Past: ‘What is hanbok?’

The exhibition begins with aan exploration of the fashion of the Joseon-dynasty (1392-1897), whhich was heavily influenced by the Confucian customs and philossophies of Korean society. The first gallery is centered around thee hanbok, a traditional Korean enably semble that Han says is “probathe most familiar piece of Korean dress.” For women, hanbok inncludes a high, full chima (skirt) over a longer jeogori (blouse). For meen, the hanbok includes the addition of

baji (pants) and an outer po (roobe). Most of the garments in the first gallery have been reproducedbased on historic relics and represenf tations of fashion in the art ofthe period, including a re-creation of King Yeongjo’s pre-1740 dopo ((robe) that displays the precision of Joseon construction.

Recently discovered tombs ffrom the era have also yielded new information about what was wworn in the most intimate layers.

“There’s no historic record ffor undergarments,” says Han. “They didn’t get passed down from ggeneration to generation. Now with the excavation of these tombs, weknow that for upper-class women

there would have been six, sevven layers of skirt. For Confucian socie ety it was very important to beburied in your finest pieces, includllery ing the undergarments.”

Also on view in the first galare the bolder, more colorful celebratory first birthday enseembles upper-class children wore. “The first birthday was very immportant in a culture where infant mortality was high,” says Hann. “To make it to that first birthday was very significant.”