashion of a certain period. Woman’s magazines and fashion magazines have been useful sources to enable us to expand the interpretation of clothing with contextual information as well as to examine them as a subject of the study on themselves. Interpreting dresses through texts and images prevalent in many studies interrogates the relations between fashion and visual culture.8 The practice faces the methodological challenges of “comparing extant garments with often betterknown visual representation,” considering deliberate intentions in the selection of garments and styling in visual representations, and ultimately “weaving across media and forms and with eclectic and sometimes elusive sources.”9 Analyzing the values and problems of magazines and photographs for the study of Korean fashion and dress relies on employment of established methodologies and approaches in fashion and dress history by Euro-American scholars. Much of dress history in Korea has been focused on studies of traditional dress up to the late nineteenth century. There has been a growing scholarship in modern and contemporary Korean dress history and magazines in recent years.10 In these studies, texts and images, mostly photographs, are often utilized as research sources and evidences. In Pyun Kyung-hee’s study of hybrid dandyism, for example, the images of dandies are loaded with symbolic meanings associated to the critical discourses of modernity, modernization, femininity, masculinity, consumption, and consumer culture in modern Korea.11 Media studies scholar Chung Young-hee surveyed and analyzed the contents and images of Yeowon in the 1960s. Her quantitative research reveals that the magazine had certain pages dedicated to the visual image of urban life. They could include images and photographs directly about fashion topics, but one must remember that the articles on other topics and advertisements also provide images of contemporary women in various dress styles. Fashion-focused photographs and photographs of women’s fashion in everyday setting are two different types of visual sources.12 Fashion studies scholars Kim Young-ja and Lee Soojin focused on the discourse of fashion making in magazine culture. Kim analyzed fashion-making issue articles in major magazines from 1998 to 2002 and compared the trend with information from other sources.13 Lee focused on the fashion advertisements in Korean women’s magazines in the 1970s of major women’s magazines such as
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Woman Dong-A and Woman Joong-Ang.14 Lee’s research demonstrated a complicated process and a semiotic communication mechanism of fashion making to promote new merchandise to hesitant consumers discouraged by traditional values and moral obligations. Chung Young-hee and the team of Kim Young-chan and Kim Jong-hee investigated the mechanism of media publication behind the emergence of a new style like miniskirts or “total look fashion.”15 Consumer culture connected women to popular fashion culture of the era as they demanded liberation from oppression and discrimination in conservative households and a Confucianism-infatuated public space. The commonality of these studies is the ways in which the images of and texts about dress and fashion are treated as visual and textual data to be read as signs of Korean social and cultural phenomena. What is lacking in these studies of fashion images and texts is a thorough analysis of what we are looking at and further research on what constitutes the pages of the magazine. One must sustain methodological consideration of using these materials for the study of dress and fashion history with well-defined research questions. First, fashion photography in magazines came out of various agents. Design historian John Walker demonstrated that agents involved in the making of fashion in magazines were designers, writers, photographers, stylists, and models in addition to editors and readers.16 Editors or editors-in-chief exercised enormous power. But their influence is only proportionate to the popularity and reputation of a designer or a model. When all the agents involved agreed for a completed photo session and its outcome, the intertextual relationship between images and texts on magazine pages creates a hierarchical meaning or a subconscious bias in addition to clandestine persuasion and overt prejudice.17 Eminent dress historian Lou Taylor and visual and material culture scholar Annebella Pollen presented a nuanced interpretation of photographed fashion images and questioned the validity of using photography in the study of dress and fashion.18 One should not believe what was depicted in photography at face value. What is shown in a fashion photograph is quite different from street fashion or everyday fashion. This is in fact problematic in the case of Korean modern and contemporary dress studies. Ordinary people’s clothes rarely survived while ceremonial robes or the social elite’s dresses remain preserved in museums or in families. The relationship between the represented fashion and the actuality of dress and fashion of everyday life is thus difficult to study with the eclectic and elusive tangible evidence passed down to us. Moreover, one should be aware that photographic sources are also diverse in their meanings, purposes, dissemination channels, authorship, and copyrights. In
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her book, The Study of Dress History, Lou Taylor discusses different kinds of photography that may be considered in studying dress, listing ethnographical, missionary/colonial, fine art, fashion, commercial images by high street photographers, journalist, and everyday.19 Whether they are taken for ethnographical purposes or for high fashion, deciphering the coded signals behind the creation of all images is complex and problematic. In order to “read” clothes from photographs, we must ask questions. Why was it made? By whom? Under what conditions? Who were the audiences? What was the use of it? Does it distort the materiality, uses, purposes, and meanings of the clothing it represents? In the context of Korean modern and contemporary dress studies, this chapter will introduce a range of Korean magazines which are useful for fashion and dress studies. I will discuss both women’s magazines such as Yeowon (여원) (1955–70) and Jubusaenghwal (주부생활) as well as fashion magazines including Meot (멋) (1983, 1987–) and Vogue Korea (1996–). Their readership and sponsorship, for example, were instrumental in shaping their editorial vision and visual strategy. The second part of the chapter will explore these themes and issues further with a case study on the New Everyday Clothing project in the early 1960s. Starting with the images and texts from the magazines, the case studies intend to explore how a snippet of an event represented in the texts and images of those magazines provides further insights into the historical narratives of dress and fashion as well as reflecting social and cultural changes of the time. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Korea witnessed an unprecedented rise of industrial growth and economic prosperity. Wealth and affluence felt by the burgeoning middle class in South Korea were fundamental in their social aspiration and material consumption. By utilizing other contemporary sources, such as newspapers, photographs of everyday including family albums, and existing objects and material examples in museum collections, the paper dissects the ideology of the New Everyday Clothing project which coincided with the New Village Movement (Saemaeul Undong). The case study is not so much about unearthing the hidden narrative of Korean dress and fashion history. Its aim is to enrich the existing historical account of the establishment of everyday clothes in the style of yangjang (Western-style dress). It was during this period that hanbokclad models on magazine covers are being replaced by a modern look of women in yangjang.20 My multilayered reading of photographic images in both women’s magazines and fashion magazines of South Korea utilizes Euro-American dress history’s methodological intervention to the primary sources—visual, textual, and material—to characterize a unique circumstance in the study of Korean dress
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and fashion. Yet, I address Korea-specific contexts that one must consider in these materials, stemming from the postcolonial developments of nation building and modern lifestyle culture under the turbulent political environment of the period.
Korean Women’s Magazines Women’s magazines were actively published in the 1920s. Buin (부인 Lady 1922– 3) and Shinyeoseong (신여성 New Woman 1923–34) were leading magazines for Korean women. Educated women were reading Japanese magazines in Japanese such as Josei (Woman 여성). To create a stronger nation and to educate wise mothers, women’s magazines carried information-rich articles on nutrition, dress making, and literacy.21 Line drawings or illustrations were often included to explain how to make children’s clothes, fix school uniforms, or create women’s garments in Western style—blouses, pleated skirts, knitted cardigans. Magazines also carried black-and-white photographs of people. Or magazine readers saw images of newsworthy figures and socialites in newspapers. These photographs were not of fashion photography per se but provided visual clues to the fashionable silhouette, style, and textile pattern.22 Advertisements in monthly women’s magazines and those in daily newspapers overlapped and thus increased familiarity with dressmakers or products. The cover of women’s magazines started to feature a woman representing each era’s iconic type. Seo Yuri presented an evolution of these cover images in her research.23 Illustrated cover images presented a young woman in modernized hanbok dresses and in stylist hairstyles. As Seo demonstrated, cover images changed over time following fashion trends as well as graphic design styles.24 In this chapter, however, I focus on magazines published after the 1950s and primarily photographic images. This is due to the fact that the magazine production system changed with the emergence of multicolor printing and professional journalism, resulting in the replacement of illustrations with photographs as the main means of image production. Like print culture in other countries, the mid-twentieth century saw a new opportunity in expanding readership as an outlet of official messages. Korea women’s magazine Yeowon provides abundant sources to reveal how a magazine constructs and presents the symbols of ideal femininity and womanhood via words and images and the role which fashion and dress played in this process. Yeowon, published between 1955 and 1970, was the first woman’s magazine in postwar Korea and popular with female university students and career women as
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well as housewives. The contents of Yeowon covered general cultural affairs, entertainment, and everyday household management. Chung emphasized that Yeowon focused on the conveniences of urban life and encouraged modernized lifestyles with Western-style kitchens and apartment living.25 Yet, as a magazine for housewives, Yeowon brought new issues of family, sex, and body to readers in special feature articles. Family, sex, and body were considered part of private matters in one’s life and thus never discussed before in a public sphere like magazines. Magazines such as Yeowon provided a fertile ground for the public discourse of women’s body and fashion as Kyunghee Pyun demonstrated in the study of a miniskirt frenzy in the 1960s in the context of family-planning posters and conservative newspaper columnists in South Korea.26 Magazines for women like Yeowon provided further elaboration on issues of body autonomy, sex, contraception, family planning, and the dangers of a promiscuous lifestyle. Kim Young-chan and Kim Jong-hee also stressed the role played by these women’s magazines to drive housewives to capitalist consumer culture.27 Instead of the virtue of frugality and modesty, consumerism emerged to achieve “total look fashion”—young housewives and single women became aware of their sexual potential as desirable women through pages of fashion images selling miniskirts and matching accessories. Yeowon’s covers featured an illustrated woman in the beginning and then a photographed woman in hanbok throughout the 1950s. After 1960, a woman in hanbok on the cover appears less, mostly in the month of a major seasonal feast: January and September, and is replaced with a woman in yangjang, Western-style dress. Although the contents dealing with clothing and fashion did not occupy the majority of the magazine pages, the topics of clothing, accessories, styling, etiquette, and beauty were featured frequently in monthly issues, contributing to the visual and textual representation of fashion and dress.28
1. Designers and Fashion Trends From the first volume in October 1955, Yeowon established a section called Mode (모드), introducing the garments and styles which were designed and made by a handful of dressmakers from the boutiques in Seoul—mostly located in the central shopping area, Myeong-dong. Photographic images accompanying the articles in the Mode section present well-known female figures such as actors and singers. They were adorned in elegant and smart dresses and up-to-date fashion styles which reflected fashion in Europe and the USA. In November 1955, the magazine reported on the fashion show by Choi Kyung-ja, who was one of the
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first generation of Korean fashion designers along with Nora Noh and Seo Su-yeon. The words and images in the Mode section and fashion features in Yeowon provided information on what yangjang was and what was appropriate and stylish. They further offered readers advice on how to wear such clothes well, along with the promotion of different yangjang outfits and their makers and designers. The January issue in 1966 has six black-and-white photographs under the title, “Let’s Wear Slacks,” showing models featuring a pair of slim-cut cropped capris in a youthful and casual style of garment. The design and styling of dresses and poses and facial expressions of the models owe much to the representation of youth fashion in Europe and the USA, which was introduced to and adopted by Korean designers, via fashion magazines and Hollywood movies. In another fashion feature,“Waiting for Spring” in Yeowon, February 1968, garments designed by Nora Noh were presented (Figure 9.1). The youthfulness and smartness of the images and the text were targeting young professional women. The styles of the dresses reflect the silhouettes and looks of mainstream Euroamerican fashion and dress in the late 1960s, but hemlines are relatively longer and the general design and fit of the dresses are less revealing. The detail demonstrated how Noh adjusted the designs and styles from Europe and the USA to be suitable for Korean physiques, and the cultural sensitivity about modesty regarding the revealing of the body.
2. Expert Advice on Styling, Appropriate Outfits, and Etiquette In the commentary on street styles in September 1962, Choi Kyung-ja gave advice on how to dress fashionably and to stylize with accessories with consideration of one’s figure and shape. She was particularly critical of one woman who was wearing a tightly fitted dress with very low backline. It is quite a contrast to the flattering comments on the last two photographs of women wearing very fashionable and high-end dresses. Seo Su-yeo’s commentary on fashion on the street in August 1966 paid great attention to posture and pose as well as the dresses that women were wearing. Because it features short skirts, there are several pieces of advice on how to sit and position your legs. Images in this advice section would provide rich information of how ordinary people wore fashionable clothes with personal adjustment. Photographic images and textual contents from women’s magazines such as Yeowon, Jubu-saehwal, and Woman Dong-A provide rich resources to study Korean fashion and dress in the latter part of the twentieth century. Fashion on these pages is the record of the physical existence of dresses and has already been utilized in writing the history of Korean fashion and dress. Around 1966,
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Figure 9.1 “Until the Spring” design by Nora Noh, Yeowon. February 1968.
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miniskirts were in high demand despite admonitions and censorship.29 In Korean journalism in the 1960s through the 1980s, they were also aware of how freedom of expression should be adjusted for public morals, censorship by authorities, and conservative commentators.30 Considering the invisibility of the twentieth-century fashion and dress collections in the public domain in Korea, information from these magazines and other publications such as newspapers has been vital in establishing the history of Korean fashion. The problem of the current state of fashion and dress history in Korea is that most writers tend to use these photographs as mere visual references and sign values of social and cultural meanings, without thorough inspection of what constitutes the images and texts on printed pages, and proper detailed research of each agent: designers, makers, design and materials of the garments, photographers, stylists, writers, editors, and readers. When magazines construct the representation of appropriate or ideal fashion through carefully versed words and images, which promote a certain identity of women, one must consider the wider contexts of production and consumption of a magazine as well as what the interplay of each text and image reveals. Literature studies on Yeowon argue that the magazine promoted an ideal of women as good housewives by aligning the romanticized notion of love with marriage, and consequently contributed to the enforcement of patriarchal societal rules on women.31 Advertisement images are more loaded with messages because photographs and phrases should persuade readers to open their wallet. Can we read the images of and words on fashion from this context? Or does fashion discourse emerging from intertextual analysis offer a different view on women’s identity and status? I will address these questions in the case study of New Everyday Clothing (Sinsaenghwalbok).
Case Study on New Everyday Clothing This is a short case study to demonstrate how a scholar can interpret photographic sources with careful consideration to understand a new fashion style. Different magazines used photographs that were appropriate for their constituencies. On June 25, 1961, New Everyday Clothing samples were introduced in a street parade organized by Seoul city officials of the National Reconstruction Committee, the Korean Design Association, and the Korean Seamstress Association. The aim of the event was to promote new styles of modest and practical clothing for everyday wear, as a part of the Korean government’s National Reconstruction Project after Park Chung-hee’s military coup on May
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16. Park’s regime announced that it would tackle the problems of Korean society including corruption and luxury consumption for vanity. New Everyday Clothing was one branch of a larger plan and aimed at modernizing lifestyles and controlling outlandish spending on clothes. The rhetoric of such a campaign was to put emphasis on women’s role in economic reconstruction by forsaking conspicuous consumption of luxurious and ostentatious clothing and styles and instead adopting a new and modest fashion. Yeowon ran an article showing the parade of models wearing the New Everyday Clothing garments on an open-top carriage, a photograph of each dress with the caption including the names of maker and model and the design brief of each garment. It was followed by more detailed commentary about each dress with a pattern and instructions for sewing, which may have been intended for the seamstress or dressmaker (Figure 9.2a–d). The growing number of sewing/dressmaking schools provided education to men and women, who became professional seamstresses or dressmakers.32 They produced made-tomeasure garments in dressmaker’s shops and boutiques that flourished in the 1960s, while cheap ready-to-wear clothes markets were also established with skilled seamstresses. A 40-page dressmaking manual resides in the National Folk Museum collection.33 This textbook was published by a regional branch of the National Reconstruction Project in 1967. This material tells us that Seha Dressmaking School in Daegu distributed this manual authored by Seo Du-cheon, the school’s principal. This volume carries a second part on pattern application and adaptation, which was taught in higher-level classes in the school curriculum. This manual demonstrates the continued interest and investment in dressmaking education, mobilizing labour for national economic development. Gyeonghyang Shinmun reported on the showcase and parade on June 25, with accompanying photographs from the scene. The actresses from the Korean Actors Association were modelling ten design samples of New Everyday Clothing. The relayed commentary on the dresses were full of praise for their simplicity, practicality, and the use of domestically produced material: Look at this! Isn’t it smart? Of course, it is made with cotton produced domestically. It looks simple and comfortable, unlike other ostentatious yangjang and summer dresses we can see on the streets. This is the first challenge thrown to women about their culture of dressing and fashion.34
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Figure 9.2 a, b, c, d. “New Everyday Clothing” in Yeowon. August 1961.
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Figure 9.2 (Continued). e, f. Photographs of two women at a religious convention. 1963. © Yunah Lee
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The rationality and practicality of the New Everyday Clothing was appraised repeatedly in further articles in Dong-a ilbo, one of which carried Choi Kyungja’s expert opinion on the rational and practical merits of the newly proposed clothes’ modest and simple forms and styles, and advice on how to coordinate according to color and personalize with the use of accessories.35 There are two reformed hanbok dresses and the accompanying text reveals that they were intended for women in more rural areas and more mature and married women and emphasized practicality, hygiene, and suitability for the hot summer season. Styles for younger women in school or work were also provided with more fashion-conscious shapes and colors as well as similar emphasis on their practicality and appropriateness. Anonymous everyday photographs are difficult to date, but when it is combined with interviews and other written sources, they can offer great insight into the ordinary consumption of these “new everyday clothes.” Two photographs taken at a religious gathering in 1963 show four young women wearing modernized outfits (Figure 9.2e and f). They are very similar to the ones shown in Yeowon as New Everyday Clothing in 1961 (Figure 9.2a and b). This style of clothing was also worn by the same woman in photographs taken at a picnic in 1966. This demonstrates that the introduced New Everyday Clothing was adopted and worn by young lower-middle-class women several years after its introduction. The examination of the photograph against other photographic resources from newspapers and magazines reveals that, although these women were largely following the fashion and conscious of the trends, they did not necessarily wear the trendiest clothes of their time. Most of their outfits remain fairly modest. Clothing and fashion collected in the photographs of the everyday would provide much more information to supplement magazine photographs or fashion photography. There have been many new exhibitions and publications revealing new photographs from mid- century artists.36 Im Eung-sik (aka Limb Eung-sik)’s Women (1955) is part of his photographs recording the streets of fashionable Myeong-dong in Seoul after the Korean War (Figure 9.3a). In the left center a group of women in fashionable dresses are juxtaposed with women wearing hanbok, disappearing in the right-hand corner, reflecting coexistence of traditional and new Western-style clothing and symbolizing the diminishing traditions in the modern city of Seoul. Photographs of the everyday life of an ordinary person can also shed light on ordinary everyday dress and fashion. Han Youngsoo’s photographs in Life 1958–1963 captured a snapshot of life in Seoul with a vivid portrayal of people from all walks of life who were carrying on their daily lives (Figure 9.3b). To dress and fashion historians’ delight, these
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Figure 9.3 a. Eung-sik Im (a.k.a. Limb Eung-sik), Yeoin-deul [Ladies], 1956, gelatin silver print, 46 × 56 cm. © photo-archives of Limb Eung-sik b. Youngsoo Han, Myeongdong, Seoul, Korea, 1958. © Han Youngsoo Foundation
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photographs recorded a variety of dresses, styles, and fashion trends of various groups of people, including the most smartly dressed women and men of the time in the trendiest area of the city.
Fashion Magazines in Korea It was not until 1968 that Eue-sang (의상 Clothing, 1968–83), the first Korean fashion magazine, came about. With Choi Kyung-ja as editor-in-chief, the magazine circulated domestic and international fashion news and promoted the education of fashion design and tailoring and rational modern dress culture. It was taken over by Dong-a newspaper company in 1984 and Meot (멋 Fashion Sense) was published as a monthly fashion magazine until 1993. Unlike other magazines dealing with fashion topics and images, Meot set out to be the most outstanding fashion magazine with professional fashion journalism including fashion editorials, special fashion reports, and feature spreads of fashion photographs, and took the unchallenged position in Korean fashion publications and journalism until the widespread licensed publication of global magazines such as Marie Claire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Vogue Girl in Korea since the mid-1990s. One of the most prominent features of Meot is the primacy and variety of fashion photography in the magazine’s content, providing professional recognition to fashion photographers. From the first issue, it carried striking and stylish photographs of fashion models by photographers such as Kim Joongman 김중만 (Figure 9.4a and b), Choe Young-don 최영돈, Heo Ho 허호, and Kim Gwang-hae 김광해 (Figure 9.4c and d). Bringing in their own photographic backgrounds and expertise, they explored and developed various styles of photograph, which visually fixed fashion information, promotional messages, and artistic narratives. In comparison to the fashion photographs in Yeowon (i.e. Figure 9.1 and another fashion feature, “Let’s Wear Slacks,” in 1966), Kim Joongman’s fashion spread featuring Kim Cheol-ung’s design (Figure 9.4ab) expresses the designer’s creative and artistic vision by capturing the impression of the edge styling and the model’s facial and bodily performance. Kim Gwang-hae’s “Summer Message” features the designer Bae Cheon-beom’s abstract and geometric forms and patterns against the equally geometric architectural backdrop of the Hyatt Hotel in Namsan, Seoul. Both photographers’ training and experience of art photography, in France and Japan, respectively, pioneered fashion photography toward creative and artistic production beyond informative, journalistic, and commercial realms of photography in the previous magazines.37
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Figure 9.4 a, b. Designer Kim Cheol-ung, Photographer Joong-man Kim, “New Wave,” Meot, November 1983. © Joong-man Kim | Photographed by Yunah Lee c, d. Designer Cheon-beom Bae, Photographer Gwang-hae Kim, Meot Collection Summer Message, Meot, June 1984. © Gwang-hae Kim | Photographed by Yunah Lee e, f. Designer Lee Rija, Photographer, Choi Young-don, Meot, October 1983. © Choi Young-don | Photographed by Yunah Lee; Designer Lee Younghee, Photographer Bae Byung-woo, Meot, May 1985. © Bae Byung-woo | Photographed by Yunah Lee
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Fashion photography includes several different practices—editorial and advertising, beauty, portraiture versus documentary photography. It also involves various professionals as agents—photographers, stylists, models, makeup artists, hair stylists, designers, creative and artistic directors. However, unlike photographic images in women’s magazines or information magazines, it sits across the realms of art and commerce.38 Due to its far-reaching influence and commerciality, created by several authors, fashion photography increasingly takes premier position over a fashion designer or fashion garment per se. Fashion photography is often not about a particular dress but more about artistic creation for a photographic work of aesthetic appreciation.39 Thus, the dress in fashion photography is often stylized and manipulated for desired effects. Fashion photographs featured in Vogue Korea can present a good case for this. Vogue, founded in 1892 in the USA, is an ultimate fashion magazine as authoritative style guide and a desirable object.40 It has been using fashion photography with illustrations and graphics.41 Vogue is a global fashion institution with publications in many different countries. Since its launch in 1996, Vogue Korea has been a major force for bringing global fashion information and high-standard creative practice into Korea. More importantly, it has created and perpetuated images of Korean fashion and dress from the Orientalist perspective.42 Many fashion features on Korean design and designers conveyed distinctively hybrid ethnic notes, emanating familiar yet exotic oriental imageries. The cover image of the June issue of Vogue in 2007 featured the hallyu actress, Song Hye-gyo, as Hawng Jini, the famous gisaeng of Joseon. It was the year when a feature film and a television period drama on this historical character were shown to the public.43 The cover received huge attention from the media: (1) it was the first cover of Vogue Korea featuring a Korean woman, not a foreign celebrity; and (2) it carried the striking image of the most famous Korean women conflated into one—both figures recognized as the embodiment of Korean beauty. Photographs accompanying the article inside the magazine showed Song wearing several hanbok dresses designed by Jung Gu-ho, who designed costumes for the film with Song playing the title role. On the cover, however, Song was shown in a half portraiture in black and white with a heading “hwangjini in paris” (all in lowercase on the cover) and a title “VOGUE” (all in uppercase) occupying her headdress. Song stands showing her back and turning her face in a profile to three-quarter view to the audience. Hanbok dress—in fact the skirt only—is barely visible as Song did not wear jeogori to expose her bare shoulders, neck, and back. The makeup and hairstyle created an image of the exotic as if
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Song is the haunting beauty. It was an image of someone ambiguously oriental in identity without a clear national or ethnic origin.44 It was photographed by Vogue’s regular photographer Paolo Roversi in Paris with an international crew of stylists. The composition and effect of the image is comparable with Roversi’s photograph of young Natalia Vodianova in 2002. What I want to argue here is that this image is not necessarily about Korean women (neither Song nor Hwang) or about Korean dress. The author of this photograph is clearly Roversi; and it is the representation of Vogue’s globalized fashion aesthetics that were applied to the interpretation of Korean dress and beauty. This may not tell us much about how contemporary Korean hanbok is made and worn in high society or on the street. It signals tension between the global and the local dynamics of representation of the Korean fashion industry and magazine production that emerged from the late 1990s. Other feature spreads on Korean/oriental themes, with styling of hanbok, especially by Seo Young-hee’s styling, contributed to the reinterpretation and representation of traditional dress forms and shapes in contemporary fashion visual language (see the cover image of this volume). The stylization of hanbok in more contemporary fashion terms are frequently featured in other magazines, notably wedding magazines such as My Wedding, a high-end luxury lifestyle magazine.45 Hanbok is still presented as a dress for seasonal festivals or ceremonies such as weddings. Nonetheless, hanbok is reconstructed, rearranged, and stylized for contemporary fashion-conscious, trend-following audiences. Hanbok designers, consumers, and stylists all contributed to the changing perception of hanbok from traditional or authentic to fashionable. From the 1970s, photographs of models in hanbok appeared in issues, on the cover or inside as a feature article, for Chuseok (September) and Seolnal (January or February) usually in women’s magazines to promote exemplary behavior. With the rise of brand-name hanbok designers like Lee Rheeza 이리자 (1935–2020) or Lee Younghee 이영희 (1936–2018), fashion magazines also carried more fashion photographs showing how to style hanbok in the 1980s (Figure 9.4ef). In the twenty-first century, images of hanbok-clad figures are constantly reinvented for a global audience consuming Netflix drama series and other streaming services.
Conclusion I have introduced different ranges of magazines and photographs that can be useful for the study of Korean fashion and dress in the latter part of the twentieth
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century and discussed the key issues to consider when we approach these materials in order to “read” clothes on the page and “decode” meanings below the surface. I believe that there is huge scope to explore Korean fashion and dress through the examination of these materials and look forward to future studies as more people become interested in reviving mid-century period costumes for films, music videos, modernism-style commercial spaces, and historical buildings.46 Writing dress and fashion history in the study of Korean modern and contemporary dress since the 1950s calls for methodological intervention in the ways in which the primary sources are examined and analyzed in order to go beyond current Korean dress and fashion history narratives of periodical fashion trends, symbolic and aesthetic meanings of fashion as a reflection of social and cultural mood and changes, the essentialism of Korean style and fashion. The value of magazines and photographic images for this purpose is enormous— especially diversifying topics and themes and discovering multi-layered narratives of fashion and dress history in Korea. However, more case studies will reveal the limitations of photographic sources related to commercial intervention, financial motives, or sponsorship. The possibility of integration of visual and textual analysis with object-based analysis of existing garments in museum collections is increasing. One should note the following institutions: the National Folk Museum and Seoul History Museum in Seoul; the Korean Modern and Contemporary Fashion Museum originally in Seoul and now temporarily relocated in Songdo, Incheon; the Daegu National Museum and Daegu Textile Museum in Daegu; and other museums of women’s schools and universities.47 In Korea there are growing private collections of fashion designers, boutiques, or ready-to-wear manufacturers. Recent exhibitions show some signs of new developments of Korean dress and fashion history and the use of photography and magazines in its study: the exhibition of Nora Noh and her designs at the Ilmin Newspaper Museum, Seoul in 2013; a centennial anniversary exhibition of Chongro Tailor’s (100 년의 테일러 종로양복점) at Daegu Textile Museum in 2014; 20th-Century Hanbok of Korean Women, a special exhibition at the Daegu National Museum of Korea in 2018; the Fashion and Seoul 1945–2020 (서울멋쟁이) exhibition at the Seoul Urban Life Museum in 2021. These exhibitions enabled researchers to discover handed-down clothes from the mid-twentieth century and subsequent periods. The National Folk Museum of Korea collects material culture of ordinary citizens’ satirical practices as well as garments by well-known fashion designers such as Choi Kyung-ja and Andre Kim. Photographic images of fashion and dress culture gain supporting evidence from these artifacts of material culture to verify, modify, or reject staged representations of the sartorial practices of both high and everyday fashion.
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Notes 1 2 3 4
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Roland Barthes, The Fashion System (Oakland: University of California Press, 1990). Jennifer Craik, Fashion: The Key Concepts (Oxford: Berg, 2009), 248. Craik, Fashion, 249. Mok Soo-hyun, “From Patriotism to Capitalism: Transformation of Korean National Symbols Under Colonial Rule,” in Kyunghee Pyun and Jung-ah Woo, eds., Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation (New York: Routledge, 2021), 58–68. See Talbot’s and Joo’s chapters in this volume. Kwon Haeng-ga, “Royal Propaganda and National Identity in Emperor Gojong’s Portrait Photography,” Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art, 49–57. Katharina Lindner, “Images of Women in General Interest and Fashion Magazine Advertisements from 1955 to 2002,” Sex Roles 51:7 (2004): 409–21. Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas, Fashion’s Double: Representations of Fashion in Painting, Photography and Film (London: Bloomsbury, 2015). Charlotte Nicklas and Annebella Pollen, Dress History: New Directions in Theory and Practice (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 12. For further discussion of the collections of images in the study of dress and fashion, see Annebella Pollen, Mass Photography: Collective Histories of Everyday Life (New York: Routledge, 2016) and Lou Taylor, The Study of Dress History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002). See chapters by Kyungmee Lee, Nomura Michiyo, Kyeongmi Joo, and Kyunghee Pyun in Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Kyunghee Pyun, “Hybrid Dandyism: European Woolen Fabric in East Asia,” Fashion, Identity, and Power, 285–306. The social section (39%) mostly dealt with women’s issues in the public sphere, and the home section (30%) emphasized Western family and home images and Western-style ways of life. The culture section (29%) presented visual images of urban life. Chung Young-Hee 정영희, “1960nyeondae daejungjiwa geundae dosijeok salmui guseong: yeoseongji ‘Yeowon’eul jungsimeuro” 1960 년대 대중지와 근대 도시적 삶의 구성: 여성지‘여원’을 중심으로 [Popular Magazines and Composition of Modern Urban Life in the 1960s: A Case Study of the Women’s Magazine ], Eollon-gwahak yeongu 언론과학연구 [Journal of Communication Science] 9:3 (2009): 468–509. Kim Young-ja 김영자, “Gungnae fashion jungbojiga jesihan fashion issue-e daehan bunseok” 국내패션 정보지가 제시한 패션 이슈에 대한 분석 [Analysing about Fashion Issue through Fashion Magazine], Hanguk-uisang design hakhoeji 한국의상디자인학회지 [Journal of the Korean Fashion & Costume Design Association] 4:2 (2002): 69–83.
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14 Lee Soojin, “1970nyeondae hanguk yeoseongji-ui fashion gwanggo design-eul tonghae bon yeoseong pyosang yeongu: yeoseong dong-a wa yeoseong joongang-eul jungsimeuro” 1970 년대 한국 여성지의 패션 광고디자인을 통해 본 여성 표상 연구: 여성동아와 여성중앙을 중심으로 [A Study on the Representation of Women in Advertising Design in Korean Women’s Magazines in the 1970s: A Focus on Woman Dong-A and Woman Joong-Ang] (MA thesis, Seoul National University, 2019). 15 Kim Young-chan 김영찬 and Kim Jong-hee 김종희, “1960nyeondae huban yeoseongji-reul tonghae bon geundaejeok fashion-gwa sobimunhwa-e daehan yeongu” 1960 년대 후반 여성지를 통해 본 근대적 패션과 소비문화에 관한 연구 [Making Sense of Modern Fashion and Consumer Culture through Women’s Magazines of the 1960s], Communication yeelon 커뮤니케이션 이론 [Communication Theories] 8:2, 154–96. 16 John Walker, Design History and History of Design (London: Pluto Press, 1990). 17 Paul Jobling, Fashion Spread (London: Bloomsbury, 1999). 18 Pollen, Mass Photograph; Taylor, The Study of Dress History. 19 Taylor, The Study of Dress History, 150–77. 20 Yunah Lee, “Fashioning Tradition in Contemporary Korean Fashion,” International Journal of Fashion Studies 4:2 (2017): 241–61. 21 This purpose was not only confined to Korea but also found in other Asian countries. See Mei Rado’s chapter in Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia. 22 Hye-ri Oh, “Translating ‘Photography’: The Migration of the Concept of Sajin from Portraiture to Photography,” History of Photography 39:4 (2015): 366–89. DOI: 10.1080/03087298.2015.1103471 23 See Yuri Seo, “Magazine Covers and Colonial Modernity: Politics of the Korean Face,” in Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art, 105–13. 24 See the discussion of new woman or modern girls in Seo, “Magazine Covers,” 108–10. 25 Chung, “Popular Magazines,” 468–509. 26 Kyunghee Pyun, “Body Autonomy and Miniskirt Controversy in South Korea,” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Berg Fashion Library edited by Joanna Eicher (digital database) (Oxford: Berg, 2021). DOI: 10.5040/9781847888556. EDch062019 (accessed September 30, 2021). 27 Kim and Kim, “Making Sense of Modern Fashion,” 154–96. 28 Chung, “Popular Magazines,” 468–509. 29 Pyun, “Body Autonomy.” 30 Avant-garde fashion like the tissue dress worn by Jung Gang-ja was not shown in fashion magazines but in popular journalism like Sunday Seoul. See Sooran Choi, “Never a Failed Avant-Garde: Interdisciplinary Strategy of the Fourth Group in 1969–1970,” in Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art, 170–1. 31 Kim and Kim, “Making Sense of Modern Fashion,” 154–96; Chung, “Popular Magazine,” 468–509.
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32 For dress-making schools in the 1960s, see Pyun, “Hybrid Dandyism,” 290–293. 33 See Yangjae (Ha) 양재 (하) 洋裁 (下), issued on September 5, 1697, Minsok 058097 at National Folk Museum. 34 “Yeou-ui sinsaenghwalbok show” 女優(여우)의 新生活服(신생활복)「쑈」 [The showcase of New Everyday Clothing with Actresses], Gyeonghyang Newspaper, August 25, 1961. 35 Choi Kyung-ja, “Otcharimgwa sidaeseong ; miwa sachi-reul hondonghaji malja ganpyeonhago hwaldongjeok-yi-myeonseo yuhaeng-eun sidae-e ttara bakkwinda saekgal-ui johwawa accessory-do” 옷차림과 時代性; 美와 사치를 혼동하지 말자 간편하고 활동적이면서 유행은 시대에 따라 바뀐다 색갈의 조화와 액세서리도
36
37
38 39 40
41 42
[Clothing and the Trend of the Times; Let’s Not Confuse Beauty and Luxury. Fashion Changes with the Times. Harmony of Colors and Accessories Also Change with the Times], Dong-a ilbo, August 26 and 27, 1961. See emergence of art photography (yesul sajin) in Korea in Hye-ri Oh, “Modernity and Authenticity in Korean Pictorialism: From Pungsok Painting to Art Photography” in Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art, 71–9. One must be careful to decide whether dresses were borrowed for artistic effect or whether ordinary people were candidly captured at an instant. “Ji Jaewon, Sajin-eun fashion-e sum-gyeol-eul bureoneon-neun jageobida” 지재원, 사진은 패션에 숨결을 불어넣는 작업이다 [Ji Jaewon, photography is a work that breathes breath into fashion], Fashion Post, October 12, 2019, https://fpost.co.kr/board/ bbs/board.php?bo_table=special&wr_id=211/ (accessed December 19, 2021); “Kim Tae-kyun hangilkungil Geuga malhada, 21. sajinjakga Kim Joong-man” 김태균, 한길큰길 그가 말하다 21 사진작가 김중만 [Kim Tae-kyun, Hangilkeungil, 21. Photographer Kim Joong-man], The Seoul Shinmun 서울신문, July 7, 2016, https://www. seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20160707029002 (accessed December 19, 2021). Eugénie Shinkle, Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing Images of Fashion (London: I.B. Tauris, 2008). Shinkle, Fashion as Photograph. For the Analysis of Vogue’s impact on the fashion industry, see Diana Crane, “Gender and Hegemony in Fashion Magazines: Women’s Interpretations of Fashion Photographs,” The Sociological Quarterly 40:4 (1999): 541–63; Becky E. Conekin, “Eugene Vernier and ‘Vogue’ Models in Early ‘Swinging London’: Creating the Fashionable Look of the 1960s,” Women’s Studies Quarterly 41:1/2 (2012): 89–107. Kate Best, The History of Fashion Journalism (London: Bloomsbury, 2017). For Orientalist perspectives in global fashion magazines, see Ellen McLarney, “The Burqa in Vogue: Fashioning Afghanistan,” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 5:1 (2009), 1–23; Helen Kopnina, “The World According to ‘Vogue’: The Role of Culture(s) in International Fashion Magazines,” Dialectical Anthropology 31:4 (2007), 363–81.
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43 See Minjung Lee’s chapter in this volume. 44 See the discussion of “ambiguously oriental” in Minjung Lee’s chapter in this volume. Kingdom (2019)’s costume designer Kwon Yujin received an order from Netflix to “express Joseon as an unknown country that exists in the East rather than the Joseon of Korean history.” In this process of globalization, the costumes of K-period dramas may take on styles that seem more “fashionable” to people around the world, and the dress of different periods may become nonspecific to produce an ambiguous identity that looks “traditionally Korean.” 45 Lee, “Fashioning Tradition,” 241–61. 46 Felice McDowell, “ ‘Old’ Glossies and ‘New’ Histories: Fashion, Dress and Historical Space,” Fashion Theory 20:3 (2016): 297–316. 47 Ehwa Womans University and Sookmyung Womans University have holdings of their school uniforms. Kyung-gi Girls High School has a display case of school uniforms and insignias, for example. See Kyunghee Pyun, “School uniforms in East Asia: Micro-styling,” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Berg Fashion Library edited by Joanna Eicher (digital database) (2020/21). There are photographs and examples of school uniforms: Kyunghee Pyun, “Transformation of Monastic Habits: Student Uniforms for Christian Schools in East Asia,” Journal of Religion and the Arts 24:4 [Special Issue: Faith/Fashion/Forward: Dress and the Sacred] (2020): 604–40.
