What did royal women's clothing look like in Korean history?

As promised, now for the second part of my blog post, I will be introducing the wardrobes of royal women in the form of “a royal wardrobe picture book”. "Interestingly, most of the portraits are from either the last decades of the Joseon Dynasty or the short-lived Great Han Jeguk period. This may be because royal portraits were rarely made for anyone other than the king.

As before, I usually just retype the information provided in the book rather than some differences in transliteration. Those written in bold are my own additions or opinions, although there will be far fewer than before since I know far less about how female royals dress.

Hwalot - coat (portrait unknown)

Also known as the floral dress, the hwalot (overcoat) was originally used as a formal garment worn by princesses at state events, but in later years it became the wedding attire of the general public. Its form is similar to a wonsam (ceremonial robe), but it has wider sleeves, is made of red silk, is lined with yellow, crimson and indigo stripes, and includes white hansam (extended sleeves). The deep red silk is embroidered with floral patterns and auspicious letters representing longevity and good luck.

Jajeok Wonsam-burgundy dress (Princess Soon-hoon, 1854-1911)

This is the soryebok (little ceremonial robe) of Sunheon Hwanggwibi, the concubine of King Gojong. There are phoenix patterns on the shoulders, back, sleeve bottom seams and robe underlay. Red and dark blue stripes decorate the ends of the sleeves, which are then connected to a white hansan. The robe is also embroidered with peonies and arabesques. The woman's hair is combed formally and she wears a jeogori (jacket), chenghong daeran chima (red and blue layered skirt), jeonhaeng utchima (dress), jejeok wonsam (burgundy dress) and bongdae (made of red silk wide ribbon).

The booklet does not specify whether this was the general attire for most royal concubines.

Nok Wonsam - green robe (portrait unknown)

Empresses wore nok wonsam (green gowns) in daily life until the late Joseon period, but when their ranks were upgraded in the first year of Gwangmok, empresses, court ladies, and princesses wore robes of gold, red, maroon, and green, respectively. The public began to use nok wonsam and jokedri (a formal crown adorned with jewelry for women) as wedding attire. Its sleeves are wide and have red and yellow stripes, which are then connected to the hansam. Two letters representing "longevity" and "good luck" are printed in gold on the front, sleeves and back of the medal.

The "light wood" year refers to the year 1897. At that time, Korea still followed a six-week calendar, with each year having a specific name based on a combination of heavenly and earthly branches. However, the name "Gwangmok" does not seem to follow this naming tradition, and it may be a special name meant to indicate the transition from the Joseon era to the Daehan era.

Huang Yuanshan - Golden Dress (Queen Sun Zhenxiao, 1894-1966)

Initially, the queen's wonsam (gown) was made of dark maroon or crimson with wide sleeves, but later the country was renamed the Han Empire and the queen became empress; therefore, her wonsam was changed to yellow wonsam, imperial wonsam.

The yellow wonsam is made of golden fabric and the sleeves have red and blue stripes at the ends. Then, the sleeves are connected to the hansam made of white silk. Embroidered with peony and wine patterns. The interior is made of red fabric, with luxurious five-clawed dragon patterns printed on the shoulders, back, bottom, sleeve seams, and robe bottom lining.

Jeogui - the queen's main ceremonial robe (Queen Son Jeonghyo, 1894-1966)

In 1897, King Gaozong became Emperor Gaozong, and the Qiao Dynasty became the Han Empire. The queen's red daeryebok (full dress) was replaced with a dark indigo guryong sabonggwan with 12 parts. Additionally, wonsam (ceremonial robes) replaced all other formal robes for smaller state ceremonies.

Cologne Sha Bangguang includes large sleeves, dresses, underwear, belt decorations, wide belts, sues, jade jewelry, green socks, green shoes, jade belts, jade label necklaces, skirts and robe ribbons, etc.