A walk down almost any street in Korea will reveal that today's Korean wardrobe ranges from jeans and casual fashions to tailored suits and chic designer creations. However, of all the outfits one is likely to see, the most striking is without a doubt the hanbok, the traditional costume worn by Koreans of all ages, particularly on traditional holidays and when attending social affairs with a traditional Korean theme.

The hanbok is characterized by its simple lines and the fact that it has no pockets. The women's hanbok comprises a wrap-around skirt and a bolero-like jacket. It is often called chima-jeogori, chima being the Korean word for skirt and jeogori the word for jacket. The men's hanbok consists of a short jacket and pants, called baji, that are roomy and bound at the ankles. Both ensembles may be topped by a long coat of a similar cut called durumagi.

The traditional-style hanbok worn today are patterned after the ones worn during the Confucian-oriented Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Yangban, a hereditary aristocratic class based on scholarship and official position rather than on wealth, wore brightly colored hanbok of plain and patterned silk in cold weather and of closely woven ramie cloth or other high-grade, light-weight materials in warm weather. Commoners, on the other hand, were restricted by law as well as finances to bleached hemp and cotton and could only wear white and sometimes pale pink, light green, gray and charcoal.

Young women wore red chima and yellow jeogori prior to marriage and red chima and green jeogori after the wedding when bowing to their parents-in-law and when paying respect to them upon returning from the honeymoon. Today, however, women usually wear pink hanbok for engagement ceremonies, Western-style wedding dresses and the traditional red skirt and green jacket after the wedding when greeting their in-laws after the honeymoon. On other occasions, they wear hanbok of almost any color and fabric including embroidered, hand-painted, or gold-stamped silk, but white is worn mostly by old people and used for mourning clothes.

Yangban women wore wrap-around skirts 12 pok (a width of cloth) wide and wrapped them on the left side whereas commoners were prohibited from wearing chima of more than 10 or 11 pok and were required to wrap them on the right. Under the hanbok, women generally wore, and most still do, a pair of long bloomers, a long, one-piece slip worn somewhat like a high-waisted, one-piece dress, and a jacket-like piece a little smaller than the jeogori. The fullness of the chima allows the wearing of any number of undergarments, a big plus given Korea's cold winters, and also makes it wearable during pregnancy.

Nowadays skirts of two and a half widths of cloth are generally worn; however, today's cloth is about twice as wide as in ancient times. Most of today's chima have shoulder straps for ease in wearing. For proper appearance the chima should be pulled tight so that it presses the breasts flat and the slit should be just under the shoulder blade. The left side of the chima should be held when walking to keep it from flapping open and revealing the undergarments. Old women often hold the left side up beside the left breast.

Most jeogori have a snap or small tie ribbons on the inside to hold it closed. The long ribbons of the jacket are tied to form the otgoreum, a bow that is different from the butterfly-like bow of the West. The otgoreum is very important for it is one of three things by which the beauty and quality of a hanbok is judged. The other two are the curve of the sleeves and the way the git, a band of fabric that trims the collar and front of the jeogori, is terminated. The ends of the git are generally squared off. A removable white collar called dongjeong is placed over the git.

As hanbok have no pockets, women and men both carried all types of purses, or jumeoni. These were basically of two major types: a round one and a pleated, somewhat triangular one, both closed with a drawstring. These were embellished with elaborate knots and tassels that varied a ccording to the status and gender of the bearer.

Although some of the basic elements of today's hanbok and its accessories were probably worn at a very early date, the two-piece costume of today did not begin to evolve until the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668), when the kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla dominated the Korean Peninsula. This is clearly evident in the paintings that adorn the walls of fourth to sixth century Goguryeo tombs. The murals feature men and women dressed in long, narrow-sleeved jackets with the left side pulled over the right, trousers and boot-like footwear. Such garments were probably inspired by the harsh northern climate and terrain and a nomadic lifestyle centered on horse riding. Also, owing to geopolitical factors, it is likely that they were influenced by Chinese styles of dress. Baekje and Silla had similar costumes.

Silk mandarin robes introduced from neighboring Tang China were adopted for wear by royalty and officials in 648 by Silla, the kingdom that eventually unified the peninsula in 668. The robes were worn over the native costume. Noble women began to wear full-length skirt-trousers and wide-sleeved, hip-length jackets belted at the waist, and noblemen, roomy trousers bound in at the ankles and a narrower, tunic-style jacket cuffed at the wrist and belted at the waist.

In 935, Silla was replaced by a new dynasty called Goryeo, from which the name "Korea" is derived. Buddhism, which Silla had already made the national religion, flourished along with printing and the arts, especially celadon ceramics. During the Goryeo Dynasty, the chima was shortened and it was hiked up above the waist and tied at the chest with a long, wide ribbon, which has remained the fashion ever since. The jeogori was also shortened and its sleeves were curved slightly. At the same time, women began to wear their hair in plaits on top of their heads and men began shaving their heads except for a patch in the middle.

In 1392, the Joseon Dynasty replaced Goryeo. It was founded by an ex-Goryeo general named Yi Seonggye and his descendants ruled Korea for over 500 years. The early Joseon Dynasty kings made Neo-Confucianism the ruling ideology and, with its emphasis on formality and etiquette, dictated the style of dress for the royal family and all the members of the court as well as for aristocrats and commoners for all types of occasions including weddings and funerals. Integrity in men and chastity in women became the foremost social values and was reflected in the way people dressed. Men's hanbok changed very little but women's underwent many changes over the centuries.

In the 15th century, women began to wear full, pleated skirts that completely concealed the lines of the body and long jeogori. With time, however, the jeogori was gradually shortened until it just covered the breasts, making it necessary to reduce the fullness of the chima so that it could be extended almost to the armpits, this remains the fashion today.

Today's designers are increasingly seeking inspiration in the hanbok and other costumes of their ancestors to create fashions with a uniquely Korean flair that can meet the demands of today's lifestyles. They are incorporating the lines and cut of the hanbok and other ancient clothes and accessories in their designs and employing traditional fabrics such as hemp and ramie. In fact, many department stores now have boutiques specializing in such clothes and shops specializing in a new generation of hanbok for everyday wear are springing up nationwide.

Without a doubt, the hanbok, with its roots stretching back many centuries, will continue to grace the streets of Korea for many years to come.

  Beautiful Hanbok: Pride of the Korean People

Koreans use "ot" as a general term for clothing. Traditional clothing and adornments, on the other hand, are called "hanbok"-an abbreviation of the term Han-guk boksik (Korean attire).

Along with language, religion and cultural patterns such as dance, food, housing and aesthetics, apparel plays a vital role in the preservation and expression of cultural identity. In multiethnic nations such as China and America, styles of traditional attire are diverse. However, in countries such as Korea, which are occupied by a single ethnic group, traditional dress is synonymous with national dress. For this reason, the hanbok forms a highly effective expression of Korea identity. Thus, changes in hanbok design from the past to the present parallel the nation's historical development. Moreover, hanbok's form, materials and designs provide a glimpse into the Korean lifestyle, while its colors indicate the values and world view of the Korean people.