• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2009

Ip-yeong or gat-keun decorate heuk-rip, supplementing its simplicity. When the wind blew, a dynamic beauty was created, especially if the gat-keun was made with long straps of jade or silk. Basically, ip-yeong was a practical chin strap to hold the gat tight on the head. Commoners made ip-yeong by folding cotton cloth or fine gauze. However, as available materials became diversified, people used cloth, jade, agate, amber, coral, gold medallion, rock crystal and bamboo as well, juk-yeong, which was made with bamboo, became popular especially when Heungsun Daewon-gun, the father of King Kojong, decreed that people wear simple clothes. Most records concerning ip-yeong in Chosun-wangjo-shillok, the authentic record of the Joseon Dynasty, are related to forbidding a sumptuous life. The book also suggests that ip-yeong was bestowed by the king or was offered to foreign diplomats as gifts. Ip-yeong doesn't seem to be a unique system for Korea. Based on portraits or paintings where ip-yeong can be found, it seems to have been widely used during the Yuan dynasty and the Goryeo dynasty. The system disappeared in China as the Ming Dynasty was established, but it remained in use in the Korean Goryeo dynasty and through the Joseon. Literature suggests that the same materials were used for ip-yeong from the beginning of Joseon to the end of the dynasty. Guyeongja refers to a ring that connects an ipja to a chin strap. Guyeongja made with silver, bronze and jade still remain. In gungjungbalgi, the royal court inventory book, records of imogarye can be found (1882), where ten pairs of pure gold strap rings and ten pairs of gold-plated ones were used for a royal wedding.