Part Two Case Studies: Museum Practice, Tourism, and Costume Design
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Chulto boksik (Excavated Dress) and the Collection at Chungbuk National University Museum In-woo Chang
Starting in the early 1970s the South Korean government commissioned a series of construction projects such as building national dams and highways. These projects inevitably entailed the relocation of a number of graveyards, primarily formed during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) whether small or large in scale. These tomb relocations consequently brought about discoveries of a multitude of clothing and textiles that had been worn over and wrapped around bodies, and filled the wooden caskets. Such tombs are known as lime-soil-mixturebarrier (LSMB) tombs (hoegwangmyo 회곽묘 灰槨墓). As Joseon claimed NeoConfucianism as the state’s governing ideology, the Neo-Confucian doctrines infiltrated every aspect of people’s daily life and prescribed the way things should be done in detail. The burial practice of LSMB tombs was prescribed by NeoConfucianism and popularized through its spread. The wooden coffin, interred in a lime-soil mixture, soon hardens into a concrete layer as it absorbs moisture under the ground. Then, the concrete layer completely seals the coffin, blocking penetration of water, air, and bacteria. Therefore, materials within often remain intact and well preserved. In most cases of discovery, archaeological evidence concerning age and social status of the deceased were able to be cross-examined with the family history records called jokbo 족보. The clothing and textiles discovered from these LSMB tombs provide invaluable information for the study of dress and fashion of the relevant period. Before the 1970s, articles of clothing and textiles found from the course of tomb relocations were customarily incinerated in private for two reasons. One was hygienic: decomposing organic material was thought undesirable because it may spread disease. The other was related to filial piety: disclosing one’s ancestor’s burial site was considered irreverent and against the Confucian tenet that 211
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underscored respect for parents and familial elders. However, such archaeological discoveries inevitably increased, and unearthed clothing and textiles have garnered academic attention as valuable sources for researching period costumes. They have been widely collected across the entire territory of South Korea, and are managed by the national, provincial, and university museums, as well as a few private collectors. The Chungbuk National University Museum (CNUM, “the museum”) is one of the institutions that pioneered research into unearthed clothing and textiles, including retrieving, preserving, and documenting collections as well as publishing reports. In this chapter, I will shed light on the early history of archaeological clothing and textile collections at the museum, as it represents the field’s history in South Korea. To iterate the significance of excavated items in studies of dress and fashion history, I will examine three ceremonial attires— wonsam 원삼 圓衫 (robe), dang-ui 당의 唐衣 (jacket), and jang-ui 장의 長衣 (coat)—from the museum’s collection in comparison with other extant cases. These items frequently appeared among controversial scholarly debates recorded in the literary sources of the time. Synthesizing the literary and archaeological sources, this chapter will look into how material elements of clothing have transformed, embodying and transgressing the Confucian notions that dictated the dress and fashion practice of the time.
Clothing and Textiles Retrieved from LSMB Tombs As mentioned above, until the early 1970s clothing and textiles retrieved from tomb excavations were customarily incinerated, and were not seriously considered as artifacts worthy of conservation. Even when the Cultural Heritage Committee members Kim Tong-uk 김동욱 金東旭 (1922–90), Go Bok-nam 고복남, and Yu Song-ok 유송옥 assessed clothing objects to designate as National Folklore Cultural Heritage (clothing sector) in 1979, provenance of the clothing was not articulated whether from tombs or familial inheritance.1 The attempt to define the term “excavated dress” (chulto boksik 출토 복식) first appears in the eighth volume of the Chungbuk National University Museum Excavation Report written by Kim Tong-uk in 1983.2 Dating of excavated dress from LSMB tombs ranges from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, which parallels the entire Joseon period. The articles of clothing and textiles found from coffins can be at large classified into: (1) clothing worn on the body; (2) cloths that wrapped around the clothed body, and mats: (3)
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straps that tied the wrapped body; and (4) clothing that filled the spaces between the body and the coffin. In the early days of research, the scholars claimed those were su-ui 수의 壽衣 or burial attires, rather than daily wear of the deceased. As such cases accumulated, it became clear that the excavated items featured a variety of styles with regional and temporal characteristics, which led to the conclusion that they were in fact daily clothes worn by the deceased.3 As excavated dress has opened a new genre of primary sources for dress study in South Korea that can provide veritable temporal and spatial information, it has had a significant impact on approaches to studying dress history. The studies, previously focused on literary and visual representations, have shifted to incorporating examinations of artifacts. The scope of studies which had been limited to inherited royal ceremonial costumes also expanded to a wide range of daily wear of the gentry through which excavated articles have been disclosed.
Dress Collection at the Chungbuk National University Museum The Chungbuk National University Museum began to house clothing and textiles retrieved from tomb excavations in the late 1970s, when the construction of Cheongju Airfield, Daecheong Dam, and Chungju Dam began. Former Director Lee Yung-jo 이융조 recalls that the initial acquisition of the excavated dress was directly associated with the research project of late Professor Jo Geunsang 조근상 of the Department of Korean Literature in 1977. Jo received a request to examine 192 sheets of correspondence written in classical Korean (hangeul, total 189 sheets) and Chinese (3 sheets) in the late sixteenth century discovered from the tomb of Lady Kim (Suncheon clan) (Figure 10.1a). The tomb revealed not only the correspondence with detailed description of laborious works related to clothing making, but also many articles of clothing and textiles from the coffin. This news was delivered to the then director of the museum, Lee Subong 이수봉. Lee reached out to dress historian and philologist Kim Tong-uk. Lee and Kim immediately visited the excavation site and took a brown plain-silk quilted coat cheolik and a white ramie unlined coat cheolik (Figure 10.1b) back to the museum, which became the first items in the museum’s dress collection. This discovery in 1977 served as a fundamental reference to further elucidating the common structure and construction details of cheolik,4 and later to identifying the robe depicted in Man in Korean Costume, dated to c. 1617, by Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), right after the infamous acquisition by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1983 (Figure 10.1c).5
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Figure 10.1 a. Correspondence written in classical Korean discovered from the tomb of Lady Kim (Suncheon clan). © Chungbuk National University Museum b. A cheollik from the tomb of Lady Kim (Suncheon clan), late 16th century. © Chungbuk National University Museum c. Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), Man in Korean Costume, c. 1617, black chalk with touches of red chalk in the face, 38.4 × 23.5 cm. © J. Paul Getty Museum
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The museum has published excavation reports annually with a special focus on clothing, textiles, and related funerary practices. From publication in 1987, clothing diagrams began to be illustrated on color grid paper.6 In 1995, the museum published Urinara 16·17segi chultoboksik 우리나라 16・17세기 출토복식 [Excavated Dress of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Korea], which examined the critical transformation of dresses reflecting complex sociopolitical and economic transition before and after the Japanese invasion from 1592 to 1598.7 From 1998 onwards, the colors of the garments were analyzed using lab values.8 Other significant publications thereafter include Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Kim Won-taek in 2006, Women’s Dress in the Joseon Dynasty and Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Lady Yi of Hansan Clan in 2008, and Funerary Rites and Excavated Dress about the Time of the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592–1598 in 2013.9 Late dress historian Kim Tong-uk said in an interview that the museum had recruited local women skilled in sewing to wash and mend the retrieved garments. They used large bamboo baskets for washing items in water, and repaired them by hand, which at that formative stage was not done very meticulously, and these handling processes were not documented. Later, the museum devised a wooden tank for washing the garments.10 For the conservation of the garments retrieved from the tombs of Kim Wontaek’s family in 2003, the museum asked Sunae Park Evans, Conservator of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, to supervise the whole processes of vacuuming, steaming, and storing with traditional Korean paper hanji, etc.11 The artifacts were then placed in the museum’s storage, where the level of humidity and temperature is consistently optimized.
Wonsam, Dang-ui, Jang-ui in the Neo-Confucian Discourses Many of Joseon scholars debated Confucian principles and their application in society, and also recorded the arguments in their personal anthologies. Surprisingly, the descriptions significantly concerned clothing. NeoConfucianism was the dominating ideology that governed every aspect of Joseon society, from the view of the universe to international relationships, political administration, articulation of social status, relationships among community members, as well as enactment of state and family rituals. The Confucian scholars contended that the practice of constructing and wearing dress should conform to Neo-Confucian principles. Thus, issues surrounding
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proper dress practice, decorum, and origin of clothing items were the ceaseless subjects in their scholarly discussion. The argument by the dethroned king Yeonsan (r. 1494–1506) in 1505 offers an interesting insight: The King said, “A high official once said that one’s clothing manifests high and low status. However, this is not very true. One can recognize that a noble man is noble although dressed down, and that a lowly man is ignoble even though dressed up. How can one judge another based on the clothing? I hereby shall permit luxurious silk fabrics (saraneungdan 사라 능단 紗羅綾段) for all men in official positions regardless of their level of hierarchy, only excluding illegitimate sons. The more people wear lustrous silk clothing in the court, the more splendid the court would be featured.” From this point on saw the price inflation of luxurious silk. The court officials who could not afford such expensive silk fabric began to improvise their court uniforms. The court robe dallyeong 단령 團領 was made by altering women’s ceremonial robe wonsam 원삼 圓衫. During the official congregation at the court, more than half of the officials were actually wearing a wonsam.12
This suggests that women’s wonsam and men’s dallyeong were similar enough for men to attend the court wearing wonsam as a substitute for dallyeong, and men conducting official business in women’s clothing does not seem to have been problematized at the time. Confucian scholar Seong Manjing 성만징 成晩徵 (1659–1711), in response to a question asked by civil official Yun Il 윤일 尹日 (1630–93), commented that “the structure of wonsam is largely the same as that of dallyeong.”13 The phrase “largely the same” implies that they were similar but not identical. Later, literati Kim Geunhaeng 김근행 金謹行 (1713–784) in his anthology Yongjae-jip 용재집 stated that “women wear wonsam to distinguish themselves from men,” from which it is assumed that wonsam and dallyeong diverged into different styles toward the late eighteenth century.14 Confucian scholars in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries such as Jeong Yeo-il 정여일 鄭汝逸 (1678–1752), Yi Ik 이익 李瀷 (1681–1764), Yi Jae 이재 李縡 (1680–1746), Jeong Yak-yong 정약용 (1762–1836), and Seong Hae-eung 성해응 成海應 (1760–1839) all sought to investigate the origin of wonsam and dang-ui, which share the structural characteristic of open side seams.15 In 1456, a court scholar named Yang Seongji 양성지 梁誠之 (1415–82) who worked in the royal library Jiphyeonjeon 집현전 集賢殿 appealed to King Sejo (r. 1455–68), saying: “Clothing is a means to articulate social hierarchy, sex and gender. It is inappropriate for women to wear men’s clothing jang-ui. Your highness, please
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prohibit women from wearing jang-ui.”16 As this comment demonstrates, distinguishing men from women by means of clothing was one of the crucial tasks in the social reform. The appeal was officially accepted by King Sejo. However, numerous excavated articles of jang-ui do not conform to the record. They attest to have been worn in the late Joseon despite the proscription.17 Likewise, the heated debates over women’s wearing jang-ui lingered in the scholarly discourse until the late nineteenth century, as the Confucian doctrine namnyeo yubyeol 남녀유별 that men and women should always be differentiated widely penetrated into Joseon society.18
Wonsam: Diverged from Dallyeong Today, wedding ceremonies in South Korea still retain a brief traditional rite called pyebaek, where the bride and groom bow to elders in the family. For the pyebaek ceremony, grooms wear a dallyeong, and brides a wonsam (see Figure 4.4). Today, we can clearly distinguish the two robes though, ironically the two were hardly distinguishable in the early Joseon. In the Joseon literature, the term dansam 단삼 團衫 is thought to refer to wonsam, while dallyeong is recorded as wollyeong 원령 圓領.19 Coats similar to male dallyeong also have been excavated from the graves of women. Archaeological dress historian Song Migyeong suggested that they may have been wonsam worn by women.20 Later dress scholars concluded that women’s wonsam in the early Joseon took their form from men’s dallyeong.21 A close cross-investigation of the artifacts with the relevant records suggests that the nomenclature of dallyeong and wonsam appeared in the written sources as discrete first, and the stylistic diversion is later examined in the artifacts.22 Images in Figure 10.2 demonstrate their stylistic transformation in three stages.23 The first is up to the seventeenth century featuring three distinctive characteristics: (1) wonsam was fastened by the attached sashes with the left panel covering the right; (2) the bottom curve of the sleeves gradually dropped creating wider sleeve-ends than the armhole length, though in some cases dating to the early seventeenth century, the widths of sleeve are consistently narrow and straight; and (3) rectangular side panels were sewn below the armpits. Both (1) and (3) are also observed in the trend of men’s dallyeong during the same period (Figure 10.2a). The second stage is the seventeenth century which can be studied through the wonsam of Lady Jeong (1567–1631, Dongnae clan). The left and right front panels are identical and meet at the center front. The side seams are
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Figure 10.2 Stylistic Transformation of Wonsam a. A (female) dallyeong from the tomb of Lady Yun (Papyeong clan, ?–1566). © Korea University Museum b. A (female) dallyeong from the tomb of Lady Jeong (Janggi clan, 1565–1614), 17th century. © Andong University Museum c. A wonsam from the tomb of Lady Jeong (Dongnae clan, 1567–1631), 264 × 159.5 cm. © Gyeonggi Provincial Museum d. A wonsam from the tomb of Lady Sim (Cheongsong clan, 1683–1718), 265 × 155.5 cm. © Chungbuk National University Museum
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open with no additional side panels. The sleeves became wider and shorter. The sashes, previously attached to the robe, were detached from the seventeenth century onwards. This transition is similarly observed in another women’s clothing item, baeja 배자 背子 or long vest. The third stage is from the eighteenth century onwards. The sleeves continued to be wider and longer; at the end of the sleeves, multicolor stripes saekdong 색동 and white silk cuffs hansam 한삼 汗衫 became the new norm in designs of wonsam. In sum, for about three hundred years the structure of wonsam gradually evolved, diverging from men’s dallyeong.
Dang-ui: Invented for Modesty? Dang-ui might be one of the most popularly seen clothing of court ladies in Korean historical dramas. It is a semiformal jacket with open side seams, worn over a women’s hanbok ensemble comprised of a short top jeogori and a long skirt chima (Figure 10.3). The length of dang-ui typically reaches the wearer’s hipbone; each sleeve-end is sewn with a white cuff that is turned back. Images in Figure 10.3 demonstrate stylistic changes of dang-ui from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The origin of dang-ui is deemed as hipbone-length jeogori with open side seams of the sixteenth century (Figure 10.3ab). Up to the seventeenth century, these jeogori with open side seams were worn by both men and women, and commonly had a triangular panel at each side. The side panels, however, do not appear from the eighteenth century onwards and this style of open side-seam jeogori without side panels was only found from female tombs.24 Dress historians Kim Tong-uk, Go Bok-nam, and Park Seongsil have differentiated the former (with side panels in Figure 10.3ab) as jeogori from the latter as dang-ui (without side panels in Figure 10.3cd).25 It leads to a conjecture that the open side-seam jeogori were androgynous before, but transitioned to a female only item dang-ui through the transformation into a more feminine style from the eighteenth century. The fact that dang-ui was increasingly worn around the eighteenth century is evinced by the excavations of eighteenth-century tombs where five to ten dang-ui were discovered per site.26 Until the eighteenth century, the bottom of the sleeves was straight and the bottom hemlines were merely curved (Figure 10.3ab). From the nineteenth century onwards, on the contrary, the bottom hemlines curved like a ginkgo leaf, and the bottom of the sleeves curved slightly toward the tapered sleeve-end (Figure 10.3cd).
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Figure 10.3 Stylistic Changes in Dang-ui (16th–20th century) a. A jeogori with open side seams from a tomb attributed to General Park, c. first half of the 17th century. © Chungbuk National University Museum b. A jeogori with open side seams from the tomb of Lady Sim (Cheongsong clan, 1683–1718), 82 × 44.5 cm. © Chungbuk National University Museum c. A dang-ui worn by Princess Deogon (1822–44) at her wedding in 1837, maroon satin damask woven with supplementary gold weft featuring Chinese characters meaning longevity 壽 and fortune 福. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum d. A dang-ui worn by a royal or gentry lady, c. 1900, silk gauze (green, lined with pink), gold-leaf with Chinese characters meaning longevity 壽 and fortune 福, 141 × 82 cm. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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Many scholars described dang-ui as women’s daily wear regardless of age or status: After washing their faces and brushing their teeth every morning, women combed their hair and wore a dang-ui for morning salutation of elders in the home. Im Seongju 임성주 任聖周, 1711–8827 a garment that women wear in their daily life; concubines can also wear. Yun Bonggu 윤봉구 尹鳳九, 1681–176728 worn for outings and having an audience with elderly people or even kings. Hong Jikpil 홍직필 洪直弼, 1776–189229 an outfit for high-rank ladies and gentry women for meeting the king. Yi Hyeongsang 이형상 李衡祥, 1653–173330 worn by children. Shin Gwangsu 신광수 申光洙, 1712–7531
Other than daily wear, Joseon women wore dang-ui for rites of passage such as coming-of-age ceremonies (gyerye 계례 ㄴ禮),32 weddings,33 funerals, and ancestral worship,34 as well as for their own shrouds. Dang-ui were also worn for remarriage ceremonies.35 In funerary rites, a dang-ui was used as a medium to conjure the soul of the deceased woman.36 For ancestral veneration ceremonies, Yi Ik 이익 李瀷 (1681–1763) specified the color of dang-ui white or close to white,37 Shin Giseon 신기선 申箕善 (1851–1909) mentioned wearing a jokduri or bejeweled coronet along with dang-ui,38 and Song Neungsang 송능상 宋能相 (1710–58) reiterated wearing dang-ui for this occasion, as wonsam are reserved for brides at wedding ceremonies.39 Hong Jikpil mentioned, “Ladies’ dang-ui is equivalent to a men’s ceremonial ensemble such as jobok 조복 朝服 or jebok 제복 祭服 for state rituals.”40 For shrouds for the deceased, ordinary-class women were dressed in dang-ui, while high-class women were dressed in wonsam.41 As evinced through archaeological discoveries, the popularity of dang-ui grew from the eighteenth century. Joseon scholars such as Kim Jangsaeng 김장생 金長生 (1548–1631), Song Munheum 송문흠 宋文欽 (1710–52), Im Seongju, and Hong Jikpil ascribed the popularity of dang-ui to the jeogori that became more and more cropped, reaching extremely short lengths.42 They explain that at that time short jeogori provoked such a social controversy that they were dubbed bogyo 복요, or bizarre/coquettish fashion, and that dang-ui maintained wearers’ proper Confucian modesty.43 Regarding the “bizarre fashion” (bogyo) of short jeogori, Kim Jangsaeng contended that “rather than proscribing the fashion, the
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cropped style jeogori should be accepted as a new practice,” and Song Munheum and Hong Jikpil advocated this view as well.44 Kim Jangsaeng viewed the trend in light of eumyang 陰陽 theory: A Confucian scholar’s robe sim-ui is constructed with the bodice and the skirt in equal lengths. Because the bodice and the skirt represent yang 陽 and eum 陰, respectively, their equal length ratio implies the balance between yang and eum. However, the imbalance was already perceived during the Jian-an 建安 period (196–220 ce ) of the Eastern Han dynasty in China, in their men’s long tops and short bottoms and women’s short tops and long bottoms. People regarded them as very odd-looking and called “bizarre fashion” (bogyo). Now that women’s jeogori in Joseon are getting shorter day by day, one can say these are indeed “bizarre fashion,” but there is no way to stop this trend.45
This elucidates the Confucian idea of balance of eumyang (Ch. yinyang) as a design principle for the structure of robes as well as the composition of upper and lower garments, but not sustainable from the early history. The trend during the Jian-an revived in the late Joseon: men’s wear evolved to accentuate the top by having a long coat that covered most of their pants underneath, and women’s wear transformed to highlight the bottom with a long and voluminous skirt in contrast with an extremely shortened top. The contrasting appearances in Joseon were fashioned by the diffusion of Neo-Confucian idea of gender/sex binarism called namnyeo yubyeol that men and women should always be differentiated.
Jang-ui: From Coat to Veil The term jang-ui appears interchangeably with jang-ot 장옷 in various texts of the early Joseon, such as the correspondence written by Lady Kim, Yeogeo yuhae 역어유해 譯語類解 (Chinese-Korean dictionary, 1690), and Baktongsa 박통사 朴 通事 (textbook for Chinese language, 1670).46 A jang-ui is a type of coat with no slit at the side seams or center back (Figure 10.4). The coat is fastened by a set of attached sashes goreum, with the left panel covering the right. At each side of the front bodice panel, a trapezoid and a triangular side panel are attached for a flared silhouette. Along the neckline is a narrow neckband. The width of the sleeves is consistent from the armhole to the end, and the bottom of the sleeve is straight. At the end of each sleeve, a turned back white cuff is attached to prevent the sleeve from getting soiled. Based on the excavation statistics, jang-ui ranks the most popular item from tombs of both sexes throughout the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.47
(a)
(b)
(c) Chulto boksik (Excavated Dress)
Figure 10.4 Transformation of Jang-ui (15th–20th century) a. A jang-ui from the tomb of Lady Kim (Andong clan), c. late 16th –late 17th century, silk tabby, quilted with cotton wadding, 182 × 120.5 cm. © Chungbuk National University Museum b. A jang-ui from the tomb of Lady Sim (Cheongsong clan, 1683–1718), 150 × 158 cm. © Chungbuk National University Museum c. A jang-ui (or jang-ot) worn by Princess Deogon (1822–44), c. 1840(?), green silk tabby lined with light pink ramie, 138 × 113 cm. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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The trajectory of jang-ui can be traced along the four stages48: 1) fifteenth century; 2) sixteenth century; 3) seventeenth century; and 4) eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Figure 10.4). During the fifteenth century, women wearing jang-ui seem to have provoked quite a controversy. As aforementioned, civil official Yang Seongji appealed to King Sejo in 1456 to ban women from wearing jang-ui, because jang-ui were men’s clothing and women wearing men’s clothing was bogyo or bizarre fashion.49 Women’s unlined jang-ui and wonsam were prohibited as sumptuary items during the reign of the dethroned king Yeonsan in 1498.50 There was also an appeal from a government institution to ban white ramie jang-ui and skirts during the reign of King Jungjong (r. 1506– 44) in 1522.51 Only female entertainers gisaeng and concubines continued to wear jang-ui.52 The excavated female jang-ui from tombs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries outnumber male jang-ui, proving that they were more commonly worn by women during the period. The jang-ui worn by males were mostly made lined, whereas those worn by females show diverse construction methods such as wadded, wadded then quilted, lined, lined then quilted, and unlined. Most likely, men wore jang-ui for more formal occasions while women wore them as daily wear year-round. Toward the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it becomes even clearer that women wore jang-ui more commonly than men. During this period, only a small number of jang-ui were discovered from male tombs while a greater number of lined jang-ui were found from female tombs. The materials used to make jang-ui include silk damask (dan 단 緞), cotton (myeon 면 綿), twill silk (neung 능 綾), plain silk gauze (sa 사 紗), plain silk (cho 초 䔁), ramie (mosi 모시 紵), and sable fur. Referring to an appeal, recorded in Ilseongnok 일성록 [Records of Daily Reflections], made to King Jeonjo (r. 1776–1800) to order the wearing of green cotton jang-ui for weddings of gentry, a green jang-ui was also worn by gentry brides.53 The female jang-ui during this period seem to have been worn more for ceremonial occasions rather than daily life and by a wider range of social classes. However, the disputes over women wearing jang-ui continued among the male Confucian scholars until the nineteenth century.54 The female jang-ui from the eighteenth century onward commonly feature a narrower bodice and a flared bottom hem forming an A-line silhouette (Figure 10.4). This change toward a more feminine style coincided with the transition in the way of wearing the garment, from a coat to a head covering.55 In the etiquette book Sasojeol 사소절 士小節, Yi Deok-mu 이덕무 李德懋 (1741–93) mentioned
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“a well-bred lady wearing a coat over the head,” which he elaborated as a jangui.56 Many examples of visual representations of women covering their heads with jang-ui appear in the genre paintings of Shin Yunbok 신윤복申潤福 (1758– 1814). Due to the strict demarcation between the sexes prescribed by NeoConfucianism––namnyeo yubyeol––jang-ui served to cover most of the female body from the head down. Toward the late Joseon, the Neo-Confucian norms of modesty and gender separation had deeply infiltrated into people’s lives. Jang-ui, which used to be a coat, transformed into a veil of gentry women covering their faces in public, marking a conspicuous fashion practice conforming to the prevalent societal norms. Dress scholars differ in their opinion only on the time when jang-ui transitioned from coat to veil––i.e., the seventeenth, eighteenth, or nineteenth century.57
Conclusion: Fashion as Embodied Practice of Neo-Confucian Ideology Under the influence of Neo-Confucianism which stressed life-long practice of metaphysical knowledge, the creation of dress items and practice of wearing garments related directly to the implementation of the core doctrine of ye 예 禮 or courtesy. One of the notions that distinctively defined the late Joseon society was namnyeo yubyeol, that is, that the sexes—male and female—should be differentiated, separated, and segregated. In the early Joseon period, the style of clothing items such as wonsam, dang-ui, and jang-ui were worn by both sexes and did not necessarily mark gender distinctions. As the notion of namnyeo yubyeol spread to the whole Joseon society, wonsam, dang-ui, and jang-ui all transformed into exclusively women’s items, of which stylistic elements distinguished them from their male counterparts. Male Confucian scholars continuously attempted to control the social diffusion of women’s fashion by way of enacting governmental ordinances. Numerous written records inform that the clothing practice of women had been a frequent subject of scholarly debates and disputes revolving around social policies. The matter of dress and fashion in Joseon was not treated as a mere practical issue: it was a serious subject intricately linked with a larger framework of building an ethical and legitimate state based on Neo-Confucian propriety. To embody the notion of namnyeo yubyeol, the look of wonsam, dang-ui, and jang-ui, which had been androgynous in the early Joseon, transformed into garments defining femininity.
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Notes 1 The committee assessed the clothes owned by descendants of selected royal family members as well as historic figures including the following: Lady Im (Jangheung clan, 1590s) who was a niece-in-law of General Kim Deok-ryeong 김덕령 金德齡 (1567–96), Hong Jinjong 홍진종 洪鎭宗 (1649–1702), Lady Jeong (Dongnae clan 동래정씨 東萊鄭氏, ?–1538), Kim Deok-won 김덕원 金德遠 (1634–1704), and Lady Yi (Gwangju clan 광주이씨 廣州李氏, 1550s). 2 Chungbuk National University Museum, Imnanjeonhu chultoboksik mit sangnye 임란전후 출토복식 및 상례 [Funerary Rites and Excavated Dress about the Time of the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592–1598] (Cheong-ju: Chungbuk National University Museum Excavation Report no. 8, 1983). 3 Chang InWoo 장인우, “Joseonjunggi ilsangbok ui gujowa guseong” 조선중기 일상복의 구조와 구성 [A Study on the Daily Clothes of the Middle Years of the Joseon Dynasty: Based on the Excavated Costume], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 35 (1997): 343–66. 4 Cheolik is a kind of coat of which top and skirt are joined at the waistline; below the waistline is usually finely gathered or pleated for full volume. It originated in Mongol– the Yuan dynasty of China. In Korea, it was worn from the Goryeo dynasty by the influence from Yuan. Cheolik was called several different names. In Yuan, it was called zhisun 質孫, which meant “luxury” in the Mongolian language. Yisan 曳撒, 一撒 or Tieli 䍤里 are the names used in Ming as well as Joseon. See: Baidu Encyclopedia, “Zhisunfu” 質孫服 https://baike.baidu.hk/item/%E8%B3%AA%E5%A D%AB%E6%9C%8D/7554658 (accessed May 11, 2022). 5 Although decisively entitled Man in Korean Costume, the figure’s identity still lies in controversy between Korean and Chinese. Synthesizing recent analyses, the argument by Dutch scholars Thijs Weststeijn and Lennert Gesterkamp that it is Chinese merchant Yppong evinces the most persuasively. Regarding the discussion on the figure’s identity, see Clare Stuart Wortley, “Rubens’s Drawings of Chinese Costume,” Old Master Drawings 9 (1934), 42 n. 1; Stephanie Schrader, “The Many Identities of Rubens’s Man in Korean Costume: New Perspectives on Old Interpretations,” in Stephanie Schrader, ed., Looking East: Rubens’s Encounter with Asia (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2013), 1–23; Young-Jae Kim, “Looking at the Clothing of Rubens’s Man in Korean Costume,” in Looking East, 24–38; Thijs Weststeijn and Lennert Gesterkamp, “A new identity for Rubens’s ‘Korean man’: Portrait of the Chinese merchant Yppong,” Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art/ Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek Online 66:1 (2016): 142–69; No Seongdu 노성두, Rubens neun Antonio Corea reul Griji Anatta 루벤스는 안토니오 코레아를 그리지 않았다 [Rubens did not draw Antonio Corea] (Seoul: Sarmeun chaek Publishing 삶은 책, 2017), 238–54.
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6 Chungbuk National University Museum, Chultoyu-ui mit geundaeboksik non-go 출토유의 및 근대 복식 논고 I, II [Studies on Excavated and Hereditary Dress I, II] (Cheong-ju: Chungbuk National University Museum Excavation Report No. 20 & Vol. 22, 1987, 1988). 7 Chungbuk National University Museum, Urinara 16.17segi chultoboksik 우리나라 16・17세기 출토복식 [Excavated Dress Dating to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries in Korea], (Cheong-ju: Chungbuk National University Museum, 1995). 8 Chang InWoo, “Yeongunonmun haksuljosabogo: Im Gyeongbaek, Im Gyeobaek myo chultoboksik” 연구논문 학술조사보고: 임경백, 임계백 묘 출토복식 [Excavated Dress from the Tombs of Im Gyeongbaek and Im Gyebaek], Yeonbo 연보 [Annual Bulletin] 7 (Cheong-ju: Chungbuk National University Museum, 1998), 63–132. 9 Chungbuk National University Museum, Kim Wontaek chultoboksik 김원택 출토복식 [Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Kim Won-taek] (Cheong-ju: Chungbuk National University Museum, 2006); Joseonsidae Yeojaboksik 조선시대 여자복식 [Women’s Dress in the Joseon Dynasty] (2008); Hansanissi chultoboksik 한산이씨 출토복식 [Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Lady Yi of Hansan Clan] (2008). 10 Chungbuk National University Museum, Chultoyu-ui I (1987), 14–19. 11 Yang Mi 양미, “Cheongjuchulto Kim Wontaek ilga chulto uibok bojoncheorie gwanhan yeongu” 청주출토 김원택 일가 출토의복 보존처리에 관한 연구 [Study on the Conservation Process of the Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Kim Won-taek in Cheongju] (Master’s thesis, Incheon University, 2008). 12 Yeonsangun ilgi 연산군일기 [Diary of the Dethroned King Yeonsan] Vol. 58, the 11th year of reign (1505), June 13, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wja_11106013_003 (accessed August 17, 2020). 13 Seong Manjing 성만징 成晩徵 (1659–1711), Chudam-jip 추담집 秋潭集, Vol. 4, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0951A_0040_010_0290_2010_B052_XML (accessed August 21, 2020). 14 Kim Geunhaeng 김근행 金勤行 (1713 – 1784), Yongjae-jip 용재집 庸齋集, Vol. 6, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_1059A_0060_010_0120_2012_B081_ XML (accessed August 21, 2020). 15 Chang InWoo, “18segi dang-ui ui yeongtaejeok teukjinggwa sahoejeok nonui” 18세기 당의의 형태적 특징과 사회적 논의 [The Significance of the 18th-Century Dang-ui in the History of Costume] Yeoksaminsokhak 역사민속학 [Journal of Korean Historical-Folklife] 37 (2011): 351–73. 16 Yang Seongji 양성지 梁誠之 (1415 – 1482), Nulje-jip 눌제집 訥齋集, Vol. 2, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0056A_0040_010_0010_2003_A009_XML (accessed August 21, 2020). 17 Sejo sillok 세조실록 世祖實錄 [The Veritable Records of the King Sejo], the 2nd year of reign (1456), March 28, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wga_10203028_003 (accessed August 21, 2020).
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18 Song Munheum 송문흠 宋文欽 (1710 – 1752), Hanjeongdang-jip 한정당집 閒靜堂集 Vol. 7, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0529A_0070_010_ 0010_2005_A225_XML (accessed August 21, 2020); Yi Yuwon 이유원 李裕元 (1814 – 1888), Imha pilgi 임하필기 林下筆記 Vol. 17, munheonjijangpyeon 문헌지장편 文獻 指掌編 (Seoul: Minjok Munhwa Chujinhoe, 1999). 19 Taejong sillok 태종실록 太宗實錄 [The Veritable Records of the King Taejong], the 3rd year of reign (1403), October 27, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wca_10310027_001 (accessed August 21, 2020). Munjong sillok 문종실록 文宗實錄 [The Veritable Records of the King Munjong], the reigning year (1450), August 3, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wea_10008003_002 (accessed August 21, 2020). Danjong sillok 단종실록 端宗實錄 [The Veritable Records of the King Danjong], the 3rd year of reign (1455), April 22, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wja_11106013_003 (accessed August 21, 2020). 20 Song Migyeong 송미경, “Joseonsidae yeoseong dallyeong-e gwanhan yeongu” 조선시대 여성 단령 (團領)에 관한 연구 [A Study on Female Dallyeong in Joseon Dynasty], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 52:8 (2002): 151–60. 21 Im Hyeon-ju 임현주 and Jo Hyo-sook 조효숙, “Joseonsidae wonsamui sigibyeol teulseonge gwanhan yeongu” 조선시대 원삼의 시기별 특성에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Periodic Characteristics of Wonsam in the Joseon Dynasty], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 63:2 (2013): 29–44; Choi Jeong 최정, “Joseon jeon-gi acheong sayeoboksigui gojeungjeok bunseok: seongjong jaewigiui poryuwa ieomeul jungsimeuro” 조선 전기 아청 사여복식 (鴉靑賜與服飾)의 고증적 분석: 성종 재위기의 포 류와 이엄을 중심으로 [A Study on the Historical Research of Indigo Clothing Gifts of Early Joseon: Focusing on the Po and Ieom of King Seongjong’s Reign], Hanguk uiryuhakhoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 44:1 (2020): 107–25. 22 Chang InWoo, “Jaryobunseoguel tonghae bon 18segi wonsamui yuraewa chagyong” 자료분석을 통해 본 18세기 원삼 (圓衫)의 유래와 착용 [A Study on Wonsam (Korea Wedding Dress) in the 18th Century through the Analysis of the Historical Documents and the Excavated Clothing], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 64:5 (2014): 1–17. 23 Lee EunJoo 이은주, “Pohang naedalli janggi jeongssimyo chultoboksik josabogoseo” 포항 내단리 장기 정씨묘 출토복식 조사보고서 [Research Report on the Excavated Costumes from the Tomb of Lady Jeong (Janggi Clan) in Pohang], in Andongdaehakgyo bangmulgwan chongseo 안동대학교 박물관 총서 [Andong National University Museum Series] 15 (2000): 27–70; Lee Myeong-eun 이명은, “Suwon iuidong andong gimssimyo chultoboksik josabogoseo” 수원 이의동 안동김씨묘 출토복식 조사보고서 [Research Report on the Excavated Costumes from the Tomb
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of Lady Kim (Andong Clan) in Suwon] in Suwonbangmulgwan josabogoseo 수원박물관 조사보고서 [Suwon Museum Research Report] (Suwon: Suwon Museum, 2001), 10–51; Kim Mi-ja 김미자 and Song Migyeong 송미경, “Incheon seongnamdong hoegwangmy chultoboksik” 인천 석남동 회곽묘 출토복식 [Excavated Dresses from the Incheon Seoknam-dong hoegwangmyo (lime-soil-mixture-barrier tomb)], Incheonsiripbangmulgwan chongseo 인천시립박물관 총서 [Incheon Metropolitan City Museum Series] (Incheon: Incheon City Museum, 2007), 110–58; Kwon Young-suk 권영숙 et al., Daejeon mokdaldong chulto Joseon cho.junggi yeosan songssi chultoboksik 대전 목달동 출토 조선 초중기 여산 송씨 출토복식 [Excavated Dresses of Lady Song (Yeosan Clan) in Daejeon] (Daejeon: City of Daejeon, 2007); Song Migyeong 송미경 and Park Jin-yeong 박진영, “jinju ryussi hapjangmyo chultoboksik gochal” 진주 류씨 합장묘 출토복식 고찰 [A Critical Review on the Excavated Costumes from the Tomb of Lady Ryu (Jinju Clan)], Gyeongido bangmulgwan haksulchongseo 경기도박물관 학술총서 [Gyeonggi Provincial Museum Research] (Yongin: Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, 2007), 114–73; Song Migyeong, “Kim Hwak hapjangmyo chultoboksik yeongu” 김확 합장묘 출토복식 연구 [A Study on the Excavated Costumes from the Tomb of Kim Hwak] in Gyeongido bangmulgwan chongseo 경기도박물관 학술총서 [Gyeonggi Provincial Museum Research] (Yongin: Gyeongido Museum, 2007); Lee Myeong-eun, “Gyeongido pajuchulto haepyeong yunssi boksige gwanhan yeongu” 경기도 파주 출토 해평윤씨 복식에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Excavated Costumes from the Tomb of Lady Yun (Haepyeong Clan) in Paju], Hangukboksik 한국복식 [Journal of Korean Dress] 28 (2010). 24 Chang InWoo, “18segi dang-ui,” 351–73. 25 Chungbuk National University Museum, Imnanjeonhu, 100–11; Go Bok-nam 고복남, Hanguk jeontong boksiksa yeongu 한국전통 복식사연구 [A History of Korean Traditional Dress] (Seoul: Iljogak, 1986), 111; Park Seongsil 박성실, “Joseonjeongi chultoboksik yeongu” 조선전기 출토복식연구 [A Study on Exhumed Clothing of the Early Joseon Dynasty] (Ph.D. diss., Sejong University, 1992). 26 Park Seongsil, “Joseonjeongi”; Lee EunJoo, “Pohang naedalli,” 25–70; Song Migyeong, “Andong Gwonssi myoui chultoboksige daehan gochal” 안동권씨 묘의 출토복식에 대한 고찰 [A Critical Review on the Excavated Dresses from the Tomb of Lady Gwon (Andong Clan)], Joseonui ot maemusae 조선의 옷 매무새 [Styles of Joseon Clothing] (Seoul: Minsokwon, 2002), 212–42 and “Bimujangjidae Hansan Yissi myo chultoboksik gochal” 비무장지대 한산이씨묘 출토복식 고찰 [A Critical Review on the Excavated Dresses from the Tomb of Lady Yi (Hansan Clan)], in Bimujanggidae dorasan yujeok 비무장지대 도라산 유적 [The Prospecting inspection of cultural relics in the Demilitarized Zone section of the road connecting to the Seoul-Shinyeuju line] (Yongin: Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, 2003), 317–51; Go, Buja 고부자, “Chungnam Yesan chulto Papyeong Yunssi yumulyeongu” 충남 예산 출토 파평윤씨
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坡平尹氏 (1735–54) 유물 연구 [A Study on the Excavated Dress of Lady Yun
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32 33
(Papyeong Clan) in Yesan], Hangukboksik 한국 복식 [Journal of Korean Dress] 21 (2003): 77–158; Song Migyeong, “17segi jeongi yeoja yeomseubuiui illye” 17세기 전기 여자 염습의 (殮襲衣) 의 일례 [A Case Study of Dressing Women’s Corpse in the Early Seventeenth Century], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 9:3 (2006): 132–3; Seoul Museum of History 서울역사박물관, ed., Dasi tae-eonan uri ot hwansaeng 다시 태어난 우리 옷 환생 [An Exhibition of Excavated Korean Costumes] (2006), 41–2; Kim Eun-hui 김은희, “Joseonsidae dang-ui byeoncheone gwanhan yeongu” 조선시대 당의 변천에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Stylistic Progression of Dang-ui in Joseon Dynasty] (Master’s thesis, Seoul: Dankook University, 2007); Jeong Misook 정미숙, “Paju Sim Jiwon my omit sindobi yujeok chultoboksik” 파주 심지원 묘 및 신도비 유적 출토복식 [Excavated Dresses from Tomb of Sim Jiwon and the Historic Site of Sindobi], in Paju Sim Jiwon my omit sindobi yujeok 파주 심지원 묘 및 신도비 유적 [Tomb of Sim Jiwon and Historic Site of Sindobi in Paju] (Yongin: Gyeonggi Provincial Museum Excavation Report 28, 2010), 380–412. Im Seongju 임성주 任聖周 (1711–88), Nongmun-jip 녹문집 鹿門集 Vol. 20, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0532A_0220_010_0040_2005_A228_XML (accessed August 20, 2020). Yun Bonggu 윤봉구 尹鳳九 (1681–1767), Byeonggye-jip 병계집 屛溪集 Vol. 33, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0494A_0330_010_0330_2005_A204_XML (accessed August 23, 2020). Hong Jikpil 홍직필 洪直弼 (1776–1852), Maesan-jip 매산집 梅山集 Vol. 15, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0609A_0150_010_0310_2009_A295_XML (accessed August 23, 2020). Yi Hyeongsang 이형상 李衡祥 (1653–1733), Byeongwa-jip 병와집 甁窩集 (1774) Vol. 5, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0438A_0060_030_0060_2004_ A164_XML (accessed August 23, 2020). Shin Gwangsu 신광수 申光洙 (1712–75), Seokbuk-jip 석북집 石北集 Vol. 10, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0537A_0110_010_0350_2005_A231_XML (accessed August 23, 2020). Yi Jae 이재 李縡 (1680–1746), Sarye pyeollam 사례편람 四禮便覽 Vol. 1, “冠禮, 盛服. . . 成立 賓主以下所服. . . 衫子俗稱(唐衣)長至然 . . .” Song Raehui 송래희 宋來熙 (1791–1867), Geumgok-jip 금곡집 錦谷集 Vol. 9, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0619A_0090_010_0120_2009_A303_XML (accessed August 27, 2020); Jeong Yak-yong 정약용 丁若鏞 (1762–1836), Yeoyudang jeonseo 여유당전서 與猶堂全書 Vol. 3 No. 23, http://db.itkc.or.kr/ inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0597A_0990_010_0020_2004_A284_XML (accessed August 27, 2020).
