I took an interest in traditional Korean dress (hanbok) after I attended the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s exhibition Couture Korea back in 2017. My interest increased the following year when I went on a textiles tour to South Korea. Since then I have made it a personal study, so I was quite excited when the book Dress History of Korea: Critical Perspectives on Primary Sources (Bloomsbury Publishers) came out earlier this year.
Edited by scholars Kyunghee Pyun, Associate Professor at Fashion Institute of Technology and Minjee Kim, research associate at Tracing Patterns Foundation, Dress History of Korea is an anthology divided into two parts.
- Part One covers the history of Korean dress; changes seen from ancient times to the Joseon Period (1392-1900) to the influence of western clothing in Korea; the primary sources used in study; and the role of magazines in influencing everyday fashion.
- Part Two discusses Korean dress in museum exhibitions and costume dramas; and the importance of hanbok to Korean identity.
Each essay is written by experts in their field and is accompanied by illustrations and extensive endnotes. At 14 chapters and over 300 pages (including a bibliography and index) Dress History of Korea is densely packed with information and an important contribution to the study of Korean dress history. In fact, this is the only book on the subject written in English.
One of my favorite chapters is Collection and Exhibition of Dress at the Seok Juseon Memorial Museum by Myung-eun Lee. Seok Juseon (1911-1996) was an accomplished seamstress and scholar of traditional Korean dress. After the Korean war in 1953, she started buying hanbok and amassed such a collection over the years that eventually a museum was erected to hold the 3365 items. Lee’s essay discusses Juseon’s career as well as her acquisition methods and the development of the museum built in her honor.
Fashion students, fashion historians, and anyone intrigued by Korean history and traditional culture will find this an accessible and informative read.
(Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for providing ODFL with a review copy of Dress History of Korea: Critical Perspectives on Primary Sources.)
OverDressed for Life 