Yang, Sunny - Hanbok: The Art of Korean Clothing

[oyceter]

I think this is a fairly basic introduction to the history of Korean clothing from the Three Kingdoms (57 BCE - 668 BCE) through Westernization (~1800s). It's hard for me to tell, given that I know zero about Korean clothing outside of what I've seen on kdramas

Comments

[wordebeast]

I didn't realize that upper-class women went outside veiled in Joseon Korean!

More like a wrap/shawl, that's like a huge skirt your drape over your head and either pull 1) across your face or 2) under your chin, instead of a veil that goes specifically over the face. Damn, much easier with drawings. 쓰게치마 is the word. Over-skirt, in direct translation.

:D

The little daggers were made out of silver, so helluva uneffective I guess. Though better that they were supposed to be for "defense", rather than you off yourself.
:D

[wordebeast]

and lo, pictures! :D

http://www.booksetong.com/images/feature/feature_11800/feature_11860_l.jpg

[oyceter]

More like a wrap/shawl, that's like a huge skirt your drape over your head and either pull 1) across your face or 2) under your chin, instead of a veil that goes specifically over the face. Damn, much easier with drawings. 쓰게치마 is the word. Over-skirt, in direct translation.

I think Yang is referring to an actual veil? She mentions the over-skirt that could be draped over the head as well, but the picture looks really different from the veil (she romanizes it as "nuhwool;" another book I have romanizes it as noul with a u-thing over the o) -- it's black and looks like a square of cloth draped over a wide-brimmed hat?

Both books seem to say that the noul is for upper-class women and the chang-ot (is that the same as the over-skirt you're mentioning?) is for lower-class women, not sure.

Heh, Yang did say that the daggers were first for defense, and then to off yourself in case it didn't work, and mentions that some women actually did so during the Japanese invasion!

[chi_zu]

I only wish there were more diagrams of different weaves of cloth or of clothing construction, but you know, if I had my way, the book would have little cloth samples attached and patterns and color combinations and everything.

Me too!

I have to check out this book and maybe buy it for my library.

[oyceter]

Yeeees! I have several other books on Korean clothing out as well! There is one that is mostly on wrapping cloths of the Joseon Dynasty published by the Asian Art Museum of SF and the Museum of Korean Embroidery! And probably more! But I am excited about the wrapping cloths one because it has really big pictures!

[thistleingrey]

Oh, cool. Thanks for posting this, and I look forward to future related posts, too! I've tried looking for books on embroidery, and my local library doesn't have any / the university library has them in Korean. I did find a couple of books on knots recently, though not at a library....

p.s.

[thistleingrey]

Er, that blog is mine--it would've been clearer if I'd linked the crosspost-mirror thing here on lj, but the mirror requires a click-through, so.

[oyceter]

ZOMG her romanization is completely wonky. It is annoying because I am reading some other Korean clothing books right now, and it's hard to figure out what corresponds with what.

[lady_ganesh]

IIRC, sheep are not popular west of the Himalayas, but I'd have to poke around to be sure. Of course in the mountains they had goats and suchlike too.

[oyceter]

I am curious! I know in Islamic Chinese cuisine, they have lamb meat, but I don't know anything about goat domestication or the domestication of other woolly animals.

[wordsofastory]

Neither goats or sheep are native to Asia (at least the species that we domesticated; there may be some wild versions I am unaware of). Animal and plant domestication in China (which later spread to the rest of East Asia) is a separate event than domestication in the Near East (where we get our sheep and goats of today from). So, possibly, (even though of course by the time periods you're talking about there would have been trade between East Asia and the Near East) sheep/goats just never became that popular in East Asia. My other guess would be that rice is the main food plant in East Asia, as opposed to wheat and similar grains in the Near East and Europe, and sheep/goats may not do as well on rice.

[jinian]

Oh, do people feed grain to sheep and goats? I just always pictured them on the green hills grazing year-round, but that probably wouldn't work everywhere now that I think about it.

[pearl]

Oh, and before I forget...

I only wish there were more diagrams of different weaves of cloth or of clothing construction, but you know, if I had my way, the book would have little cloth samples attached and patterns and color combinations and everything.

If you can find a copy, look at 5,000 Years of Korean Textiles: An illustrated history and technical survey (한국직물오천년) by Sim Yon-ok
ISBN: 8995269103 (Worldcat entry)

It doesn't have fabric samples attached, but it is high quality, colour photographed, textile porn. With line drawings too, in English and Korean.

[oyceter]

Oh, that sounds great, thank you!