Celebration
I have one distinct picture in my childhood photo album. I was about three years old. According to my mom, I cried so much at someone else’s wedding that my eyes got all puffy. I was looking at the camera while surrounded by my mom’s and aunts’ hanbok chimas (skirts). When looking at the picture recently, I laughed so much and talked about it with my mom. I later realized the composition of myself and the hanbok chimas in the picture is quite unique. Furthermore, as I have always loved hanboks, I gazed at the picture for a long time. As a result, I created this work, coming up with the idea that many people from all different classes during the Joseon dynasty who were invited to someone’s wedding were having fun.
The purple chima (skirt) is a queen’s skirt from the Joseon dynasty. Unlike the hanboks of different classes from Joseon, hanboks of the royal family had commonly glamorous designs by using gilt decoration which you can see at the bottom of the chima. On the top of the chima, there are plum flowers. This flower was the symbol of the Korean Empire. This was the last period of the Joseon Dynasty Era (1392 – 1910).
The pink one is the hanbok chima (skirt) of a Gisaeng. Gisaengs were artists who danced, sang, played musical instruments, wrote poetry and drew pictures. Gisaengs were also trained nurses who sometimes worked for the government. They were a unique and special class during the Joseon Dynasty. They usually worked in low-level government offices and engaged in many artistic activities, mainly for the nobility. To accomplish this, they needed to be trained as highly skilled artists. Therefore, they were treated as educated persons despite being from a lower class. In terms of the intriguing part of their social class, they did not have strict regulations on attire. They often wore splendid hanboks.
However, they were not completely able to be free from their position in their lower class. I would like to show this part unlike the normal, noble, and royal classes. You can see the direction to bunch up the pink chima: left side > right side.
In general, women during the Joseon Dynasty up until the 17th century wore the chima in the direction of left to right. However, when one of the major political factions began dividing into two groups, women belonging to one faction started bunching up their chimas from the right to the left in order to show their faction. As a person living in modern Korean society, it is hard for me to understand the logic of this, but I can tell even our ancestors loved dressing up and reflected many attitudes through their clothing.
As you can expect, the “left side” faction won and dominated politics. Most women started wearing their chimas in this direction after the political struggle. Although it was not strictly enforced, I would like to indicate that the custom of wearing one’s hanbok was influenced by one’s social class and lifestyle.
When the Joseon Dynasty opened up to the West in the late 19th century, this custom was strongly confirmed. A majority of women, except those from the lowest class, wore their hanbok chimas from the right to the left. (Reference – The Hanbok Story that Obsidian Draws)
The hanbok on the right side in the front row represents a child of the noble class. Personally, I made this hanbok imagining myself as this model. During the Joseon Dynasty (as well as in current society), colorful stripe patterns on the sleeves or top was a common hanbok design for children (called “saekdong” 색동). However, I made a minimal saekdong design on the outside collar (outside collar is called “git” 깃) as I am not a huge fan of the saekdong style.
The green chima (skirt) belonged to the very lowest class, slaves. They wore their chimas tightly and tied in the middle of the skirt with a string crossing them horizontally. Therefore, the chima went up above their ankles and naturally had a short length to reveal them. The slave women wore the chima from the left to the right like Gisaengs.
I created the orange chima (skirt) in order to show one that belonged to the daughter of a farmer. The farmers belonged to the commoner class and were the crucial root of the Joseon Dynasty, an agrarian society.
