Festival shows hanbok for everyday

Festival shows hanbok for everyday


The traditional Korean dress, hanbok, has been a valuable cultural asset that has long-represented Korea. Yet, despite Koreans' love for the outfit and its growing international recognition, large-scale events featuring the costume are hard to come by.

The 2009 Hanbok Sarang Festival, taking place Friday and Saturday at Deoksugung Palace in central Seoul, is an effort to give hanbok the chance in the spotlight it deserves. Also, the event is to promote hanbok as an everyday clothing rather than something to be worn only on traditional holidays. This is the second year of the annual event.

"Hanbok Sarang Festival is aimed towards engraving hanbok in people's minds as a daily wear, not just for special occasions," said Toh Shin-woo, the president of Model Center International. The company hosts the event as well as the biannual Pret-a-Porter Busan.

"Popularizing hanbok will not be easy but we hope to change people's perception at least a little through the event. We think hanbok can be internationalized only when Koreans first start wearing them a lot."

The festival will feature collections by local hanbok designers including Lee Rhee Za and Kim Hye-soon, first-generation designers who are renowned for having contributed to making the outfit more high-end and thus used for contemporary weddings.

Visitors can also enjoy different styles of hanbok from the different periods of Korean history through designs which have been featured on popular local television dramas. The list includes "Hwangjini," "The Great Queen Seondeok" and "Jumong." Some scenes from the dramas will also be recreated.

Around 200 models, including actors Lim Ho and Kim Seung-soo, will walk down the runway. Some foreign ambassadors to Korea and their spouses are also included on the list, according to organizers.

Meanwhile, up-and-coming designers and student's creations selected through a preliminary will be shown at Onnuri Fashion Show on Saturday. The winner from the show will receive an award by the culture minister and a prize of 5 million won ($4,247).

Toh said the festival will present some modernized hanbok as well.

Although he worries that modernized hanbok might lose their Korean identity, Toh said he thinks that developing new styles and modifying designs are desirable for making hanbok more wearable.

Other traditional Korean activities like natural dyeing, tea making and make-up will also be offered to visitors to experience more of Korean culture.

"We think holding this kind of quality festival regularly is most important at the moment to draw people's attention to hanbok," said a festival spokesperson.

Visitors dressed in hanbok can enter the festival free of charge and also receive a gift. Entrance is also free for those who have downloaded and printed their tickets from www.hanboksarang.kr, the show's website.

For details on the 2009 Hanbok Sarang Festival, call (02) 528-0888.

(youngaah@heraldm.com)

By Koh Young-aah

2009.10.22