On the morning of Lunar New Year’s Day in 1921, a young woman believed to be a mother took two children on an outing to Gwanghwamun under the rosy winter sun above snow-covered Bugaksan. The girl wore a rainbow-striped jeogori and a gold-patterned headdress, while the younger boy donned colorful silk shoes and a snug winter cap. This was how British painter Elizabeth Keith captured the holiday in colonial-era Korea. Struck by the sight of people traditionally known as the “white-clad folk” dressed in vibrant colors, she wrote in her book “Eastern Windows” that Seollal is Korea’s greatest festival and that everyone, young and old, dresses in their finest clothes and goes out. A century later in 2026, households in the birthplace of hanbok rarely prepare the traditional five-colored New Year attire. Yet around the world, hanbok has become an object of admiration — no longer an unfamiliar costume from a distant land but a symbol of K-culture. To examine the present state of hanbok studies and ways to incorporate it into modern life during the holiday, The Hankook Ilbo met Choi J
Curious about Korea’s hanbok promoted by RM? Easy ways to add it to daily life
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- Curious about Korea’s hanbok promoted by RM? Easy ways to add it to daily lifeOn the morning of Lunar New Year’s Day in 1921, a young woman believed to be a mother took two children on an outing to Gwanghwamun under the rosy winter sun above snow-covered Bugaksan. The girl wore a rainbow-striped jeogori and a gold-patterned headdress, while the younger boy donned colorful silk shoes and a snug winter cap. This was how… Read more: Curious about Korea’s hanbok promoted by RM? Easy ways to add it to daily life
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