Look twice at a hanbok and you start seeing it in other clothes: a waist tied high under the chest, a front that crosses and ties instead of buttoning, a skirt with real air in it. Here’s what each piece is called, who wears it, when — and where those lines turn up in a modern closet.
What people mean by traditional Korean fashion
Type traditional korean fashion or korean clothes traditional into a search bar and almost everything that comes back is one word: hanbok. It is the umbrella term for Korean traditional dress, and it covers a family of garments rather than a single outfit — an upper piece, a lower piece, a coat over the top, and the small things that finish it. The version most people picture — a very short jacket above a skirt tied high on the chest — is close to what the late Joseon period settled on, and it is still the shape formal hanbok follows.
Two honest notes before anything else. We sell modern womenswear sourced from Korea, Thailand and elsewhere in Asia; we do not sell hanbok, and nothing in our shop is one. And none of this is a costume rack: it is dress with occasions, rules and real meaning attached. Knowing the names is the first courtesy, so that is where this starts.
Hanbok, piece by piece: every Korean clothes name worth knowing
Most of a hanbok is two garments and a coat. The jeogori is the basic upper piece, worn by both men and women, and it is built from named parts of its own: the git collar, the white dongjeong strip along it, and the goreum, the long ties that knot into a loose bow down the front instead of a row of buttons. Below it, women wear the chima, a skirt running from a high waistband to the ankle. Men wear baji, roomy trousers gathered and tied at the waist, cut wide enough to sit cross-legged in.
Over that goes a po, the general term for an outer robe. The durumagi is the one you will see most: a long coat worn over the jeogori and whatever is below it, kept for going out and for formal days. Two later arrivals sit in between — the magoja, a collarless jacket that joined the hanbok in the late 1800s, and the jokki, a vest that came in as Western dress did. If you are here for a Korean clothes name to put to a photograph, the short list covers nearly everything you will see.
- Jeogori — the upper garment, worn by both men and women.
- Chima — the women’s skirt, tied high across the chest.
- Baji — the men’s trousers, roomy and tied at the waist.
- Goreum — the ties that fasten the jeogori into a soft bow.
- Durumagi — the long outer coat, worn over everything else.
- Magoja and jokki — a collarless jacket and a vest, both late additions.
- Norigae, beoseon, gat — hanging ornaments, paired socks, and the horsehair hat men wore.
- Saekdong — the many-colored striped panels used on children’s sleeves.
Traditional Korean clothes for men, from the jeogori down
Traditional Korean clothes for men follow the same logic as the women’s, with trousers in place of a skirt: a waist-length jeogori that ties at the front, baji below it, beoseon socks, shoes. From there it layers. A jokki over the jeogori, a magoja over that when it is cold, and the durumagi last — the coat is the piece that turns an at-home outfit into one you wear out. The proportions read nothing like a suit: no shoulder structure to speak of, and everything closed with cloth and ties rather than hardware.
At a wedding a groom’s hanbok goes further, with a long formal robe over the set and a hat to match it. The gat — the wide horsehair hat that turns up in every period drama — belongs to the older everyday picture rather than to the ceremony. Fathers and grandfathers usually wear the quieter version: jeogori, baji, durumagi, in deeper and more muted colors, while the women in the family wear the brighter ones. It is one of the first things you notice in family photographs from a holiday.
When it is worn now: Korean clothes culture in practice
Hanbok is formal and semi-formal dress today rather than daily clothing, so it comes out on the days that matter. Seollal, the lunar new year, and Chuseok, the autumn harvest holiday, are when whole families dress — children especially, for visits to grandparents. Weddings are the other big one: many couples change into hanbok for the pyebaek, the family bow ceremony once held separately and now often folded into the reception, and the mothers of the couple frequently wear formal hanbok even when the ceremony itself is Western.
The first birthday, doljanchi, is the third. The baby is dressed in a small hanbok and set in front of a table of objects for the doljabi, picking one up — a book, a coin, a length of thread — while everyone photographs it. Korea also marks Hanbok Day on October 21, with a Hanbok Culture Week of exhibitions and shows around it. And the ticketed palaces in Seoul, Jongmyo Shrine and the royal tombs let you in free when you arrive in hanbok. That is where Korean clothes culture gets practical: the rule asks for a real top and bottom, a jeogori with a chima or baji. A hanbok top over jeans does not count, and neither does a one-piece hanbok-style dress.
