Hello, everyone!
This is your Cultural/Project Chair, Sarah, speaking. It's exciting to be posting on the webpage for the first time!
Anyway, this week I talked about Hanbok, the traditional Korean dress, and how it was a pretty good estimate of rank back in the day.
We looked at quite a few pictures that I took while in Korea. Let's look at them again, shall we?
Paul Vu from Santiago High School is modeling a hanbok that was probably worn by someone of high ranking-- maybe an advisor to the king, or a nobleman. We were actually in a former mayor's house, so this would probably have been his. A general rule of thumb in looking at hanbok is the shinier, more embroidered, or brighter your hanbok is, the richer you probably are. As you can see, this has quite a lot of embroidery, so it's a fair guess to say that he is pretty rich. Generally, you would wear this with a square belt around your waist, but he's not quite done putting on his clothes yet (:
Mr. President of the Sister City Association of Garden Grove, Cam Mengels, is modeling an outfit that a nobleman would wear if he were to step out of his home for a while. These clothes are generally reserved for outdoor strolls and whatnot for scholars or people of relatively high rank.
Bryan Vo, alumnus of La Quinta, is quietly contemplating the meaning of life in this traditional attire generally meant for boys. The hat he wears shows that he is not yet a man. If I remember correctly (I was lectured on this about 8 months ago; give me a break!), this is an outfit that a boy wears when he goes through his coming-of-age ceremony.
Here's a complete set! Notice how Bryan Vo and Justin Valdez (second from left) are wearing different hats than Paul and Cam. The hats that Bryan and Justin are wearing are hats for boys; the outfit that Justin is wearing is generally for sleep (if I remember correctly). The hat that Paul is wearing is a hat that advisors to the king wears. Cam's hat is for men of age or scholars. The beads are supposed to symbolize something, but unfortunately, I can't remember what :(
Fortunately, girls are much easier to remember!
Remember how I said shiny = rich? Here's where it comes into play!
This is a traditional wedding getup. The red dots on Nancy Martinez's cheeks symbolize youth and virginity. The wedding ceremony is pretty awesome. I'll talk about it soon enough (:
Here's Lexi Gonzalez, modeling a very typical (and according to Lim Saebeom-unni, very plain) hanbok. When you wear a hanbok, there is a skirt that you tie above your breasts and the outer jacket that you wear and tie up. Notice the gold on her collar-- that shows that she has some wealth.
Unmarried girls aren't supposed to wear their hair up. If you look back at Nancy, her hair is pinned up with a long stick going horizontally through her hair-- not so with unmarried girls.
Saebeom-unni is pointing at the traditional hairpiece on Julie Mai. As she is unmarried, she leaves her hair down in a braid and is covered by a ribbon. Notice all the shiny sparkly stuff on Julie's hanbok-- she has some money. It might not be much, but it's some.
Here's Sally Duong, alumnus of Santiago High School, modeling her rich-woman attire. Notice all of the bling-bling on that jacket, and how her hair is pinned up behind her. This hanbok probably belonged to the wife of a nobleman. What a lucky butt.
Here are all of the lovely ladies (: Corinne Gonzalez, on the far right, is wearing a noblewoman's sleeping attire. Ashley Gaxiola, in the middle, is about as rich as Sally. Notice how their hanboks have two drapey thingies in front-- it's another difference between peasant hanbok and noblewoman hanbok.
Speaking of peasants, can anyone guess who the most peasantly person is in this picture?
If you guessed me (second from the left), you're right! My hanbok has no bling bling at all and my hair is down and braided-- so not only am I poor, I'm unmarried. In the ancient Korean world, I'd be at the bottom of the food chain. :( it's not like I wanted to be poor... none of the other hanbok fit me.
Anyway, if you look on the table in front of us you can see some other articles that Koreans used to wear.
Now that you know a little bit about hanbok, let's look at this scene from The Moon Embracing the Sun!
Just by glancing at the picture, you can tell that the two women on the right are richer. Their clothes are glossier and the colors are just brighter. You can also see that the girl in red is richer than the woman standing next to her-- there's much more embroidery on her collar and many more accessories in her hair. Note that it isn't in a bun, though-- she is not yet married.
The young girl standing to the left has very dull clothes. There is no bling bling in sight and her hair is worn down, with the ribbon in it. She actually looks kind of like me, huh? It turns out she's actually a servant girl.
That concludes my lesson on hanbok! I hope you guys enjoyed this little spritz of culture (:
-Sarah Ho
Project Chair
As always, here's our opening MV. Brave Guys - Farther Away. Just a fun fact, this group is made from the members of Gag Concert.
