A Korean traditional hat (hereinafter called 'Gat') had the symbolic significance as a general official hat in the Chosun dynasty that attached importance to courtesy as the country of courteous people in the East and the aesthetic characteristics pec...
A Korean traditional hat (hereinafter called 'Gat') had the symbolic significance as a general official hat in the Chosun dynasty that attached importance to courtesy as the country of courteous people in the East and the aesthetic characteristics peculiar to its form. For Gat arranged perfectly with clothes which was spiritual representation, the purpose and significance of this study were to explore its characteristics of formal changes according to eras, plasticity, and peculiar aesthetic characteristics, seek Korean beauty in it, and further help and develop perfecting the beauty of the costume of the Chosun dynasty used in a drama and a film through the changes, studying a historical evidence for the Gat system fit for the situation of the times, and succeeding to and restoring traditional skills for various kinds of Gat.
Maybe an official hat emerged as an instrument for adapting oneself to nature from before time immemorial and developed for various factors such as its aesthetic beauty and incantatory purpose. I guess that "Gat" in that aspect emerged as the instrument and changed by social development and change and by the exchanges with other cultures.
Gat in Goryo was mentioned for a moment as part of an official outfit in the period of interference by Won. However, investigating into all sorts of literatures showed that the kinds of headgear in the era did not have as various names as it. In particular, considering that it is the predecessor for the various kinds of Gat in the Chosun dynasty it can be said to have greater importance. The Gat system that had been perfected from the end of Goryo to the beginning of the Chosun dynasty succeeded to the system of Goryo, accepted the official hat system in Ming system at the end of Goryo, and changed and perfected the features of its proper Gat system.
Gat perfected in the Chosun dynasty changed modally in form according to the changes of the Gat system and aesthetic senses in each dynasty. I explored its formal characteristics of each period through comparing them with those in the records from the system at the time of King Sungjong reigning in the 15th century. The period which makes a difference induces me to suspect that the system in the record was performed. The changes of its height and width means radical or slight changes of the Gat system in the previous period. Gat not only makes a formal change even in the same picture, but according to the Gat system every period.
Gat is basically divided into hats made of horsehair and bamboo. Black, red and white Gats divided according to its sorts have the formal characteristics such as the changes of their height and width in the previous two kinds. A hat made of horsehair has the formal feature of a gentle diagonal line in the form of a trumpet with the narrow upper and the wide lower and the circular formal feature of forming an oblique curve descending more and more toward the outside with the outstanding middle of a hat made of bamboo.
The factors for the formal changes of Gat include the change of height according to the height of a hat made of horsehair, the change of width by the width of a hat made of bamboo, and the change in the angle of the former hat by the change in its diameter, which are summarized as the changes of form and height into the narrow upper and wide lower maximized in it and into its circular top. And its form changed according to a wearer's status, the situation where it was worn, and its kinds. An element for its formal change includes material. A hat made of bamboo which was produced in a flat form and which got cracked by various ironing and gluing by a producer's skill, it showed the circular formal feature of forming a gentle curve descending more and more toward the outside with its outstanding middle.
The changes of its color include a change by painting, the differences in color tone, glossiness and transparency by silk and cotton, bamboo-thread and raw silk-thread, which were coated on it, and a situational change, which is a change of use. The common characteristics of materials can be said to include transparency, lightness, and transformability through combining their structures with one another. The combination of different materials created variety and also various matie?re and formality in the change of their features. The ornament system was also strictly regulated by the literatures such as Gyeonggukdaejeon, Sokdaejeon, and Daejeonhoitong. However, its ornaments as expressing human instinctive desire for ornament and aesthetic instinct were used for stressing its ornamental beauty.
Its controlled calmness means gaining the plasticity of refined beauty by itself, and losing naturalness by an overflowing technique of ornament. Controlled ornament was artificial, but what was not artificial accepted the perception of those making such plasticity by themselves and the ideas of the wearers. Its plastic beauty as refined one includes having clothes and Gat, a contrast of lines and colors, and refined rhythmic beauty. Luxurious beauty is related to its glossiness, and transparency the elaborateness and delicate technique for materials. The beauty of symbolized status is the one of dignity by symbolized statuses and aesthetic senses of those wearing it.
As shown in the above I could know that Korean proper official hat, Gat, had been historically lasting and significant as the hat, including also its formal changes and characteristics on an era-by-era basis, plasticity and peculiar aesthetic characteristics. Restoring and succeeding to it means succeeding to the skill of Korean traditional craft forgotten and also the spiritual culture of Korean ancestors. Its symbol and beauty as spirit-oriented representation is the refined beauty with such plastic beauty and symbol by itself. Seeking such refined beauty is not only applied to it but also to fashion and spiritual Korea.