2 Seasons Down, 2 To Go!

What an exhausting week - but a very bright spot tonight!

She's finished! I love the bright, vibrant colours of this one.

Carrying a Lucky Bag

Character for 'Autumn'

As with my last finished piece of this series, I wanted to share some pictures of real-life Hanbok as depicted in the stitching so people unfamiliar with Hanbok can put the pieces together a bit better!

The top headpiece is a particular one worn by young, unmarried girls (there are others worn by married women such as those once worn by queens), known as baetssi daenggi (배씨 댕기). Varying in size and design, it is tied onto the top of the head, and worn with the traditional braids.

There is another piece in the back, known as dwikkoji (뒤꽂이) (lit. 'back flowers'), which are beautiful ornaments that can adorn the sides or back of the hair in many different fashions!

She's wearing a double skirt here, the red an overlay on top of a bright sunny yellow. Occasionally, the top skirt will be tied up in some fashion to better show off both (or more!) layers. You can see this quite often in depictions of Kisaeng/Gisaeng, Joseon-era female entertainers, and also in that of Queens and royalty - multiple layers of expensive, embroidered cloth.

And another lovely part of Hanbok that is rarely shown - the shoes! One tip of a brightly coloured shoe peeps out at the bottom of that full red skirt on this piece. There'll be another one in Spring, but until then -

 

A good deal of women's traditional shoes nowadays have at least a small heel on them, as you can see above, but not all of them do. Some are rubber, others are embroidered, and they are an essential piece of the whole ensemble!

Finally, she's holding a beautiful little 'lucky bag' or substitute for pockets. I think it's one of my favourite things about this piece - how brightly coloured it is!

As ever, a great place to look up more information on Joseon-era headgear, male & female, please check out this (and other) fantastic posts over here at The Talking Cupboard. I got a few of my pictures there and though it's not too in-depth, the amount that is covered is amazing!