The pattern of women's dress in the Yi dynasty may be divided into two. 'One was the traditional dress peculiar to Korea and the other was the Ming style delivered from the dress which was dedicated to Korean princesses by the Ming dynasty in China.
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The pattern of women's dress in the Yi dynasty may be divided into two. 'One was the traditional dress peculiar to Korea and the other was the Ming style delivered from the dress which was dedicated to Korean princesses by the Ming dynasty in China.
The traditional style of Korean women's dress was the skirt and coat, although they were slightly changed by the influence of the Mongols who carne to conquer .and married Korean court women in the 13th century.
As for the other style, the princess dress of the Ming dynasty was dedicated to the Korean princesses at the beginning of the Yi dynasty.
The princess dress means court dress and it was as follows: a flowered Crown on the head, a Taeran skirt (widely embroidered skirt) over the traditional skirt and coat, a kind of gown called $quot;Chok eui$quot; with $quot;Hapi$quot; both of which were embroidered with lots of pheasants, and a wide belt.
The above was the ceremonial dress; the everyday dress was called $quot;Wove-Sam$quot;. After the princess dress, $quot;Chok eui$quot; among the court ladies dress had gradually given way to the Ming style.
At that time, a special dress called $quot;Neoh-Ul$quot;, which had a long veil covering the whole face, was in fashion. Under the $quot;Neoh-Ul a hat with wide brim was worn. This custom remained unchanged until the beginning of the 19th century.
The hair style was $quot;Kach'e$quot;, and was a heavily decorated big round bundle of hair on top of the head. This hair style was prohibited by Yongjo in the 18th century yet lasted until the end of the 19th century.
The other particular style of women's costume in the upper class was a beautiful long coat called $quot;Tang-Eui$quot;, that is, $quot;Chinese style coat$quot;. It was the ceremonial dress of titled ladies. On the other hand, the peasant women wore the dress of traditional style which is worn today: the chagori (coat) and chima (skirt).
In conclusion, women's clothing in the Yi dynasty can be divided into two kinds; the noble ladies wore Ming style robes over their traditional ancient skirts and coats, and the commoners wore the characteristic women's costumes peculiar to Korea. This dual system lasted until the fall of the Yi dynasty. Today the Ming style has all but disappeared and remains only in the bridal dress worn in an oldstyle marriage ceremony.