Woori ot Dasom and Hanbok Day

I bought a hanbok around Chuseok time last September, and the lady who made it for me made it really beautiful. We hesitated a lot with the colors but we found the best combination and I like the result a lot. I wish there more occasions to wear a hanbok, but I'm okay with making my own occasions to wear them. 

After Chuseok, that had been really warm this year as well, however, I knew having only my hanbok would be too cold. I decided I'd get the outer jacket - dooroomagi - to wear it in cold weather. I just can't get enough of that shiny silky fabric. 

BEWARE: There is a reason no one ever gets dooroomagi done, even for men who wear hanbok for their wedding photo shoots. It's more expensive to get a outer jacket done than get a hanbok done. Even if you hanbok is of good quality. The dooroomagi has a thicker type of silk and is a very long piece of clothing that basically goes all the way down. The work is different as well, so is the lining. In any case. Think of the price of a ball gown. 

I planned on wearing it with two friends I met when I did an interview about foreigners liking baseball in Korea. When I mentionned that I had gone around a few time to hang out in a hanbok just for the sake of wearing it, and was planning on going to Giheung's Traditional village, they said they wanted to come too, so we set a date and there we went. If you wear a hanbok, it is half price for the entrance fee. Which is kind of cool. 

It took me a long time to get there, and they were already there when I finally arrived. We sat, and had maggeolli and Korean veggie pancakes. Yummy way to start a Hanbok Day.

What I like about the Ginheung's village is that it is a very wide area fill of trees, far from the big city, where the air and surroundings are easy to get lost into. At the entrance, there are lost of small stores, but after that all you see is traditional stuff and you feel like in another era. 

Especially when you wear a hanbok.

I have always liked these go-back-in-time moments of relief from the everyday life, when you can wear nice clothes and feel like a princess. I must have been a princess in another life, for I am so comfy in those clothes, even if most of the people I know usually tell me how uncomfortable they are.

We stopped at a tea place, made in an old building, that served all kind of traditional teas. I had gon in the summer so we only had benches to sit on outside, and the front of the tea bar, but we found out that in the winter they open up some small traditional Korean rooms that have heated floors for people to sit in. We took some time to hang out there and it was a blissful toasty feeling to sit on, while breathing the crispy fall air. The wind was very light and it was a great day out. The following pictures were taken at that time, that's why I am not wearing the Dooroomagi: it's hung behind us. There was a traditional coat hanger so I made it look pretty by adding my personal touch while we were there.

One reason I was really excited to wear my hanbok was because I wanted to try my new hair accessories I had ordered specially for this hanbok. I don't have many pictures where we see them well, and the pictures I have are not that good quality, but they still look cute :)

So many people asked to take pictures: either they liked my hanbok on me, or they thought it was odd to have a foreigner wear one of them, but I felt like I had the right to have a picture with one of them, too. That's why I took this one. Cute kid.

I sort of suck at getting myself to go high while standing, lack practice, but I love that the Korean swings are meant to be stood on. It feel much cooler. 

Hanbok Hangout 1

So a week after Chuseok, I asked two friends if they wanted to hang out downtown wearing Hanbok and just chill around. You know, because Hanbok are amazing. 

And because we don't need more reason to actually wear a Hanbok do we? In any case, I don't think we should be restricted to the idea that it's awkward to walk around wearing one. When wearing a Hanbok, we technically wear more clothes that people wear in their everyday life, so it should not cause any sort of indecency problem. Also, old people love it. And who doesn't like to make old peopl happy just by walking around town?

I like to make old people happy.

I also actually happen to love wearing Hanbok.

And yah. That's it.

I also enjoy people wondering what kind of weird person I am. That's me. Was always me.

So we arranged to meet up downtown Seoul and later found out that during that day there were actually already events going on, traditional stuff all around the upper area of Seoul (Jongmyo, GyeongbokGoong etc) so we joined one. 

And saved $1US, because costumes save us the expensive entry fees. 

I felt so rich that day.

