The Costumes of 18th Century Joseon Dynasty from Lee Ok's Writings

Abstract

This paper examines the costumes of 18th century Joseon dynasty that appears in the writings of Lee Ok(李鈺, 1760~1815). The main characteristics that can be inferred about the clothing from his writings are as follows. 1) It suppose that the color of first grade(一品) official uniform was purple. The popular color for the bride's ceremonial dress was red. 2) It was likely that only bridesmaids or married women were allowed to wear Jokduri(ceremonial coronet). 3) White clothes were only preferred in Yeongnam-udo, whereas other regions mainly wore blue, which differs from the national preference for white clothes that was prevalent in the end of the Joseon dynasty. 4) Once cotton was harvested, it only took 5 days to convert it into cotton cloth and be sold on the market. Cotton cloth was one of the most important products during the latter half of the Joseon dynasty. It was common practice in markets to sell expensive costume materials as counterfeits or fungible goods with the intent to cheat. 5) The buddhist monk's hat is various that short cylinder form(短桶帽) and jade or gold headband button(玉圈 金圈) attached shape, etc. Consequently, Lee Ok's writing is a suitable reference for researching Joseon dynasty clothing, since it includes detailed and various descriptions of everyday clothing worn by strict noblemen, which is difficult to find elsewhere.

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