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34 Yi Jongseong 이종성 李宗城 (1692–1759), Ocheon-jip 오천집 Vol. 15, http://db.itkc. or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0509A_0160_010_0060_2005_A214_XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 35 Jeong Yak-yong, Yeoyudang jeonseo Vol. 3 No. 6, http://db.itkc.or.kr/ inLink?DCI=ITKC_MP_0597A_0820_030_0050_2015_019_XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 36 Jeong Yak-yong, Yeoyudang jeonseo Vol. 3 No. 21, http://db.itkc.or.kr/ inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0597A_0970_030_0120_2004_A284_XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 37 Yi Ik 이익 李瀷 (1681–1763), Sungho jeonjip 성호전집 星湖全集 Vol. 11, http://db.itkc. or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0489A_0110_010_0010_2005_A198_XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 38 Shin Giseon 신기선 申箕善 (1851–1909), Yangwon yujip 양원유집 陽園遺集 Vol. 12, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0659A_0120_010_0040_2009_A348_ XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 39 Song Neungsang 송능상 宋能相 (1710–58), Unpyeong-jip 운평집 雲坪集 Vol. 10, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0528A_0100_010_0010_2005_A225_ XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 40 Hong Jikpil. Maesan-jip Vol. 15, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ MO_0609A_0150_010_0310_2009_A295_XML (accessed August 27, 2020). 41 Jeong Yak-yong, Yeoyudang jeonseo Vol. 3 No. 21, http://db.itkc.or.kr/ inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0597A_0970_010_0030_2004_A284_XML (accessed August 23, 2020). 42 Regarding this fashion, see Lee Talbot’s chapter in this volume. 43 Kim Jangsaeng 김장생 金長生 (1548–1631), Sagye jeonseo 사계전서 沙溪全書 (1687) Vol. 25; Song Munheum, Hanjeongdang-jip Vol.7, http://db.itkc.or.kr/ inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0529A_0070_010_0010_2005_A225_XML (accessed August 30, 2020); Im Seongju, Nongmun-jip Vol. 10, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink? DCI=ITKC_MO_0532A_0120_010_0300_2005_A228_XML (accessed August 30, 2020); Hong, Jikpil. Maesan-jip Vol. 15, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ MO_0609A_0150_010_0310_2009_A295_XML (accessed August 30, 2020). 44 Chang InWoo, “18segi dang-ui,” 351–73. 45 Kim Jangsaeng, Sagye jeonseo Vol. 25. 46 Jo Hangbeom 조항범, Yeokhae Suncheon Gimssi myo chulto ganchal 註解 순천김씨묘 출토간찰 [Annotations on the Letters of Lady Kim (Suncheon Clan)] (Seoul: Taehaksa, 1998). 47 Lee Sang-Eun 이상은 and Kim Min-Jung 김민정, “Goseon Namssi myo chulto Jang-uie gwanhan yeongu” 고성 남씨 묘 출토 장의 (長衣)에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Excavated Jang-ui from Lady Nam’s Grave], Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 15:1 (2012): 147–61.
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48 Chang InWoo, “Jang-ui ui sigibyeol byeonhwa” 장의 (長衣)의 시기별 변화 [The Periodical Change of Jang-ui in Joseon Dynasty], Boksik 복식 [Journal of the Korean Society of Costume] 67:8 (2017): 64–79. 49 Sejo sillok, the 2nd year of reign (1456), March 28, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/ wga_10203028_003 (accessed August 30, 2020). 50 The Diary of the Dethroned King Yeonsan [Yeonsan-gun sillok 연산군 실록], the 11th year of reign (1498), June 15, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wja_10406015_001 (accessed August 30, 2020). 51 Jungjong sillok 중종실록 中宗實錄 [The Veritable Records of the King Jungjong], the 17th year of reign (1522), August 12, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/ wka_11708012_003 (accessed August 30, 2020). 52 Yi Homin 이호민 李好閔 (1553–1634), Obong-jip 오봉집 五峯集 (1636) Vol. 4, http:// db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0251A_0050_010_0540_2000_A059_XML (accessed August 30, 2020); Gu Yong 구용 具容 (1569–1601), Jukchang hanhwa 죽창한화 竹窓閑話 http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_GO_1360A_ 0010_000_0010_2004_017_XML (accessed August 30, 2020). 53 Ilseongnok 일성록 日省錄 [Records of Daily Reflections by King Jeongjo], November 25, 1795, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ MO_0426A_0470_030_0020_2003_A156_XML (accessed August 30, 2020). Chang InWoo, “Jang-ui ui,” 74. 54 Song Munheum, Hanjeongdang-jip Vol. 7, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_ MO_0529A_0070_010_0010_2005_A225_XML (accessed August 30, 2020); Yi Yuwon, Imha pilgi 임하필기 林下筆記 Vol. 17, munheonjijangpyeon 문헌지장편 文獻 指掌編. 55 Chang InWoo, “Jang-ui ui,” 64–79. 56 Yi Deok-mu 이덕무 李德懋 (1741–93), Cheongjanggwan jeonseo 청장관전서 靑莊館全 書 Vol. 28, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0577A_0280_010_0010_ 2006_A257_XML (accessed August 30, 2020). 57 Ryu Boyeong 류보영 and Im Sang-im 임상임, “Joseonsidae yeoseong pyemyeonyong sseugae ui teukjing” 조선시대 여성 폐면용 쓰개의 특징 [The Characteristic of Women’s Veil in Joseon Dynasty], Hanguk uiryuhakhoeji 한국의류학회지 [Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles] 26:9 (2002): 1424–35; Lee Hae-yeong 이해영 and Nam Seon-hwa 남선화, “Jang-ose gwanhan yeongu” 장옷에 관한 연구 [A Study on Jangot] Hanbongmunhwa 한복문화 [Journal of Korean Traditional Costume] 8:2 (2005): 69–78; Chang InWoo, “Jang-ui ui,” 64–79.
11
Collection and Exhibition of Dress at the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum Myung-eun Lee
Many South Korean universities were established in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, and over time have come to house clothing artifacts. Notable museums include those at Korea University, Ewha Womans University, Sookmyung Women’s University, Sejong University, Dankook University, Chungbuk National University, and Andong National University. In particular, the museums at Korea University, Dankook University, Chungbuk National University, and Andong National University are known for their collections of garments excavated from tombs dating from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries.1 This chapter discusses the dress collection and exhibition in the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum (SeokJuseon ginyeom bangmulgwan 석주선 기념 박물관 石宙善紀念博物館) at Dankook University, known as the mecca of traditional Korean clothing artifacts and the institution’s contribution to the academic field (Figure 11.1ab). The museum at Dankook University began with the Central Museum with an archaeological object collection in 1967. After receiving Seok Juseon’s (난사 석주선 蘭斯 石宙善, 1911–96) donation of 3,365 items of a clothing collection in 1981, the Dankook University opened the Suk Joo-sun Memorial Museum of Korean Folk Arts (Suk Joo-sun ginyeom minsokbangmulgwan 석주선기념 민속박물관). In 1999, the two museums were merged into one institution and renamed as the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum under which dress and non-dress objects have been managed in two separate departments. The dress department currently houses more than 13,000 items, and has been holding annual exhibitions with a symposium as well as special exhibitions for the past forty years. In terms of the diverse range of artifacts and the depth of research, the museum’s contribution to the study of dress history in Korea is immense. The museum’s dress collection serves as primary sources for 233
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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 11.1 a, b. Seok Juseon Memorial Museum & the 3rd Gallery (2016). © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum c. Photograph of Dr. Seok Juseon (1911–96) at the museum, taken in 1996. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum d. Poster of the first exhibition on period dress in South Korea, Dress of the Joseon Dynasty (1958). © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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period costume design and inspirational resource for contemporary hanbok design, textile design, and other cultural products.2
Seok Juseon’s Dress Collection and Affiliation with Dankook University Seok Juseon was a “modern woman” who studied Western fashion in Japan (Figure 11.1c). She began her studies in Japan in 1938 at the age of 28 accompanying her older brother, Seok Dumyung 석주명 石宙明 (1908–50), a world-renowned entomologist, on his visit to attend a conference. She attended the Japan Advanced Western Dressmaking Academy 日本高等洋裁ᆖ院. While learning Western dressmaking, she felt the value of traditional Korean dress, and attempted to apply Western skills to making Korean clothing. For her graduation project, she made a doll dressed in hanbok 한복 韓服. After graduating she worked as a teaching assistant for the school for five years, during which she continued to master skills in dressmaking and won awards in several competitions.3 After returning from Japan in 1945, she worked as the head of the Crafts Department at the National Science Museum (Gungnipgwahakgwan 국립과학관 國立科學館), where she began to pursue the study of traditional clothing. She taught dressmaking to homemakers, which included lessons on making hanbok using Western dress patterns. She also surveyed the body measurements of 2,800 museum visitors to calculate standard body dimensions for making traditional clothing and socks. She also began to study extant classical literature to acquire greater knowledge of and meanings behind traditional dress. She familiarized herself with the historical records on traditional dress by studying the royal documents stored at the Jangseogak 장서각 藏書閣 library, which helped her to develop a keen eye for collecting old garments.4 Eventually, she became recognized as a researcher in the field, and was hired to teach at the Soodo Women’s Teachers’ College (Sudo yeoja sabeo mdaehak 수도여자사범대학 首都女子師範大學, currently Sejong University), and later at Dongduk Women’s Junior College (Dongdeog yeoja chogeup daehak 동덕여자초급대학 同德女子初級 大學, currently Dongduk Women’s University) as a full-time professor until her retirement. More than anything, Seok sought to inform the general public of the allure of traditional Korean dress. She curated Dress of the Joseon Dynasty (Ijo uisang jeonsihoe 이조의상전시회 李朝衣裳展示會, August 15–22, 1958) at the Central
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Public Archives (Jung-ang Gongbogwan 중앙공보관) in Bukchang-dong, Seoul (Figure 11.1d). This was the first exhibition on Joseon dress held in South Korea. For this exhibition, Seok researched and reproduced royal dress artifacts housed at Changdeokgung Palace 창덕궁 昌德宮. The exhibition was well received, leading to further traveling exhibitions domestically as well as overseas: Japan in 1970 and Hawaii in 1978.5 After the Korean War (1950–3), Seok traveled around the country whenever she had time, visiting households and antique stores to collect old dress items.6 She restored damaged parts and documented the items with number, photograph, film, and note cards. As her collection grew, the task of collecting and preserving became challenging. As her retirement approached, she decided to donate the collection. She was introduced to Chang Choong-sik, then President of Dankook University and current Chair of the Board of Directors. In 1972, they had a long conversation during which Chang was moved by Seok’s passion and dedication and sympathized with the need to preserve and pass on traditional dress artifacts to future generations. Determined to make a place for her collection at Dankook University, Chang raised funds and put a tight leash on the school’s finances for four years to secure the budget for constructing a museum. Then, he presented his plans to Seok: “First, we will construct a folk museum named after you, the Seok Juseon Folk Museum. Second, we will appoint you as the first director of the museum for a lifetime term. Third, your position will be equivalent to the highest level of professorship, and you will have authority in the recruitment of staff. Fourth, we will provide you with a residence.” Dankook University signed an agreement with these unprecedented conditions in 1976 to receive the donation of the 3,365 items Seok had collected over thirty years. Finally, through Seok’s tenacious efforts and Chang’s determination, the Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum opened on May 2, 1981, as the only institution specializing in traditional dress in South Korea. For the annual exhibition that proceeds with a symposium, the museum has been introducing new acquisitions from recent archaeological excavations. Currently, the two permanent galleries feature about a total of eight hundred clothing artifacts. Even after the museum’s opening, Seok continued to collect old garments. She also devoted herself to modernizing traditional Korean clothing as daily wear and promoted it. She believed hanbok should adapt to changes without harming its beauty, and that in this way the life of hanbok would be prolonged. Thus, she sought to make hanbok more accessible and comfortable. She also set an example by always wearing hanbok for outings. She showed how hanbok could be worn
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comfortably on a daily basis by replacing goreum (the sashes to fasten jeogori) with buttons, and by reforming the traditional-style wrap skirt into a shorter tubular-style skirt. She also published research on her collection. Publications include Korean Dress (Urinara ot 우리나라 옷); The History of Korean Dress (Hangukboksiksa 한국복식사 韓國服飾史) and its sequel (Sokhangukboksiksa 속 한국복식사 續韓國服飾史); Yi Dynasty Upper Garment Insignia Patterns (Hyungbae 흉배 胸背), Personal Ornaments in the Yi Dynasty (Jangsingu 장신구 裝身具), Clothes of the Choson Dynasty (Ui 의 衣), and Ornamented Korean Traditional Hats (Gwanmowa susik 관모와 수식 冠帽와 首飾).7 After Seok died in 1996, changes were made to the museum. In 1999, Dankook University renamed the Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum as the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum (SMM) merging the two bodies of non-dress and dress sectors. In 2007, the museum was relocated to the university’s new campus to Jukjeon, Gyeonggi-do, and reopened in 2008. The museum continues to embody the aspirations of Seok Juseon, carrying on the work she pursued during her lifetime through its annual exhibitions and symposiums.
The Acquisition Early on, SMM had purchased artifacts but now it accepts donations. The museum’s collection grew fourfold since its opening, largely through four stages.
1. Seok Juseon’s Collection It is questionable whether anyone had collected old clothes before Seok. Customarily in South Korea, all clothes worn during their lifetime were placed in the deceased’s coffin or burned upon their death. If not burned, the clothes were kept in the family shrine outside the house.8 Thus, very few old clothes remained, and buying and selling clothes worn by the dead was considered unthinkable. The realization that traditional clothes were being destroyed and forgotten in this manner was what spurred Seok’s collecting, recognizing their value as cultural heritage before anyone else. Because of that convention, the clothes she was able to find were relatively new: a large portion were from the late Joseon to the Japanese colonial period. Seok purchased most of the items using her own funds; none were donated. Seok prioritized acquiring ritual dresses that had belonged to the royal family and the gentry (yangban 양반 兩班), which comprised 30 percent of her
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collection; for daily wear, she selected items of exceptional quality in terms of fabric, sewing techniques, and aesthetics. As the owners felt guilty about selling what had been passed down to them by their ancestors, they were often reluctant to share their family history or provenance information. Her collection includes officials’ uniforms, such as court uniform (jobok 조복 朝服), ritual uniform (jebok 제복 祭服), daily working robe (dallyeong 단령 團領), and military uniform composed of a coat called dongdari (동다리, military officials’ coat) and a long vest (jeonbok 전복 戰服). She also collected ceremonial dresses of yangban women, such as wonsam 원삼 圓衫 for major ceremonies and dang-ui 당의 唐衣 for semiformal occasions. The remainder are casual wear worn by the gentry and commoners, such as overcoats, tops and bottoms of hanbok, and underwear items. Thus far, over a hundred of these items, acknowledged for their exceptional value, have been designated as National Folklore Cultural Heritage.9
2. Items Donated by the Intellectual Class As the director of the museum Seok concentrated on expanding the collection. She promoted the museum as an institution specializing in traditional dress and encouraged people to donate old dress items kept at home. At a time when people were unused to donating items, her efforts brought a growing awareness of donation culture among the members of intellectual society who were highly understanding of the value of cultural objects. Her standard for the collection was based on age and physical condition. The majority of items donated at this time were high-quality daily-wear hanbok from the early modern era. In general, the original owners had been socially reputable or well-off, and the donors had knowledge of the items’ histories to some extent. The 1980s were a time when South Korean society achieved vigorous economic growth. From around this period, traditional dress began to be viewed as appropriate for family gatherings on ceremonial occasions and national holidays. Other museums in South Korea had already acquired valuable ceremonial ensembles inherited by some families of privileged class, while hanbok, no longer worn as daily wear, were being discarded by their owners. In this transitional period, donors were glad to know that they were placing their ancestors’ clothes in good hands. Thus, in the early 1980s, soon after its opening, the museum received thousands of pieces of everyday hanbok, such as durumagi (coat), jeogori (top), chima (skirt), and baji (pants). Some officials’ uniforms dallyeong and ceremonial robes wonsam or hwarot, whose value have become publicly known, were more often purchased with the museum’s funds. A notable
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acquisition is the hanbok worn by Julia Mullock (officially known as Princess Julia Lee, 1927–2017), the Ukrainian-American wife of the last prince of the Korean Empire, Yi Gu (이구 李玖, 1931–2005).10
3. Items from Tomb Excavations Many articles of clothing and cloth have been found in coffins from tomb excavations in the course of land development or relocation of ancestral tombs— generally of the royal family and the gentry. Such clothing and cloth are collectively termed “excavated dress” (chulto boksik 출토복식 出土服飾).11 Usually, information written on the red silk banners (myeongjeong 명정 銘旌) placed on the coffins enables identification of the deceased, including name, social position, rank, etc. In the 1960s and 1970s, those excavated dress were deemed as specially prepared shrouds and were usually reinterred or incinerated. There also was little interest in preservation as artifacts due to lack of professionals. Seok, however, had experience studying excavated dress in 1963, so she acquired them on behalf of the museum.12 The donors (descendants) were also grateful to have someone take care of them. This way the museum was able to enlarge its collection. Around the 1980s, South Korea’s nationwide land development projects massively involved the relocation of many tombs and burial grounds, and subsequent retrieval of a large number of garments and cloths. It was very rare to begin such an excavation with a dress historian’s presence; in most cases, descendants or excavation workers retrieved them at their discretion, which resulted in losing valuable information. In many cases it was uncertain whether the dead had been wearing the items or the garments were just placed in the coffin. In other cases, there were wrongly identified garments or other errors (e.g., gender of the deceased, dating of articles, etc.). In the new millennium, the value of excavated dress has gained more recognition and appealed to the staff in charge of collections at national institutions and university museums. The South Korean government revised the Enforcement Decree of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act on December 2, 2006, which strictly mandates reporting of excavated relics and endorses transfer of ownership of relics from unidentified tombs to national or public museums near the excavation site. With this decree, excavated dress items have been distributed to local museums. Since 1978, SMM has acquired about 2,500 pieces of excavated dress from approximately thirty-five excavations. The very first exhibition on excavated
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dress in South Korea was The Excavated Shrouds, which featured the garments of Lady Yi (Gwangju clan), commemorating the opening of SMM in July 1981.13 Since then, the annual exhibition along with a symposium at SMM has shed light on newly excavated dresses. The museum also has carried out its own excavation projects three to four times a year, and conducted preservation and restoration works for other national and local institutions with more than forty years of accumulated knowledge.
4. Increase in Donations Since the relocation of the campus of Dankook University in 2007, the museum’s reputation as an institution specializing in traditional dress has continued to attract donations of clothing. In the early stages, donations were mostly made by members of the intellectual society through their close connections with Seok Juseon. Now the general public has been voluntarily contacting SMM to make contributions to the collection. This change was likely brought about by heightened awareness of the cultural value of dress artifacts among the general public as a result of South Korea’s economic development as well as the role performed by the increasing number of local museums. The donations mainly consist of daily hanbok: top, skirts, pants, and underwear. A large portion date to around the 1960s, while hanbok from the 1980s are also accepted by the museum as long as there is definite information on their history and wearers. The donors are encouraged to share photos of the items’ original owners so that they can be documented accordingly. When receiving donations, attention is given to identifying and recording only the accurate facts on the donor, the wearer, and the history of the clothing. Even up to the 1970s, hanbok was a part of everyday life, often made with mass-produced cotton or synthetic fibers for the sake of comfort and convenience. From the 1980s, however, daily hanbok gradually disappeared, and it became customary to wear them only on special occasions such as weddings. Thus, hanbok from this point were mostly made with high-quality silk. Since Dankook University, as is the case with most schools, does not have a separate budget for purchasing relics, the collection has relied on donations. To honor donors, SMM assigned a gallery dedicated to items donated during a select year. In 2010, when Kim Daehwan (김대환), a private collector, donated over 540 pillows dating to the early to mid-twentieth century, the museum held a special exhibition, Pillow Collection Donated by Kim Daehwan (Begaenmeorie
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seumin jeongseong 베갯머리에 스민 정성), in his honor.14 In 2013, the museum received around two thousand articles from the descendants of Shin Taegwan (신태관 申泰寬, 1839–1913), a court official from the late Joseon. Upon the donor’s request, museum staff conducted research and held the exhibition and symposium the following year.15 In 2015, the museum acquired about four hundred clothing items owned by the descendants of Jang Myeon (장면 張勉, 1899–1966), the first Ambassador to the US (1949–50), and Prime Minister (1950–52, 1960–1) and Vice President (1956–60) of South Korea. One of the museum’s permanent galleries displays Jang’s artifacts, including his morning coat worn as an ambassador in 1949. SMM’s policy for collection and collection management has become the standard for other museums in South Korea. Nowadays, the acquisition sources are diversified beyond donations to include public purchases using designated funds or through auction agencies.
Annual Exhibitions and Symposia Since its opening in 1981, the museum has been holding an annual exhibition with accompanying symposium focusing on recent significant excavations as well as special exhibitions that reflect contemporary social issues. In tandem with these events, the Journal of Korean Dress (Hanguk boksik 한국복식 韓國服 飾) has been published since 1983. Relocation to the new campus in 2007 became an opportunity for the museum to rethink its direction for the exhibitions. When the museum was at the previous Hannam-dong campus, exhibitions aimed to showcase newly excavated items, mainly targeting dress historians and specialists in the field. The campus in Jukjeon, however, is situated in a residential area, so it became necessary for exhibitions to appeal to the general public. The museum has accordingly planned to alternate exhibitions on excavated items and on nonexcavated, inherited items that would be more familiar to visitors. From 2007, the museum began to publish exhibition catalogues; the Journal of Korean Dress was published biannually from 2015 onwards. The annual exhibitions and symposia have become milestones for establishing the dress history of Korea. The following sections will illustrate the museum’s stories behind the exhibitions and symposia and how those contributed to the dress history scholarship through object-based studies.
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The Excavated Shrouds (1981 and 1982) The museum’s first exhibitions, in 1981 and 1982, were titled The Excavated Shrouds.16 This was because, as explained above, at the time when excavated dress first became a subject of research, articles buried with the dead were considered as specially made shrouds rather than items worn during the deceased’s lifetime. The first exhibition presented a selection of twenty garments retrieved from the tombs of Yi Eonung (이언웅 李彦雄, Gwangju clan) and his daughter-in-law of the Cheongju Han clan, which dated to the 1550s and the late sixteenth century, respectively. Lady Han was the second daughter of King Jungjong 중종 中宗 (r. 1506–44) of Joseon and died shortly after marrying Yi Jip-il 이집일 李執一 (1574– 1613). The excavation had been conducted without a dress specialist onsite, so the garments from the two tombs were mixed together. Therefore, attention was (and still is) required in identifying which garments belonged to whom. The articles include short, medium-length, and long jeogori, which contributed to forming the academic consensus over the decade since the exhibition that women’s jeogori were made in varied length in the sixteenth century.17 Of particular note is an ensemble with gold brocade (geumseondan 금선단 金 線緞).18 The base fabric of the skirt is satin damask with a pattern of lotus flowers and tendrils (yeonhwa manchomundan 연화만초문단 蓮花蔓草紋緞) (Figure 11.2a and b). On the skirt are two horizontal ornamental strips, near the knees and near the bottom hem; the one near the knees is called seuran (스란) and relatively wider than that at the bottom. The seuran on this skirt is woven into two rows of a repeating pattern displaying a boy holding a cluster of grapes (podo dongjamun 포도동자문 葡萄童子紋) with supplementary gold wefts (jikgeum 직금 織金) (Figure 11.2b). The narrow middle row is woven into treasure motifs (bomun 보문 寶文) with supplementary gold wefts. This skirt is comparable with the description in The Annals of the Dethroned King Yeongsangun (Yeonsangun ilgi 연산군일기 燕山君日記) in the year of 1504, which records an “indigo blue silk gauze skirt with two rows of horizontal patch woven into a pattern displaying a boy holding a cluster of grapes (Namsaeng radongja podossangseuran 남색라동자포도쌍스란 藍色羅童子葡萄雙膝䤈).”19 Only the base fabrics are different: the excavated skirt is satin damask, and the one from the record is silk gauze. The record means that the artifact can possibly be named “pododongjamun ssangseuran chima,” or skirt with two rows of ornamental patches depicting a boy holding a cluster of grapes. This discovery was valuable to determine the textile patterns used to decorate women’s tops and skirts in the sixteenth century.
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Figure 11.2 Excavated dress items. a. A jeogori (top) and a chima (skirt) with decorative gold-brocade design, mid-16th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum b. Pattern of the gold brocade on the skirt. A boy and a cluster of grapes are alternating in the two rows. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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Figure 11.2 (Continued). c, d. A geodeul chima (skirt with hiked up front), mid-16th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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The following exhibition, The Excavated Shrouds in 1982, also introduced hanbok ensembles of the similar style from the joint tombs of a husband and wife of the Namyang Hong clan, dating to the mid-1500s.20 The significance of these two incipient exhibitions is that the excavated articles provided invaluable information beyond what can be found in written sources and pictorial representations. These exhibitions marked the turning point after which excavated garments were correctly recognized as worn by the deceased, not as specially produced for shrouds.
Jeogori & Chima of the Joseon Dynasty (1997) Held in commemoration of the first anniversary of Seok Juseon’s death, this exhibition showcased replicas of excavated dress, from weaving of fabric to hand sewing, with meticulous reference to the artifacts, for the first time in South Korea.21 Although excavated garments are valuable sources, in most cases their materials were degraded and decolorized. Reproducing the old unearthed fabric had been a part of Seok’s ambitious project even while fighting the disease that eventually took her life, and she finally had three types of patterned fabric reproduced at her own expense. Stylistically significant women’s tops and skirts dating to the 1500s were chosen from the museum’s collection for reproduction. The original colors of the garments were determined through careful review of relevant historical records in comparison with the actual artifacts. The weaving methods to exactly replicate the pattern of the artifacts were also exhibited. The terms of clothing items recorded in period literatures, such as hoejang jeogori 회장저고리 (jacket constructed with different color pieces at the neckband, cuffs, goreum, and under the arms), gyeonmagi 견마기 (outer jacket), jangjeogori 장저고리 (lit. long jeogori), and danggo-ui 당고의 (jacket with open side seams) came to light through the exhibited items. The most notable piece was a ceremonial skirt from the sixteenth century, of which the upper front was sewn 4–7 inches (10–20 centimeters) up, making the front shorter than the sides and rear. With the back hem trailing behind, the skirt exuded feminine elegance and sophistication with a rather Western flair. This ceremonial skirt has been named geodeul chima 거들치마 (lit. hiked skirt) (Figure 11.2c and d). This exhibition brought not only a new understanding of women’s dress in the 1500s, but also attention to reproducing fabrics from scratch when reproducing a period dress. The patterns of the unearthed fabrics are also a
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valuable resource that could have an influence on the designs of hanbok fabric in contemporary industry. Since then, the museum has made continuous efforts to reproduce period textiles in collaboration with textile companies. The twentyseventh annual exhibition The Story of Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Shin Gyeong’yu, a Military Official of the 17th Century (17segi mugwan singyeongyu myo chultoboksing iyagi jeon 17세기 무관 신경유 묘 출토복식 이야기 전) in 2008, and the thirty-sixth annual exhibition in 2017, Lady’s Garments with Fruit and Flower Patterns (Kkotgwa gwasireul pumeun yeoinui on teukbyeoljeon 꽃과 과실을 품은 여인의 옷 특별전), are representative exhibitions in which reproduced garments made with reproduced period fabrics were displayed.22
Dress from the Tomb of Jeong On (1481–1538) (1998) As Joseon outwardly promoted Confucianism and suppressed Buddhism as a state policy, the authority of Buddhism, which had been heightened during the Goryeo dynasty, was greatly reduced. However, many still followed Buddhism as a religion for personal protection to ward off evil spirits and invoke good luck. This context can be read through the woman’s upper undergarment (jeoksam 적삼) and skirt discovered in the tomb of Jeong On 정온 鄭溫 (1481–1538) in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, in 1995.23 The upper undergarment is made of delicate silk with a lotus-flower pattern, of which the upper front is imprinted with a Guanyin Bodhisattva sitting between two flying celestials (Apsara). Around the bottom, dhāran·ī (a Buddhist chant, mnemonic code, incantation, or recitation, usually a mantra consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases) is imprinted in cinnabar.24 On the middle part of the skirt, four rectangularly framed dhāran·ī are stamped with traditional ink.25 It is presumed that the wife of Jeong On placed these garments in her husband’s coffin in the hopes that his soul would attain eternal life. Specialists in different disciplines participated in the symposium and shared their approaches, methods, and findings concerning the tomb excavation of Jeong On. Park Sangguk, a stone art scholar, interpreted the meaning of dhāran·ī imprinted on the upper undergarment and skirt.26 Textile scientists An Chunsun and Jo Hanguk collected and analyzed the contaminants on the surface of the excavated dress.27 Dress historian Park Seongsil conducted comparative analysis on the excavated garments with other known cases.28 Moving beyond analyzing the types of clothes found in the tomb, the conference provided an opportunity for scholars to conduct empirical research from multidisciplinary approaches
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through the lens of dress objects. Since then, panelists for the annual symposia have come from multiple disciplines, expanding in scope to include medicine, philology, etc., for a wholistic understanding of the culture surrounding the excavated artifacts. In a similar vein, in the tomb of Lady Yi (Gobu clan, c. first half of the seventeenth century), the body was found to have four sheets of dhāran·ī under her jeogori and jeoksam, perhaps indicating a wish for the deceased’s easy passage into eternity. The garments from the tomb of Lady Yi were displayed at the thirtieth exhibition in 2011.29
Traditional Dress from the Northern Provinces of Korea (1998) This was a special exhibition held in December. The museum’s annual exhibition is usually held in May. For this exhibition, around thirty clothing articles from the northern areas of Korea, currently belonging to North Korea, were displayed. The objects were carefully chosen through a survey of those owned by displaced people from northern regions after the Korean War, and also included reproductions of wedding garments of Pyongyang, Gaeseong, and Hamgyeongdo in the 1930s and 1940s based on old photographs.30 The northern region of the Korean peninsula is known for its distinctive indigenous cultural characteristics that reflect its geopolitical proximity to Manchuria. Dress artifacts from Gaeseong, such as earrings worn by brides, gorgeously embroidered ornamental hair ribbons called goyidaenggi 고이댕기, hair ribbons adorned with bundles of pearls (jinjudaenggi 진주댕기), and bridal robes (wonsam), clearly differ from the wedding attire of the south. The green bridal robe known as Gaeseong wonsam is bordered with red silk; the bottom corners of the sleeves are rounded (Figure 11.3). The daily hanbok of the northern region includes a wider variety of winter clothes compared to those of the southern region, due to the colder climate. This exhibition put a spotlight on traditional North Korean garments at a time when South Korean dress artifacts were the only focus of research on traditional dress. Displaced people from the northern regions of Korea in their seventies and eighties were approached and consulted to gain firsthand accounts. Collecting clothes and photographs from these elderly displaced people and interviewing them enabled SMM to document a part of the other half of Korean dress culture before the turn of the century.
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Figure 11.3 Bridal robe. a. A wonsam worn in Gaeseong (a city in the northwest of the Korean peninsula, currently in North Korea), 1940. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum b. A photograph showing a bride in a wonsam. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
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Traditional Children’s Dress (2000) This exhibition displayed about fifty ensembles of children’s clothes from the early twentieth century.31 The museum also hosted the very first runway fashion show of traditional children’s dress on May 2, 2000, at the Seoul Textile Center Event Hall. The show showcased the fifty “reproduced” children’s ensembles modeled after artifacts from the period, and included a demonstration of dressing in the featured ensembles. The exhibition and fashion show marked a milestone for the extensive study of traditional children’s dress, including the symbolic meanings behind clothing structure, construction methods, color choices, sewing techniques, and ways of wearing. Children’s clothing was again the theme of the exhibition in 2018, Love Made with All Parents’ Heart, Traditional Children’s Clothing, held jointly with the National Folk Museum of Korea.32 This exhibition particularly highlighted familial love and the desire for a bright future embodied in children’s clothes from the Joseon to the early modern eras. Over a hundred dress items and props were displayed representing the three stages in the life of a child: birth, infancy, and school age. The National Folk Museum of Korea shared knowledge on exhibition design, which helped the exhibition to break away from the usual academic focus to attract a general audience not limited to students and experts on Korean dress. The objects displayed in this exhibition are now on view in the permanent gallery at SMM exclusively dedicated to children’s dress, together with the articles retrieved in 2001 from a six-year-old boy mummy of the early half of the 1600s.33
Dress from the Royal Tombs of Yi Heonchung (1505–1603) and Lady Kim (2019) This exhibition elucidated the excavated garments from the tombs of Prince Yi Heonchung 이헌충 李憲忠 (1505–1603, the seventh son of Joseon’s second king Jeonjong) and his wife Lady Kim (Figure 11.4). A pair of pants, named se gadag baji 세 가닥 바지, (lit. three-legged pants), drew special attention as only one side of the legs is in double layers of different lengths.34 To date, nine similar examples have been reported, mostly dating to around the turn of the sixteenth century. Scholars assume that this particular structure might have facilitated going to the toilet at the same time giving warmth.35 The museum exhibited se gadag baji not only from the tomb of Prince Yi, but also lent from other museums, along with
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Figure 11.4 Open-crotch pants with different lengths of double-layered legs at one side, late 16th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum
replicated works by contemporary designers for which visitors’ tactile experience was allowed.