After the ceremony, we had planned on hanging out in Insadong to look at trinkets, and drink tea eating sweets in a nice tea shop. I wanted to buy an amber ring to match my norigae (Korean trinket worn at the waist) that had amber on it. Usually Korean dresses have jade accessories, and sometimes coral (crazy expensive) so I had bought a green jade ring last year to wear with my old hanbok, but the lady who made my new one gave me amber stuff with my new one, and I wanted some sort of accessory to bring up the color.

When we met up we first headed out to Jongmyo (shrine) for a re-enacting of a royal procession. The only procession that bad all the royal family members all at once. Originally, important processions never had all the member, and most of the time, they were reserved to male.

This one was of the last prince (think he was 12) after his wedding to his 13 years-old wife, when they went to pray to their ancestors if I remember correctly. The procession both had the royal ministers and the queen's ladies of the inner court. The procession started with the male ministers and the king and prince following the indication of one of the minister sometimes speaking out to them, sometimes speaking in a singing voice to call on each of the steps of the event. After the emperor and prince left to their assigned seats on one side of the stage, the ministers all left and waited on the right side while the queen and princess got on with their ladies in waiting. 

This was the unusual part of the ceremony, as originally only men went there, and as soon as the women got on the platform, it became "lady territory" and all the following parts of the event and the queen, emperor, prince and princess were escorted to their spots by the ladies in waiting, instead of the ministers, who stayed on the side until the end, standing in neat rows. 

It was an impressive ceremony, and I felt sorry for the actors standing in the bright sun. The actors playing prince and princess were 12 and 13 years old, as the real historical figures had been at the time the real ceremony took place.

The ceremony was explained in Korean, Japanese, and English and it was interesting for me to get the information in all those languages, noting that they did not say the exact same things for both. Still, I suppose a person speaking only one of those languages got a decent amount of information on the overall procedures. 

What was interesting was that when we got there, we didn't expect anyone to be dressed up as we were, our dressing up being more of a spontaneous whim, rather than the following of as specific event. However, when we got to the seats where we could watch the procession, there were some 30 people, all dressed up in hanbok of all kinds, come handmade, some bought, but all with either an impeccable hairstyle and dress or an interesting modernized version of the traditional outfit. I found myself at loss of words: what in the hell was going on?

We found out later that they had more or less all come as a group. They were all people who loved Hanbok and wore it on any kind of occasion they felt like. For lack of better comparison I would compare them to the Korean equivalent of Lolitas, who wear modernized 1700s dresses at all times. The costumes that impressed me most were the men's. While women usually wear long hair, and a hanbok is basically just a bigger silkier type of dress, it happens often that you'd see a lady wearing a hanbok to sell traditional sweets and the like. Men, however, have to really want to, to wear a hanbok. They are complicated to wear, imply wearing lots of layers and they gentlemen's outfit has an (apparently) uncomfortable hat. I think that outfit looks absolutely dashing.  

To be honest, it took me little time to get used to the look of the male Korean traditional costume, but now, it has the same effect on me as a suit worn by a good looking man. They have the power to bring out the hotness out of men. I have yet to see one look good on a foreigner but that's another story... (the outfit I liked best was the lilac one. However, the guy wearing it was not that hot :P I love the silky look of it)

After the ceremony we had a 10 minutes where all the actors stood in the bright sun to take pictures. We were asked to take many pictures along with them, being the weird foreigners wearing Hanbok :)

Then, something happened that totally blew my mind. So far I had been very touched with the attention I had gotten from people around there, some asked me for pictures, some asked me where I got my hanbok done (wish I had brought the card of the lady who made it because it would have been great opportunity for business), I also got the name card for that group of people wearing hanbok all the time...

....then this lady comes to me, takes an amber ring off her finger, puts it on mine and says, "suhnmool". 

Gift.

And there it was, an amber stone, the exact shade I had wanted to buy in Insadong, put on a nicely engraved silver ring. Had I sent a message to the universe, and had the universe answered me back? I will never know. 

What I know is that made my day. 

What this lady did was nothing big, but it made a big difference in my day.

I was mind blown.

