• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.16
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• pp.221-229
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• 1991

This thesis aims at reviewing the wearing aspect and formation of Chosun ceremonial dresses for meal and finding out the thought reflected by them from the standpoint that dresses themselves should be taken as one of the phenomena in culture. That is men's ceremonial costumes and confucian costumes of the royal family and the gentry family in Chosun is reviewed focused on the formation and the wearing aspect of Po, Which is a kind of them. And in the context of the phase of the times. I also considered the thoughts reflected on the clothes such as confucianism, Ying & Yang Theory, and the symbol and the thoughts of patterns in relation to the clothes. Confucian influence was the main force for the Chosun prohibitions for clothes. The major reasons for the prohibitions for clothes were as follows. First, they reflected confucian Chung myoung chooui(the principle that everything should be where it belongs). That is the prohibitions for clothes were used in the means to maintain feudalistic social order. influenced by social rank system. Second, they reflected confucian ethics in the means to recover social disciplines with the maintenance of traditional customs. This shows well in the restriction of luxurious items in dressing included the prohibitions for clothes. Third, they reflected Chosun's toadysm toward China. With the influx of Chinese style of dressing then government even changed the style of uniforms for public officials into that of Chinese resulting in dual styles of dressing. Ying & Yan Theory greatly affected the colors of Korean clothes and reflected toadysm toward China. too. The theory was embodied by prohibition of such colors for clothes as white, gray, and jade green. I reviewed the twelve patterns on Myunpok, Ten-Longivity patterns and Four-Gracious plants patterns in order to analyze the symbolism and thoughts of patterns for clothes. Nansam, Dopo, and Shimui worn by confucian scholars ensures that those clothes bears confucianism and philosopical factors. As shimui was worn by many people it appears in Chosun scholars' studies and a Chinese book called "Yeki". I reviewed the origin, procession, and ornaments of four ceremonial clothes and tried to find out the confucianism in them. First, In Kwanrei (the coming-of-age ceremony) remained ancestor worship and respect for manners. The clothes for this ceremony granted the rights and responsibilities of and adult to the wearer. The royal Kwanreipok had different dresses for each rank. As Samgapok, the crown prince wore Iksunkwan and Konryongpo for the first ritual, Wonryukwan and Kangsapo for the second, and Myunrukwan and Konpok for the third. The rank of the King's grandson was lower than the crown prince's. This example shows that Chosun people respected manners and thought the basic confucianism "God and people are equal." at the Royal court. Second, as Honreipok(wedding gown), the crown prince wore Myunrukwan and Konpok for Daereipok, Wonyukwan and Kangsapo for Napjing and Tongwoo, and Iksunkwan and Konryongpo for Chekbinui. But common people were allowed to wear an official outfit only for wedding in the means of congratulation on the most important day of their life. Wedding gowns which reflected Ying and Yang Theory emphasized the thought that union of a man and a wife is the most important event in life. Third, Sangrei(funeral) was the last ritual of a human being to send off the deceased. The mourning dresses expressed lamentation of the people left behind. Five-Dress-System for each the relative degree of familarity showed the solemnity and formality, which represented the formality of confucianism and ancestor worship. I reviewed the mourning dresses by dividing them into royal, Yangban's, and commons. They were featured by the fact that there was only one style for every walk of life. It is construed that anyone in mourning can wear the same clothes since he feels the same way regardless of his social rank. Fourth, Chereipok(sacrificial rite dresses) had different styles for each social rank. The King wore Myunpok(Kuryumyun and Kujangpok) were recorded to be worn first in the fourth year of King Taecho's ruling. The crown prince wore Palryumyun and Chiljangpok for sacrificial rite dress which was finally settled when King Sejong was in power. Common people wore Dopo, Shimui for the rite dress in the beginning of the Chosun Era and wore Dopo after Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. In conclusion, confucianism played the main role in ceremonial dress system of Chosun and that was because it emphasized the ethics of action in life, which was different from other religions. It is true that cause-oriented thoughts and Chung myoung chooui in confucianism drove all ceremonies to extreme manners, discriminating the people who belonged to the lower social rank, and resulting in extremly luxurious life style. However, they also created a unique trend and clothes culture in the Chosun Era. I wish that this thesis provieds important information and direction for furthur studies in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.16
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• pp.15-42
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• 1991