Exhibitions Overseas and Online Traveling exhibitions overseas could be an ideal solution to raise awareness and understanding of traditional Korean dress globally. However, obstacles in terms of budget and shipping and handling issues have prevented SMM from holding international solo exhibitions. SMM has instead participated in joint exhibitions organized by government institutions such as the National Museum of Korea, which include Korean Costumes and Textiles (Hangugui mi teukbyeoljeon 한국의 美 특별전) at the IBM Gallery in New York, April 14–June 13, 1992; Chosun Dynasty in Korea: The Spaces of Man & Woman (Joseonsidae namgwa yeoui gonggan jeon 조선시대 남과 여의 공간 전) at the Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo, Japan, November 24–December 14, 1995; Masterpieces of Korean Art from the Joseon Dynasty (Joseonwangjoui mi teukbyeoljeon 조선왕조의 美 특별전), which toured Japan from July 14, 2001 to May 2002; and Treasures from Korea: Arts and
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Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910 (Joseon misul daejeon 조선미술대전), which toured the United States from March 2, 2014 to January 11, 2015. Because of the fragility of excavated garments, replicas modeled on SMM’s objects were featured for some of the touring exhibitions. These include Korean Dress (Hanguk boksik jeonsihoe 한국복식전시회, invited by the Asian Federation of Electronic Circuits, Colima, Mexico, March 12–23, 2007 and Women’s Lifestyle and Dress in the Joseon Dynasty (Janggeumi saratdeon sidae: yeoseongdeurui saenghwalgwa ot 장금이 살았던 시대: 여성들의 생활과 옷), invited by the Koryo Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan, January 8–March 29, 2015. SMM continues replication projects on selected artifacts from the collection and displays them on mannequins in the permanent galleries, allowing the visitors to gain a threedimensional view of the fashion changes during the Joseon dynasty. The value of highly accurately reproduced garments should also be acknowledged, as they are a more visually effective and approachable resource for the public. SMM has also participated in the Google Cultural Institute Art Project on May 14, 2015, and the Google Art & Culture project, We Wear Culture, in 2017.36 Through the platform, select excavated dress and textile artifacts, hereditary dress items, historically accurate replicas, and traditional dress runway fashion show clips from SMM’s collection can be viewed online. Only recently, the exhibition on Korean traditional children’s clothing, Love Made with All Parents’ Heart traveled to the Museum of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan–Elbasy (Қазақстан Республикасының Тұңғыш Президенті – Елбасының музейі) from September 27 to November 20 in 2022, and will be on view at the Museo del Traje (The Museum of Garment - Ethnologic Heritage Research Center) in Madrid, Spain in 2023.
Conclusion The traditional Korean dress collection at SMM is preeminent in quality and quantity, and serves as a cultural treasure trove from which limitless stories about the people, society, and ideas behind dress can be derived. The annual exhibitions and symposia, the publication of exhibition catalogues and the Journal of Korean Dress for the past forty years have also contributed to the various academic fields of Korean dress and textile history, philology, Confucianism, law of rites, political, economic, social history, and beyond. The museum’s efforts have been gradually translating into tangible results. In 2015 and 2016, SMM was recognized for its excellence in the evaluation of museums
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and art museums in Gyeonggi-do as well as the 2018 K-Museums exhibition evaluation. SMM’s publications, The Enigmatic Pink Dallyeong (Officials’ Daily Robe) (Bunhong dallyeongui bimil 분홍 단령의 비밀) and Dressing the Portraits of Kings (Eojine oseul ipida 어진에 옷을 입히다), were listed in the National Academy of Sciences’ Excellent Academic Book for 2016 and 2017, respectively. These achievements confer opportunities for SMM to expand its role. SMM continues to conduct in-depth research, with updated artifact analysis technologies and crossing disciplines, and to improve its facilities and accessibility to better serve academia as well as the public.
Notes 1 Regarding the dress collection of Chungbuk National University Museum, see In-woo Chang’s chapter in this volume. 2 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum website, http://museum. dankook.ac.kr/web/museum (accessed July 6, 2020). 3 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, Seokjuseon baksaui uri ot nara 석주선 박사의 우리 옷 나라 [The World of Our Dress] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2016), 14–55. 4 Seok Juseon 석주선, “Neongmaeseo channeun seonjoui gipum” 넝마에서 찾는 선조의 기품 [The Grace of Our Ancestors Found from the Abandoned Textiles],” Sin Dong-A 신동아 新東亞 (Seoul: Donga Ilbo Co., 1968, April), 297. 5 In Japan, the exhibition with 464 items in total was held at the Mitsukoshi Department Stores (Nihonmbashi Tokyo Main Store, Shinjuku Tokyo branch, and Osaka branch) from May 19 to June 11, 1970. 6 Seok Juseon, “Neongmaeseo channeun,” 296. 7 Seok Juseon, Urinara ot 우리나라 옷 [Dress of Our Country] (Seoul: Gwangmun Publishing Company, 1961); Hangukboksiksa 한국복식사 韓國服飾史 [The History of Korean Dresses and Ornaments] (Seoul: Bojinjae Press, 1972), and its sequel, Sokhangukboksiksa 속한국복식사 續韓國服飾史 [The History of Korean Dresses and Ornaments: Sequel] (Seoul: Bojinjae Press, 1982); Hyungbae 흉배 胸背 [Yi Dynasty Upper Garment Insignia Patterns], (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 1979); Jangsingu 장신구 裝身具 [Personal Ornaments in Yi Dynasty] (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 1981); Ui 의 衣 [Clothes of Choson Dynasty] (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 1985); Gwanmowa susik 관모와 수식 冠帽와 首飾 [Ornamented Korean Traditional Hats] (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 1993). 8 Regarding this custom, see In-woo Chang’s chapter in this volume.
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9 Cultural Heritage Administration, ed., Munhwajae daegwan–jung-yo minsokjaryo ② 문화재대관-중요민속자료② [Overview of Korean Cultural Heritage – Important Folklore Materials Vol. 2] (Seoul: Cultural Heritage Administration, 2006). 10 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, Myeongseon, ha 명선, 하 名選, 下 [Select Traditional Costume Vol. 3] (Seoul: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, 2005), 123. 11 See InWoo Chang’s chapter in this volume. 12 Article published on the fourth page of the February 19, 1964, issue of Hankook Ilbo newspaper. Seok Juseon had participated as a researcher in the excavation of the joint tomb of Princess Cheongyeon (Cheongyeon gunju 청연군주 淸衍郡主, 1754– 1821) and her husband in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do in 1963. 13 Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Je 1 hoe suui teukbyeoljeon 제1회 수의 특별전 [The First Annual Exhibition: The Excavated Shrouds] (Seoul: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, 1981). 14 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Begaenmeorie seumin jeongseong 베갯머리에 스민 정성 [Pillow Collection Donated by Kim Daehwan] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2011). 15 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Yudang sintaegwan ilga yumul 유당 신태관 일가 유물 [Family Bequests from Yudang Shin Taegwan] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2014) and Hangukboksik 한국복식 韓國服飾 [Journal of Korean Dress] 32 (2014). 16 Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Je 1 hoe suui teukbyeoljeon; Seok Juseon, “Joseonsidae chultoboksigui siltae” 조선시대 출토복식의 실태 [The current status of research on excavated dress of Joseon], The Conference Proceedings (Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, 1983), 27. 17 Park Seongsil 박성실, “Joseonjeongi chultoboksik yeongu - Imjinwaeran ijeon sigireul jungsimeuro” 朝鮮前記 出土服飾 硏究 –임진왜란 이전 시기를 중심으로– [Study on the Excavated Dress of the Early Joseon – Before Imjin War] (Ph.D. diss., Sejong University, 1992). 18 Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Myeongseon, 136–7. The image of this ensemble can be viewed at https://artsandculture.google.com/ asset/%EC%A7%81%EA%B8%88-%EC%A0%80%EA%B3%A0%EB%A6%AC% EC%99%80-%EC%8A%A4%EB%9E%80%EC%B9%98%EB%A7%88%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%81/WQHSWVUWnt9Vzw (accessed January 17, 2021). 19 Yeonsangun ilgi 연산군일기 燕山君日記 [The Annals of the Dethroned King Yeongsan-gun], May 23, 1504, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wja_11005023_001 (accessed January 16, 2021). 20 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Je 2 hoe suui teukbyeoljeon 제2회 수의 특별전 [The Second Annual Exhibition: The Excavated Shrouds], (Seoul: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, 1982);
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Seok Juseon, “Joseonsidae chultoboksigui siltae,” 27; Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Myeongseon, 152–3. Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Joseonjo chima.jeogori teukbyeoljeon 조선조 치마ಷ저고리 특별전 [Jeogori & Chima of the Joseon Dynasty] (Seoul: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, 1997). Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Jeongsagongsin singyeongyu myo chultoboksik 정사공신 신경유 묘 출토복식 [The Excavated Dress from the Tomb of Meritorious Military Official Shin Gyeongyu] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2008); Hangukboksik 26 (2008); Jinjuryussi ryujeongui buin gyeongjuissi chultoboksik 진주류씨 류정의 부인 경주이씨 출토복식 [The Excavated Garments from the Grave of Madam Lee of the Gyeongju Clan] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2017); Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 37 (2017). Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 16 (1998); Park Seongsil et al., Joseonsidae yeoinui meotgwa charimsae 조선시대 여인의 멋과 차림새 [The Style and Fashion of the Women of Joseon Dynasty] (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 2005), 14. Images of the artifact can be found at https://artsandculture.google.com/ asset/%EC%A0%81%EC%82%BC-%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%81/JQGgyCH9hVhtw (accessed January 17, 2020). Images of the artifact can be found at https://artsandculture.google.com/ asset/%EC%B9%98%EB%A7%88-%EB%AF%B8%EC%83%81/ rQGlFPD2p60YOQ (accessed January 17, 2020). Park Sangguk 박상국, “Paju geumneungni gyeongju jeongssi bunmyoeseo chultodoen boksige jjikin daraniwa bulgyo bujeok” 파주 금릉리 경주 정씨 분묘에서 출토된 복식에 찍힌 다라니와 불교 부적 [The Dhāran·ī and Buddhist Symbolism Imprinted on the Dress from the Tomb of Jeong On], Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 16 (1998): 1–5. Ahn ChunSun 안춘순 and Jo Hanguk 조한국, “Paju geumneungni gyeongju jeongssi yumurui seomyuoe seongbune gwanhan bunseok” 파주 금릉리 경주 정씨 유물의 섬유외 성분에 관한 분석 [Analysis on the soil particulates of the garments from the tomb of Jeong On], Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 16 (1998): 13–29. Park Seongsil, “Paju geumneungni chulto gyeongju jeongssi yumul sogo” 파주 금릉리 출토 경주 정씨 유물 소고 [Dress artifacts from the Tomb of Jeong On], Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 16 (1998): 31–48. Lee Myung-eun 이명은, “Jeonbuk bu-an gobu issi myo chulto yumule gwanhan yeongu” 전북 부안 고부이씨 묘 출토 유물에 관한 연구 [Dress artifacts from the tomb of Lady Yi (Gobu clan) in Buan, Jeollabuk-do], Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 29 (2011): 74. Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Bukanjibangui jeontong boksik-gaehwaihuhaebang jeon hu 북한지방의 전통복식-개화이후-해방 전 후 [Traditional Dress from Northern Provinces of Korea] (Seoul: Hyeonamsa, 1998).
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31 Seok Juseon Memorial Folk Museum, ed., Hangukboksik 한국복식 韓國服飾 [Journal of Korean Dress] 18 (2000); Hanguk jeontong eoriniboksik 한국 전통 어린이복식 [Traditional Children’s Dress in Korea] (Seoul: Dankook University Press, 2000); Hanguk jeontong eorini boksik gaejeongpan 한국 전통 어린이복식 개정판 [Traditional Children’s Dress in Korea: Second edition] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2019). 32 National Folk Museum of Korea and Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, Eorini jeontongot – maeumeul dama jieun sarang, aiot 어린이 전통옷 – 마음을 담아 지은 사랑, 아이옷 [Love Made with All Parents’ Heart, Traditional Children’s Clothing] (Seoul: National Folk Museum of Korea, Yongin: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, 2018); Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 39 (2018). 33 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed. (2002), Collection of Studies on the Boy Mummy and the Unearthed Artifacts [Nama mira min chulto yumul yeongu nonchong 남아 미라 및 출토 유물 연구 논총]. Seoul: Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum. 34 More images are provided at http://museum.dankook.ac.kr/web/museum/-15?p_p_ id=Relic_WAR_museumportlet&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_ mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-2&p_p_col_count=1&_Relic_WAR_ museumportlet_RELIC_NB=B011478&_Relic_WAR_museumportlet_ orderBy=name&_Relic_WAR_museumportlet_curPage=0&_Relic_WAR_ museumportlet_action=view_message&_Relic_WAR_museumportlet_ sKeyword=%EB%B0%94%EC%A7%80 (accessed July 6, 2020). 35 Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, ed., Jeonjuissi sudogunpa 5se iheonchunggwa buin andonggimssi myo chultoboksik (전주이씨 수도군파 5세) 이헌충과 부인 안동김씨 묘 출토 복식 [Excavated costume from the tombs of Lee Hun-chung (the Jeonju clan) & madam Kim(the Andong clan)] (Yongin: Dankook University Press, 2019); Hwang Jinyoung 황진영, “Joseonsidae bunmyo chulto segadak baji yuhyeong e gwanhan yeongu” 조선시대 분묘 출토 세가닥 바지 유형에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Type of Three legged pants Excavated from the Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty], Hangukboksik [Journal of Korean Dress] 41 (2019): 5–28. 36 Google Arts & Culture, “Dan-gukdaehakgyo Seok Juseon ginyeom bangmulgwan” 단국대학교 석주선 기념 박물관 [Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum], Google Art Project (2015–17) https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/ seok-juseon-memorial-museum-dankook-university (accessed January 17, 2020).
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Acquisition of a Replica and Identification of Mystery Items: Case Studies in Scotland Rosina Buckland and Minjee Kim
This chapter presents two case studies in Scotland demonstrating the challenges that museums far removed from Korea encounter when they try to represent Korean clothing and understand Korean artifacts in their collection. The first shows a long process at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh: a decision for the acquisition of a recreated Korean military uniform of late Joseon with historical accuracy and a strategy to display it along with historical artifacts in the gallery of East Asian Art. The second case involves the identification process and the outcome surrounding the clothing objects whose provenance had long been a mystery at Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Perth, a city in central Scotland.
Commissioning a Joseon Military Uniform at the National Museum of Scotland In February 2019 the National Museum of Scotland completed a fifteen-year transformation of its original Victorian building with the opening of three new galleries. One of these is Exploring East Asia, devoted to the arts of China, Japan, and Korea. The gallery reflects the fact that the region of East Asia plays an increasingly important role in today’s globalized world, economically, culturally, and geostrategically, and that to understand these cultures it benefits us to consider their pasts. In the gallery not only can visitors explore aspects of the distinct traditions of China, Japan, and Korea, but also they will find points of shared heritage.1 The gallery presents highlights of the museum’s collection across the three cultures, structured according to repeating themes that examine common 257
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aspects such as the development of ceramic and bronze technologies, highquality material goods for the elite, scholars’ pursuits, and contemporary artistic practices. At the center of the gallery, the three cultures come together in a splendid display of costumed military figures (Figure 12.1a). For China, there is a ceremonial armor of the 1830s; for Japan, a suit of samurai armor dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries; and for Korea, a newly made military uniform gunbok 군복 軍服 based on an artifact of the late-nineteenth-century Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). The Korean collection at National Museums Scotland is small compared with those for China and Japan, numbering around 250 items comprising ceramics, household items, textiles, furniture, and lacquer. Most were collected from the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, but there are some earlier ceramic pieces. The collection was started in 1881, and while acquisitions have mainly been in the form of donations, particularly from people who have spent time living in Korea, there has been a steady expansion, which continues today. The strength of the collection lies in its ceramics, with a small number of stoneware pieces from the Three Kingdoms period (57 bce –668 ce ), fine examples of celadon cheongja of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), and white porcelain baekja and gray vessels coated with white slip buncheong of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Despite the smaller quantity of material to draw on, it was felt essential to include Korea within the gallery, for both the strength of Korea’s own cultural traditions and its essential role as a conduit between China and Japan. Selection of objects for the new gallery began in earnest during 2017, progressing through content workshops held with the external design company. Initial plans had a grouping of cases at the center exploring themes shared across East Asia, emphasizing the long-standing cultural and technological links among the three cultures. However, after discussion within the gallery development team, it was felt that the proposed material (much of which was archaeological) was not visually strong enough to hold the center. In the adjacent Ancient Egypt gallery, there was a plan to display at the entrances sculptures and a coffin bearing the image of the deceased person. These were intended to provide figural forms as a focus for visitors as they entered. In the East Asia gallery, there was already a plan to display examples of costumes and textiles and, faced with this impasse in the design, I proposed bringing the costumed figures together at the center of the gallery. The intention was to provide an impressive focus and to draw visitors toward the center. This proposal was greeted enthusiastically. For this central area, the curators discussed the idea of displaying military uniforms from the three cultures, considering the impression that might be
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(a)
(b)
Figure 12.1 a. A gunbok (military uniform) on display (glass case) in the East Asia gallery. © National Museums Scotland b. A jeollip, late 19th century, A.1905.405. © National Museums Scotland
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conveyed to visitors. Ultimately, our conclusion was that this would be a salutary contrast to the typical representation of East Asian cultures as pacific. The histories of China, Japan, and Korea have included many periods of warfare, and the martial aspect would reflect this. Whereas we were lucky enough to have several costume options for China and Japan, there were almost no historical Korean textiles in the collection, and certainly nothing suitable for this military theme. This reflects the situation in many museums in Europe, and the scarcity of such works can be traced to several causes. The first is the prolonged history of conflict on the Korean peninsula, resulting in the loss of cultural artifacts. Second, the custom of cremation of the body along with textile belongings as part of Buddhist funerary rites may well account for the dearth of surviving textiles during the period when Buddhism flourished in Korea, that is from the fourth or fifth century to the end of the Goryeo dynasty. The third is a lack of awareness of clothing unearthed from graves dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, a number of which have been reported in South Korea since the 1970s. The unearthed examples of clothing have rarely been featured in overseas museums and are not housed by institutions outside Korea. As result of these causes, the historical Korean textile articles collected by Westerners in early modern times and now housed in museums in Europe and America mostly date from the late nineteenth century onward and are relatively limited in quantity and variety compared with those from Japan and China. Thanks to the suggestion of a colleague, the possibility arose of commissioning a replica of a historical military ensemble. The National Museum of Scotland does not have a policy regarding replicas, and so the idea was considered based on the benefit—to visitors’ enhanced understanding—of presenting a well-made replica, in situations where the historical original is not available. There was some concern that it might be misleading to present a new ensemble alongside historical works, but the intention was that the replica should be historically accurate in terms of fabric, dyes, proportions, etc., and based on thorough research. Already at the National Museum of Scotland there was the precedent of a display of Native American ceremonial dress, made by Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings (b. 1952, Kiowa) in the Living Lands gallery. Considering the situation in other museums, I found a precedent at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which currently displays replica examples of traditional Korean clothing hanbok made by late South Korean designer Lee Young-hee (1936–2018). As part of the gallery planning process, the museum conducted audience research in the autumn of 2017, where participants were presented with images
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of works selected for the gallery. The examples of Korean men’s headdress in the National Museum of Scotland’s collection met with a particularly enthusiastic reaction, with participants responding that it was fascinating to see the range of types and to learn of the different functions. The men’s headdress items from the Joseon dynasty on display included gat 갓 (black hat with crown and brim), tanggeon 탕건 (inner mesh cap), manggeon 망건 (hairband), samo 사모 (black coronet worn by officials for court attendance), jeongjagwan 정자관 (peaked scholar’s cap), and yanggwan 양관 (official’s coronet worn at government rituals). Another significant item in this group was a felt hat jeollip 전립 戰笠 which would have completed a military ensemble gunbok (Figure 12.1b). The jeollip is a hat with brim and dome-shaped crown, made with felt. Its chinstrap (paeyeong 패영) is beaded with pale-yellow amber (milhwa 밀화 蜜花) and coral. Around the base of the dome-shape crown is tied a leather cord with an ivory cicada. A plume of peacock’s tail and strands of horsehair which were previously dyed red serve as finial ornaments. The finial support (jeongja 정자 頂子), which may have been made with precious metal or wood, was missing.2 The mentioned headdress items including the jeollip were sold to the museum by Mr. W. H. and Mrs. G. Emberley, who were proprietors of the Grand Hotel in Seoul until their return to Britain in 1905, when they made the first sale of artifacts to the museum in Edinburgh (a second group was purchased from them in 1907). Thanks to the kind offices of a museum colleague, I was put in touch with Haeja Koo (b. 1942), the Master Seamstress of Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 89 designated by the Korean government in 2007. Upon inquiry, Master Koo kindly provided quotes for both gapju 갑주 (helmet and armor of the Joseon dynasty) and two styles of gunbok, based on extant examples housed at Sookmyung Women’s University Museum, worn by Heungwan-gun Yi Jeongeung 흥완군 이정응 (1815–48), a member of the royal family in the late Joseon dynasty.3 Given the positive responses to the jeollip from members of the public, and the visual strength it was felt the military ensemble could provide to the gallery, the museum decided to allocate funds to proceed with the commission (Figure 12.2). The military dress gunbok originated as the layer worn beneath full armor, but it developed over time as a uniform in its own right. The full outfit consists of multiple parts, the main one being the full-length robe (dongdari 동달이, 동다리) of muted orange silk with long sleeves of a differing color, red in the case of the commissioned piece, fastened with sashes called goreum 고름. Over this is worn a full-length vest (jeonbok 전복 戰服) of black silk gauze with side slits, fastened down at the center front with knot buttons. The silk damask fabrics of both these
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(a)
(b)
Figure 12.2 a (full), b (detail). A gunbok reproduced by Koo Haeja (1942–present) in 2018. V.2018.11. © National Museums Scotland
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(c)
(d)
Figure 12.2 (Continued). c, d. Underlayers for gunbok by Koo Haeja. 2018. © National Museums Scotland
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garments are finely woven featuring delicately patterned medallions of a writhing dragon. The pattern of the fabric, as well as the ornaments on the jeollip, differed according to rank.4 The robe and vest were again secured with a wide belt (gwangdae 광대 廣帶) of black brushed felt (wudan 羽緞), over which is tied an extremely long sash with pointed ends (jeondae 전대 戰帶), made of blue biascut silk. The ensemble is completed with the pair of boots (mokhwa 목화 木靴) of black leather with red trim. Based on considerations of cost, these were sourced readymade from a market, but made by a shoe specialist. When displayed in the gallery, only the outer layers of the costume are visible, but as this was to be a high-quality commission replicating a historical model, it was felt important that the museum acquire the full set of parts, to give the costume greater significance in the long term. The commission therefore included the loose pants of pale blue silk (baji 바지), a pair of gaiters (haengjeon 행전), a jacket of white silk (jeogori 저고리), an inner robe of white silk (chang-ui 창의 ∵㺓), and wadded cotton socks (beoseon 버선). The museum retained an external specialist to custom-make mannequins for the three East Asian military dresses. Whereas the Japanese armor was placed in the customary seated pose (evoking a general on a campstool), it was felt that both the Chinese ceremonial armor and the Korean gunbok would be more effectively displayed in a standing position. As the jeollip was a historical piece, distinct in its origin from the newly made replica ensemble, the decision was made to display it separately, on its own stand adjacent to the gunbok. In what proved to be a timely development in terms of sourcing images for use in the displays, Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, met at the inter-Korea summit held in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjeom on April 27, 2018. Forming a background to the leaders’ walk together was a phalanx of men wearing colorful gunbok, together with a small number clad in gapju. It was decided to include a photograph from this occasion on the interpretative panel of the display case, to illustrate how the costume continues to possess cultural significance as representative of Korean history and tradition.
Identifying Mystery Pieces at Perth Museum and Art Gallery The final stage of the masterplan was not limited to redisplaying the galleries within the museum building in Edinburgh. A national program was undertaken, working
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with partner museums across Scotland to survey and better document their East Asian collections. The expectation, which was largely borne out, was that this review would yield a much larger number of Chinese and Japanese than Korean objects. The first partner institution visited was Perth Museum and Art Gallery, where there were a number of textile items for which the source culture had not been identified and there was no documentation beyond a single register entry. To the surprise of all involved, some turned out to be Korean clothing objects of the late Joseon era. The first was the four items which constitute a courtier’s ensemble jebok 제복 祭服 worn for the state’s ancestor veneration rites (Figure 12.3a): 1) an outer robe of black silk gauze (heukcho-ui 흑초의黑㎳衣); 2) a mid-layer robe of blue silk gauze with black border (cheongcho jungdan 청초중단 靑㎳中單); 3) a rear ornamental panel of red silk with embroidery of cranes, macramé and tassels (husu 후수 後綬); and 4) an ornamental belt inset with decorative plaques (gakdae 각대 角帶) The state law code of the early Joseon, Gyeongguk daejeon 經國大典 [The Great Code of National Governance] compiled in 1484 notes the colors of the outermost robe and of the mid-layer robe of jebok ensemble as blue (cheongchoui 청초의 靑㎳衣) and white (baekcho jungdan 백초중단 白㎳中單), respectively, for officials of all ranks from the first to the ninth.5 The regulation on the colors became eroded in the early nineteenth century. Scholar and civil official Seong Hae-eung 성해응 成海應 (1760–1839) stated the blue robe was replaced by a black one in his time.6 The ensemble in Perth Museum can therefore be dated to the nineteenth century. The second item presented a puzzle (Figure 12.3b). I consulted with Minjee Kim, who helped the process of commissioning gunbok. Her reasoning for the identification is as follows: The shape and structure of the robe, the round neckband, and the white band collar (dongjeong 동정) are the major characteristics of an ordinary dallyeong 단령 團領 (a term referring collectively to robes with a round neckband). What was particular about this piece is the color choice of the lining, yellow. Among hereditary artifacts, both the aengsam 앵삼 鶯衫 in Korea University Museum and Dankook University Seok Juseon Meorial Museum are lined with yellow fabric.7 That could be a critical point for identifying the robe as an aengsam, a celebratory robe donned by outstanding passers of the civil service exam right after the announcement of the result. However, the color of the main fabric of the robe in Perth Museum is different from the typical color of known examples of aengsam. The main fabric of aengsam is typically diaphanous green ramie or silk gauze; along with its yellow lining, the overall color of aengsam projects a
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(a)
(b)
Figure 12.3 a. A jebok (sacrificial ensemble for officials) on display, 19th century, Perth Museum and Art Gallery. © Culture Perth and Kinross b. An aengsam (scholar’s ceremonial robe for passing the state exam), 19th century, Perth Museum and Art Gallery. © Culture Perth and Kinross
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subtle mixture of green and yellow.8 Of the surviving aengsam objects, the round neckband, the sleeve ends, and the side and bottom hems are trimmed with black fabric. Such a unique color coordination led to name the robe aengsam, where aeng 鶯 means a black-naped yellow oriole and sam 衫 a robe.9 The robe in Perth Museum, although lined with yellow, shows a distinctively darker color, close to black. To resolve this, I reached out to Professor Eunjoo Lee at Andong University in South Korea who is especially renowned for historical garment identification. Professor Lee confirmed the Perth robe was an aengsam and provided a portrait image of a successful passer of the state exam, dressed in a dark color robe, dating from 1900,10 which closely resembles the robe in question.
Later, Professor Lee with her student Jin Deogsoon 진덕순 in their newly published article elucidated that colors of the robe worn by state exam passers were diverse in late Joseon.11 They cited Yeongyeongjae jeonjip 연경재전집 硏經齋 全集 by Seong Hae-eung (1760–1836) which described green, indigo blue and yellow robes for the state’s preliminary exam passers in their celebratory rites. According to the record, the diverse color robes were collectively called nansam 난삼 䤈(㣢)衫, only the yellow robe was called aengsam.12 However, the two terms seem to have been used interchangeably due to the inconsistently chosen colors. Other than the jebok ensemble and the presumed nansam or aengsam, the original chest in which the items had arrived at the museum yielded the helmet (tugu 투구) of an armor ensemble (gapju 갑주). Those Korean items had been acquired by the redoubtable collector Melville Jamieson Gray (1848–1946). Born into a well-established Perth family, Melville was the younger brother of Euphemia Gray (1828–97), who caused a scandal by leaving her first husband, the art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900), for the painter John Everett Millais (1829–96). Melville Gray emigrated in about 1868 to New Zealand, where he was a sheep farmer and estate manager for many decades. In 1902 he returned to Perth and in 1939, aged 91, he married Ada Julius, to whom he had proposed fully forty years earlier. Having undertaken extensive travels around the world, his home was filled with a diverse collection of materials, including glass from Venice, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, Greek and Roman ceramics, East Asian armor, swords, and firearms. All these were bequeathed to Perth Museum. The Korean items are extremely rare examples of such clothing, even in the UK. Each collections review was designed to contribute to the partner museum’s planning of a Reveal display, and this took place in Perth, under the title Dress to Impress, from May 26 to October 27, 2018, with the helmet featuring on the promotional poster.
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Conclusion The expectation of visitors to a museum is that the works on display are both old and “genuine.” In reality, however, the majority of museums collect the contemporary alongside older pieces, and in the absence of historical specimens due to scarcity or condition issues, replicas can serve an invaluable role in transmitting understanding of past cultural forms. The reproduced gunbok which was commissioned for display at the National Museum of Scotland was closely based on historical examples and was crafted by an artist recognized at the highest level by the South Korean government, designated as a Master Seamstress. This ensured its accuracy and quality. Such commissions both enhance the museum experience for visitors unfamiliar with these historical and foreign forms and provide an opportunity for the artist to make something that will engage with a global audience. The gunbok in Edinburgh has taken its place as part of the Korean collection within the Department of Global Arts, Cultures and Design and will serve as a powerful example of this form of official costume as long as the museum continues. Response to the new Exploring East Asia gallery at the National Museum of Scotland has been extremely positive, with visitors discovering many aspects of East Asian art and culture they were unfamiliar with and learning more about the techniques and materials they had perhaps encountered but little understood. At the center of the displays, the gunbok successfully signals the presence of Korea within the gallery and draws visitors in. Perhaps many museums in Europe and North America house items of clothing similar to the ones in Perth Museum and Art Gallery. Especially among the group of artifacts from East Asian countries—China, Korea, and Japan— there are often cases where the country of origin remains unidentified or misclassified in the first instance. This case study hopes to promote continuing research on undiscovered Korean clothing artifacts at overseas museums and contribute to the building of a global professional network and further collaboration.
Notes 1 For their assistance in bringing the gunbok display to fruition, my thanks go to Dr. Louise Boyd and Lynn McLean at the National Museum of Scotland,
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Rosalie Kim and Beth McKillop at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Minjee Kim for intermediary services. This jeollip is comparable to those housed in Grassi Museum in Leipzig, Germany. Refer to Gungnip Munhwajae Yeonguso 국립문화재연구소 [National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage], Dogil la-i-peuchihi geurasi minsok bangmulgwan sojang hanguk munhwajae 독일 라이프치히 그라시 민속 박물관 소장 한국 문화재 [Korean art collection, Grassi Museum für Volkerkunde zu Leipzig, Germany] (Daejeon: Gungnip Munhwajae Yeonguso, 2013), 242–5. See this historical gunbok in Sookmyung Women’s University Museum 숙명여자대학교 박물관, Sukmeong yeojadaehakgyo Bangmulgwan sojang Myeongpumdorok 숙명여자대학교 박물관소장 명품도록 [Sookmyung Women’s University Museum Collection Catalog] (Seoul: Sookmyung Women’s University Museum,1993), 13. The sixty-two articles of clothing from the Heungwangun family were designated National Folk Cultural Property No. 121 in 1983. The image of the gunbok is provided here: http://www.heritage.go.kr/heri/cul/imgHeritage.do?ccimId =1633302&ccbaKdcd=18&ccbaAsno=01210000&ccbaCtcd=31 (accessed on January 12, 2022). Joseon wangjo sillok 조선왕조실록, Jeongjo: 17th year of his reign (1793), 8th day of 10th month. “兵曹參判林濟遠上疏曰. . .又以氈笠上頂子, 略表職品, 如鍍金 雕金 純銀 鏤 銀 儳結 木刻之屬, 區以別之. 又以雀羽與象毛, 卞其文武, 則亦不至於紊雜矣. (The Vice Minister of the Division of State Defense, Im Jewon, propounded to King Jeongjo ‘The finial material of jeollip could be a discernable marker of the wearer’s social status. For example, gold, silver, gilt, gold or silver inscription, horsehair ornamentation, carved wood, etc., and the plumage and animal hair ornamentation on top could indicate whether the wearer is a civil or military official. That way would not disrupt the practice of wearing jeollip’).” Retrieved from the National Institute of Korean History Database, http://sillok.history.go.kr/id/ wva_11710008_002 (accessed January 12, 2022). Gyeongguk daejeon 經國大典 [The Great Code of National Governance], 1484, yejeon 禮典 ui-jang 儀章. “一品 . . .祭服, 靑䔁衣・赤䔁裳・蔽膝・白䔁中單・雲鶴金環綬・白 䔁方心曲領. . .七・八・九品. . .祭服, 靑䔁衣・赤䔁裳・蔽膝・白䔁中單・吲澙銅環綬・ 白䔁方心曲領” (jebok from the first rank to the ninth: blue silk gauze outer robe. . .
white silk gauze mid-layer robe. . .) Retrieved from National Institute of Korean History Database, http://db.history.go.kr/law/item/level.do?levelId=jlawa_103_0030 _0010&position=0 Accessed on January 12, 2022. 6 Seong Hae-eung성해응 成海應 (1760 – 1839), Yeongyeongjae jeonjip 연경재전집 硏經 齋全集 c. 1840, Vol. 32 pungcheollok 風泉錄 2 jebokseol 祭服說 “案經國大典祭服用靑 䔁衣 正與皇朝禮同. 今之用黑, 殆後來之變也. 然玄者幽遠也. 黑而有赤色者爲玄 象幽而 入覆之也 與鴉靑有異. 或者之言 未之深考也 苟欲循古之制 宜用玄而不宜用黑
(Considering the documentation in Gyeonggukdaejeon, a blue silk gauze robe was a
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part of jebok ensemble, which complies with the code in China. However, a black robe is used nowadays.” Retrieved from the Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics Database, http://db.itkc.or.kr/inLink?DCI=ITKC_MO_0594A_0320_ 010_0040_2007_A274_XML (accessed on January 12, 2022). See the two aengsam here: Korea University Museum 고려대학교 박물관, Boksingnyu myeongpum dorok 복식류 명품도록 [Catalog: Dress and Textiles] (Seoul: Korea University Museum Publisher, 1990), 41–2; Dankook University Museum, collection search “aengsam 앵삼,” https://tinyurl.com/SookJuseonAengsam (accessed on January 12, 2022). Exam passers wearing an aengsam are depicted in the paintings dealing with the subject samil yuga (exam passer’s celebratory street procession for three days) as part of a pyeongsaengdo (painting of life milestones) folding screen. See them in the following two paintings from the National Museum of Korea: http://www.museum. go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=1442 (see the fourth screen); http://www. museum.go.kr/site/main/relic/search/view?relicId=2064 (see the second screen). Kang Sun-je 강순제 et al., “aengsam 앵삼,” Hanguk boksik sajeon 한국복식사전 [Dictionary of Korean Costumes] (Seoul: Minsogwon, 2015), 509; and its digital version at http://dic-costumekorea.org/meta/?act=detail&meta_uid=54. Kim Wonmo 김원모 and Jeong Seonggil 정성길, Sajin euro bon baengnyeon jeonui hanguk: geundae hanguk (1871–1910) 사진으로 본 백년 전의 한국: 근대 한국 (1871–1910) [Korea 100 years ago in photographs (Seoul: Catholic Publisher, 1997), 247. Jin Deogsoon 진덕순 and Lee Eunjoo 이은주, “Joseonsidae saengwon, jinsa ui bangbang boksikjedo” 조선시대 생원・진사의 방방 복식제도 [Costume for Successful Candidates of the Exam of Saengwon and Jinsa in Joseon Dynasty], 국학연구 [Korean Studies] 45 (2021): 341–73, esp. 360–1. Seong, Yeongyeongjae jeonjip, Vol. 43, uijangnyu 儀章類, “命生員進士放榜時用之. 中 朝儀章譏㾤然. 然上舍生成班. 或草綠或藍靑. 又妙年上舍者服黃. 而綠者謂之鶯衫. 其色 不一. 合當釐正. (Order [people] to use the robe for the celebratory rites of the preliminary state exam passers. That is what the Chinese court designated as nan 㾤 [nansam]. Some passers wore green; some wore indigo blue. Young (boy) passers wore yellow. The green robe was called aengsam 鶯衫. The colors were not one kind, therefore should be redressed.)”
13
Hanbok and Korean Identity: An Anthropological View Millie Creighton and Elias Alexander
Icons of the past and tradition are frequently used in constructing group identity. Symbolism, behavioral and fashion scholar Fred Davis points out that nostalgia and collective identity reference a presumed past, involving a “collective search for identity” which “looks backward rather than forward, for the familiar rather than the novel, for certainty rather than discovery.”1 Asserting a collective identity based on traditions of the past reaffirms that pre-existing culture remains, despite its seeming loss due to development, Westernization or globalization, and a modernized lifestyle. In this chapter, we consider traditional Korean clothing—hanbok—as salient to Korean collective identity in an anthropological context. To that end, we discuss the collection and display in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, focusing on the hanbok and artwear objects related to Korean historic garments as cultural symbols communicating Korean identity. Our discussion extends to the increasing visibility of hanbok at street fashion scenes in South Korea, touching on two phenomena: tourism offering hanbok wearing experiences and youth fashion revamping diverse styles of hanbok.