She gave me her business card and told me I could look up her work if I wanted. She was a hair accessory maker, for traditional clothing. Usually for weddings, as Koreans rarely wear Hanbok in other occasion. I told myself this was perfect marketing. But was not sure she really expected me to buy some, being a foreigner and all. I still told myself that I had also found the place I wanted to get my new hair accessory from to match my new hanbok.

[EDITED] Later on I did order from her and after a few back and forth I finally received my Baesshi and Yeop GGeot (top ornament and side pins) from her and they were lovely. I browsed her website to show someone her work one day and what did I not see? She mentioned the story of our meeting at Jeongmyo, her side of the story. If you can read Korean please take a look. Otherwise, well there are pictures)

Later on that day we went to a really nice tea shop in Insadong and had tea and sweets. I looked around for hair accessories and almost bought a 700$ hairpin, having understood it was 70$. Oh money.

We also got small snack gifts from people doing a survey in the streets with foreigners in Korea, were asked to take some more pictures by a Japanese tourist who had just gotten to Korea. Was fun to speak Japanese a little.

Chuseok - その２

I bought a hanbok in my first month in Korea. That had been one of my goals when I got here: get a hanbok, get a traditional blanket set. I don't know why I was in such a hurry to do so, but I felt like that. However, while I can pretend to know a little bit of the most basic stuff of Korean traditional outfits, I was really shy when I just got here, to use Korean to argue, discuss and look for the best thing possible when shopping. I followed the advice of the seller at the market, and he got me to buy this pink over pink hanbok. 

It was not ugly. See how pretty it looks on my friend?

Thing is, it's not very pretty on me. And it's 1 km too long. I was wearing heels when he took my measurement and even if I told him I did, and he obviously saw it, he didn't take it properly and as a result the skirt is crazy long. I walk on it, as you can see on the picture below. I don't hate it, but I hate that it makes me look really tall, and it is impossible to walk in it. 

As I went to a picture studio not one, not two, but three times already, I saw how different colors of hanbok make me look pretty different. As in, darker colors look amazing on me, but light one make my face look huge. I also noticed that, surprisingly, the big cushion on my head does look nice on me, and I prefer the old-style middle bang separation than the wanna-be-modern fringe when wearing a hanbok. Side fringe is ok when wearing gisaeng outfit.

That was nice on me, but it's odd how I never really paid much attention to it. I mostly was looking at the overall look with the hair, not sure if it was the style that was best for me. I had just finished watching Hwang Jinyi at that point and wanted the Gisaeng look.

When I went the second time, I went for more natural for the hairstyle, and chose the queen/princess outfit. While I liked the richness of the costume better and the double layered skirt, and the colours, I know that the top part, the pink/purple, is not my colour. At least not near my face.

I found out that darker colors were better with me when I went for the third time, with my parents. I can totally pull off the light pink, just not for the shirt part. And the crown thingy looks better on me than the smaller accessories. I am sure that's because of my big forehead.

The young queen and the queen mother eh eh eh

So Chuseok being around the corner for a second year in Korea, I wanted to have a new hanbok. One that would be my size and of which the color would look nice on me as well. I asked my friend for help and we went to Jongno 5 ga in a small store where a nice lady and I talked for a long time to find out the right color and style. We picked a new pattern she had just completed for the fall fashion and I decided to go all silk, instead of polyester. It cost me a hundred bucks more, but I wanted quality this time, and I got it.

Ironically, the colors we chose are usually the colors the mother in law wears at their sons/daughter's weddings, but on my, it didn't give the mother-in-law-effect. I was really pleased with the result. That's me trying it on at the store. The feel of the silk is blissful. Makes you want to wear it all the time. I wish I were a rich lady in a traditional house that could wear those all day.

So on the last workday before Chuseok day, I wore my hanbok to school. I had no science class or any class that required me to move around like crazy so I just decided I'd do it. I was the only one in my school ho did. Sadly, my school is not big on traditional event so the kindies didn't wear anything special. Was okay tho, I was happy anyways.

The fun part was me going to the baseball game directly after work, still in my hanbok.

It was the first time I got so many picture requests from the people I hang out with at the stadium ;)