I recently just bought myself a Hanbok. In hangul it looks like this 한복. If there was one souvenir I wanted to purchase in Korea, the Hanbok was it. Hanboks are so pretty; the fabric, the colors and the design on the dress. Hanboks are the traditional Korean outfit that were wore on a daily basis during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Now a days, people only wear them on special occasions, such as; Lunar New Years, Chuseok, weddings, and birthdays.
I went to Dongdaemun Market in Seoul to the Hanbok store. Dongdaemun is known for selling clothes and fabric. There are tons of places here that sell Hanboks. The owner of my school is the one that called them for me, and they even met me at the subway station to lead me to their shop. Dongdaemun is a maze. There are alley ways every where. A person can easily get lost in this place. It was a good thing I had someone guide me.
The lady first had me look at a book or different color combinations that I can choose from. When I first opened the book, one of the first color combinations I saw stuck out to me the most. I continued looking through the rest but I kept coming back to that first one. I ended up picking that one, too. The lady next took my measurements. Once she did that, I called my boss and she negotiated with the lady for the price. I ended up paying W140,000 for the Hanbok. I was thinking I was going to end up paying way more than that, so I am happy it wasn't.
Female Hanboks have three different parts to it. The first part is the sokchima. This is the undergarment you wear under the Hanbok. It is similar to a petticoat.
The next piece is the chima. It is the dress you wear over the sokchima. You put on the sokchima like an apron. It is open in the back. You tie the straps in the front. You have to make sure that, in the back, the right or left is on the top. I can't remember which. One way means you are married and the other way means you are single. Then when you bring the straps to the front, you tie it in a little bow slightly to the left.
The last part is the the Jeogori. It is like a jacket. It is the basic upper garment of the hanbok. Once you put it on, there is usually a snap or a tie to keep the jacket close. Then you tie the goreum, which are the coat strings that tie the Jeogori together. There is a specific way to tie the goreum, which is something I'm not very good at. I'll need someone to teach me before I leave Korea.
Here are all the pieces put together.
There are a few accessories that go together with the Hanbok. The first is the bae-ssi-daenggi. It is worn on the top of the head with the straps tied in the bottom back part of the head. The lady only had a couple to choose from but none of them went with my dress, I am going to try to see if I can find one that matched a bit more.
I was also given a pin to help keep the bow together on the jacket. It is a cute little turtle.
Here is the entire outfit on. I really like the colors. I am so happy that I made this purchase. One thing that I also need to get are beoseon. They are a type of socks you wear with the hanbok.
