Dress History of Korea: Critical Perspectives on the Primary Sources

Bringing together a wealth of primary sources and with contributions from leading experts, Dress History of Korea presents the most recent approaches to the interpretation of Korean dress. Through close analysis of an impressive range of visual, written, and material sources-some newly excavated or recently re-discovered in global museums-the book reveals how Korean clothing and accessories evolved from the Three Kingdoms to the modern era. Interdisciplinary authors discuss the close relation of Korean bodily adornments to political and economic history and place Korean dress within broader contexts such as material culture, colonization, and cultural appropriation. As in other cultures, modern Korean clothing owes many of its styles to historic dress and this process of adaptation is explored within high fashion and popular culture contexts in ways that benefit historians and curators alike. With contributions from dress and jewelry historians, as well as specialists of art history and visual culture, Dress History of Korea makes key material newly available to non-Korean speakers. This is the indispensable guide to the study of Korean dress.