Dress as Material Culture and Human Experience Anthropologists research material culture to understand the customs and habits of a people, and to make cross-cultural comparisons. Cloth, clothing, and costume are part of material culture. Although what people wear varies, clothing is integral to the human experience cross-culturally and transhistorically. Material culture research provides insight into the social2 and soulful life of things.3 What a people consider their traditional clothing is important in ethnic 271
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or national identity construction because clothing developed in relation to the culture as situated in a place with its natural setting, geography, and climate.
1. Terms: Clothing, Dress, Fashion, Costume Functionally clothing provides protection, is suited to different activities, and covers bodies in keeping with a culture’s sexual mores. Symbolically it communicates collective or individual identity, and status, gender, and hierarchy. Anthropologist Joanne B. Eicher notes that clothing reveals time and place.4 In English, the words “dress” and “clothing” are often used interchangeably, but Eicher claims they are not synonymous. Dress includes clothing and other body adornments or modifications such as jewelry, masks, tattoos, and skin incisions.5 Eicher also distinguishes between fashion, clothing, and dress, noting that not all clothing or dress in a culture and time is considered fashionable.6 Another term to consider is “costume.” Costume sometimes refers to the ensemble of clothing and adornments people wear. It can mean dress that is not of daily, ritual, or spiritual significance, such as a Halloween costume or mask ball costume. The term has become important in discourse surrounding Indigenous cultures of North America, as costume is now considered negative when talking about Indigenous dress and adornment for ceremony or ritual. Instead, many Indigenous groups favor the term “regalia.”7 The author of Costume: Performing Identities through Dress, Pravina Shukla emphasizes costume’s communicative aspect, writing: Costume is usually set apart from dress in its rarity, cost, and elaborate materials, trims, and embellishments, and in its pronounced silhouette or exaggerated proportions. It is not meant to be ordinary, but, rather, evocative, urging the daily further along an artistic trajectory that leads to heightened communication and often culminates in a spectacle for public consumption.8
Shukla notes, however, that context shapes the use of costume which allows the necessity of instead using regalia for North American Indigenous groups. We mostly use the term “clothing” for hanbok.9 Anthropology currently places less emphasis on dress origins, and more on dress as “a coded sensory system of non-verbal communication that aids human interaction in space and time.”10 Such inquiry examines how dress practices “set off either or both cognitive and affective processes that result in recognition or lack of recognition by the viewer.”11 More emphasis is placed on intended messages and how these are understood by receivers/viewers.
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2. Hanbok: Symbolic Communication and Identity Statement Hanbok represents to Koreans something before today’s modernized, developed, and seemingly Westernized lifestyle. Hanbok communicates retention of the past in the present, with reassurances that Korean-ness will persist in the future. Hanbok asserts a non-Western identity and also Korean-ness in contrast to other Asians, particularly other East Asians; it also signifies not being Chinese or Japanese.12 Frequently, South Koreans perceive ethnic and national identity as the same, through a perceived merging of culture, ethnicity, and nationality. Although this is not absolutely the case, it is something many have come to believe. Many Korean scholars have embraced hanbok as an icon of traditional Korean culture and sensibility and recognized that it has changed during Korea’s history.13 This reflects the invention of tradition, with tradition as potentially changing. JinGoo Kim and Sunny Yang both believe that hanbok was an adaptation to the climate’s harshly cold winters and contrasting hot humid summers, and to the early workstyles of Koreans.14 Historically, hanbok symbolically communicated status, visually displaying the hierarchical systems of Korea’s different historical epochs.15 It also historically communicated an identity different from Japanese and Chinese, since the cut of clothing and colors favored were slightly different. Hanbok is comprised of two distinct parts; jeogori or the basic upper garment, and the bottom part which for girls and women is a long skirt called chima, and for boys and men involves wide-leg trousers or pants called baji. It is thought that the jeogori has been worn since the Three Kingdoms period (57 bce –668 ce ) but had changes in length, and jeogori came to be fastened by a set of two sashes called goreum.16 Chima became fuller during the Joseon period,17 as did men’s trousers. The billowing shape of chima enhanced grace and elegance in the Korean aesthetic view. Common colors and motifs for hanbok in the Joseon period reflect a Korean sensibility to Neo-Confucianism which valued simplicity, frugality, and hierarchy.18 The gentry yangban could wear patterns, colors, and motifs in gold leaf, which were not allowed to commoners. Commoners wore subdued colors and mostly white or off-white hanbok for everyday use, which they nonetheless attempted to adorn. According to Lee, women’s clothing colors reflected marital status, such as single, newly married, or long married.19 Blue cuff-bands for women’s jeogori could only be worn by women who had given birth to a son. Queens and other high-ranking women could wear fancier clothing every day, whereas common women might be allowed this only for their weddings.20
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Commoner men could also wear an official’s robe only for their weddings, but otherwise not unless holding such positions.21 Women of the elite yangban class were expected to wear veils when exiting the inner quarters of the house.22 These dress practices show how clothing communicated status and position within Korean society defined by class and gender.23 Following the Joseon period, Korea was under the rule of Japan from 1910 to 1945. The Japanese colonial project tried to assimilate Koreans into Japanese by expediting Westernization of Korean dress culture.24 Continuing rapid modernization after World War II, particularly economic success since the 1990s, transformed South Korea into a more pivotal player on the global stage. Korean transnational popular culture known as the Korean Wave (hallyu) has brought further prominence to South Korea.25 As these processes occurred, hanbok’s use in Korean identity assertion has been shown over time in political leaders’ sartorial choices in overseas diplomatic events. A prominent example is the former South Korean president Park Guen-Hye’s wearing hanbok,26 and often other female participants in diplomatic events choose to wear hanbok. Hanbok’s representation of a traditional Korean past relies on a dichotomy contrasting tradition and modernity—authentic tradition thought by Koreans to be “still within us” despite changes that modernity wrought and Koreans sometimes sought. Chung-Hee Soh claims that wearing hanbok evokes tradition and NeoConfucianism, communicating gender expectations as well as overall identity.27
Collection and Display in the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Canada Located on the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia, the Museum of Anthropology is a world-renowned museum, included in the New York Times bestseller, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.28 Hanbok’s presence in MOA shows its importance in symbolizing Korean-ness on the global stage. The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) was established in 1949, and relocated to its current location overlooking the ocean in 1976. The building is “an awardwinning concrete and glass structure designed by Canadian architect Arthur Ericson.”29 As a university museum, MOA has given much thought to the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. MOA works toward reflexive practices that consider relationships with the communities of origin of the material culture displayed and performative culture presented at the museum.30
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MOA questions the former division between Art with a capital A and other forms of expressive culture.31 Past ideas of art as something only to be displayed in museums or heard in special halls resulted in many cultures appearing to lack art, as their aesthetic expression went into utilitarian items. MOA has also been involved in debunking the once prevalent demarcation between art and craft, showing cultural aesthetic expressions as ongoing processes. Cultural historian James Clifford celebrates the way MOA presents cultural works as “part of an ongoing, dynamic tradition. The museum displays its works of art as part of an inventive process, not as treasures salvaged from a vanished past.”32 This coincides with MOA’s philosophy: its website states: “MOA’s exhibitions and programs emphasize artistic diversity and the links between art, community and the contemporary social and political context in which youth, artists and communities are communicating their cultural traditions.”33 Clifford appreciated MOA’s framing of cultural material objects as fine art34 but was critical of the storage unit when he visited, which he felt presented earlier forms of taxonomy, flattening the historical significance of cultural products within a context of colonialism. MOA has changed its visible storage display areas since Clifford raised the above issue. Its expansion in 2003 allowed a shift in the ways of displaying objects to visitors, now being called Multiversity Galleries (MVG). The galleries’ renewal was meant to present holdings in a way more welcoming to the objects’ communities of origin. Curator Jennifer Kramer writes that the MVG are meant to “evoke the guiding principle of multiple ways of knowing, categorizing, and organizing tangible and intangible culture, [and] the space is intended to decolonize older systems of museum classification and radically change the curatorial process that had been used in the first iteration of visible storage.”35 Such a philosophy affects not only displays for Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, but also other cultural objects including hanbok and other Korean material culture.
1. Hanbok and Other Korean Holdings MOA has a total of 5,299 objects classified as dress and adornments of which 184 are Korean. Hanbok were displayed as traditional Korean clothing at MOA from September to December, 2019. The glass cases 73 and 77 in the northwest corner of the MVG displayed thirty-one Korean clothing artifacts. The majority of which were in the MVG pullout drawers. In September 2019, an ensemble with a chima (skirt, MOA number 376/1) and a banhoejang joegori (women’s basic upper garment with different colored
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neckband, sashes, and sleeve-ends, MOA number 376/2) was displayed in Case 73 (Figure 13.1). While this women’s hanbok ensemble remained on display through December 2019, a dallyeong (bridegroom’s robe, MOA number 2503/1) was exhibited in Case 77, which later was replaced by Korean dolls in the collection in late November 2019. Until recently, 14 percent of objects in Case 77 and forty percent of those in Case 73 were in the category of clothing and adornments. This reflects hanbok’s importance in communicating Korean identity as well as the role of dress objects as cultural symbols in the museum display in general not limited to Korean culture.
Figure 13.1 Woman’s hanbok made prior to 1971 [Item components 376/1-3], green and white nylon and cotton fiber, 143 × 132.5 cm. © Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
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Millie Creighton’s research on Japanese women learning to grow silkworms and produce silk cloth according to traditional practices shows these women exploring a romanticized past and traditional cultural identity, which they then pass on to their children.36 Working in Greece, Michael Skafidas shows how clothing asserts ethnic and national identities against globalizing discourses.37 Dress is also used to project regional identities in contrast to a totalizing national identity, for example in clothing with different regional identities of Germany worn by people for special events, or by dolls from each area for collectors and tourists. In such cases, regional identities are reaffirmed along with ties to the past, heritage, and tradition.
2. Hanbok from Traditional Clothing to Modern Art Form MOA also displayed two works of assembled sculpture made in 2015 by South Korean dress historian and artwear artist Geum Key-Sook (금기숙) in Case 73. Named “Dream in Green Jeogori” (3284/2, Figure 13.2a) and “Blue Jang-ot” (3282/1, Figure 13.2b), respectively, they are the artist’s renditions of Joseon period women’s clothing, a jeogori (top) and a jang-ot (coat-type headwear), employing pinwork. The MOA catalogue says: Key-Sook Geum (금기숙) is inspired by the shapes and styles of clothing from Korea’s Choson [Joseon] Dynasty (1392–1910), because they tell stories about the people who wore them: their lives, aesthetics, and philosophies. She wanted to embody and visualize the sense of dignity, grace, and elegance of such Korean Traditions.38
Hanbok inspiration in modern artworks again reflects the importance of hanbok to Korean identity. The juxtaposition of these modern works with the clothing from the late Joseon period shows association between the two. Hanbok links past and tradition with present via modern art, and reiterates MOA’s philosophy of showing cultural production as an ongoing process as commitment to communities represented. Geum’s works were donated by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea. The former director of MOA, Michael Ames, wrote: “originating communities [are] the clients who direct museum curators as professionals to do exhibition work deemed appropriate for community representation.”39 MOA’s commitment to involving communities is also shown in the recent decision to replace the bridegroom’s robe dallyeong with a collection of Joseon period dolls on loan from the Consulate General of the Republic of
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(a)
(b)
Figure 13.2 a. Geum Key-Sook, Dream in Green JoGoRe [Jeogori], green and silver wire with green and clear beads, 27 × 121 cm, no. 3284/2/. © Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia b. Geum Key-Sook, Blue Jang-ot, blue and silver wire with blue and clear beads, 148 × 175 cm, no. 3284/1. © Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia
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Korea. However, since the Korean Consulate represents an elite political sphere, one can still ask to what degree the voices of average South Koreans as members of the community have been represented.
3. Museums as Contact Zones Museums are a powerful legitimizing force in communicating an ethnic or national identity, and this is one influence museums have held as institutions.40 Museums function as contact zones. Mary Louise Pratt writes: “I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they [were] lived out in many parts of the world today.”41 Following Pratt, Clifford views museums as contact zones in “their organizing structure as a collection,” which is “an ongoing historical, political, moral relationship—a power-charged set of exchanges, of push and pull.”42 Kramer notes the power of objects to create or facilitate new relationships with communities of origin and the museums housing their material culture. Referencing Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples, she states: [R]elationships to objects are more important than the physical traits of the objects themselves . . . For now, and perhaps indefinitely, this contemporary context of Indigenous ownership of privileges takes precedence over the type of questions museums customarily want to answer through research on ethnographic collections, such as object provenance or artist attribution.43
Anthropologist Fred Myers acknowledges that strategic decisions of curators are a potential force in producing understandings about cultures, but he questions the power structures that legitimize what constitutes cultural production and communication. He writes: “I believe one finds the possibility of understanding exhibitions as instructive, transformative, educational—as interventions on/in culture and not simply repetitions.”44 Museums communicate cultural messages, but visitors do not always interpret them as intended by the museums or cultures of origin. Below we present a case of problematic misidentification of MOA’s display of Korean artwear inspired by hanbok.
4. A Case of Mistaken Identity In October 2019, one of the authors (Alexander) visited MOA with a South Korean friend. A family was in the area of the cases displaying Korean items.
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They overheard one of the women near Case 73 holding Geum’s works say, “You all have to come over here! The kimono here is so beautiful. Everyone come look over here at these beautiful Japanese kimonos.” The intended communication of Korean identity was not grasped. Particularly significant is that the works imaging hanbok were mistaken for kimono, Japanese traditional clothing. This contact zone encounter was a case of mistaken identity—both in terms of misidentifying the cultural group, and the literal sense of items. Since no one wished to intrude on the group’s outing, neither the woman nor others in her group were asked why they thought the works represented Japanese kimono. However, we offer the following possibilities. This may have involved the arrangement of the displays which places East Asian areas together. Next to Case 77 is located a case for Japanese material culture, and these are near those for China. The woman and her group did not seem to spend time at the case for Japan, however, raising other explanations as more likely. Among the three East Asian countries, there is a particularly strong sense of difference recognized from each other whereas Westerners often seem to miss this. Within North America and other Western countries, there is a tendency to lump the three countries and their cultures together. Likewise, in the ethnic/ racial categorizing schema of “Black, White, Yellow” or in movements for PanAsianism that emphasize shared experiences of being from Asia, Asians are grouped together. In terms of clothing, Westerners more commonly know about Japanese kimono, as the word “kimono” has entered the English lexicon. Thus, another possibility is that Korean clothing might more likely be misidentified as kimono. This calls for further education on the distinctive cultures of East Asian countries. This is more important in the sense that the cultural differences among Korea, Japan, and China have been historically and continue to be emphasized among them. Their similarities have often been picked up by those outside East Asia. For example, whereas Koreans and Japanese might see hanbok and kimono as totally different, Westerners might perceive similarity in how the clothing is worn with the left side over the right for both men’s and women’s clothing, as is also the case for traditional Chinese clothing, whereas in the West overlapping women’s clothing is usually the right flap over the left.
Shifting Cultural Conceptions from Unique to Distinctive As indicated, a problem underlying the misidentification of Korean hanbok as Japanese kimono involves inadequate understanding of East Asian cultures. In
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addition to education about Asia, and official international envoys, popular culture also results in more knowledge among laypeople. The Korean Wave of Korean popular culture was embraced outside South Korea and increased interest in learning more about Korean culture, deterring previous ideas that it could be lumped together with Japanese or Chinese culture. However, there is another related problem. There has been a strong tendency in the past for Korean authors to speak of Korea and Korean culture as “unique.” Korea specialist James B. Palais discusses this tendency and the critique of it, but in the end presents it as valid.45 However, his culminating example of something “unique,” that a Korean collective identity has persisted despite oppression of Koreans and attempts of other groups to take them over, is not unique, as this has been said of other groups, and thus would be better discussed as “distinctive.” Unique means “one of a kind,” so for something to be unique there cannot be another example of it. From an anthropological perspective, all cultures are unique in the particular organization of elements that make up the culture, yet share certain attributes or aspects with some or all other cultures. Historically, Korean identity was framed largely in determining cultural aspects different from China and Japan, providing oppositional contrast. However, there are also elements that are shared or similar among the three cultures. Significant here is that rather than discussing Korea and Korean identity as “unique,” suggesting incomparability with any other culture, it would be more desirable to discuss Korea and Korean culture as “distinctive,” clearly having their own cultural elements and distinct organizational patterns while also having cross-cultural similarities. Palais claims the Korean search for uniqueness is partly a response to outsiders thinking that Korea borrowed cultural aspects from China, pointing out that this does not negate Korea’s own inherent culture.46 While this is a good point and might account for the emphasis on uniqueness, it does not resolve the issue that this has happened elsewhere and that no culture is completely different from all other cultures.
Hanbok in Modern Tourism and Street Fashion In addition to the realm of contemporary artwork, hanbok is increasingly visible in tourism and street fashion. These two arenas again show hanbok as connected to contemporary Korean identity projections, serving to mediate past, present, and future by positioning the present in relation to a presumed past, while reaffirming that Korean-ness will persist into the future.
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There are at least three ways modern South Korean tourism industries utilize hanbok. One is having guides dressed in hanbok in traditional arts locations, at airports such as Inchon International Airport, at important tourist locations such as palaces within Seoul, and on the grounds of national or regional museums or theme park folk villages, such as the one in Suwon not far from Seoul. Another is using human-scale “cutouts” at tourist sites. Such cutouts are made to stand on their own. Often, they represent people dressed in traditional clothing, or hanbok, representing presumably past Koreans from different classes or stations in life. The images have empty spaces where the faces would be so that tourists can insert their own faces into them to take photographs. The photos provide a souvenir of the venue, and of an encounter with a past self if Korean, or projection of being a Korean in the past for non-Koreans. Another modern touristic use of hanbok involves rental hanbok. Hanbok rental shops operate near designated cultural sites. For example, near the miniaturized folk museum that is part of the amusement complex Lotte World in Seoul, discussed by folklorist and ethnographer Timothy Tangherlini,47 is a shop where guests can rent hanbok and have photographs taken. Koreans might also rent hanbok for photo-taking as part of touristic travel to the past.48 Tourists can sometimes rent hanbok and stroll nearby city areas. One can see foreign tourists wearing rented hanbok along Insa-dong, a street of traditional shops, or in palace areas. The Korean Wave based on Korean movies, dramas, and K-Pop became popular in the twenty-first century, especially elsewhere in Asia, resulting in a boom of foreign Asian tourists to South Korea, with groups of young women from nearby countries often seen strolling tourist areas in rented hanbok. In South Korea’s fashion industry, diverse styles of historic hanbok have become a creative source of inspiration and sometimes playful means of mediating traditional identity with a consumerist modernity into the future. Korean fashion designers often produce styles evoking hanbok via the voluminous style of chima and short and tight jeogori. Without this context people might confuse such outfits as based on the retro look of Western 1950s cocktail dresses. This hanbok fashion look communicates both cosmopolitan tastes and Korean-ness. For example, Korean designer Lee Sung Joo is the founder of the brand Darcygom 다시곰. The name comes from a Korean word meaning “again” or “for the second time.” Lee’s designs bring together modern sensibilities, cosmopolitanism, traditional Korean elements, and environmentalism. Lee, who was involved in an exhibition entitled What is Korean?, is inspired by Korean
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Figure 13.3 Hanbok rental stores in Seoul and other South Korean cities are popular among tourists who wish to try on hanbok and stroll traditional streets, and also at times among Koreans wishing to rent them for special events or photographs. © Photo by Elias Alexander
traditions and modern popular culture. She sees incorporating hanbok style into her modern, colorful, and playful fashions as mediating past, present, and future. She said, “I want a brand that meets many people in the future. I’m not bound by conditions or anything for that matter. If age, gender, field or nationality are limitations in any way, I would rather sublimate my work to the realm of fun and do something more meaningful outside of all restrictions.”49 The present needs of Koreans for the past echo designer Lee’s exhibition title, in attempts to discover and assert what is Korean.
Conclusion We have discussed the dress identity of Korean hanbok in a traditional yet modern mode, and explored Korean material culture at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in Vancouver, Canada, showing that both traditional clothing and contemporary artwear inspired by historic pieces of hanbok are used in communicating Korean identity. Hanbok serves as an identity mediator between what South Koreans perceive as their traditions and modern, cosmopolitan lives. This chapter also explored hanbok in tourism and modern
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apparel fashion. In all cases, hanbok connects past and present of Korea, making assurances that Korean identity will persist into the future. Hanbok as continuous fashioning of tradition recognizes that what people in the present perceive as tradition has been changing over time, and that tradition is part of an ongoing dialogue people have with their past, while recreating it to serve present needs. Tradition, as presented here, is living, malleable, and transformable rather than restricted to a fixed past form. Hanbok as a traditional form of culture is understood as having undergone alterations over the centuries, while hanbokinspired works are modern art even if using hanbok imagery. The example of hanbok-inspired artworks at MOA being mistaken for Japanese kimono shows that while traditional icons, including dress, are used to communicate identity, the communication is not always perceived correctly. The error was significant, in that Korean-ness is defined as difference from Western countries, and also from Japan and China. Therefore, this chapter suggests that more work needs to be done in education on the distinctive cultures of each East Asian country. Finally, now that South Korea has claimed an important role on the world stage, it would be beneficial to consider attributes of Korean culture as distinct rather than unique, in keeping with the anthropological view that all cultures are in some sense unique. Such a perspective will maintain awareness of distinctive Korean culture, while allowing for comparisons of convergences and divergences with other cultures.
Notes 1 Fred Davis, Yearning for Yesterday (New York: The Free Press, 1979), 107–8. 2 Arjun Appadurai, ed., The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986). 3 Millie Creighton, “The Social and Soulful Lives of Things–Millie Creighton on Yuji Agematsu,” Artspeak Postscript 59 (Vancouver, Canada: Artspeak Gallery, 2015). 4 Joanne B. Eicher, “The Anthropology of Dress,” Dress 27:1 (2000). 5 Joanne B. Eicher, ed., Dress and Ethnicity, (Oxford: Berg, 1995): 299. 6 Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity, 299. 7 In conjunction with long-existing practice in Canada and United States, and in keeping with the policy of the Native Law Centre, first letters of words such as Indigenous, Native, Aboriginal are capitalized in this chapter. 8 Pravina Shukla, Costume: Performing Identities through Dress (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015), 4.
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9 Hanbok is an overarching term encompassing traditional Korean clothing or traditional Korean dress collectively. The definition of hanbok in the Oxford English Dictionary, stating “A traditional Korean costume consisting of a long-sleeved jacket or blouse and a long, high-waisted skirt for women or loose-fitting trousers for men, typically worn on formal or ceremonial occasions,” is problematic in two points: 1) it is described as a single costume, and 2) the term costume is used, not associated with the daily context. Oxford English Dictionary online, s.v., “hanbok,” https://www-oedcom.libproxy1.usc.edu/view/Entry/92511737?redirectedFrom=hanbok#eid (accessed January 4, 2022). 10 Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity, 1. 11 Eicher, Dress and Ethnicity, 1. 12 Millie Creighton, “Nostalgia, Identity and Gender: Woven in 100% Pure Silk,” in Gloria A. Hickey, ed., Making and Metaphor: A Discussion of Meaning in Contemporary Craft (Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994), 100–13; “Weaving the Future from the Heart of Tradition: Learning in Leisure Activities,” in John Singleton, ed., Learning in Likely Places: Varieties of Apprenticeship in Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 190–207; “Spinning Silk, Weaving Selves: Gender, Nostalgia and Identity in Japanese Craft Vacations,” Japanese Studies 21:1 (2001): 5–29. 13 JinGoo Kim, “Korean Costume: An Historical Analysis” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997); Sunny Yang, Hanbok: The Art of Korean Clothing (Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym, 1997); M. J. Kim, “Then and Now: The Cultural Meanings and Design of Korean Costume and Wrapping Cloths.” in Claire Roberts and Dong-hwa Huh, eds., Rapt in Colour: Korean Textiles and Costumes of the Choson Dynasty (Brooklyn, NY: Powerhouse Publishing, 1998), 30–3; Go BuJa, Uri saenghwal 100 nyeon: Ot [100 years of our lives: Clothing], (Seoul: Hyeonamsa, 2001); Marilyn DeLong and KeySook Geum, “Korean Dress and Adornment,” in Valerie Steele, ed., Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (New York: Scribner’s, 2005), 313–18; Samuel Sunghoon Lee, Hanbok: Timeless Fashion Tradition (Seoul: Seoul Selection, 2013). 14 Kim, “Korean Costume,” 37; Yang, Hanbok. 15 Kim, “Korean Costume,” iii, 30, 69, 70, 88, 106. 16 Lee, Hanbok: Timeless, 19. 17 Kim, “Korean Costume,” 132; Yang, Hanbok, 60. 18 M. J. Kim, “Then and Now,” 30–3; Yang, Hanbok. 19 Lee, Hanbok: Timeless, 19. 20 M. J. Kim, “Then and Now,” 12–15. See Laurel Kendall, Getting Married in Korea: of Gender, Morality, and Modernity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), on the cultural importance of weddings in Korea. 21 Yang, Hanbok, 140.
286 22 23 24 25
26 27
28 29 30
31 32 33 34 35 36 37
38
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Yang, Hanbok, 144. Yang, Hanbok, 143; Delong and Geum, “Korean traditional,” 67. Delong and Geum, “Korean Dress,” 313. See, for example, Mary Ainslie and Joanne B. Y. Lim, eds., The Korean Wave in Southeast Asia: Consumption and Popular Culture, (Singapore: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2015); Millie Creighton, “Through the Korean Wave Looking Glass: Gender, Consumerism, Transnationalism, and Tourism Reflecting Japan-Korea Relations in Global East Asia,” Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 14:7 (2016): 1–15. Lee, Hanbok: Timeless, 90. Chung-Hee Soh, “Skirts, Trousers, Or Hanbok?: The Politics of Image Making Among Korean Women Legislators,” Women’s Studies International Forum 15: 3 (1992): 382. Patricia Schultz, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (New York: Workman, 2003). “About MOA,” Museum of Anthropology, https://moa.ubc.ca/about-moa/ (accessed November 10, 2019). Jennifer Kramer, “Möbius Museology: Curating and Critiquing the Multiversity Galleries at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia”, in Annie E. Coombes and Ruth B. Phillips, eds., The International Handbooks of Museum Studies: Museum Transformations (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2015), 489–501. Jacques Maquet, Aesthetic Experience: An Anthropologist Looks at the Visual Arts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986). Clifford, Routes, 115. “About MOA.” Clifford, Routes, 114–18. Kramer, “Möbius Museology,” 490–1. Creighton, “Nostalgia”; Creighton, “Weaving”; Creighton, “Spinning Silk.” Michael Skafidas, “Fabricating Greekness,” in Eugenia Paulicelli and Hazel Clark, eds., The fabric of cultures: fashion, identity, and globalization (London: Routledge, 2009): 145–63. Museum of Anthropology Catalogue, “Blue JangOt,” http://collection-online.moa. ubc.ca/search/item?person%5B0%5D=6373&row=1&tab=more (accessed October 2, 2019). Michael Ames, “Counterfeit Museology,” Museum Management and Curatorship 21:3 (2015), quoted in Kramer, “Möbius Museology,” 491. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 65. Pratt, Imperial Eyes, quoted in Clifford, Routes, 192. Clifford, Routes, 192.
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43 Kramer, “Möbius Museology,” 494. 44 Fred Myers, “The Complicity of Cultural Production: The Contingencies of Performance in Globalizing Museum Practices,” in Ivan Karp, Corinne A. Kratz, Lynn Szwaja, and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, eds., Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/ Global Transformations (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006), 506. 45 James B. Palais, “A Search for Korean Uniqueness,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55:2 (December 1995): 409–25. 46 Palais, “A Search for Korean Uniqueness,” 413–14. 47 Timothy Tangherlini, “Shrinking Culture: Lotte World and the Logic of Miniaturization,” in Laurel Kendall, ed., Consuming Korean Tradition in Early and Late Modernity (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2011). 48 Millie Creighton, “The Heroic Edo-ic: Traveling the History Highway in Today’s Tokugawa Japan,” in Sylvie Guichard-Anguis and Okpyo Moon, eds., Japanese Tourism and Travel Culture (London: Routledge, 2009). 49 In Ho Jung, “Chinhwangyeong fashion brand ‘Dasigom’ 2 – sseuregido fashioni doenda!” 친환경 패션브랜드 ‘다시곰’ 2 쓰레기도 패션이 된다! [Eco Friendly Brand “Darcygom” – Garbage Becomes Fashion Too! (Interview in Korean)], published December 10, 2019, by Design Press, https://m.blog.naver.com/ designpress2016/221733000918 (accessed October 30, 2019).
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Costuming Korean Period Dramas Minjung E. Lee
Introduction South Korean TV dramas, or K-dramas, are currently being broadcast worldwide, gaining global popularity as part of the phenomenon known as the Korean Wave (hallyu 한류 韓流). With the growing consumption of Korean cultural content, traditional Korean dress has also been catching the attention of global viewers, especially those of K-period dramas. A friend who watches K-period dramas on Netflix asked me whether such beautiful costumes really existed in that period. Many people, including Koreans, are surprised by this extraordinary dress culture, considering that Korea lost its sovereignty in the early twentieth century to colonialism and war, which left it destitute, while others are curious about whether the beautiful costumes in historical K-dramas are authentic reproductions. It was in the mid-1970s, when the government began censoring historical TV dramas with the goal of “raising national consciousness,” that television drama productions started reproducing costumes based on historical evidence.1 Realistic art productions became more important with the introduction of color broadcasting in December 1980. Gradually, there formed a consensus that costumes in period dramas should be historically accurate to ensure proper understanding of history and traditional culture and for the realistic delivery of the narrative to induce emotional engagement.2 The costumes that the global audience find “beautiful” began to emerge when South Korean period K-dramas branched out to a new category called “fusion period dramas” (퓨전 사극). From the mid-1990s, these dramas began to move beyond conventional and somewhat stiff storytelling to incorporate elements of imagination such as romance. In 2003, these fusion dramas became immensely popular. Period dramas, both in the form of film and TV series, shed their 289
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conservative image by reconstructing the past in a new format combined with contemporary themes.3 The fervor over fusion period dramas grew as they incorporated greater extravagance, luxuriousness, novelties, and worldly transgressions.4 The costumes in these dramas also transformed, moving beyond the boundaries set by the need to maintain historical accuracy to prioritize motifs and aesthetic imagery. The interest in the costumes of fusion period dramas that emerged with the new millennium also caught the attention of academia, which led to numerous studies, interviews, and keynote lectures from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s, when the popularity of fusion period dramas reached its peak.5 Working as a costume designer for historical TV dramas produced by the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), the national public broadcaster of South Korea, from 2002 to 2014, I was personally involved in the evolution of TV drama costumes in South Korea.6 In this chapter I discuss when, how, and why the costumes of K-period dramas become so glamorous and fantastic. I present three case studies: two period dramas and the film The Royal Tailor (Sanguiwon 상의원; 2014, directed by Lee Won-seok 이원석). I give a glimpse of the process through which a costume designer investigates and interprets historical sources to create costumes for characters in a TV drama. The conclusion summarizes an overview of the present and future of period K-drama costumes.
