London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Hanbok day at the V&A – reader reviews and photos

V&A poster

Because of vacation and some railway engineering work LKL’s usual correspondents were unable to cover yesterday’s V&A Korean culture day. This post is therefore an open invitation to anyone who did manage to go along to please leave your comments or observations below.

The Korean Cultural Centre UK, who supported the event, took some photos, as did Jeon Sung-min. Here’s a sample.

Musicians playing excerpts from the Sopyonje soundtrack at the V&A (photo by Lee Boo-gyoung courtesy of the Korean Cultural Centre UK):

Musicians at the V&A

Trying on a hanbok from Dae Jang Geum and Hwang Ji Ni (photo by Jeon Sung-min):

Trying on a hanbok

More photos can be seen on my flickr page here.

2 thoughts on “Hanbok day at the V&A – reader reviews and photos

  1. Hi I’m a student at SOAS studying Korean and Social Anthropology so I went along to the V&A Hanbok Day. I have only recently become interested in Korea but this exhibit really made me understand how unique and fascinating the Korean culture is and why it is a pity that it is not as yet well known, or at least accessible, like Japanese or Chinese culture. It was a really interesting exhibition of traditional culture focusing mostly on the Hanboks but with Traditional Korean dance and music included as well. The lecture on Traditional Joseon Royal Wedding costumes was perhaps the most interesting part of the day. We were shown how the hanbok style changed depending on the stage of the engagement and then marriage. Also how every colour, cut and picture on the clothes is steeped in symbols and status. For instance the two main skirts of the princess’ hanbok are red and underneath that blue. The red represents the sun and masculinity while the blue represents the moon and the female principle. In some respects bringing the balance of yin and yang. There is an exhibit on at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore called Fashion from the Far East: Hanbok by Lee Rhee-Za showcasing hanboks by this designer. It is from 3-8th November and is open from 10am-6pm

  2. Thanks for leaving a comment Eli. I’m sorry I missed the event – I got back from holiday that afternoon and I was never going to get there in time. I’ll be going to the RCA exhibition later this week.

    If anyone else went along, please add your comments below!

    Philip

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