A nation's culture isn't consisted by the characteristics of the nation only, but it is greatly affected by the geographical features and natural conditions, and it could be also dominated by the continual effect through mutual contact on economic exchange or social problem and political interests with neighboring countries. It is a well known fact that the contact of culture between Korea and Mongolia established under the special political situation that Corea was invaded by Won. But more basically, the Nomad including Mongolia had influenced upon neighboring countries, therefore, our country was also greatly influenced on consisting of our own culture by them. Moreover. the fact that our language belongs to their language's category(mostly Tweigru and Mongolian language) proves that the origin of our culture was deeply related with Mongolia. Accordingly, we could not limit the cultural relation between Korea and Mongolia within a special era. But especially, since unification of China by Mongolia, Won which appeared as a new great nation had dominated Corea for one hundred years, and the Corea's costume culture had a point of conversion to the mongolian. Therefore, this study expects to comment upon the relations of costume between Corea and Mongolia from a view point of Corea's tribute and royal gifts gifts by Mongolia written on the reference literatures. 1) From the ancient times, between our country and Mongolia there has been a direct or indirect exchange caused by the people's movement or invasion due to very closed neighboring. The relations between Corea and Mongolia have started from the mongolia's requests of tribute for the reason why they helped Corea against the Keoran's invasion, and these relation had continued by King Kongmin's age. 2) Mongolia had plundered a tribute such as dress, cereals, horses, military supplies, soldiers, maiden and little girls etc. from Corea, and therefore, a great confusion occurred on political, economic and social fields. And since King Chungyoul of Corea got married with a Princess of Won, the Corea's position was placed as the Buma nation(nation of son in law) and then high class people of Corea preferred to follow the mongolian costume such as Byunbal (pigtail), Ho dress (mongolian dress), Rouges, Chockturi (a kind of formal cap) and Doturak pigtail ribbon, and some have been applied up to date. On the other hand, the custom of Corea had transmitted to the Mongolian nobility, they called it "Corea Yang(style)". 3) The costume of Corea could be divided into three different periods, the first is the period influenced by Tang and Song's regime, the second is affected by the Won's costume and the third is applying the Myung's regime in the end of Corea. The Mongolian dress was based on the Ho dress form and it has been developed through compounding artistic traditional fields and foreign customs in long history. And Mongolia is composed of various tribes, therefore, they have their own dress for each tribe. Our country and Mongolia had a similar dress form based on Ho dress and both used the Chacksukunggo (jacket with small sleeves and slacks) and Seon(line). And the ornaments of costume such as Chockturi, Doturak pigtail ribbon and Rouges had transmitted and fixed down as a traditional wedding garment, but the Rouges has been used by noble women from the ancient times in our country. Since a member of the Society of Korean Costume has visited Mongolia in August 1990 for the first time, I really recognized the neccesity of more detailed study on the costume relation between Korea and Mongolia, and I will proceed with the study on various fields of costume under cooperation of Institute of Oriental Academy of Mongolia.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.39
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• pp.113-123
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• 1998

This study focuses on the effects of the clothes worn by kisaeng; courtesans trained in singing and dancing, on changes in female psychology as reflected in general women's fashions during the later years of the Chosun dynasty. During this period, the social order had broken down considerable, due in part to the introduction of Roman Catholicism, and in part to the actions of Sil-hak, who emphasized open-ness and practicality in the organization of social affairs. This freer social environment disrup-ted the established social hierarchies. The kisaeng were among the first to respond to the new social mores by adopting more colorful, sensual, and individualized fashions. Their social position allowed them to reflect the new aesthetics of the time right away. Those aesthetics seemed to lay great emphasis on the artistic effects of contrast. The kisaeng would adorn their heads with large Kache (an elaborate wig or hairdo typically reserved for use by women in full formal dress). In contrast to this conspicuous hairstyle, they typically wore very tight-fitting Jogori (short-cropped Korean traditional jackets for women) around their upper torsos. The long skirts emerging from beneath these short jackets would typically flare out dramatically, with the aid of petticoats. However, these skirts would be bound at the waist with a sash, increasing the sexual suggestiveness of the clothing by drawing at-tention to the hips, and by exposing the bottom frills of the petticoats, or the wide pantal-oons and other undergarments the kisaeng wore to add volume