Hanbok

Hanbok (South Korea) or Joseon-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to clothing of the Joseon period and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations.

Throughout history, Korea had a dual clothing tradition, in which rulers and aristocrats adopted different kinds of mixed foreign-influenced indigenous styles while commoners continued to use a distinct style of indigenous clothing that today is known as Hanbok.

In 1996, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism made "Hanbok day" to encourage South Korean citizens to wear Hanbok.

Composition and design

Traditional women's hanbok consists of jeogori, a blouse shirt or a jacket and chima, a wrap-around skirt, which is usually worn full. The ensemble is often called chima jeogori. Men's hanbok consists of jeogori and baji which means pants in Korea. The baji were baggy pants in traditional men's hanbok.