1. Korea Montana and Hope

2. Traditional Costumes The traditional costume of Korea is the Hanbok. The hanbok consists of a shirt, the jeogori and a skirt, the baji. The traditional hat is called gwanmo and special meaning is attached to this piece of clothing. It is categorized by everyday dress, special dress, and ceremonial dress.

3. Hanbok

4. Traditional Costumes The everyday Hanbok is usually only worn by the elderly, to acknowledge their ancestor’s way of dressing. The ceremonial Hanbok is worn on occasions such as a child’s first birthday, a wedding, or a funeral. The special Hanbok are worn by shamans or officials.

5. School Uniforms The uniforms are very similar to the uniforms worn by private school students in the U.S. The uniforms are sometimes worn in elementary schools, but are required and watched closely when the students reach middle school age. Celebrities sometimes wear the uniform to sway their younger audiences toward the products they endorse.

6. Uniforms

7. Bridal Fashion Korean brides have the choice to wear the romanticized white dress usually seen in the Western hemisphere or the traditional Hanbok. If they choose the white dress, they usually take little touches from the Hanbok and incorporate them into the dress.

8. Wedding Styles

9. Korean Men’s Fashion The styles seen in Korean men’s fashion are a lot like the “hipster” fashion in the U.S. There is also a sleeker, more dressed up “office” look, with edgy pieces thrown in.

10. Men’s Fashion

11. Korean Women’s Fashion Women’s fashion is almost completely identical to the fashions seen here. It is a lot more youthful, colorful and fun with crazy patterns, embellishments and colors.

12. Women’s Fashion

13. Clothing’s color meanings In everyday dress the colors don’t mean anything. When people still wore their Hanbok everyday the preferred color was white. They stuck with the white for so long and so adamantly that the government almost banned the color! When they started to use a rainbow of colors they stuck to the basics: red, yellow, blue, and green. The contrasting colors made the wearer look more attractive, and it determined the social standing of her husband.