to their skirts. The relative freedom enjoyed by the kisaeng to experiment with new fashions was not widely shared by most women. This generated envy from women of the noble classes, who were more bound by convention, and restrained from adopting such a mode of dress. It also generated envy from women of the humble classes, who saw the kisaeng as working little for their wealth, and yet dressing every day in finery that the average women would only ever be able to afford on her wedding day. This envy directed at the relative freedom/wealth of the kisaeng by women who faced greater socioeconomic constraints was given cultural expression through the adoption of elements of the kisaeng's fashion in the fashions of both noblewomen and humble women in old korea. The luxurious Kache sported by the kisaeng had in fact been borrowed from the habitual attire of upper-class women. So to distinguish themeselves from the kisaeng, they began to abandon these elaborate hairstyles in favor of traditional ceremonial hoods (Nel-ul-a thin black women's hood) and coronets (Suegaechima). This supposed reaction to the abuse of the Kache by the kisaeng still remained influenced by the kisaeng still remained influence by the kisaeng, however, as these headdresses became adorned with many more jewels and decorations, in imitation of the kisaeng's adaptations of the coronet. At the same time, noblewomen began sporting the Jangwue ; a headdress previously worn only by kisaeng and lower class women, and lower class women were then permitted to wear the Kache at weddings. All women behan to wear shorter, tighter Jogori jackets, and to add volume to their skirts. They also attached frills to their under-garments in imitation of the kisaeng's exposed petticoats and pantaloons. The impact of kisaeng fashions was thus deep and widespread, and can be understood as an expression of women's longing for freedom from socioeconomic constraints in the late Chosun dynasty. This study adopts an interdisciplinary ap-proach to the understanding of historical changes in women's fashions. Such interdisciplinary work can greatly enrich the study of fashion, often narrowly focused on clothing morphology and broad generalizations about society. For this reason, specific dynamics of feminine psychology in the late Chosun dynasty were elaborated in this study, to provide a deeper under-standing of the changes in fashion underpinned by them. If more such detailed analyses are undertaken, a whole new understanding of changes in fashion can be generated, and perhaps a transformation of the field of fashion history can be ultimately achieved.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.80-98
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• 2023

In the late Joseon Dynasty, when the bride would ride a palanquin when she went to live with her in-laws, it was a custom to cover the palanquin with tiger skin to ward off misfortunes that may come her way. The higher classes used tiger skin or leopard skin for this purpose, but the common people had to substitute this expensive item with a tiger pattern painted on a blanket. Such blankets were called hotanja, hogu, hoguyok and the like. The term "hotanja" is a pure Korean word. It is not known when the cover for the bridal palanquin was first used, but it was popular from the end of the 19^th century and then gradually disappeared. This is due to the introduction of new Western style weddings that eliminated the need for a bridal palanquin. The tiger print blanket was used not only to cover the bride's palanquin but also to cover a table or floor during the wedding ceremony. This study ran a material analysis on nine pieces of tiger print blankets. All of the blanket artifacts examined in this study had an outer cover and a lining made of fabric that used cotton thread for the warp and wool thread for the weft. Two kinds of wool were found in the weft thread in the outer covers: fat-tailed sheep hair from China and goat hair for carpets from the Hebei province, China. Records show that "blankets with painted tiger patterns" were imported from Russia, and the imported blankets were from Russia and China. The outer cover can be categorized into six types, and the lining into three types depending on the weave and direction of the thread twist. The hem facing can be divided into four types. The lining and outer cover use the full width of the fabric, which was woven in wide widths of 135 cm or wider. The tiger pattern on the blanket was made by stenciling. The stencil design of the body and tail of the tiger were placed on a red blanket to be painted in white, and then the background color of the tiger, which is yellow, would be painted over the white, and then black stripes would be added. The pattern of the tiger varies, which shows that the blankets were made by various craftspeople. The pattern of the tiger print blanket is usually of a tiger lying down, but there were tiger print blankets with a tiger standing up. The pattern of the tiger grew smaller over time, and flower patterns were added in the background. Decorative elements were gradually added to the tiger print blanket patterns, but its function as a palanquin cover became lost. By taking the features of tiger print blankets into consideration, it can be assumed that there are imported pieces among the remaining pieces, and were produced in various places because it was popular at that time.