The four lines modern clothes borrow from hanbok
You don’t need a hanbok to use what it knows about proportion. The first idea is the waist. The chima ties just under the bust, so the long vertical line of a body starts almost at the collarbone — the same trick any empire or high-rise waist plays, and the reason a high-waisted midi with a short top reads as length instead of a body cut in half. The second is the wrap: a front that crosses over and fastens with a tie sits softly and adjusts to the person inside it, which is why wrap fronts and tie-front tops suit so many shapes — a line worth looking for when you scan the dresses.
The third is volume with a light hand — a full skirt in a fabric that moves, rather than a stiff one held out by structure underneath. The fourth is quiet contrast: that white dongjeong strip is a thin bright line against color at exactly the height of a face, and a contrast collar, cuff or piping does the same job on a modern shirt. None of that is dressing up as anything. It is four good ideas borrowed from a system that has been refining them for a very long time.
Three outfits that use the idea, not the costume
Here’s how those four ideas look in clothes you already own or recognize. Most of this can be built from pieces we carry, and none of it will read as a costume at school pickup. Think of it as borrowing a proportion rather than a garment: the shape does the work and the fabric keeps it easy.
- High waist, short top: a high-waisted midi skirt with a cropped or neatly tucked knit, flat shoes, and one pair of earrings doing the talking.
- Wrap and tie: a wrap front or a tie-front top when one turns up in the Korean edit, soft pants underneath, a long coat left open over the top.
- Volume, kept light: a full skirt in a fabric with movement, a fine knit above it, nothing structured anywhere — the durumagi idea translated into a modern coat.
Wearing the influence with care
Wearing hanbok itself is welcomed in Korea. Rental shops sit around the palace gates in Seoul and will fit you for the day, and free palace entry is a nudge to do exactly that. The courtesy is in wearing it as dress: the full set, tied properly, not mixed with jeans for the photograph, and not bought as a party costume. That is different from taking a high waist or a wrap front into your own clothes, which is how good ideas have always traveled.
What we can help with is the modern half — pieces from Korea that carry those proportions into an ordinary week. The soft, airy end of it runs through the Thai edit too, and the two meet in the wider Asian edit. Check the flat measurements before you commit, because a high-waisted piece lives or dies on where the waistband lands, and returns come back as store credit rather than cash; the size guide explains how we measure. Then keep reading in our style notes, or see what is in Korean fashion now.
Questions, answered
What is traditional Korean clothing called?
Hanbok. That is the umbrella term, and underneath it sit the individual garments: the jeogori worn on top by everyone, the chima skirt for women, baji trousers for men, and the durumagi coat over everything. When someone says hanbok they usually picture the familiar silhouette — a very short jacket above a skirt tied high on the chest — which is the shape formal hanbok still follows.
When do Koreans wear hanbok today?
On the days that matter rather than daily. Seollal and Chuseok bring families out in it, especially children. Weddings are the other big occasion: couples often change into hanbok for the pyebaek family ceremony, and the mothers usually wear formal hanbok. Babies wear a small one for doljanchi, the first birthday. Korea also marks Hanbok Day on October 21, with a Hanbok Culture Week of exhibitions and shows around it.
What does a man’s hanbok include?
A waist-length jeogori that ties at the front, baji trousers tied at the waist, beoseon socks, and a durumagi coat over everything when going out. A jokki vest or a magoja jacket can sit between the two. Grooms wear a more formal robe for the ceremony with a hat to match it; the horsehair gat belongs to the older everyday picture of men’s dress rather than to the wedding set.
Can I wear hanbok if I am not Korean?
Yes, and rental shops near the Seoul palaces are set up for exactly that. Wear the whole thing rather than half of it: the ticketed Seoul palaces, Jongmyo Shrine and the royal tombs give free entry to visitors in hanbok, and the rule asks for a proper top and bottom — a jeogori with a chima or baji. A hanbok top over jeans or a one-piece hanbok-style dress is not enough.
Do you sell hanbok?
No. Hanbok is made by hanbok makers, and that is not us. We sell modern womenswear sourced from Korea, Thailand and other parts of Asia, including the wrap fronts and high waists that echo the hanbok line. Start in the Korean edit, and if you want help choosing between two sizes, send us your measurements through the contact page.
How do I get that hanbok line in everyday clothes?
Four moves. Put the waistband high, just under the bust. Choose a front that wraps and ties instead of buttoning. Pick volume in a fabric that moves rather than one held out by structure. Add one thin line of contrast at the collar or cuff. A high-waisted midi with a short knit does three of the four on its own, which is why it keeps working.
Find something yours
The lines are old; the clothes aren’t. New Korean pieces land in small runs and go quietly, so the Korean edit is where to look first — before one turns into somebody else’s oops, mine.