Costuming Korean Historical Drama: Between Historical Accuracy and Theatrical Effect Historical TV dramas first aired in South Korea when the Tongyang Broadcasting Company (TBC) was launched in 1964.7 Their styles have undergone various changes over time. Among these, the most significant was the advent of color broadcasting. Color broadcasting began in December 1980 in South Korea.8 Although this was much later than in the United States (1954) and Japan (1971), the timing was politically in sync with South Korea’s economic growth and the country’s television receiver penetration rate. For production art design, this delay also allowed time for planning and preparation. On black-and-white televisions showing images in gray scale, viewers distinguished clothes by differences in brightness and silhouette rather than color. Thus, although costumes were prepared based on historical research, there was less need for accuracy in all aspects. However, with the introduction of color broadcasting, costumes shown on television needed to conform to historical
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accuracy in all details including colors, patterns, and materials, thus requiring significant budgets and more careful preparation.9 In fact, the delay in transitioning to color broadcasting in South Korea was intentional. The centralized authoritarian regime for “revitalizing reform” (yushin 유신) established in October 1972 gave President Park Chung-hee (박정희 朴正熙, 1917–79) unconstrained power of rule. In February 1973, an amendment to the Broadcasting Act legally enforced the authority of the Broadcasting Ethics Committee (Bangsongyulliwiwonhoe 방송윤리위원회) over the media so that the government could censor and control what was shown on TV.10 There were three terrestrial broadcasting stations in South Korea: KBS, TBC, and MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation). These companies established internal advisory committees for historical TV dramas when the government emphasized the need for historical TV dramas to have “thorough historical accuracy.” For this purpose, KBS turned to You Hi-kyung (유희경), then professor at Ewha Womans University), while MBC and TBC asked Seok Juseon (석주선, then professor at Dongduk Women’s University) as their advisors.11 In 1974, KBS, as the public broadcaster, took the initiative to establish a three-year plan for stage costume production to create almost exact replicas of historical costumes based on academic research. In 1975, it even dispatched a costume research team to broadcasting stations and museums in Japan and Taiwan to collect data from the Three Kingdoms period (Samguk sidae 삼국시대).12 By January 1977, this research led to the reproduction of three thousand items of ritual attire and accessories of the Joseon dynasty, ready to be used in dramatic productions.13 In the case of the KBS Art Vision,1 the advisory committee for the historical accuracy of costumes was maintained until historical TV dramas faced a crisis in the late 2000s.14 The color broadcasting era brought greater demands for diverse content. From January 1981 KBS aired Daemyeong (대명), a period drama telling the story of King Hyojong (효종 孝宗, 1619–59) and his plans to conquer the North (bukbeol 북벌 北伐) during the mid-Joseon period.15 Daemyeong was a daeha drama (대하 드라마), a term which came from the Japanese taiga drama (大河ドラマ): authentic period dramas based on official histories (jeongsa 정사 正史). Daeha dramas deal with historical topics usually depicted over more than fifty episodes and led by male protagonists. The episodes are large-scale, impressive, full of action and exciting events, and urge audiences to think critically. In the color broadcasting era, historical TV dramas began to film more scenes outdoors, using studios for indoor scenes only. Scenes with commoners and
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gentry (yangban 양반) were filmed at the Korean Folk Village (한국민속촌), and palace scenes at the actual palaces.16 Extensive historical research went into making the costumes to accurately represent the specific period and social situation. KBS published An Illustrated Guide to Korean Costume by KBS Vol. I–III (Hangukboksikdogam 한국복식도감 韓國放送事業團) to summarize the outcomes of the three-year costume production plan implemented in the mid1970s.17 The team conducted scientific research on standard color management in 1987 to establish 650 KBS standard colors (KBS 표준색) and 1,700 Korean standard colors (한국표준색상). MBC also exhibited and published a catalogue of the 239 costumes made for its TV drama production 500 Years of the Joseon Dynasty (Joseonwangjo 500nyeon 조선왕조 500년 朝鮮王朝 五百年), at the ’86 Cultural Exhibition Hall (’86 문화 종합전시관) in 1986 when the Asian Games were held in Seoul.18 It was in the mid-1980s that TV stage costume designer (later television costume designer) became an official position at broadcasting stations.19 Inhouse television costume designers, hired through a public recruitment process, were in charge of ensuring the historical accuracy of costumes as well as visually expressing characters’ personalities through the details of their clothes. The clothes created by television costume designers were recognized as artistic products born from the designer’s imagination and inspiration. There also formed a tacit understanding that “when designing costumes of a certain period, it is ideal to base 60–70% on historical research and 30–40% on the designer’s creativity.”20 After the mid-90s, period K-dramas began to divide into two branches. KBS chose to present plausible historical narratives that underscore the national community, while MBC mainly concentrated on hybrid imaginary narratives combining comedy and romance with historical events.21 The historical periods depicted in these productions also expanded from their previous focus on the late Joseon dynasty to include the late Goryeo to the early Joseon periods of the late fourteenth century, as well as the ancient period before the thirteenth century. The 1997 economic crisis (IMF Crisis) also brought generic changes to period K-dramas. Scholars argued that the post-1997 historical TV dramas acted as psychotherapy for restoring national pride and personal resilience that suffered due to the economic crisis.22 Taejo Wang Geon (태조 왕건), a 200-episode daeha drama that aired on KBS from 2000 to 2002, emphasized the spirit, courage, and loyalty of the dominant male figures who made their mark during the period leading to the founding of the Goryeo dynasty. The historical research team composed of costume designer
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Yoo Soo-Jung (유수정) and the advisory committee members visited museums and historical sites to collect materials related to the costumes of the Unified Silla and Goryeo dynasties, of which there are few existing examples. Historical advisory meetings were held weekly to ensure the historical accuracy of the dress and accessories. For items lacking sources of information, the designers used their imagination to fill in the gaps. KBS Art Vision published An Illustrated Guide to Korean Costume: The Later Three Kingdoms Period (한국복식도감: 후삼국편) based on the information collected to produce the costumes for Taejo Wang Geon.23 Meanwhile, MBC aired The Legendary Doctor Hur Jun (허준, 1999–2000) with sixty-four episodes that presented a modern twist on historical events by incorporating melodramatic imagination and the hero-myth narrative. Hur Jun distinguished itself from previous historical TV dramas through its fast-paced episodes, brilliant color schemes used in the art production, dialogues using modern Korean, and incorporation of contemporary music. Taejo Wang Geon and Hur Jun recorded viewership ratings of 42.6 percent and 48.3 percent, respectively, contributing to the broader popularization of period dramas in South Korea. The era of color broadcasting from 1980 to 2000 brought historical accuracy for enlightening audiences as well as for providing visual attractions. However, two international films from 2001 brought an end to this age of historical accuracy: The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. In 2002, when I started working at a broadcasting station, many people felt that the realism of the imaginary worlds featured in these fantasy films surpassed that of the Korean productions based on historical research. The epic narratives in these titles featured heroic figures situated in fantasy environments that were more minutely detailed and realistic than the actual world. The films made it difficult to discern between fantasy and reality, as the fantastic elements were presented in a way that was truer to life. Everything was becoming digital in consumption and dissemination. The early 2000s was also when Netflix (1997) and YouTube (2005) emerged. In South Korea, broadcasters began to pilot test high-definition (HD) broadcasting from 2000, and in 2003, all broadcasting was converted to full HD. This required TV programs to be made in more vivid colors, opening an era that placed greater priority on the use of color. Fusion historical dramas emerged amid such technological development and the blurring of boundaries between fantasy and reality. The emergence of fusion period dramas simultaneously occurred in film and television. The film Untold Scandal (Seukaendeul-joseonnamnyeosangyeoljisa 스캔들-조선남녀상열지사; 2003, directed by Yi Jae-Yong 이재용) fascinated
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cinema audiences in the second half of 2003. It was a “cross-cultural adaptation” of the 1782 French novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses.24 The film transplanted the promiscuous and decadent French high society which had existed before the French Revolution to the Joseon yangban society that existed around the same time. The film’s title explicitly declares itself as a story of cultural fusion by juxtaposing an English word (scandal) and a phrase based on Chinese characters (朝鮮男女相悅). Driven by the plot of the French novel, the imaginative story of a worldly love affair between a man and a woman in the ethically bound Confucian Joseon society was colored with modern sophistication that was distinct from the intense primary colors imbued with traditional ideas. Jung Gu-ho (정구호), the art director and costume designer of this film, recalls artistic license to transform traditional clothes, which had previously been taboo, was unleashed after his production.25 The origins of fusion historical TV dramas could be found in The Legendary Doctor Hur Jun on MBC from 1999 to 2000. Producer Lee Byung-hoon (이병훈) had directed the authentic historical TV drama series 500 Years of the Joseon Dynasty (broadcast on MBC from 1983 to 1990) based on The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. Lee returned to period drama in 1999 to produce the personal story of Hur Jun (1539–1615), a doctor who had lived during the Imjin War (Imjinwaeran 임진왜란 壬辰倭亂) in the sixteenth century. Rather than a story that centers on the struggle for political power, it focused on the lives of common people. The Legendary Doctor recorded a 65.6-percent viewership rating, the highest for any historical TV drama ever produced. According to Lee, The Legendary Doctor was successful because the production broke away from the concentration on historical research to incorporate trendy drama formats to the genre of period drama and, although importance was placed on historical accuracy, vivid pastel tones were used for the costumes.26 MBC Art Center’s costume designer Lee Hye-ran (이혜란) mentions that this drama provided the turning point for costumes to move beyond the fetters of historical accuracy, particularly in terms of using soft pastel colors.27 Fusion historical dramas began to be called as such when TV dramas also began to be produced in HD. HD meant that costumes and accessories could no longer be made roughly with fake materials.28 HD cameras revealed the glare of the synthetic fabric that had been used for making costumes, so TV productions began using high-quality natural materials, such as silk. The first TV drama that was explicitly called a fusion historical drama was SBS’s Great Ambition (Daemang 대망, 2002). It was directed by Kim Jong-hak (김종학), MBC’s former in-house producer of Eye of the Dawn (Yeomyeongui
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nundongja 여명의 눈동자, 1991) and The Hourglass (Moraesigye 모래시계, 1995), two pioneering series that changed the course of period drama productions in the 1990s. Kim founded a production company in 1999 to produce new types of dramatic works, beginning with Great Ambition. Writer Song Jina (송지나) stated that the work is nominally set in the Joseon period but should not be viewed as an authentic historical TV drama as the production team wanted to attract young viewers by casting celebrities.29 The four young stars cast as the main characters in Great Ambition were dressed in “a fusion style reminiscent of comic book characters,” that was “largely pastel tones with the occasional addition of primary colors to create a bright look.” Great Ambition gave the audience just a little taste of what fusion historical dramas looked like, due to a limited production budget of around 100 million won per episode, which was typical for period dramas in the 1990s. The budget doubled to 200 million won per episode for MBC’s Damo (다모, 2003, directed by Lee Jaegyu 이재규), which was based on the comic series Damo: Female Detective of Joseon (Joseon yeohyeongsa damo 조선 여형사 다모, 1995) by Bang Hakgi (방학기). The popularity of Damo, evidenced by its passionate fandom (다모 폐인), made it clear that the era of fusion historical drama had arrived. The transition to HD-based productions meant that TV dramas had moved on from analog to digital technology, enrapturing viewers with immersive plots and attractive characters, realistic visuals, stylish camera techniques using inventive camera angles, fast-paced storytelling, and exciting and spectacular high-wire acting scenes enhanced with digital graphics.30 More than anything, viewers were able to enjoy these developments in HD on their HDTVs. The HD period drama Jewel in the Palace (Daejanggeum 대장금, 2003) was also directed by Lee Byung-hoon for MBC. The costumes for this series inherited the pastel color scheme and the use of diverse colors seen in Lee’s previous work, The Legendary Doctor. This show became the main driver of the Korean Wave surrounding South Korean historical TV dramas by attracting a worldwide audience with a unique storyline from the peripheries of history—the life of a court lady during the mid-Joseon period. The colorful costumes of the court ladies were created by costume designer Lee Hye-ran as well. The use of colors was given such priority in making this drama series that Lee tested numerous dyed fabrics to find the perfect color for the main character Daejanggeum’s court dress. In fact, Lee stated that costumes were the most important element in creating the bright feel of the drama and that they had made fifty sets of clothes to find the color that best suited the main actress, Lee Young-ae.31 Jewel in the Palace was particularly popular in the Muslim world, and an Egyptian professor
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praised the show for introducing ideals and values rarely found in Western culture and for presenting excellent costume and stage design.32 Since I joined KBS Art Vision in 2002 as a costume designer, I was able to watch and assist costume designer Gang Yunjeong (강윤정) in the process of making the costumes for Emperor of the Sea (Haesin 해신, 2004–5), the first fusion historical drama using HD technology produced by KBS. The protagonist is Jang Bogo, a historical figure who dominated the trade route between China’s Tang dynasty and Unified Silla and had influence on the royal court. I was a fitting model for an elaborate coat (po 포 袍) made, after many trials, of blue and purple gradation fabric for Madam Jami. Some scenes set in the Tang dynasty were filmed on location in China. Emperor of the Sea also featured body armor inspired by the then-released Hollywood movie Troy, using Hollywood costume-making techniques for creating iron-like appearance with leather and paper: it looked even more realistic than real iron, and lighter costumes allow actors to move more freely. In 2006 the TV drama Gung (궁), based on a comic book of the same title, brought teen viewers to the world of period dramas through a “what if ” storyline imagining modern Korea as a constitutional monarchy. The modern splendor of the imagined modern royal family and the lively fusion hanbok worn by the heroine Chaegyeong (played by Yoon Eun-hye 윤은혜) seemed to have popped right out of the comic book. The magnificent royal dress, which presented both the beauty of traditional hanbok and the potential of fusion hanbok, was created by Coser (꼬세르) designer Bae Yeongjin (배영진). Bae studied art in Spain, and since 1993 has built a reputation for designing clothes that are both traditionally Korean and Western at the same time.33 The direct involvement of a fashion designer in the costume design for a TV program was unconventional at the time, and signaled the beginning of expert designers’ collaborations with inhouse costume designers in TV drama productions. In the second half of 2006, KBS’s Hwang Jini (황진이, 2006, directed by Kim Chul-gyu 김철규), a fusion historical drama portraying the life of Hwang Jini, the famous gisaeng (기생) of Joseon, also brought in a hanbok expert to create an aesthetic look for its female characters. Usually, period dramas broadcast on KBS were produced by KBS Art Vision, a subsidiary art production company of KBS. Hwang Jini used an independent designer as it was first proposed by Olive Nine, an outsourcing production company, as a follow-up to MBC’s Jewel in the Palace.34 Around the same time as the TV series, a film about Hwang Jini (Hwang Jini 황진이, 2007, directed by Jang Yoon-hyeon 장윤현) was produced with Korean Wave star Song Hye-gyo (송혜교) in the title role. The film turned to Jung Gu-ho, designer of Untold Scandal, for the production and costume design. In
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the hands of Jung Gu-ho, a well-known modernist, Hwang Jini was molded into the film’s modern style. While the film’s color scheme completely excluded red, KBS’s Hwang Jini, rather than focusing on artistic sensitivity, aimed to recreate the life of this unique woman and her dream to love freely with vivid colors and beautiful imagery; its twenty-four episodes used HD technology. Costume designer Yang Minae (양민애), who usually works on film productions, was put in charge of costumes. In addition, the production was sponsored by Kim Hye-soon (김혜순), a renowned hanbok designer. Kim had designed hanbok for gisaeng imitating pictorial representations in Shin Yunbok’s paintings.35 Tension between the costume designer and the sponsor designer was noted by the team, but the use of bold patterns, materials, and colors excited audiences and critics. KBS’s Hwang Jini was appraised as a work that “brought the life and art of a woman living in Joseon through its beautiful imagery to introduce South Korean culture in all its glory” and was invited by The Korea Society to hold a premiere in New York under the title “Hwang Jin Yi, The Zenith of a Kisaeng” (Hwangjini, gisaengui jeonseonggi 황진이, 기생의 전성기).36 This success brought the sponsor designer Kim much recognition in the wedding industry and invitations to overseas fashion shows.37 The costume designer, who had been in charge of the costume designs, selection of fabrics, and even pattern-making, felt that her work had been stolen by Kim.38 A movie costume designer, armed with creativity alone, was at a disadvantage when placed against a renowned sponsor designer armed with a significant career and economic power. Around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics many films were produced in China to manifest the growth of China’s socialist market economy. Director Zhang Yimou (張藝謀), who had also directed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, made the film Curse of the Golden Flower (2007) with generous funding from the Chinese government. This fictional historical drama was inspired by the phrase, “Everyone in the castle wore golden armor,” from a poem written by Huang Chao (黃巢, 835–84) during the Huang Chao Rebellion (875– 84) of the late Tang dynasty. The production cost amounted to 45 billion won, mobilizing an enormous number of extras and presenting majestic palace architecture and extravagant costumes. The two-part film Red Cliff (赤壁, 2008), directed by John Woo (吳宇森) after his return to China from Hollywood, had investors from five countries: the US, China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. This film realistically depicted the famous war scene in the ancient novel Three Kingdoms using advanced digital technology. The costumes were made by Tim Yip, a worldrenowned production designer who won an Oscar for his work with the director
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on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍, 2000). Yip defined his work as a New Orientalism that is “both avant-garde and traditionally Chinese.”39 As its political, economic, and cultural influence grew in the mid-2000s, China accelerated its Northeast Asia Project, a national project on the history of the three northeastern provinces of China. When it began to reveal its intention to claim the history of Goguryeo (고구려 高句麗) of Korea’s Three Kingdoms as a part of Chinese history, there was a burst of period drama productions in Korea. They were about the ancient mythology surrounding the founding of Goguryeo: Jumong (주몽, MBC, 2006), The Legend (Taewangsasingi 태왕사신기, MBC, 2007), and The Kingdom of the Winds (Baramui nara 바람의 나라, KBS, 2008–9). These fantasy-based TV series brought about another change in the armor created by Korean television costume designers. After witnessing China’s advances in costume production techniques of arms and armor through the introduction of Hollywood film-making technology seen in the likes of The Lord of the Rings, Troy, and Red Cliffs, Korean television costume designers visited China to learn how to make armor. As a result, the engravings and decorations on armor-clad warrior costumes became more elaborate in the Chinese style. Decorative armor seen in fantasy-themed popular online games such as Lineage 2 (2003) began to appear in TV dramas. The armor in Empress Cheonchu (Cheonchutaehu 천추태후, KBS, 2009), set in the early-tenth-century Goryeo dynasty, was based on the armor in the Goryo painting Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Ten Underworld Kings (Jijangsiwangdo 지장시왕도 地藏十王圖).40 I also participated in the costume design for this TV drama and remember critics commenting that the designs were similar to the armor seen on popular computer game characters at the time. In Queen Seondeok (Seondeogyeowang 선덕여왕, MBC, 2009), a period drama about the very first queen recorded in Korean history, the costumes caused a sensation. Previous TV dramas set in the Three Kingdoms period mainly used simple costumes. However, Queen Seondeok featured a sophisticated style of traditional dress combined with modern designs, such as the high-waisted skirt that was popular during the Unified Silla dynasty decorated at the waist with an apron (pyeseul 폐슬). Also, diverse and decorative colors were used in the costumes. When I started to work as a television costume designer in 2002, fashion design and costume design were considered as separate fields. I chose to become a television costume designer because I wanted to work in a field that is relatively less commercial, unlike fashion designers who need to be attuned to rapidly changing market trends. Also, I thought that being a television costume designer would offer a more stable environment, since broadcasting stations would have
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a better system in place compared to the film and theater industries. However, I soon learned that TV broadcasters were subject to pop culture trends and relied on funds from commercial advertisements to sell products, and that costumes for TV programs were also extremely sensitive to new fashion trends. The border distinguishing street fashion and stage costumes was blurred in TV productions. When fast and efficient digital technology was implemented in the early 2000s, broadcasters began to recruit external designers who worked faster and with more flexible terms. They also demanded that designers should compromise, diminishing historical accuracy, to create marketable, trendy clothes. Television costume designers were required to know how to design both traditional Korean dresses and contemporary fashion, and how to conduct historical research to maintain authenticity. Designers also performed the role of stylists, coordinating readymade clothes and attracting sponsorship from clothing brands to fund production costs. Despite small production budgets, designers had to improve the quality of materials and embellishments to satisfy the growing sophistication of viewers over time. The demand to create spectacular costumes for television and film was also faced by designers in Hollywood. Costume designer Catherine Martin, who was in charge of the costumes for The Great Gatsby (2013, directed by Baz Luhrmann), recreated the flamboyant and extravagant look of New York’s high society in the 1920s by collaborating with Prada and Brooks Brothers for women’s and men’s costumes, respectively. The film aimed to bring in younger viewers by dazzling them with spectacular visuals for commercial success. However, some of the older audience who had seen the previous film adaptation of the novel felt that this film lacked authenticity, the previous one being more substantial and faithful to the novel.41
Three Case Studies In this section, I present three case studies to show how costume designers conduct research and interpret historical materials to dress the characters in period dramas. Each represents an authentic daeha drama, a fusion historical drama, and a movie. I analyze the po (coat), jeogori (basic top), and dang-ui (semiformal jacket) worn by queens or princesses in two historical TV dramas produced by KBS, which I have designed personally, and in the film The Royal Tailor, designed by costume designer Cho Sang-kyung (조상경).
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1. King Geunchogo (근초고왕, KBS1TV, 2010): Fourth Century, Three Kingdoms Period King Geunchogo (2010–11) is a 60-episode period drama directed by Yoon Chang-beom (윤창범), the first of a three-part series about the heroes of the Three Kingdoms period, and tells the story of King Geungocho (Geunchogowang 근초고왕 近肖古王, 324–75), who led the heyday of the Baekje dynasty in the fourth century. I participated in the making of this show as a costume designer from the planning stage. This was a production that required thorough historical research on the dress worn in Baekje, including armor, as it was produced as an authentic daeha drama targeting middle-aged male viewers. However, the lack of primary sources presented many difficulties in realizing historical accuracy. Existing historical records on Baekje include History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguksagi 삼국사기, 1145) and Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms (Samgugyusa 삼국유사, 1281), both written during the Goryeo dynasty. Records on Baekje also appear in ancient Chinese texts, such as the Baekjae sections in the Biographies (Liezhuan 列傳) of the History of the Southern/Northern Dynasties (Nanshi/Beishi 南史/北史) and “Biography of Tung-I” (Tang-i zhuan 東 夷傳) of the History of the Wei (Weishu 魏書). However, there exists no information on the dress worn by the princesses and queens of Baekje, apart from a few metal accessories excavated from tombs. Thus, the costumes made for the Baekje queen were based on the portrait of Japan’s Queen Suiko (推古 天皇, 554–628) of the Asuka period (538–710) in Japan, who descended from a Baekje bloodline (Table 14.1 Group 1a). Asuka Japan embraced cultural exchange from the Korean peninsula and saw vast developments. According to A Short History of Japan (Fuso Ryakuki 扶桑略記), a book on Japan’s ancient dynasties compiled by a monk during the Heian period, in January of the year 593—the year Queen Suiko (Suiko Tenno 推古天皇) rose to the throne—“more than one hundred people, including the Daishin Shima 시마대신 (Sogano Umako 蘇我馬子), appeared in Baekje clothes and brought joy to everyone present” (立刹柱日,嶋 大臣井百餘人,皆著百濟服,觀者悉悅) during the ceremony for enshrining the bone relic of the Buddha in the foundation stone of the Beopheungsa Temple (법흥사 法興寺). Based on a record in History of the Three Kingdoms which states that “the king of Baekje wore a purple gown (po) with wide sleeves,” the costume for the Baekje queen was also designed with wide sleeves. The frills under the hem of the Queen’s gown were added based on the portrait of Queen Suiko, the Tenjukoku Shūchō Mandala (天壽國曼茶羅繡帳), and the Takamatsu
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Zuka Kofun murals (高松塚古墳). However, the gown’s length followed the usual length of costumes in period dramas depicting the Three Kingdoms period. Pink tones were used for the gown, while the skirt was made of light yellow fabric to create a young, gentle, and beautiful look for the Queen (Table 14.1 Group 2ab). Table 14.1 Sources for King Geunchogo (2010)
Group 1 Historical Artifacts a. Portrait of the Empress Suiko.© Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons b. Queen’s silver cup & the Phoenix pattern c. King’s pillow. b,c were both excavated from the tomb of King MuRyeong. 6th century. © National Kongju Museum
Group 2 a. The stamp pattern design and a gown with the pattern, designed for the Queen’s youth period as a noble lady © Minjung Lee b. Gown with stamp pattern designed for the Queen’s earlier days as a noble woman. © KBS
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Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to know or acquire the textile weaves or patterns that were popular in the Baekje period. In other drama costumes, patterns were embroidered, silk-screened, or painted on the fabric, instead of being woven into the cloth. For King Geunchogo, however, the clothes were realistically reproduced by using specially woven fabrics that may have existed during the Baekje dynasty. It was the first such attempt for South Korean TV productions. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, NHK)’s daeha drama art production team had used fabrics woven with specific patterns as stated in historical records for some time. The costume team at KBS Art Vision had been wanting to try this and was able to do so thanks to the project to restore traditional textiles led by Professor Shim Yeonok (심연옥) of Korea National University of Cultural Heritage that was being conducted at the time.42 Also, the production was driven by a strong intention to recreate the Baekje dynasty realistically, with a significant budget assigned to costumes. Thus, patterns from the Baekje era, such as the phoenix found on a cup excavated from the tomb of King Muryeong (Muryeongwang 무령왕 武寧王) or the ornate hexagons on pillows, were woven into the jacquard fabric in gold thread (Table 14.1 Group 1bc). We also created a fabric with the bosanghwa (보상화 寶相華) flower pattern found on roof tiles (sumaksae 수막새) excavated from the Baekje palace grounds. In addition to fabric-weaving, patterns unique to the Baekje period were added onto fabric using gold and silver leaves or silk-screen printing to create the costumes for the Baekje queen and princesses.
2. The Princess’s Man (Gongju-ui Namja 공주의 남자, KBS2TV, 2011): Fifteenth Century, Early Joseon Dynasty The second case study is The Princess’ Man directed by Kim Jung-min (김정민). This 24-episode period drama is a “Romeo and Juliet” story set during the Sejo usurpation (Gyeyujeongran 계유정난 癸酉靖難). I was in charge of costume design for this romantic fusion historical drama. There are abundant materials for Joseon dress. Uigwe (의궤 儀軌), the illustrative books on the protocols of royal rituals and court ceremonies of the Joseon dynasty, document the colorful and diverse court dress culture.43 Unearthed garments of the early Joseon, from ancestral tombs being relocated by land redevelopment in the 1980s, confirmed the changing fashion trends.44 The early Joseon continued the ritual of enclosing items inside Buddhist statues. Many garments were included among offerings.45
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KBS Art Vision kept a set of early Joseon costumes used in the 86-episode period drama The Great King Sejong (Daewang Sejong 대왕 세종, KBS2TV, 2008) directed by Kim Sung-geun (김성근) and Kim Won-seok (김원석). It was the first authentic daeha drama to incorporate a fusion element. Similar to Sejong in the timeline, however, my drama was a fictional romance involving an imagined princess. The director wished to prioritize splendor, sophistication, and fantasy while sacrificing historical accuracy; he asked the costume team to design ensembles that female viewers would want to wear. This meant many variations of jeogori to dress the title role: the princess. With only three months left before filming, time was short for creating “clothes that move beyond historical accuracy and look desirable to a modern female audience,” with costume-making processes from pattern-making, weaving, designing, dyeing, to fitting. From the period of the Sejo usurpation (1453), a garment still exists that was found inside a Buddha statue from the tenth year of King Sejo (1464).46 It was discovered in 1973 when the statue was being newly gold-leafed. The relic of Table 14.2 looks like a jacket with short sleeves and a short bodice, but it is actually 68 centimeters in width and 52.5 centimeters in length; it is a roomy jeogori that falls below the waist (Table 14.2 Group 1). The fifteenthcentury jeogori had an elegant look but its loose fit hides the actor’s slim silhouette. The length and width were adjusted to make the actors look more attractive. So, we searched for a sponsor that could help us produce this type of work in a short time frame. A hanbok brand located in Busan called Mijuwon Wuriot (미주원 우리옷) was developing various techniques of color-matching, embroidery, and gold-leaf patterning to produce ceremonial hanbok for weddings. It seemed that applying the brand’s modern sensibility to this period drama would help us create a more sophisticated and elaborate look. Unlike traditional jeogori, their pattern has a seam at the shoulder for a Western-style set-in-sleeve. This style looked modern when worn. We also added different patchwork and embroidery to the jeogori (Table 14.2 Group 3). Princesses Gyeonghye and Seryeong changed costumes in almost every scene. Rather than emphasizing the elegance and antiques of fifteenth-century royals, the show featured hanbok designs that were vibrantly modern, practical, and comfortable. Other fusion dramas had used see-through fabrics, laces, and menswear textiles. My collaboration was noted for a variety of jeogori using different color combinations, embroidery, patchwork, and gold-leaf patterns (Table 14.2 Group 2).
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Table 14.2 Sources and Designs for The Princess’s Man
Group 1 Historical Sources for The Princess’s Man From left to right: a ceremonial jacket (hoejang jeogori) dating to King Sejo’s reign (15th century). © Woljeongsa Museum; a ceremonial jacket worn by Wife of Dethroned King Gwanghae, c. 16th–17th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum; photograph of Princess Deokhye in a dang-ui from Hwangjok hwab hwabo, 26.1 × 18.5 cm, Gogung 573. © National Palace Museum of Korea
Group 2 a. Princess Gyeonghye (left) wearing a specially designed dang-ui and Seryeong (right) in a modernized jeogori (From The Princess’s Man, Episode 1) © KBS b. The gold-leaf pattern design © Minjung Lee
Group 3 Hanbok ensemble sponsored by Mijuwon Wuriot (photos from the TV show’s official website and screen captures) © KB
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One inspiration was the photograph of Princess Deokhye (Deokhyeongju 덕혜옹주 德惠翁主, 1912–89) of the Korean Empire47 (Table 14.2 Group 1c). Her jeogori was decorated with four dragon embroidery patches (yongbo 용보 龍補) and ornamental strips (seuran 스란) with gold-leaf patterns and Chinese characters. Another was the dang-ui of the wife of King Gwanghaegun (광해군 光海君) (Table 14.2 Group 1b). Enshrined in a Buddha statue in 1622, it was the oldest relic of its kind. I reproduced the robe in muslin.48 To fit the actor more tightly, it had a smaller bodice and narrower sleeves with smaller embroidery patches. Flower and bird patterns woven into Joseon fabrics were replicated for a gold-leaf pattern imprinted on the robe (Table 14.2 Group 2b). Originally, four dragon patches appeared on the chest, back, and shoulders. I replaced them with round patches of flowers and birds and limited them to the chest and back. The turned-back cuffs of the dang-ui were also embroidered with flower patterns. For a wedding scene, we borrowed a reproduction of the wedding robe of Princess Bokwon (Bokwongongju 복원공주 福溫公主, 1818–1832) from a hanbok boutique. I reproduced courtiers’ robes with early-Joseon-style fabrics. The hat (gat 갓) of Prince Suyang (later King Sejo) and his royal son-in-law’s rank badge (hyungbae 흉배 胸背) were carefully reproduced.
3. The Royal Tailor (Sanguiwon 상의원, 2014): Eighteenth Century, Late Joseon Dynasty In the past, women’s clothes were made larger so that wedding clothes could be worn as shrouds, but now the sleeves are so narrow that it is difficult to put one’s arms through, and the stitching tears off should one bend the elbow. It is so uncomfortable that you need to tear the sleeves to take off the top; it is the clothes worn by prostitutes for charming men. Such clothes are settling as a custom as worldly men have their wives and concubines wear them; urgent attention is needed to fix this.49
The third case study is the film The Royal Tailor. The early eighteenth century of the reign of King Yeongjo (1724–76) was the setting. Like the king in the film, King Yeongjo was a second-born prince, son of a concubine, and was estranged from his queen. This period brought major changes in dress styles due to flourishing commerce through robust trade with China’s Qing dynasty. The clothes and accessories worn by scholar-officials changed significantly during this period. Moreover, the wives of the literati began to prefer the clothes and accessories worn by the gisaeng (기생) at the time, which brought embarrassment.50 Dress historian Lee Min-ju (이민주) views the changes in the hanbok ensemble
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during this period as “fashion that reflected the desires of women of the time.”51 It was also this period when Shin Yunbok drew his most famous work, “Portrait of a Beauty” (c. 1758–1813, Treasure No. 1973), which is said to be the greatest masterpiece of Joseon’s female portraits. The Sanguiwon, which is the Korean title of this film, was a department of the Joseon court that was in charge of all matters concerning the royal family’s attire from the beginning of the Joseon dynasty.52 Following the philosophy of Zhu Xi (jujahak 주자학), which was Joseon’s ruling ideology, the Sanguiwon strictly controlled the forms and specifications of official’s robes based on the attire of the Ming court (사여복) or the guidelines stipulated in the National Book on the Five Rituals (Gukjooreui 국조오례의 國朝五禮儀). The Royal Tailor tells the story of Yi Gongjin, a genius designer who transformed the dress of the time by designing innovative clothes for gisaeng women. He enters the Sanguiwon, and clashes with the department’s efforts to preserve authenticity. Cho Sang-kyung was the costume designer for this film. She began her career in the film industry working with art director Ryu Seong-hee (류성희) in the early 2000s, which is when “well-made genre films with beautiful visuals” began to take root. Since then, Cho has become a representative film costume designer who creates “realistic and engaging images that go beyond simple reproduction” and “expressive and unique looks based on a deep understanding of each character.”53 Cho had been participating in costume production for historical dramas and creating aesthetic hanbok ensembles for a few years before she landed the job for The Royal Tailor. She met with the film’s director Lee Wonseok. Known for “working magic with colors and having a cartoonish imagination,” he knew less of historical dramas, having been educated in the United States since childhood. In their first meeting Lee shared his ideas about creating costumes that “look like they were designed by Alexander McQueen.”54 Cho, in turn, produced the indigo dress for the genius seamstress Yi Gongjin based on her interpretation of Alexander McQueen’s designs rather than Joseon court attire.55 To create a dramatic contrast between the head designer (Eochimjang 어침장) and Yi Gongjin, Cho dressed Yi Gongjin in seventeenthcentury hanbok styles in the scenes before his entry to the palace and in eighteenth-century styles after his court career. Cho collaborated with hanbok designer brand Hwahong Hanbok to create “designed” court attires with unique colors. At the same time, she sought to adhere to historical accuracy through collaborations with the Korea Association of Traditional Dyes (한국전통염색협회), ONJIUM research institute of Korea traditional culture,
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and the Traditional Costume Laboratory at Ewha Womans University. Through these organizations, Cho acquired garments made with natural dyes and traditional sewing techniques, and ritual robes, shoes, and accessories that faithfully reproduced the dress of the period. The year 2012 saw museum exhibitions of two Joseon princesses. The National Palace Museum of Korea exhibited the relics of Princess Deokhye returned from Japan, while Dankook University’s Seok Juseon Memorial Museum displayed Princess Deokon’s dresses.56 The team thus had numerous historical materials to turn to for the creation of princess costumes. Table 14.3 provides a comparison between the costumes made for the queen in The Royal Tailor and the clothing relics in museums. Among the relics, Cho mentioned that she used Princess Deokon’s dang-ui; minor ceremonial robe as a reference when designing the queen’s robe.57 The examples in Table 14.3 clearly show how the jacket and jeogori evolved over time in terms of their length, width, the curve of the hemlines, and the width and shape of the collars and sleeves. The costumes designed based on these relics reflect the designer’s imagination. The costumes of The Royal Tailor were viewed as “developed hanbok” (gaeryang hanbok 개량 한복), but they were actually designs based on existing relics.58 The queen’s minor ceremonial robe decorated with numerous pearls at the collar, reminiscent of Chanel’s pearl-necklace jacket, and the white major ceremonial robe (wonsam 원삼 圓衫) appearing in the finale—which the director associated with the “people wearing white clothes” (baekui minjok 백의민족 白衣民族) image of Koreans but was reminiscent of a Western wedding dress—were criticized by some as being “developed hanboks with excessive bead and pearl ornaments.”59 Cho began preparing the costumes for The Royal Tailor from 2013.60 Although the preparations for the 24-episode The Princess’s Man lasted barely six months with only the synopsis and the scripts for the first eight episodes available, there seems to have been sufficient time to put together the costumes for The Royal Tailor. Also, the costume budget for the 127-minute film was one billion won, whereas The Princess’ Man, with twenty-four 70-minute episodes, had a total costume budget of 300 million won, of which about only half was actually spent. The low budget allotted for costumes in historical TV dramas mean that products are dependent on sponsorships to create stunning looks. From the standpoint of a television costume designer, period films may provide more time and budget for the designer to invest in artistry and creativity than historical TV dramas. Film producers also require costume designers to
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Table 14.3 Sources and Designs for The Royal Tailor
a. An embroidered jeogori, late 17th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum; Illustration of the jeogori worn by the queen character before being chosen to marry the king. © Minjung Lee
b. A jeogori worn by Princess Cheongyeon (Cheongyeongunju), late 18th century. © Sejong University Museum; Illustration of the jeogori worn by the queen character after she meets designer Yi Gongjin. © Minjung Lee
c. A dang-ui from the tomb of Lady Gwon (Andong clan), late 17th century. © Gyeonggi Provincial Museum; Illustration of the dang-ui for the queen character before she meets designer Yi Gongjin. © Minjung Lee
d. A dang-ui worn by Princess Deogon for her wedding, early 19th century. © Seok Juseon Memorial Museum; Illustration of the dang-ui for the queen character after she meets designer Yi Gongjin © Minjung Lee
impress audiences in a limited timeframe by creating gorgeous images using a huge budget. In a sense, this kind of pressure could be quite overwhelming for designers. In the Royal Tailor, Cho created a true “costume drama” that is “faithful to history, yet refined and avant-garde at the same time” using abundant time and money, which are not usually available for historical TV drama productions. In 2019, she became the costume designer of Mister Sunshine (2019, directed by Lee Eung-bok 이응복), produced by corporate-run entertainment network tvN, and took down the wall between the costume designers of television and film.61
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Conclusion Period K-dramas have continued to tell the more than 5,000-year history of Korea since they first aired on television in 1964. Over time, these historical TV dramas have evolved in form, content, subject matter, and narrative method. The global popularity of Korean cultural content—that is, the so-called Korean Wave—began to encompass period K-dramas in the early 2000s, when TV drama productions turned their eyes to a new type of historical narrative that fuses the traditional and the new, and the East and the West. Fusion historical dramas were born as a result of desperate efforts to attract younger audiences, who had hitherto been uninterested in historical TV dramas, and to survive as a genre. By putting historically marginalized characters at the center of the stories, adapting comic books, and casting idol stars, period K-dramas shed their heavy and serious image and became more approachable to general audiences. The writers’ imaginations became more important in developing characters based on historical figures, episodes were fast-paced and involved complex turns and twists, and elements of romance and melodrama were incorporated, as in trendy dramas. In the case of films, fusion historical drama was first attempted by applying traditionally Korean story lines to Western formats. Breaking away from the theories and historical conventions of academia that took priority in the name of “historical accuracy,” fusion historical drama films wove aspects of Korean culture, which are interesting but unfamiliar to the global audience, into the plots of Western novels. This allowed audiences to immerse themselves in a modern interpretation of traditional Korean culture, and was also in keeping with the trend of globalization and the need to build global competitiveness. The Korean Wave also gave rise to star actors, which raised actors’ pay. On the other hand, despite the demand for higher-quality visuals, the budgets for art production stayed the same, which drove the demand for collaborations with commercial brands. In this context, the costumes of fusion historical dramas, which aptly combined Korean traditions with contemporary looks and artistic creations with commercial products, became perceived as “beautiful” in the eyes of the global audience. Hanbok became a thing of fantasy for South Korea’s younger generation and international visitors to Korea, who immersed themselves in Korean culture by renting hanbok ensembles that transformed them into kings and princesses as they toured the old palace sites. Even up to mid-2010, when the cable TV networks emerged in the media market, the three Korean terrestrial TV stations (KBS, MBC, SBS) were the
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main platforms for historical TV dramas. It was common for these broadcasters to own the programming rights and domestic and overseas copyrights of their programs and only share a part of the sales revenues.62 Chinese capital entered the market at one time, but the momentum abruptly came to a stop when the Chinese government prohibited the export of Korean Wave content to China. However, the media market experienced an eruption in 2017 when the global Over-the-Top (OTT) service provider Netflix became a competitor as a content provider. In the domestic TV drama market today in 2020, simultaneously airing on television and Netflix is understood as a guarantee of high quality.63 The costumes of globally streamed period K-dramas have so far been created by renowned film costume designers. The costumes for Mr. Sunshine were created by costume designer Cho Sang-kyung, and those for Kingdom by Kwon Yujin, the son of Yi Haeyun, who is known as the godmother of Korean film costumes. Kwon’s previous works include critically acclaimed historical drama films The Admiral: Roaring Currents (Myeongnyang 명량, 2014) and The Throne (Sado 사도, 2015). Who will be the costume designer of the next global period K-drama excites the field: whoever it is will reinterpret traditional Korean culture to the global audience’s taste. We now live in an era where social networking services (SNS) such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram have made it possible for anyone to upload content readily and easily, and a wide variety of videos are available for anyone to access online. For those interested in period K-dramas who want to reproduce the costumes featured in those shows on SNS platforms, there are several websites to use for reference. It is, of course, possible to make clothes that are similar to those in historical dramas. Nonetheless, I recommend first looking at the historical objects that inspired the stage costumes. Google Arts & Culture provides high-quality images of garments held in museum collections in Korea. In particular, Dankook University’s Seok Juseon Memorial Museum has many clothing artifacts which were worn by the yangban of the Joseon dynasty, and the National Palace Museum houses many royal garments of the Joseon dynasty.64 For those interested in recreating the modern dress of twentieth-century Korea, I recommend watching classic films provided by the Korean Film Archive (한국영상자료원) via YouTube, which are supplied with English subtitles.65 Period K-dramas will continue to combine tradition and modernity with a global audience in mind, as more productions are created for global platforms. The huge capital fueling these shows will allow them to create high-quality visuals full of aesthetic beauty and splendor. At the same time, the globalization of period K-dramas may end up only borrowing the images of traditional Korean culture
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and put aside the interpretation of historical realities. For instance, it is known that Kingdom’s costume designer Kwon Yujin received an order from Netflix to “express Joseon as an unknown country that exists in the East rather than the Joseon of Korean history.” In this process of globalization, the costumes of period K- dramas may take on styles that seem more “fashionable” to people around the world, and the dress of different periods may become nonspecific to produce an ambiguous identity that looks “traditionally Korean.” New attractions may augment the global audience’s interest in period K-dramas. Nonetheless, one must remember that the best way to create such new attractions is through careful research and examination of historical records and objects to preserve authenticity.
