An Email From Emily Spivack At The Smithsonian

I just got an email from Emily Spivack at The Smithsonian about a new blog she’s writing, Threaded. It’s about the the cultural history of clothing, including the late 19th Century Korean clothing seen above.

Costume includes wide-brimmed, black horsehair hat (kat); informal outer robe (turumagi); informal shoes (pal-maksin); and long tobacco pipe (changjuk or tambaettae).

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With their billowing shapes and voluminous silhouettes, in contemporary culture, these outfits are most reminiscent of today’s fashion designers like Rei Kawakuba and Yohji Yamamoto.  Yet, this collection is an example of hanbok, or traditional Korean clothing, a style of dress that went through various trends over the centuries, particularly throughout the Josean Dynasty (1392-1897), for when it’s best known.