Han Bok

"Han bok" simply means traditional Korean dress. Traditional "Han bok" has straight lines with soft curve that matches. Women wears short top "ju go ri"' and elegant skirt which is rather generous than tight fit, so it gives elegant look, which was the most sought after characteristic of women in both Koryo and Choson era. For male, pants and 'jeo go ri' were worn as a basic and they used to stylish themselves with Korean-style jacket.

As Koreans, "Han min jok" are citizens of white, their basic Han bok's color was white, and depending on the season and traditional holidays, Koreans wear different colored Han bok.

However, in contemporary's fashion trend, which  looks for outfits that are comfortable, simple, and stylish, less and less people were wearing han bok on daily lives. Traditional Han boks feature many fancy ornaments and uncomfortable materials. So now days, most Koreans wear Han bok only twice a year on traditional holidays: "Seol nal" and "Chuseok".

Handful of Korean tradition-oriented clothes designers disliked the fact more and more Koreans ditching han bok, they came up with 'Gye ryang han bok' (Gye ryang means modified or improved) or ‘fusion han bok.'

 Gye ryang han boks or fusion han boks are more comfortable, easy to wear, and fit better to modern fashion trend. It is interesting to see that some fusion han bok eliminated "ju go ri" to meet the ‘sexy’ trend of modern fashion, which would never be accepted in Choson dynasty that emphasized chastity virtue of women, accordingly, concealment of their body. However, I personally believe that such trend isn't really bad all as it at least serves a purpose to maintain a valuable tradition. I also think it’s a very realistic way to let the world  know about the beauty of han bok.