Notes 1 Ju Chang-yun 주창윤, “Yeoksa dramaui genrewa yuhyungbyunhwa” 역사드라마의 장르와 유형변화 [The genre categories and changes of historical drama in Korea], Han’guk Eon-o Munhwa 한국언어문화 28 (2005): 414. 2 Pong Hyon-Sook 봉현숙 and Lee Sang-Eun 이상은, “TV sageuk drama uisangui gojeunge gwanhan yeongu” TV사극 드라마 의상의 고증에 관한 연구 [A Study on the Historical Inquiry of TV Historical Drama Costumes – mainly focused on The Way of the Great King], Hanguk uisang design hakhuiji 한국의상디자인학회지 Journal of the Korea Fashion & Costume Design Association 2:2 (2000): 113. 3 For more on the new trend of fusion historical drama in the early 2000s, see Hwang Hye-jin 황혜진, “Heungmijinjinhan gwageoroui chodae, Yeonghwareul tonghan yeoksa saerosseugi – E, J-Yong gamdokui ‘Scandal’gwa Yi Jun-ik gamdokui ‘Hwangsanbeol’ ” 흥미진진한 과거로의 초대, 영화를 통한 역사 새로 쓰기-이재용 감독의 스캔들과 이준익 감독의 황산벌 [An invitation to the exciting past, rewriting history through movie – “Untold Scandal” by E, J-Yong and “Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield” by Lee, Jun-ik], Gongyeongwa Review 공연과 리뷰 [PAF : the performing arts & film review] (2003.12). 4 Park Myung-jin 박명진, “Fusion sageukui yokmanggwa yeoksajeok sangsangreok” 퓨전 사극의 욕망과 역사적 상상력 [Desire of the fusion historical drama and its historical imagination], Hwanghae Munhwa 황해문화 52 (2006): 373–8. 5 Byun Mi-yeon 변미연, Kim Min-ji 김민지 and Lee In-seong 이인성, “A Study on Fusion Style Costume in TV Drama Gung (Palace) -Focused on Heroine‘s Costume,” Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 57:3 (2006): 124–35; Lee Keum-hee 이금희 and Lee Hye-ran 이혜란, “The Design Development of Man’s Royal Costume in TV Historical Drama Lee San,” The Research Journal of the Costume Culture 17:6 (2009): 1112–28 and “Development of costume design with
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contemporary taste in TV historical drama Lee San–Focused on the costume of main female characters,” The Research Journal of the Costume Culture 18:1 (2010): 44–63; Yoo Soo-Jung 유수정 “TV costume and Korean costume: The Process of Making Costumes for the Historical Dramas and Korean Costume,” Proceeding of the 2016 Fall Conference of the Korean Traditional Costume Society (2016). This paper is based on my lecture at Fashion Institute of Technology in September 2016, which was titled, “Dressing Princesses: Document and Design for the Costumes in the Historical K-dramas.” Ju Chang-Yun, “Yeoksa dramaui byuncheongwa teukseong” 역사드라마의 변천과 특성 [The variation and change of television historical drama in Korea], Hanguk Geukyesul Yeongu 한국극예술연구 56 (2017): 177–208. In December 2018, the color broadcasting was shown only for three hours a day. A full-day of color broadcasting started on January 1, 1981. Munhwabangsong samsipnyunsa pyunchanwiwonhui 문화방송30년사편찬위원회 [Compilation committee of the Thirty years of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation], Munhwabangsong Samsipnyunsa 문화방송 30 년사 [Thirty years of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation] (Seoul: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, 1992). Kim Byung-Hee et al. 김병희 외, Hanguk television bangsong 50 nyun 한국 텔레비전 방송 50년 [50 years of Korean TV Broadcasting] (Seoul: Communication Books, 2016). “Yeol olineun sangeuk gojeung” 열 올리는 사극 고증 [Pitching it high to make costumes based on the historical facts], The Kyunghyang Shinmun 경향신문, October 17, 1974. For Seok’s career, see Myung-eun Lee’s chapter in this volume. “Mudaeuisang jeonsihui, KBS uisangshil maryun” 무대의상 전시회, KBS의상실 마련 [Costume Exhibition prepared by KBS costume department], Maeil Business News Korea 매일경제, January 13, 1975. “Gojeon uisang jangshingu samcheonjeom, KBS eseo samnyunmane jejak” 고전 의상 장신구 3천점, KBS에서 3년만에 제작 [3,000 pieces of costumes were made in 3 years by KBS], The Kyunghyang Shinmun, January 5, 1977. On August 23, 1991, KBS Art Vision was separated from the KBS Art Production Bureau and established as a subsidiary of KBS for specialization, division, and cooperation in broadcasting arts, and began working on October 1 of that year. See Jeong Gyu-moon 정규문, TV Yeongsang Misul TV 영상미술 [Television Art and Design] (Seoul: Yupung Press, 1999). Kang Sang-heon 강상헌, “TV jupyung shinseonhan jujee kkalkkeumhan yeonchul Daemyung” TV 週評 신선한 주제에 깔끔한 연출 「大命」 [TV Weekly Report. Fresh material and neat directing Drama Daemyung], Dong-a Ilbo, November 16, 1981. Ju, “The Variation and Change,” 415. “Samguksidae~Guhanmal boksiksa KBS Hanguk boksikdogam chulgan” 삼국시대~ 구한말 복식사 KBS 한국복식도감 출간 [An illustrated guide to Korean Costume by
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KBS published: History of costume from the Three Kingdoms Era to the Late Perioed of Joseon], JoongAng Ilbo 중앙일보, November 20, 1986, https://news.joins. com/article/2075525 (accessed April 3, 2020). “86 Munhwajonghapjeonsigwan jisang annae” 86 文化종합전시관 紙上 안내 [A guide to 86 Cultural Exhibition Center], Dong-a Ilbo, September 11, 1986. Lee Hyun-mi 이현미, “Pong Hyun-sook, MBC Mishulcenter gukjang” 봉현숙 MBC 미술센터 국장 [Pong Hyun-Sook, Director of the MBC Art Center], Segye Ilbo 세계일보, June 11, 2013, https://www.segye.com/newsView/20130611004077 (accessed April 3, 2020). Jeong, Television Art and Designs, 108. Ju, “The Variation and Change,” 185. Ju Chang-Yun, “Yeoksadramaui yeoksa seosulbangsikgwa genre hyungseong” 역사드라마의역사서술방식과 장르형성 [The formation of historical drama and genre blending], Hanguk-eonlonhakbo 한국언론학보 [Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies] 48:1 (2004): 166–88. Kim Sang-man 김상만, “Sageuk Uisangeun geusidaeui heureum: Hangukboksikdogam sanpa matten KBS Artsvision Yu Soo-jeong chajang” 사극의상은 그 시대의 흐름: 한국복식도감 산파 맡은 KBS 아트비전 유수정 차장 [The costume for historical drama reflects the currents of times], June 2, 2004, http:// www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?mod=news&act=articleView&idx no=28655 (accessed April 3, 2020). Hye-Seung Chung and David Scott Diffrient, Movie Migrations: Transnational Genre Flows and South Korean Cinema (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015), 66. Kim Hye-ri 김혜리, “Eoneu querakjuuijaui jeolje, Designer Jung Gu-ho” 어느 쾌락주의자의 절제, 디자이너 정구호 [A certain hedonist’s abstinence, designer Jung Gu-ho], Cine21, April 23, 2007, http://www.cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=45888 (accessed April 3, 2020). Lee Hu-nam 이후남, “Yi Byung-hun PDga balkineun ‘Heojun’ui inggi bigyul” 이병훈 PD가 밝히는’허준’의 인기 비결 [Director Lee Byung-hun reveals how Drama “Heo-jun” became a top-rated TV show], JoongAng Ilbo, April 6, 2000, https://news. joins.com/article/3900706 (accessed April 3, 2020). Edu Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) 한국콘텐츠진흥원, “Bangsong Bunya Jikupui ehae-bangsong uisang designer” 방송분야 직업의 이해-방송의상 디자이너 [Understanding jobs in the media – TV Costume Designer], KOCCA , April 20, 2016, https://edu.kocca.kr/edu/onlineEdu/openLecture/view.do?pSeq=386& menuNo=500085 (accessed April 3, 2020). Lee Sang-bok 이상복, “Gohwajil TVseon Daejungdaejung antonghae” 고화질 TV선 “대충대충 안통해 [It wouldn’t work in the High-definition TV], JoongAng Ilbo, October 16, 2002, https://news.joins.com/article/4361391 (accessed April 3, 2020).
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29 Kim Ga-Hee 김가희, “Fusion sageuk shinbaram kalbaram” ‘퓨전사극‘ 신바람 칼바람 [Fusion historical drama’s excitement and chivalry], The Daily Sports 일간스포츠, October 11, 2002, https://news.joins.com/article/1959605 (accessed April 3, 2020). 30 Lee Young-ah 이영아, “[Contents Yeonje] Hwansangjeok gongganui nangmanjeok storytelling: Sumgyeojin gwageoreul humcheora! HD blockbusterdrama ‘Damo’ ” [콘텐츠연재] 환상적 공간의 낭만적 스토리텔링: 숨겨진 과거를 훔쳐라! HD 블록버스터드라마 ‘다모’ [Contents Series, Romantic storytelling in a fantastic space: Steal the hidden past! HD Blockbuster “Damo”], Digital Contents, January 8, 2004, 100–8, https://kdata.or.kr/info/info_06_view.html?pub_year=2004&pub_ mon=08&&mode=detail (accessed April 03, 2020). 31 Lee Hee-jeong 이희정, “Daejanggeum Yi Byung-hun PD ‘Hyunsilseo iroojimothan kkum boyeojugosipeoyo” 「대장금」 이병훈 PD “현실서 이루지 못한 꿈 보여주고 싶어요 [Director of the drama Jewel in the Palace said, “I want to make the show carrying dream come true, which hasn’t happened in the real world”], Hankookilbo 한국일보, January 8, 2004, https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/ Read/200401080036507877 (accessed April 3, 2020). 32 Korean Embassy in Egypt 주 이집트 대사관, “Arabui han yeokyosuga bon Daejanggeum iyagi” 아랍의 한 여교수가 본 대장금 이야기 [An essay on Jewel in the Palace by an Arab female professor], Korean Embassy in Egypt, April 6, 2009, http:// overseas.mofa.go.kr/eg-ko/brd/m_11519/view.do?seq=685269&srchFr=&%3Bsr chTo=&%3BsrchWord=&%3BsrchTp=&%3Bmulti_itm_ seq=0&%3Bitm_seq_1=0&%3Bitm_seq_2=0&%3Bcompany_ cd=&%3Bcompany_nm=&page=18 (accessed April 3, 2020). 33 Yoo Soon-ho 유순호, “Gung Yoon Eun-hye, jinjeong luxury! . . . Uisangman eeokwon” 궁 윤은혜, 진정 럭셔리!. . . 의상만 2억원 [Princess Hours’s heroine Yoon, Eun-hye, real luxury! . . . her costumes cost two hundred million won], Money Today, January 28, 2006, http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/netizenfun/newstalk/ 1490346_14215.html (accessed April 3, 2020). 34 Jeong Hyung-Seok 정형석, “Olivenine, Fusion sageuk ‘Hwangjini’ jejakkiro” 올리브나인, 퓨전사극 ‘황진이’ 제작키로 [Production Olive Nine is making a fusion historical drama “Hwang-jin-’ ” ’], Money Today, January 12, 2006, https:// news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2006011209534009353 (accessed April 3, 2020). 35 The “Gisaeng” exhibition was held at the Seoul Auction from January 13 to February 13, 2005. See http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html? no=20050110010126300080030 (accessed April 3, 2020). 36 Moon Se-hoon 문세훈, “Drama Hwangjini’ New York eseo sisahui yeonda” 드라마 ‘황진이’ 뉴욕에서 시사회 연다 [Drama “Hwang Jin-’ ” ’ premieres in New York], Arts News, November 7, 2008, http://artsnews.mk.co.kr/news/7701 (accessed April 3, 2020).
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37 Jeong Eun-ju 정은주, “Metropolitan Misulgwaneseo hanbok fashion show yeoneun jeontongboksikyeonguga hanbok designer Kim Hye-soon” 메트로폴리탄미술관에서 한복 패션쇼 여는 전통 복식 연구가・한복 디자이너 김혜순 [Hanbok designer Kim, Hye-soon, holding a hanbok fashion show in MMA], TOPCLASS , August 2011, https://topclass.chosun.com/board/view.asp?catecode=Q&tnu=201108100020 (accessed April 3, 2020). 38 Song Hwa-Seon 송화선, “Tteuneun sageuk, sok kkeulleun designer” 뜨는 사극, 속 끓는 디자이너 [Uprising historical dramas, Smoldering costume designers], Shindonga 신동아, April 2011, https://shindonga.donga.com/3/all/13/110143/1 (accessed April 3, 2020). 39 Caroline Argyropulo-Palmer, “Film design: Tim Yip’s new orientalism,” Financial Times, July 27, 2013, https://www.ft.com/content/7d35bfa2-f4c6-11e2-a62e00144feabdc0 (accessed April 3, 2020). 40 For example, see Painting of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva 지장도, Treasure 784, dated c. 14th century at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, South Korea. 41 Christopher Laverty, “Martin/Prada Great Gatsby Collaboration: Fashion as Costume?” Christopher Laverty, ed., Clothes on Film, January 11, 2013, https://ew. com/article/2013/01/24/the-great-gatsby-costume-designer-catherine-martin-oncollaborating-with-miuccia-prada/ (aAccessed April 3, 2020). 42 Park Hee-song 박희송, “8saegi tongilshillasidae geumjikmul jaehyun seonggong” 8 세기 통일신라시대 ‘금직물’ 재현 성공 [Succeeded in reconstructing the fabric of the eighth century of Korea], JoongAng Ilbo, October 7, 2011, https://news.joins.com/ article/6361292 (accessed April 3, 2020). 43 See Gayoung Park’s chapter in this volume. 44 See In-woo Chang’s chapter in this volume. 45 See Jaeyoon Yi’s chapter in this volume. 46 Munhwajaecheong 문화재청 [Cultural Heritage Administration], Munhwajaedaegwan: Jungyominsokjaryo 2 boksik jasu pyun 문화재대관: 중요민속자료 2, 복식자수편 [Important Folk Materials 2] (Daejeon: Cultural Heritage Administration, 2006), 216. A Jeogori (upper garment) with distinctively decorative neckband, front opening, cuffs, and armpits during the reign of King Sejo (1417–68, r. 1455–68), National Folklore Cultural Heritage No. 219. Housed in the Temple Woljeong 월정사. 47 This photograph of Princess Deokhye (1912–89) was taken around 1923. ©National Palace Museum of Korea 48 Munhwajaecheong, Munhwajaedaegwan, 105. It is Dang-ui (semiformal jacket) worn by the wife of the dethroned king Gwanghaegun. Housed in Dankook University Seok Juseon Memorial Museum. It is designated as National Folklore Material No. 215. 49 Yi Deokmu 이덕무 (1741 – 1793), Cheongjanggwanjeonseo 청장관전서 靑莊館全書 Sasojeol 사소절 士小節 [Book of Manners], https://db.itkc.or.kr/dir/item?itemId=
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BT#/dir/node?dataId=ITKC_BT_0577A_0280_000_0010 (accessed April 3, 2020). Hwang Bong-Duk 황봉덕, “Sasojeol-leul tolhaebon joseonhugi sahuisang” 사소절을 통해 본 조선 후기 사회상 [Post-Joseon Social Changes Observed through Sasojeol], Poeunhak Yeongu 포은학연구 18 (2016): 209–37. Lee Min-ju 이민주, Chimajeogoriui yokmang: sumgigiwa deureonaegiui munhwasa 치마 저고리의 욕망: 숨기기와 드러내기의 문화사 [Desire of the Chima-Jeogori: The cultural history of the hiding and revealing] (Paju: Munhakdongnae, 2013). Kim So-Hyun 김소현, “Joseonsidae sanguiwonui wangsilboksik gonggeupchaegye yeongu” 조선시대 상의원의 왕실복식 공급체계 연구 [A Study on the Sang-Uiwon to make royal attire in Chosen Dynasty], Journal of the Korean Society of Costume 57:2 (2007): 11–28. Jeong Han-seok 정한석, “Ryuseonghee misulgamdok” 류성희 미술감독 [Art Director Rye, Seong-hee], Cine21, July 19, 2005, http://www.cine21.com/news/view/?mag_ id=32161 (accessed April 3, 2020). Choi Na-Young 최나영, “Sanguiwon Lee Won-seok gamdok, joseonsidae bnamjadeul, gwigeori haechyo” ‘상의원’ 이원석 감독, “조선시대 남자들, 귀걸이 했죠” [Lee Won-seok, the Director of The Royal Tailor says, “The men of the Joseon Dynasty, they wore earrings”], OSEN , December 24, 2014, https://www.chosun.com/site/data/ html_dir/2014/12/24/2014122402044.html (accessed April 3, 2020). Im Seung-Eun 임승은, “Cho Sang-kyungui hanbokgwa yeonghwa iyagi” 조상경의 한복과 영화 이야기 [Cho Sang-kyung’s story about hanbok and film], VOGUE Korea, February 16, 2015, http://www.vogue.co.kr/2015/02/16/%EC%A1%B0%EC% 83%81%EA%B2%BD%EC%9D%98-%ED%95%9C%EB%B3%B5%EA%B3%BC%EC%98%81%ED%99%94-%EC%9D%B4%EC%95%BC%EA%B8%B0/ (accessed April 3, 2020). National Palace Museum 국립고궁박물관, “Dolaon Deokhyeongju yopum teukbyulgonggae” 돌아온 덕혜옹주 유품 특별공개 [Special Exhibition: Return of the keepsakes of Princess Deokhye], August 25, 2015–September 6, 2015, http://www. gogung.go.kr/mob/specialView.do?menuCode=GADM02&bizDiv=2&gallDiv1=2& cultureSeq=00017031KF (accessed April 3, 2020). Im, “Cho Sang-kyung’s Story.” Shim Young-seop 심영섭, “Sanguiwon, hwaryohan hanbok . . . storyneun geulsse” 상의원, 화려한 한복. . .스토리는 글쎄 [The Royal Tailor, fancy costumes . . . But not sure of the story], Maeil Business News Korea, January 5, 2015, https://www.mk.co.kr/ news/column/view/2015/01/10692/ (accessed April 3, 2020). Yoo Seon-hee 유선희, “Mome matjianneun ot ipeun ‘Sanguiwon’ ” 몸에 맞지 않는 옷 입은 ‘상의원’ [The Royal Tailor dressed in unsuitable clothes], The Hankyoreh, December 16, 2014, http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/movie/669384.html (accessed April 3, 2020).
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60 Im, “Cho Sang-kyung’s Story.” 61 Huh Young-Eun 허영은, “Yeonghwa uisang designer Cho Sang-kyung, Veteran Yeonghwa uisang designerui cheot drama Mr. Shunshine” 영화 의상 디자이너 조상경, 베테랑 영화 의상 디자이너의 첫 드라마, [Oh! Creator #74 Costume designer Cho, Sang-Kyung. Her first TV costume designing work ‘Mr. Sunshine’], Design Press, August 8, 2018, https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=designpre ss2016&logNo=221335022776&categoryNo=6&parentCategoryNo=0 (accessed April 3, 2020). 62 Kwon Ho-young 권호영, Song Min-jeong 송민정 and Han Gwang-jeop 한광접, Digital Media Gyeongyeongron 디지털 미디어 경영론 [Digital Media Management] (Seoul: Communication Books, E-book 2015), 289; 546. 63 Lee Min-Ji 이민지, “Bangsngsadeului iyuitneun Netflix heng” 방송사들의 이유있는 넷플릭스행 [Broadcasting company’s reasonable heading to Netflix], Sisaweek 시사위크, November 25, 2019, https://www.sisaweek.com/news/curationView. html?idxno=128335/ (accessed April 3, 2020). 64 “Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, Dankook University,” Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/seok-juseon-memorial-museumdankook-university ; “National Palace Museum of Korea,” Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-palace-museum-of-korea (accessed April 3, 2020). 65 Korean Classic Film 한국고전영화, “Korean Film Archive Official Channel,” Korean Film Archive, https://www.youtube.com/user/KoreanFilm (accessed April 3, 2020).
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Henry, Todd A, ed. Queer Korea. Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2020. Hong, Euny. The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World through Pop Culture. New York: Picador, 2014. Horlyck, Charlotte. Korean Art: From the 19th Century to the Present. London: Reaktion Books, 2017. Hughes, Theodore. Literature and Film in Cold War South Korea. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. Hwang, Kyung Moon. A History of Korea: An Episodic Narrative. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Iwatate, Marcia, et al. Korea Style. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2018. Jang, Sang-Hoon. A Representation of Nationhood in the Museum: The National Museum of Korea. London: Routledge 2020. Joe, Wanne J, revised and edited by Hongkyu A. Choe. Traditional Korea: A Cultural History. Elizabeth, NJ : Hollym International, 1997. Joe, Wanne J., edited by Hongkyu A. Choe. A Cultural History of Modern Korea. Elizabeth, NJ : Hollym International, 1999. Jungmann, Burglind. Pathways to Korean Culture: Paintings of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910. London: Reaktion Books, 2014. Jungmann, Burglind. Painters as Envoys: Korean Inspiration in Eighteenth-Century Japanese Nanga. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. Kal, Hong. Aesthetic Constructions of Korean Nationalism: Spectacle, Politics and History. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. Kan, Shuyi, et al. Joseon Korea: Court Treasures and City Life. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 2017. Kee, Joan. Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Kendall, Laurel. Consuming Korean Tradition in Early and Late Modernity: Commodification Tourism and Performance. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2010. Kendall, Laurel, et al. God Pictures in Korean Contexts: The Ownership and Meaning of Shaman Paintings. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2015. Kim, Do kyun, and Min-Sun Kim. Hallyu: Influence of Korean Popular Culture in Asia and Beyond. Seoul: Seoul National University Press, 2011. Kim, Dong Hoon. Eclipsed Cinema: The Film Culture of Colonial Korea. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018. Kim, Jiwung. A History of Korea: From “Land of the Morning Calm” to States in Conflict. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012. Kim, Kyung Hyun, and Youngmin Choe, eds. The Korean Popular Culture Reader. Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2014. Kim, Sunglim. Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets: The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Koren Art. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018.
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Kim, Sun Joo. Northern Region of Korea: History Identity and Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011. Kim, Youngna. Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society. London: Taylor & Francis, 2016. Kim, Youngna. Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea: Tradition, Modernity, and Identity. Elizabeth, NJ, and Seoul: Hollym International, 2005. Kim, Youngna. 20th Century Korean Art. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005. Klein, Christina. Cold War Cosmopolitanism. Oakland: University of California Press, 2020. Koo, Hagen. Korean Workers: The Culture and Politics of Class Formation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018. Koo, John H., and Andrew C. Nahm, eds. An Introduction to Korean Culture. Elizabeth, NJ : Hollym International, 1998. Kwon, Donna Lee. Music in Korea: Experiencing Music Expressing Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Kwon, Nayoung Aimee. Intimate Empire: Collaboration and Colonial Modernity in Korea and Japan. Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2015. Lee, Harkjoon, and Dal Yong Jin. K-Pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of the Korean Music Industry. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, 2019. Lee, Hyangjin. Contemporary Korean Cinema: Identity Culture and Politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019. Lee, Katherine In-Young. Dynamic Korea and Rhythmic Form. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2018. Lee, Sohl, and University of California, Irvine, eds. Being Political Popular: South Korean Art at the Intersection of Popular Culture and Democracy 1980–2010. Seoul: Hyunsil Pub.; distributed by University of Washington Press, 2012. Lee, Soyoung, et al. Art of the Korean Renaissance 1400–1600. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. Lee, Soyoung, et al. Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013. Lee, Soyoung, et al. Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. Lim, Sungyun. Rules of the house: family law and domestic disputes in colonial Korea. Oakland: University of California Press, 2018. Little, Stephen, et al. Beyond Line: The Art of Korean Writing. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books·Prestel, 2019. Oh, Youjeong. Pop City: Korean Popular Culture and the Selling of Place. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018. Okim, Komelia Hongja. Korean Metal Art Techniques Inspiration and Traditions. Atglen, PA : Schiffer Publishing 2019. Park, J. P., et al., eds. A Companion to Korean Art. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2020.
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Park, Sunyoung. The Proletarian Wave: Literature and Leftist Culture in Colonial Korea 1910–1945. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Asia Center; distributed by Harvard University Press, 2015. Pavis, Patrice, and Joel Anderson. Performing Korea. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Portal, Jane. Korea: Art and Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. Pyun, Kyunghee, and Jung-Ah Woo, eds. Interpreting Modernism in Korean Art: Fluidity and Fragmentation. New York: Routledge, 2022. Rowe, Peter G., et al. Korean Modern: The Matter of Identity: An Exploration into Modern Architecture in an East Asian Country. Basel: Birkhäuser 2021. Sakamoto Rumi, and Stephen J. Epstein. Popular Culture and the Transformation of Japan-Korea Relations. London: Routledge, 2020. Seth, Michael J. A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. Sin, Hyŏn-jun, and Sŭng-a Yi. Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music. London: Routledge, 2017. Smith, Judith G., et al., eds. Arts of Korea. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Song, Myŏng-sŏn. Hanguk Hip Hop: Global Rap in South Korea. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Steuber, Jason, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds. Arts of Korea: Histories Challenges and Perspectives. Gainesville, FL : University of Florida Press, 2018. Wells, Kenneth M. Korea: Outline of a Civilization. Leiden: Brill, 2015. Woo, Hyunsoo, et al. Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty 1392–1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; in Association with Yale University Press 2014. Yi, Ki-Baik. A New History of Korea. Translated by Edward W. Wagner, with Edward J. Shultz. Cambridge, MA : Published for the Harvard-Yenching Institute by Harvard University Press, 1984. Yim, Seock-jae. City as Art: 100 Notable Works of Architecture in Seoul. Elizabeth, NJ : Hollym International, 2011. Yoon, Tae-jin, and Dal Yong Jin. The Korean Wave: Evolution Fandom and Transnationality. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, 2017.
Dress and Fashion History of Korea Ahn, Sang-soo. Asian Art Motifs from Korea. Seoul: Ahn Graphics, 1995. Ahn, Sang-Soo. Bird Patterns: Asian Art Motifs from Korea. New York: Weatherhill, 2002. Amos, Anne Godden. “Korean Embroidery, Techniques and Conservation.” Orientations 25:2 (February 1994): 43–6. Baik, Young-Ja. “Traditional Korean Costumes, up to the Present and into the Future: Focusing on the Internationalization of the Traditional Korean Costume by
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Accentuating Its Aesthetic Characteristics.” International Journal of Costume 4 (June 2004): 101–11. Chae, Yoori. “Hanbok in the Twenty-First Century.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Chang, Inwoo, and Haekyung L. Yu. “Confucianism Manifested in Korean Dress from the Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries.” In Undressing Religion: Commitment and Conversion from a Cross-Cultural Perspective, edited by B. Linda Arthur, 101–12. Oxford: Berg, 2000. Cho, Hyo Sook. “An Examination of the Fabrics Included in Koryo Buddhist Statues.” Kokusai fukushoku gakkaishi 11 (1994): 72–85. Cho, Hyo Soon. “The Luxury in Women’s Costume during the Yi Dynasty Period and Its Influence.” International Costume Association Conference 1 (1984): 106–12. Cho, Kyu-Hwa. “Beauty Consciousness of the Korean People as Viewed through White Clothes.” International Costume Association Conference 2 (1985): 106–12. Cho, Seunghye. “The Ideology of Korean Women’s Headdresses during the Chosŏn Dynasty.” Fashion Theory 21:5 (2017): 553–71. Cho, Woo Hyun, Yi Jaeyoon, and Kim Jinyoung. “The dress of the Mongol Empire: Genealogy and Diaspora of the Terlig.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 68:3 (2015): 269–79. Choi, Dooyoung. “Street and Youth Fashion in Seoul, South Korea.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Choi, Hyaeweol. “ ‘Wise Mother, Good Wife’: A Transcultural Discursive Construct in Modern Korea.” The Journal of Korean Studies 14:1 (Fall 2009): 1–33. Choi, Hyaeweol. “Women’s Literacy and New Womanhood in Late Choson Korea.” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 6:1 (2000): 88–115. Choi, Seon-Eun, and Song-Ok Kim. “A Comparative Study on Formative Characters of Korean and Japanese Traditional Costumes: Focusing on the Late Joseon Period of Korea and the Edo Period of Japan.” International Journal of Costume 2 (December 2002): 41–52. Choi, Sook-kyung. “Formation of Women’s Movements in Korea: From the Enlightenment Period to 1910.” Korea Journal 25:1 (January 1985): 4–15. Chung, Young Yang. Silken Threads: A History of Embroidery in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. New York: H. N. Abrams, 2005. DeLong, Marilyn Revell, and Key Sook Geum. “Korean dress and adornment.” (2015). Lovetoknow. https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-around-world/ korean-dress-adornment. Tara, Donaldson. “New Exhibit ‘Korea Fashion: From Royal Court to Runway’ Takes Viewers Beyond K-Pop.” WWD (Women’s Wear Daily) (September 2022): 42–3. Geum, Key-sook., and Marilyn R. DeLong. “Korean Traditional Dress as an Expression of Heritage.” Dress 19 (1992): 57–68. Geum, Key-Sook. “Garment Manufacture and Retailing in Korea.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
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Han, Hyonjeong Kim. Couture Korea. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum; Seoul: Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation, 2017. Hong, Na Young. “Bridal Dress in Korea.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Hong, Na Young. “Korean Traditional Costume According to the Season: Centering the Women’s Wear.” The International Journal of Costume 2 (1985): 95–8. Hong, Na Young. “Korean Wedding Dress from the Chosun Dynasty (1392–1910) to the Present.” In Wedding Dress Across Cultures, edited by Helen Bradley Foster and Donald Clay Johnson. Oxford: Berg, 2003. Hyun, Theresa. Writing Women in Korea: Translation and Feminism in the Colonial Period. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003. Im, Sung-Kyun, and Myung-Sook Han. “History and Design of Nineteenth-Century Minpos, Korean Commoner’s Wrapping Cloths: Focused on Supo.” The International Journal of Costume Culture 5:2 (2002): 120–30. Joo, Kyeongmi. “The Gold Belt Buckle of Nangnang and Central Asia.” In Civilizations of the Great Silk Road from the Past to the Future; Perspectives through Natural, Social and Human Science. Proceedings of the International Academic Conferences in Samarkand on September 28–29, 299–310. Samarkand: IICAS, 2017. Joo, Kyeongmi. “Gendered Differences in Modern Korea Towards Western Luxuries.” In Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, 143–66. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Joo, Kyeongmi. “Critical Review on the Metalworks in the Tomb of King Muryeong.” Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology 16 (2021): 56–73. Jung, Jaehee. “Body Concepts in Korea and North Asia.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Kim, Hong Ki. K-Fashion. Seoul: Korean Culture and Information Service, 2012. Kim, Jeong-Ja. “A Study on Traditional Honor Armor for Korean Military Guard.” The International Journal of Costume Culture 1:1 (December 1998): 73–81. Kim, Ji-Sun. “Formative Characteristics in Shapes and Colors of Korean Traditional Flower Motifs Seen in Embroidery.” The International Journal of Costume 7:1 (June 2007): 32–48. Kim, Jin, and Sohn Hee-Soon. “The Study of Children’s Historical Costumes in Enlightenment Period of Korea.” Fashion Business 10:6 (2006): 1–8. Kim, Kumja Paik. “A Celebration of Life: Patchwork and Embroidered Pojagi by Unknown Korean Women.” In Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth Through the Twentieth Centuries, edited by Young-key Kim-Renaud. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004. Kim, Min-Ja. “Overview of Korea: Modern.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Kim, Minjee. “Toward a Definition of Koreanness.” In Couture Korea, edited by Hyonjeong Kim Han, 36–9. Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation, Seoul, 2017.
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Kim, Minjee (Korean & English). “Hanbok: Korean National Dress Mirroring the Zeitgeist.” Hanbok: Our Coveted Clothing No. 10. Hanbok Advancement Center, Seoul: Korea, 2019, 4–13. Kim, Rosalie, ed. Hallyu!: The Korean Wave. London: V&A Publishing, 2022. Kim, Soh-Hyeon. “A Costume Study on the Basis of Descriptions in the Novel Im Kkeok Jeong.” The International Journal of Costume 8:1 (June 2008): 36–52. Kim, Soon-Young, and Jung E. Ha-Brookshire. “How Did Industrial Products Change a Society? Historical Evidence of Imported Cotton Cloth in Korea, 1882–1910.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 34:2 (April 2016): 109–26. Kim, Soon-Young, and Jung Ha-Brookshire. “Evolution of the Korean Marketplace From 1896 to 1938: A Historical Investigation of Western Clothing Stores’ Retail and Competition Strategies.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 37:3 (July 2019): 155–70. Kim, Yong-suk, and Kyoung-ja Son, eds. An Illustrated History of Korean Costume, Two Volumes. Seoul: Yekyoung Publications Co., 1984. Kim, Yongsook, and Hye-Won Lim. “Hanji (Traditional Korean Paper) Fashions.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Kim, Young-Jae. “Looking at the Clothing of Rubens’s Man in Korean Costume.” In Looking East: Rubens’s Encounter with Asia, edited by Stephanie Schrader, Burglind Jungmann, Yŏng-jae Kim, and Christine Göttler, 24–38. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2013. Korea Foundation, ed. Masters of Traditional Korean Handicrafts. Seoul: Korea Foundation, 2009. Korean Craft and Design Resource Book 17. Hwahye: Korean Traditional Shoes. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2020. Korean Craft and Design Resource Book 07. Nubi: Korean Traditional Quilt. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2014. Korean Craft and Design Resource Book 09. Chimseon: Korean Traditional Sewing. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2016. Korean Craft and Design Resource Book 16. Geumbak: Korean Traditional Gold Leaf Imprinting. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2019. Korean Craft and Design Resource Book 10. Maedeup: Korean Traditional Decorative Knotting. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2016. Kwon, Yoo Jin, and Yhe-Young Lee. “Traditional Aesthetic Characteristics Traced in South Korean Contemporary Fashion Practice.” Fashion Practice 7:2 (2015): 153–74. Kwon, Yoon-Hee. “Changing function of symbolism in design of Korean silk textiles.” Home Economics Research Journal 8:1 (1979): 16–26. Kwon, Yoon-hee. “Symbolism in Traditional Korean Silk Designs.” Korea Journal 22:7 (July 1982): 18–27. Kwon, Yoon-hee. Symbolic and Decorative Motifs of Korean Silk: 1875–1975. Seoul: Il Ji Sa, 1988.
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Lee, Eun-Joo, Chang Seok Oh, Se Gweon Yim, Jun Bum Park, Yi-Suk Kim, Myung Ho Shin, Soong Deok Lee, and Dong Hoon Shin. “Collaboration of archaeologists, historians and bioarchaeologists during removal of clothing from Korean mummy of Joseon dynasty.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 17:1 (2013): 94–118. Lee, Eun-Joo, Dong Hoon Shin, Hoo Yul Yang, Mark Spigelman, and Se Gweon Yim. “Eung Tae’s Tomb: a Joseon Ancestor and the Letters of Those That Loved Him.” Antiquity 83:319 (2009): 145–56. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00098148. Lee, Jee Hyun, and Young-In Kim. “Analysis of Color Symbology from the Perspective of Cultural Semiotics Focused on Korean Costume Colors According to the Cultural Changes.” Color Research and Application 32:1 (February 2007): 71–9. Lee, Jee Hyun. “A Study on the Colors and Coloration of Jeogori of Chosun Dynasty and the Modern Period of Korea.” The International Journal of Costume 7:1 (June 2007): 49–61. Lee, Kyung Eun. “Korean Traditional Fashion Inspires the Global Runway.” In Ethnic Fashion, edited by Miguel Angel Gardetti and Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu. Singapore: Springer, 2016. Lee, Kyung Ja (same as Yi, Kyong-ja). Norigae: Splendor of the Korean Costume. Translated by Lee Jean Young. Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press, 2005. Lee, Kyung Ja. “Overview of Korea: Traditional.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Lee, Kyungmee. “Dress Policy and Western-Style Court Attire in Modern Korea.” In Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, 47–68. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Lee, Min-Jung, and Min-Ja Kim. “Dress and Ideology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries Korea, 1876∼1945.” International Journal of Costume and Fashion 11:1 (2011): 15–33. Lee, Samuel Songhoon. Hanbok: Timeless Fashion Tradition. Seoul: Seoul Selection, 2013. Lee, Yunah. “Fashioning Tradition in Contemporary Korean Fashion.” International Journal of Fashion Studies 4:2 (2017): 241–61. Lee, Yunah. “Hanbok: Korean Traditional, Contemporary and Fashionable Dress.” In Hallyu! The Korean Wave, edited by Rosalie Kim, 168–175. London: V&A Publishing 2022. Lim, Kyoung-Hwa, and Soon-Che Kang. “The Study on the Decorative Factors of Korean Traditional Skirts: Chima.” The International Journal of Costume 2 (December 2002): 29–40. Lynn, Hyung Gu. “Fashioning Modernity: Changing Meanings of Clothing in Colonial Korea.” Journal of International and Area Studies 11:3 (2004): 75–93. National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. Korean Traditional Pattern 1: Textile. Seoul, 2006. Nomura, Michiyo. “A Spectacle of Authority on the Streets: Police Uniforms in Imperial Japan and Colonial Korea.” In Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, 115–39. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
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Park, Ah-Rim. “Colors in Mural Paintings in Goguryeo Kingdom Tombs.” In Color in Ancient and Medieval East Asia, edited by Mary M. Dusenbury. Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Art of the University of Kansas, 2015. Park, Ga Young. “Androgyny of Sword Dance Costumes in the Joseon Dynasty.” International Journal of Human Ecology 15:2 (2014): 23–31. Park, Hyun-Jung. “(Ad) Dressing Joseon Portraiture: The British Museum’s Portrait of Chae Je∼ gong.” Orientations (Hong Kong) 41:8 (2010): 73–7. Park, Juyeon, Marilyn DeLong, and Eunah Yoh. “Textile Manufacture in Korea.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 332–6. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Park, Seongsil. “Archaeological Evidence: Korea.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 31–3. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Pak, Seong-sil. Nubi: Korean Traditional Quilt. Seoul: Korea Craft and Design Foundation, 2014. Park, Sunae, Patricia Campbell Warner, and Thomas K. Fitzgerald. “The process of westernization: Adoption of western-style dress by Korean women, 1945–1962.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 11:3 (1993): 39–47. Peabody Essex Museum. “Clothing and Textiles.” A Teacher’s Sourcebook for Korean Art & Culture: Featuring the Korean Art Collection of the Peabody Essex Museum. Online e-book (in PDF). Salem, MA : Peabody Essex Museum. P.8–11. Pyun, Kyunghee, and Aida Yuen Wong, eds. Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Pyun, Kyunghee. “Hybrid Dandyism: European Woolen Fabric in East Asia.” In Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia, edited by Kyunghee Pyun and Aida Yuen Wong, 143–66. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Pyun, Kyunghee. “The Rise of Unisex in Korean Fashion.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Renouf, Renee. “Profusion of Colors: Korean Costumes and Wrapping Cloths of the Choson Dynasty.” Korean Culture 16:4 (Winter 1994): 12–17; also in Oriental Art 41:2 (Summer 1995): 49–53. Roach-Higgins, Marry Ellen. “Symbolic and Decorative Motifs of Korean Silk: 1875– 1975.” Korea Journal 29:5 (1989): 37–8. Roberts, Claire, and Huh Dong-hwa, eds. Rapt in Colour: Korean Textiles and Costumes of the Choson Dynasty. Sydney : Powerhouse Museum/Seoul: Museum of Korean Embroidery, 1998; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 2000. Ruhlen, Rebecca N. “Korean Alterations: Nationalism, Social Consciousness, and ‘Traditional’ Clothing.” In Re-orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress, edited by Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich, and Carla Jones. Oxford: Berg, 2003. Schrader, Stephanie, Burglind Jungmann, Yŏng-jae Kim, and Christine Göttler. Looking East: Rubens’s Encounter with Asia. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2013. Sim, Yeon-ok, and Keum Da-woon. 2,000 Years of Korean Embroidery. Seoul: Kribbit, 2020
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Sim, Yeon-ok, and Seonyong Lee. “Colors of the Five Directions Associated with Deposits Enshrined in Buddhist Statues in Korea.” In Color in Ancient and Medieval East Asia, edited by Mary M. Dusenbury. Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Art of the University of Kansas, 2015. Sim, Yeon-ok. 5,000 years of Korean Textiles: An Illustrated History and Technical Survey. Seoul: Institute for Studies of Ancient Textiles, Korea Branch, 2002. Sim, Yeon-ok. Han’guk chingmul munyang ich‘ŏnnyŏn 한국직물문양 이천년 (2000 years of Korean textile design). Seoul: Samhwa, 2006. Soh, Hwang Oak. “The People of White Clothes (백의민족, 白衣民族) from Modern Perspectives.” International Journal of Costume and Fashion 11:2 (2011): 25–36. Seok Juseon Memorial Museum in Dankook University. Myeongseon: Traditional Costume Vols. 2–3, Seoul: Seok Juseon Memorial Museum, 2005. Welters, Linda, and Abby Lillethun. “Korean Hanbok reconsidered.” In Fashion History: A Global View, edited by Linda Welters and Abby Lillethun, 135–8. London: Bloomsbury, 2018. Yang, Sunny. Hanbok: The Art of Korean Clothing. Elizabeth, NJ : Hollym International, 1997. Yi, Kyong-ja, Na-young Hong, Suk-hwan Chang, and Mi-ryang Yi. Traditional Korean Costume. Folkstone: Global Oriental, 2005. Yi, Kyoung-ja, and Lee Jean Young. Norigae: Splendor of the Korean Costume. Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press, 2005. Yi, Song-mi. “Women in Korean History and Art.” Rapt in Colour: Korean Textiles and Costumes of the Choson Dynasty, 22–9. Sydney : Powerhouse Museum/Seoul: Museum of Korean Embroidery, 1998; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 2000. Yi, Song-mi. Fragrance, Elegance, and Virtue: Korean Women in Traditional Arts and Humanities. Seoul: Daewonsa, 2002. Yu, Chai-Shin, and Tae-ho Yi. Early Korean art and culture: tomb murals of Koguryō. Toronto: Society for Korean and Related Studies, 2011.
