The traditional male costume features a jacket top and baji, loose-fitting pants.
The jacket appears to have been quite long in ancient times, but gradually has become shorter. Changes in pants styles have reflected transformations in lifestyles. Early pants had narrow legs, but as Koreans gave up their nomadic hunting life, the legs grew wider.
The murals from Koguryo tombs suggest that both men and women wore loose-fitting pants. Their social status may have been indicated by the width or length of the trouser legs and their color.
While women's pants gradually evolved into undergarments in the Shilla period, men continued to wear them, though there have been many changes in their design. In keeping with Korea's floor-sitting culture, men's trousers have been extremely baggy since the introduction of agriculture. Line.
The History of Korean Clothing
The traditional Korean costume is divided into two parts, a top and a bottom, with the top adjusted by an opening in the front. This basic structure has existed since ancient times as evidenced in this scene from a mural found in a Koguryo tomb in Jian, now part of northeastern China. Koguryo (37B.C.-A.D.668) was one of Korea's earliest kingdoms.
Wall paintings such as this are the earliest evidence of ancient Korean lifestyles.
The women and men are dressed in long baggy pants and wrap the jackets, much like the hanbok, the traditional Korean costume worn today.
The people of the Paekche (17B.C.-660A.D.) and Shilla (37 B.C.-A.D.935) Kingdoms, which ruled other parts of Korea, seem to have worn similar costumes, although the length and shape, as well as decorative elements, appear to have varied slightly. Women began to wear long skirts, instead of pants, as the Shilla era progressed.
Clothing color clearly delineated social class. This continued to be the case through the Choson Dynasty (1392-1910) when yellow, which represented the center of the universe, was strictly reserved for royal garments. White, on the other hand, symbolized modesty and was most widely used by the general population.