Hanbok (Hangul:한복) refers to traditional Korean clothing. In North Korea, hanbok is referred to as Choson-ot (조선옷). One of the most famous characteristics of hanbok is its vivid colors and straight and curved lines. Although its literal meaning is Korean clothing, it today indicates specifically traditional garment, especially that of Joseon dynasty.
Hanbok has been a great part of Korean culture thoughout history. Traces of Hanbok have been found even before Three Kingdom period of Korea. The oldest form of hanbok can be seen in tomb mural paintings from the Goguryeo Kingdom (37 B.C.-668 A.D.). Korea had two kinds of clothing tradition. The rulers and noblemen usually wore clothing of different kinds of foreign styles, but subjects continued to use a distinct style of indigenous clothing that today is known as hanbok.
There are several kinds of hanbok. People wore different sorts according to their social statuses, sexes, jobs; from time to time, they chose special hanbok for ceremonies. People could figure out the wearer’s job, educational background and even whether he or she was married or not. There are hanbok for men, women, royal court, government officials and children. Because hanbok could reveal the wearer’s social status, there were some government regulations on designs, materials and shapes. For example, only royal families could use golden stripes on their hanbok.