Dress and Fashion History of East Asia Bulag, Uradyn E. “Wearing Ethnic Identity: Power of Dress.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 75–80. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Chen, Buyun. Empire of Style: Silk and Fashion in Tang China. Seattle: University of Washington Press 2019. Chung, Young Yang. Silken Threads: A History of Embroidery in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. New York: H. N. Abrams, 2005. Clark, Hazel. Chengsam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Cliffe, Sheila. The social life of kimono: Japanese fashion past and present. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
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Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Hua, Mei. Chinese Clothing. Introductions to Chinese Culture Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Kawamura Yuniya. The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion. Oxford England: Berg, 2004. Kawamura Yuniya. Fashioning Japanese Subcultures. London: Berg, 2013. Kawamura, Yuniya. “East Asian Fashion Designers in Local and International Markets.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 65–70. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Kirkham, Pat, and Susan Weber, eds. History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture 1400–2000. Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts Design History Material Culture and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013. Kusano, Shizuka, Masayuki Tsutsui, and Gavin Frew. The Fine Art of Kimono Embroidery. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2006. Menzies, Jackie. Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious and Court Textiles. Sydney : Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004. Milhaupt, Terry Satsuki. Kimono: A Modern History. New York: Reaktion Books, 2014. Monden, Masafumi. Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and Gender in Contemporary Japan. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. Niessen, Sandra, et als., eds. Re-orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. Pha·m, Minh-Hà T. Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet: Race, Gender, and the Work of Personal Style Blogging. Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2015. Pyun, Kyunghee, and Aida Yuen Wong, eds. Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Schäfer, Dagmar, et al. Threads of Global Desire: Silk in the Pre-Modern World. London: Boydell Press 2018. Semmelhack, Elizabeth. “Footwear.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 99–106. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Slade, Toby. Japanese Fashion: A Cultural History. Oxford: Berg, 2009. Shea, Eiren L. Mongol Court Dress Identity Formation and Global Exchange. New York: Routledge, 2020. Silberstein, Rachel. A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing. Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2020. Steele, Valerie, and John S. Major. China Chic: East meets West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. Steele, Valerie. Japan Fashion Now. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. Vainker, S. J. Chinese Silk: A Cultural History. London: British Museum Press, 2004. Vollmer, John E. Celebrating Virtue: Prestige Costume and Fabrics of Late Imperial China. Toronto: Textile Museum of Canada, 2000.
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Vollmer, John E., Elinor L. Pearlstein, and Christa C. Mayer-Thurman. Clothed to Rule the Universe: Ming and Qing Dynasty Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2000. Vollmer, John E. “Geographic and Cultural Introduction.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 3–20. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Vollmer, John E. “International Fashion in East Asia.” In Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, edited by John E. Vollmer, 71–4. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Vollmer, John E. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion Vol. 6: East Asia. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Weber John, et al. Kimono Style: Edo Traditions to Modern Design: The John C. Weber Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022. Watt, James C. Y., and Anne E. Wardwell. When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997. Wilson, Verity, and Ian Thomas. Chinese Dress. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1986. Wilson, Verity. Chinese Textiles. London: V & A Publications, 2005. Wu, Juanjuan. “Reinvented Identity: The Qipao and Tang-Style Jacket.” In Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now, 103–26. Dress, Body, Culture. Oxford: Berg, 2009. Wu, Juanjuan. Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now. Oxford: Berg, 2009.
Fashion Studies in General Adam, Geczy, and Vicki Karaminas. Fashion’s Double: Representations of Fashion in Painting, Photography and Film. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. Anawalt, Patricia Rieff. The Worldwide History of Dress. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Barber, E. J. W. Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1995. Barnard, Malcom. Fashion Theory: A Reader. New York: Routledge, 2010 Barnes, Ruth, and Joanne B. Eicher, eds. Dress and Gender: Making and Meaning in Cultural Contexts. Oxford: Berg, 1992. Best, Kate. The History of Fashion Journalism. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Bolton, Andrew, and Cope, Nicholas Alan. Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. Bowstead, Jay MacCauley. Menswear Revolution: The Transformation of Contemporary Men’s Fashion. London, Bloomsbury : 2019. Breward, Christopher (ed.), and David Gilbert. Fashion’s World Cities. Oxford: Berg, 2006. Breward, Christopher. The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable Dress. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995. Burns, Leslie Davis. Sustainability and Social Change in Fashion. New York: Fairchild Books, 2019.
Selected Bibliography
331
Cavallaro, Dani, and Alexandra Warwick. Fashioning the Frame: Boundaries, Dress, and Body. Oxford: Berg, 1998. Cheang, Sarah, Erica de Greef, and Takagi Yōko. Rethinking Fashion Globalization. London: Bloomsbury, 2021. Cole, Daniel James, and Nancy Deihl. The History of Modern Fashion from 1850. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2015. Craik, Jennifer. Fashion: The Key Concepts. Oxford: Berg, 2009. Craik, Jennifer M., and Angela Jansen. Modern Fashion Traditions: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity through Fashion. London: Bloomsbury, 2018. Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden, Charlotte Horlyck, Richard Davis, and Leonie Davis. World Dress: Fashion in Detail. London: V & A Publications, 2009. Edwards, Lydia. How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change across Space and Time. Oxford: Berg, 1995. Eicher, Joanne B. Global Trade and Cultural Authentication: The Kalamari of Niger Delta. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2022. Entwistle, Joanne. The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015. Geczy, Adam. Fashion and Orientalism: Dress, Textiles and Culture from the 17th to the 21st Century. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. Hancock, Joseph, Toni Johnson-Woods, and Vicki Karaminas. Fashion in Popular Culture: Literature, Media and Contemporary Studies, Bristol: Intellect, 2013. Hill, Daniel Delis. History of World Costume and Fashion. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. Hollander, Anne. Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting. London: National Gallery, 2002. Jobling, Paul. Fashion Spread. London: Bloomsbury, 1999. Johnson, Kim K. P., Susan J. Torntore, and Joanne B. Eicher, eds. Fashion Foundations: Early Writings on Fashion and Dress. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. Kawamura, Yuniya, and Jung-Whan Marc de Jong. 2022. Cultural Appropriation in Fashion and Entertainment. London: Bloomsbury. Kawamura Yuniya. 2020. Doing Research in Fashion and Dress: An Introduction to Qualitative Methods. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury. Kawamura, Yuniya. Fashion-ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies. London: Bloomsbury, 2005. Lemire, Beverly. Global Trade and the Transformation of Consumer Cultures: The Material World Remade, c.1500–1820. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Lemire, Beverly, and Giorgio Riello. Dressing Global Bodies: The Political Power of Dress in World History. New York: Routledge, 2019. Lipovetsky, Gilles. The Empire of Fashion: Dressing Modern Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
332
Selected Bibliography
Luvaas, Brent, and Joanne B. Eicher, eds. The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion: A Reader. London: Bloomsbury, 2019 Mackinney-Valentin, Maria. Fashioning Identity: Status Ambivalence in Contemporary Fashion. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Maynard, Margaret, ed. Dress and Globalisation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. McNeil, Peter, and Miller, Sanda. Fashion Writing and Criticism: History, Theory, Practice London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Nicklas, Charlotte, and Annebella Pollen. Dress History: New Directions in Theory and Practice. London: Bloomsbury, 2015. Petrov, Julia. Fashion, History, Museums: Inventing the Display of Dress. London: Bloomsbury, 2019. Pollen, Annebella. Mass Photography: Collective Histories of Everyday Life. New York: Routledge, 2016. Purdy, Daniel L., ed. The Rise of Fashion: A Reader. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. Quinn, Bradley. Fashion Futures. London: Merrell, 2012. Reilly, Andrew Hinchcliffe. Introducing Fashion Theory: From Androgyny to Zeitgeist. Bloomsbury, 2021. Riello, Giorgio, and Peter McNeil, eds. The Fashion History Reader: Global Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2010. Ross, Robert. Clothing: A Global History: Or, The Imperialists’ New Clothes. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008. Stark, Gill. The Fashion Show: History, Theory and Practice. London: Bloomsbury, 2018. Steele, Valerie. Paris fashion: a cultural history. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Steele, Valerie. ed. Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion. Farmington Hills, MI : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2005. Steele, Valerie. The Berg Companion to Fashion. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Svendsen, Lars. Fashion: A Philosophy. London: Reaktion Books, 2006. Taylor, Lou. Establishing Dress History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. Taylor, Lou. The Study of Dress History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. Thomas, Dana. Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes. London: Apollo, 2020. Troy, Nancy. Couture Culture: A Study in Modern Art and Fashion. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2003. Vincent, Susan J., Mary Harlow, Sarah-Grace Heller, Elizabeth Currie, Peter McNeil, Denise Amy Baxter, and Alexandra Palmer, eds. A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion. Vols. 1–6. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Vinken, Barbara. Fashion Zeitgeist: Trends and Cycles in the Fashion System. Oxford: Berg, 2005. Welters, Linda, and Abby Lillethun. Fashion History: A Global View. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
Index ’86 Cultural Exhibition Hall ’86 문화 종합전시관 292 aengsam 앵삼 鶯衫 265, 266, 267, 270 Agwan pacheon 아관파천 俄館播遷 169 An Hyang 안향 安珦 (1243–1306) 60 Baekui minjok 백의민족 白衣民族 307 Bak Chunbin 박춘빈 朴春彬 60 Bak Gyusu 박규수 朴珪壽 (1807–1877) 83, 96, 100, 108 Bak Ik 박익 朴翊 (1332–1398) 62 Bak Jiwon 박지원 朴趾源 (1737–1805) 83 Bak Yeonghyo 박영효 朴泳孝 (1861–1939) 163 Baktongsa 박통사 朴通事 (1670) 84, 88, 222 Balhae 발해 渤海 (698–926) 3, 26, 36, 43, 45, 49, 51 balwonmun 발원문 發願文 54 Baramui nara 바람의 나라 (2008–2009) 298 Beopgyuryupyeon 법규류편 法規類編 178 Beopheungsa Temple 법흥사 法興寺 300 beopjeon 법전 法典 70 beoseon 버선 99, 264 Bibyeonsa deungnok 비변사등록 備邊司謄 錄 72 binyeo 비녀 ㄴ 78, 139, 141, 145, 148 bobingsa 보빙사 報聘使 162 Bogwangsa Temple 보광사 57, 58 bogyo 복요 服妖 82, 95, 221, 222, 224 bojagi 보자기 12, 80 bokgeon 복건 幅巾 130 bomun 보문 寶文 242 Bongimchik 봉임칙 縫㍍則 81, 103 bosanghwa 보상화 寶相華 302 Buin 부인 (1922–1923) 190 buindae 부인대 夫人帶 145 Bukhagui 북학의 北學議 96, 107 bulbokjang 불복장 佛復藏 51, 54, 55, 58, 64, 66
Byeon Ryang 변량 卞良 124 Byeon Sangbyeok 변상벽 卞相壁 (before 1726–1775) 129, 130 Byeon Su 변수 邊脩 (1447–1524) 63 byeong-seo 병서 兵書 82 Cefu yuangui 冊府元龜 28, 36 chaekbong 책봉 冊封 53 chang-ui 창의 ∵衣 264 Changdeokgung Palace 창덕궁 昌德宮 236 Cheonchutaehu 천추태후 (2009) 298 cheongcho jungdan 청초중단 靑㎳中單 265 cheongcho-ui 청초의 靑㎳衣 265 cheongja 청자 靑磁 63, 258 cheopji 첩지 疊紙 139, 145, 153 chilbomun 칠보문 七寶紋 124 chilbounmundan 칠보운문단 七寶雲文緞 125 Choe Young-don 최영돈 200 Choi Yeonhong 최연홍 崔蓮紅 (1785–1846) 114 Chongyungcheong deungnok 총융청등록 摠 戎廳謄錄 72 chosanghwa 초상화 肖像畵 111, 131 chulto boksik 출토복식 出土服飾 211, 212, 239 Chungbuk National University Museum 충북대학교 박물관 211, 212, 213, 214, 218, 220, 223 Chungju Goguryeo bi 충주고구려비 忠州高 句麗碑 29 Chunhyangjeon 춘향전 春香傳 99 Daegu National Museum 대구국립박물관 40, 204 Daegu Textile Museum 대구섬유박물관 204 daeha drama 대하 드라마 291, 292, 299, 300, 302, 303 Daehan Yejeon 대한예전 大韓禮典 70, 169, 170, 174 Daejanggeum 대장금 (2003) 295
333
334
Index
Daejeon Hoetong 대전회통 大典會通 70 Daejeon Tongpyeon 대전통편 大典通編 70 Daemang 대망 (2002) 294 daeryebok 대례복 大禮服 163, 165, 166, 175 daeryego 대례고 大禮袴 175 daeryemo 대례모 大禮帽 175 daeryeui 대례의 大禮衣 175 Daewang Sejong 대왕 세종 (2008) 303 Daishin Shima 시마대신 Sogano Umako 蘇我馬子 300 dallyeong 단령 團領 36, 60, 78, 114, 116, 216, 217, 218, 219, 238, 252, 265, 276, 277 Damo 다모 (2003) 295 Danballyeong 단발령 斷髮令 167 danggo-ui 당고의 245 dang-ui 당의 78, 212, 215, 216, 219, 220, 221, 225, 304, 305, 309 dansam 단삼 團衫 217 dapo 답호 搭胡/搭護/搭忽 55, 58, 165, 166 Deokhyeongju 덕혜옹주 德惠翁主 (1912–1989) 305 deungchae/Deungchaek 등채/등책 藤策 127, 128 deungnok 등록 謄錄 72, 74, 85 dogam 도감 都監 33, 74, 151 dongdari 동달이/동다리 238, 261 donggyeong 동경 銅鏡 63 dongjeong 동정 265 Dongsa ilgi 동사일기 東῾日記 84 durumagi 두루마기 周衣 104, 114, 161, 165, 166, 178, 238 Eo-yeongcheong deungnok 어영청등록 御營 廳謄錄 72 eochimjang 어침장 306 Eue-sang 의상 200 Eulmi sabyeong 을미사변 乙未事變 169 Eulmi uije gaehyeok 을미의제개혁 乙未衣 制改革 162 eumyang 음양 陰陽 222 Eumyang ohaeng 음양오행 陰陽五行 29 Ewha Womans University Museum 이화여자대학교 박물관 63 fuzhuang peishi 服裝配飾 140 Gabo uije gaehyeok 갑오의제개혁 甲午衣制 改革 162
gache 가체 84, 97 gaeryang hanbok 개량 한복 308 gakdae 각대 角帶 265 Gaksa deungnok 각사등록 各司謄錄 72 gangsapo 강사포 絳紗袍 171, 172 gapju 갑주 261, 264, 267 Gapsin uije gaehyeok 갑신의제개혁 甲申衣 制改革 162 Garye jimnam 가례집람 家禮輯覽 75 gasa 가사 歌辭 103, 104 gat 갓 92, 97, 261, 305 geodeul chima 거들치마 244, 245 Geoga japbokgo 거가잡복고 居家雜服考 83 Geumcheok daehunjang 금척대훈장 金尺 大勳章 175 geumseondan 금선단 金線緞 242 Geumsujiguk 금수지국 禽獸之國 53 Geungwiyeong deungnok 금위영등록 禁衛 營謄錄 72 Gichuk jinchan uigwe 기축진찬의궤 己丑進 饌儀軌 (1829) 74 Gim Ik 김익 金⟔ (1723–1790) 112 Gim Yu 김유 金⪜ (1571–1648) 124 Giroseryeongyedo 기로세련계도 耆老世聯契 圖 112 gisaeng 기생 81, 99, 100, 202, 224, 296, 297, 305, 306 Gojong sillok 고종실록 高宗實錄 162, 163, 167, 177 gollyongpo 곤룡포 㺞龍袍 119 gongbok 공복 公服 51, 52, 70, 83, 161 goreum 고름 222, 237, 245, 261, 273 Goryeosa 고려사 高麗史 27, 52, 148 goyidaenggi 고이댕기 247 Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig 75, 77 Gukgi boksaek soseon 국기복색소선 國忌服 色素膳 72 Gukjagam 국자감 國子監 51 Gukjo-oryeui 국조오례의 國朝五禮儀 70, 306 Gukjo oryeui seorye 국조오례의서례 國朝五 禮儀序例 70 Gukjo sok oryeuibo 국조속오례의보 國朝續 五禮儀補 70 Gukjo sok oryeui 국조속오례의 國朝續五禮 儀 70 Gukon jeongnye 국혼정례 國婚定例 71
Index Gungjung balgi 궁중발기 宮中發記 71, 86 gungjung-girokhwa 궁중기록화 宮中記錄畵 111 gunjang 군장 軍裝 166 gwageo 과거 科擧 51 gwanbok 관복 冠服 54, 78, 114, 165 Gwanbok doseol 관복도설 冠服圖說 82 Gwanbo 관보 官報 167, 177, 180 Gwang-hae Kim 김광해 201 gwangdae 광대 廣帶 264 Gwanghaegun 광해군 光海君 (1575–1641) 127, 305 Gwangjong 광종 (r. 949–975) 51, 52 gwanmo 관모 112, 114, 116, 237 Gyechuk ilgi 계축일기 癸丑日記 80 Gyeomjae Jeong Seon 겸재 정선 112 Gyeonggi Provincial Museum 경기도박물관 121, 123, 218, 308 Gyeonggijeon Shrine 경기전 慶基殿 124 Gyeongguk daejeon 경국대전 經國大典 70, 115, 133, 148, 265, 269 Gyeongju 경주 慶州 12, 36, 39, 142, 143, 144, 148, 149 gyeonmagi 견마기 245 gyerye 계례 癸禮 221 Gyeyujeongran 계유정난 癸酉靖難 302 Gyujanggak 규장각 奎章閣 70, 86 Gyujung chilwu jaengnongi 규중칠우쟁론기 閨中七友爭論記 81 haechi 해치 ⦜䊨 114, 122, 126 haengjeon 행전 264 Haesin 해신 (2004–2005) 296 hakjeonggeumdae 학정금대 鶴頂金帶 123 hallyu 한류 韓流 5, 202, 274, 289 Hangukboksikdogam 한국복식도감 韓國放 送事業團 292 Hanseong sunbo 한성순보 漢城旬報 165 Ha Yeon 하연 河演 (1376–1453) 60, 114 Heo Gye 허계 許棨 (1561–1649) 123 Heo Seon 허선 許選 (1591–1665) 123 heukcho-ui 흑초의 黑㎳衣 265 heukdallyeong 흑단령 黑團領 119, 161, 165, 166, 167, 168 Heungwangun 흥완군 興完君 (1814–1848) 167 Ho-wicheong Deungnok 호위청등록 扈衛廳 謄錄 72 hobok 호복 胡服 52
335
hoegwangmyo 회곽묘 211 hoejang jeogori 회장저고리 245, 304 hongnyongpo 홍룡포 紅龍袍 171, 174 hoseong gongsin 호성공신 扈聖功臣 115, 125 Hubaekje 후백제 後百齋 (892–936) 51 Hugoguryeo 후고구려 後高句麗 (901–918) 51 Hullyeon dogam 훈련도감 訓鍊都監 71 Hunguk deungnok 훈국등록 訓局謄錄 72 Hunjang jorye 훈장조례 勳章條例 175 Hunyo sipjo 훈요 10조 53 husu 후수 後綬 265 hwaja 화자 靴子 165 hwando 환도 環刀 127, 128 Hwang Hogeun 황호근 黃ߡ根 (1924– 1996) 10, 140, 146, 148, 151, 152 Hwang Hyeon 황현 黃玹 (1856–1910) 165 Hwang Jin 황진 黃進 (1550–1593) 121, 123 Hwang Jini 황진이 (2006) 296, 297 hwangnyongpo 황룡포 黃龍袍 171, 172 hwarot 활옷 78, 238 Hwaseong wonhaeng uigwedo 화성원행의궤도 華城園幸儀軌圖 75, 76 Hyogyeong 효경 孝經 146 hyungbae 흉배 胸背 6, 114, 116, 122, 137, 305 Ihwa daehunjang 이화대훈장 李花大勳章 175 ikseongwan 익선관 119, 171, 172 Ildonggiyu 일동기유 日東記游 163 Ilseongnok 일성록 日省錄 69, 70, 71, 224 Imha pilgi 임하필기 林下筆記 78 Imjinwaeran 임진왜란 壬辰倭亂 294 Insamun 인사문 人事門 95 ja-ui 자의 紫衣 55, 56 Jagyeongmun 자경문 自警文 130 jang-ot 장옷 222, 223, 277, 278 jangjeogori 장저고리 245 Jangseogak 장서각 藏書閣 72, 86, 121, 170, 235 jangsingu 장신구 裝身具 139, 140, 141, 148, 149, 152, 237 jebok 제복 祭服 70, 221, 238, 265, 266, 267 jeogori 저고리 30, 57, 58, 63, 82, 84, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 104, 114, 116, 202, 219, 220, 221, 222, 237, 238, 242, 243, 245,
336
Index
247, 264, 273, 277, 278, 282, 299, 303, 305, 307, 308 jeogui 적의 翟衣 174 jeoksam 적삼 58, 246, 247 jeollip 전립 戰笠 259, 261, 264 jeollyeseo 전례서 典禮書 70 Jeon Ilsang 전일상 田日祥 (1700–1753) 122, 126 jeondae 전대 戰帶 264 Jeong Gonsu 정곤수 鄭崑壽 (1538–1602) 122, 125 Jeong Mongju 정몽주 鄭夢周 (1337–1392) 60, 61 Jeong Yak-yong 정약용 丁若鏞 (1762–1836) 78, 216 Jeong Yeo-il 정여일 鄭汝逸 (1678–1752) 216 jeongjang 정장 正裝 166 jeongnye 정례 定例 71 jeongsa 정사 正史 291 Jibong yuseol 지봉유설 芝峰類說 82, 92 Jijangsiwangdo 지장시왕도 地藏十王圖 298 jikgeum 직금 織金 242 Jinchanso 진찬소 進饌所 74 jinjudaenggi 진주댕기 247 jinsagomo 진사고모 眞絲高帽 175 Jiphyeonjeon 집현전 集賢殿 216 Jo Ban 조반 趙伴 (1341–1401) 60, 114 Jo Jungmuk 조중묵 趙重默 (1820–?) 120, 123 jobok 조복 朝服 70, 84, 93, 119, 171, 172, 221, 238 jogeon baekjeopo Ⲳ巾白紵袍 54 jokbo 족보 211 jokduri 족두리 78, 100, 139, 221 Joseon boksikgo 조선복식고 朝鮮服飾考 10 Joseon wangjo sillok 조선왕조실록 朝鮮王朝 實錄 69, 148, 157, 269 Jubusaenghwal 주부생활 189 Jung Gu-ho 정구호 (1962–) 202, 294, 296, 297 jung-ui 中衣 55, 56 Kang Mincheom 강민첨 姜民瞻 (963–1021) 60 Kim Busik 김부식 金富軾 (1075–1151) 27, 52 Kim Chunchu 김춘추 金春秋 (604–661, r. 654–661) 52
Kim Geunhaeng 김근행 金謹行 (1713– 1784) 216 Kim Gisu 김기수 金綺秀 (1832–?) 163 Kim Hongdo 김홍도 金弘道 116 Kim Huigyeom 김희겸 金喜謙 122, 126 Kim Jang-saeng 김장생 金長生 (1548– 1631) 75 Kim Joong-man 김중만 (1954–2022) 200, 201 Kim Jungeun 김준근 116 Korea University Museum 고려대학교박물관 167, 168, 218, 265 Lee Byung-hoon 이병훈 294, 295 Lee Chadon 이차돈 異次頓 (1962) 149, 150 Lee Rheeza 이리자 (1935–2020) 203 Lee Younghee 이영희 (1936–2018) 13, 201, 203 Liangzhigongtu 梁職貢圖 34, 35 maebyeong 매병 梅甁 63 Man-gi yoram 만기요람 萬機要覽 71 manggeon 망건 261 Manmulmun 만물문 萬物門 95 Meot 멋 (1983, 1987- ) 189, 200, 201 Miam ilgi 미암일기 眉巖日記 80 Min Cheolhun 민철훈 閔哲勳 (1856–1925) 176, 177 Miyindo 미인도 美人圖 98 mokhwa 목화 木靴 114, 116, 264 Moraesigye 모래시계 (1995) 295 mosi jeoksam 모시 적삼 58 Mugunghwa 무궁화 無窮花 175, 177 Mungwan bokjang gyuchik 문관복장규칙 文官服裝規則 175 Mungyeonsageon 문견사건 聞見事件 163 Munhyoseja Boyangcheonggyebyeong 문효세자 보양청계병 文孝世子輔養廳契 屛 112, 113 Muryeong 무령왕 武寧王 (462–523) 143,
154, 302 Museum of Oriental Ceramics Collection in Osaka 63 Muye dobo tongji 무예도보통지 武藝圖譜通 志 82 Myeonbok 면복 冕服 mianfu 52, 53, 171 naebang gasa 내방가사 內房歌辭 103 namnyeo yubyeol 남녀유별 217, 222, 225
Index nansam 난삼 㾤衫 130, 267 National Museum of Korea 국립중앙박물관 12, 39, 40, 59, 61, 76, 86, 113, 117, 121, 122, 125, 129, 130, 147, 153, 164, 204, 250 National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art 국립현대미술관 174 National Museum of Scotland 15, 257, 260, 261, 268 National Palace Museum of Taiwan 國立故 宮博物院 54 National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage 국립문화재연구소 143 Nogukdaejang Gongju 魯國大長公主 (?–1365) 60 Oju yeonmun jangjeonsango 오주연문장전산고 五洲衍文長箋散稿 81, 148 oksaek hansam 옥색한삼 玉色汗衫 85 Onyang Folk Museum 온양민속박물관 55, 56 osaek hansam 오색한삼 五色汗衫 85
paeyeong 패영 261 Palace Museum in Beijing 64 pigap 피갑 皮甲 83 piju 피주 皮߁ 83 pobaek-cheok 포백척 布帛尺 86 podo dongjamun 포도동자문 葡萄童子紋 242 poomdae 품대 品帶 93 pungsokhwa 풍속화 風俗畵 111, 118 pyebaek 폐백 幣帛 78, 79, 217 pyeonbok 편복 便服 84 pyeongsaengdo 평생도 平生圖 146, 147 pyeseul 폐슬 298 ra 羅 38, 58 reung 綾 38 sa 紗 38, 224 sabok 사복 私服 161, 165 sadaebu 사대부 93, 124 Sado 사도 (2015) 310 sahaengnok 사행록 使行錄 84 Sajeol Boksaek Jajang Yoram 사절복색자장요람 四節服色資粧要覽 72,
151
337
Samguksagi 삼국사기 三國史記 27, 29, 34, 52, 65, 148, 300 Samgukyusa 삼국유사 三國遺事 27, 148, 149 samo 사모 紗帽 78, 125, 126, 165, 166, 261 sancai 삼채 三彩 36 Sangbang jeongnye 상방정례 尙方定例 71 sangbok 상복 喪服 70, 78, 83, 171, 172, 174, 175 sangjang 상장 常裝 166 Sanguiwon 상의원 尙衣院 306 Sanguiwon 상의원 (2014) 290, 305, 306 Sanguozhi 삼국지 三國志 27, 29, 43 sapeundae belt 삽은대 鈒銀帶 115 saraneungdan 사라능단 紗羅綾段 216 Sarye pyeollam 사례편람 四禮便覽 75 Sasojeol 사소절 士小節 96, 224 secho 세초 洗草 124 segadag baji 세 가닥 바지 249 SeokJuseon ginyeom bangmulgwan 석주선 기념 박물관 石宙善紀念博物館 233 Seondeogyeowang 선덕여왕 (2009) 298 Seong Hae-eung 성해응 成海應 (1760– 1839) 216, 265, 267 Seong Manjing 성만징 成晩徵 (1659–1711) 216 Seong Suung 성수웅 成壽雄 125, 126 Seongho saseol 성호사설 星湖僿說 82, 92, 93, 95 Seongjong 성종 (r. 981–997) 51, 114 Seongri Daejeon 성리대전 性理大全 127 Seongrijeonseo 성리전서 性理全書 127, 129 Seoseong daehunjang 서성대훈장 瑞星大勳 章 175 Seoul Museum of History 122, 126 Seukaendeul-joseonnamnyeosangyeoljisa 스캔들-조선남녀상열지사 (2003) 293 Seungjeongwon ilgi 승정원일기 承政院日記 69, 70, 71, 85, 111, 162, 167, 177 seuran 스란 242, 305 Shin Giseon 신기선 申箕善 (1851–1909) 221 Shin Taegwan 신태관 申泰寬 (1839–?) 241 Shin Yunbok 신윤복申潤福 (1758–1814) 116, 225, 297, 306 Shinyeoseong 신여성 (1923–1934) 190 sibok 시복 時服 84 silgyeong sansuhwa 실경산수화 實景山水畵 111
338 silhak 실학 實學 91 sillok 실록實錄 69, 70, 85, 95, 106, 107, 108, 133, 135, 136, 148, 155, 157, 162, 163, 167, 177, 179, 227, 228, 232, 253, 269 simui 심의 深衣 60 Sin Saimdang 신사임당 申師任堂 (1504– 1551) 114 Sishu wujing 四書五經 29 Sokdaejeon 속대전 續大典 70 Song Munheum 송문흠 宋文欽 (1710– 1752) 221, 222 Song Neungsang 송능상 宋能相 (1710– 1758) 221 Songnam japji 송남잡지 松南雜識 82 Sookmyung Women’s University Museum 167, 261 soryebok 소례복 小禮服 163, 166, 175 Sudeoksa Museum 수덕사박물관 55 Sudeoksa Temple 수덕사 55 sumaksae 수막새 302 Sunhwagung-cheopcho 순화궁첩초 順和宮 帖草 72 susinsa 수신사 修信使 162 Susinsa ilgi 수신사 일기 修信使日記 162 Taegeukjang 태극장 太極章 175 Taejo Wang Geon 태조 왕건 (2000–2002) 292, 293 Taewangsasingi 태왕사신기 (2007) 298 Taizu Wányán Āguˇ daˇ 完顔阿骨打 (1068–1123) 64 Takjijunjeol 탁지준절 度支準折 71 tongcheongwan 통천관 通天冠 62, 171, 172 tongsangmo 통상모 通常帽 175 tongsangui 통상의 通常衣 175 tongsangyebok 통상예복 通常禮服 165 Tongsinsa boksikdo 통신사복식도 通信使服 飾圖 84 Tongsinsa hang-nyeoldo 통신사행렬도 通信 使行列圖 84 Ui-inwanghu binjeonhonjeondogam uigwe 의인왕후빈전혼전도감의궤 懿仁王后殯 殿魂殿都監儀軌 85
Ui-inwanghu salleungdogam uigwe 의인왕후산릉도감의궤 懿仁王后山陵都 監儀 85
Index uigwe 의궤 儀軌 69, 74, 75, 76, 85, 86, 302 Uijeongbu deungnok 의정부등록 議政府謄 錄 72 Wang Geon 왕건 (r. 918–943) 45, 51 Wanghuitu 王會圖 34, 35 Wonhaeng eulmyo jeongni uigwe 원행을묘정리의궤 園幸乙卯整理儀軌 75 wonsam 원삼 78, 100, 103, 174, 212, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 224, 225, 238, 247, 248, 307 wonyugwan 원유관 遠遊冠 171 Wudai Nantang Gudeqian mo Liang Yuandi fankeruchaotu 五代南唐顧德謙 慕梁元帝番客入朝圖 34 Wányán Yàn 完乿晏 (1102–1162) 64
Xiao Yi 蕭繹 34, 35 Xuanhefengshi Gaolitujing 宣和奉使高麗圖 經 28, 54 Yang Seongji 양성지 梁誠之 (1415–1482) 216, 224 yangban 양반 99, 100, 102, 103, 116, 237, 238, 273, 274, 292, 294, 310 yanggwan 양관 梁冠 261 yangjang 양장 洋裝 189, 191 yejang 예장 禮裝 166 yejeop 예접 禮接 166 yeobokji 여복지 輿服志 52 Yeogeo yuhae 역어유해 譯語類解 222 Yeomyeongui nundongja 여명의 눈동자 (1991) 294, 295 yeonhwa manchomundan 연화만초문단 蓮 花蔓草紋緞 242 Yeogsungjeon 영숭전 永崇殿 124 Yeowon 여원 (1955–1970) 187, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 200 Yeoyudangjeonseo 여유당전서 與猶堂全書 78 Yi Bokwon 이복원 李福源 (1719–1792) 112 Yi Bulhae 이불해 李不害 (1529–?) 60 Yi Chae 이채 李采 (1745–1820) 127, 129, 130 Yi Gyu-gyeong 이규경 李圭景 (1788–1856) 81 Yi Hancheol 이한철 李漢喆 (1808–?) 60, 61
Index Yi Heonchung 이헌충 李憲忠 (1505–1603) 249 Yi Jae 이재 李縡 (1680–1746) 75, 216 Yi Jehyeon 이제현 李齊賢 (1287–1367) 60 Yi Jo-nyeon 이조년 李兆年 (1269–1343) 60 Yi Myunggi 이명기 李命基 124 Yi Sanhae 이산해 李山海 (1539–1609) 125 Yi Seungmil 이승밀 李承密 58 Yi Seonggu 이성구 李聖求 (1584–1643) 124 Yi Sugwang 이수광 (1563–1628) 92 Yi Sun-shin 이순신 李舜臣 (1545–1598) 80 Yi Sung-in 이숭인 李崇仁 (1347–1392) 60 Yi Yu-won 이유원 李裕元 (1814–1888) 78 Yijung gujoron 이중구조론 54 yongbo 용보 龍補 305 Yongjae-jip 용재집 容齋集 216 Yonsei University Museum 연세대학교 박물관 167 Yoo Hee-gyeong, Yoo Hui-kyung, or Yoo Hi-kyung See You Hi-kyung yoseon cheollik 요선철릭 腰線帖裏 57, 58
339
You Hi-kyung 유희경 (1921–2021) 10, 11, 65, 66, 151, 159, 291 Youndae Island 영대도 煙臺島 142 Yu Giljun 유길준 ؎吉濬 (1856–1914) 167 Yu Huichun 유희춘 柳希春 (1513–1577) 80 Yu Hyorip 유효립 柳孝立 123 Yu Seokgeun 유석근 劉錫謹 (1860–1931) 127, 129, 130 Yun Bonggu 윤봉구 尹鳳九 (1681–1767) 129, 130, 221 Yun Il 윤일 尹日 (1630–1693) 216 Yun Jeong 윤증 (1629–1714) 124 yungbok 융복 戎服 84, 127, 128 yuseo 유서 類書 81, 92 Yuseol gyeonghak daejang 유설경학대장 類 說經學隊仗 29 Zhang Zeduan 張擇端 (1085–1145) 64 zhubao 珠寶 140
340
341
342
343
344