Everyday clothes and fashion in Korea ranges from jeans and T-shirts to tailored suits and designer name ensembles; basically any and all fashions that one could find someone wearing in any major city in the world. One fashion piece that is original to Korea is the traditional dress for both men and women, known as hanbok (한복;韓服) in South Korea and joseon ot (조선옷;朝鮮옷) in North Korea.
Worn since the Three Kingdoms period, or Samguk Shidae, the hanbok consists of a shirt and pants, and is acceptable dress for Koreans of all ages. The Korean traditional dress is still worn today but is usually reserved for traditional holidays or for social events with a traditional cultural theme. The outfit has no pockets and is characterized by its simple lines. The hanbok that women wear includes a wrap-around skirt and bolero-like jacket. Men wear a hanbok comprised of a short jacket and wide baggy pants bound at the ankles.
The aristocratic class wore brightly colored hanbok of plain and patterned silk in cold weather and woven ramie cloth or light-weight materials when it was warm. Commoners were not allowed to wear the brightly colored cloths worn by the noble class and were required to wear hanbok made of hemp or cotton. Their colors were also restricted to white, pale pink, light green, gray, or charcoal. The hanbok was an everyday fashion staple until the 1960s when modernization took over and most industrialized countries began hanging up their traditional attire.
Currently, Western-style dress is the dominant attire in Korea and the traditional hanbok has been relegated to marriages and other special occasions. However, there is hope that the hanbok will make its way back into mainstream dress. South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has created a campaign to encourage Koreans to begin wearing the hanbok as everyday attire. Although rarely to be seen on the streets of South Korea today, the country possesses is a strong feeling of national pride and do incorporate the traditional dress into special holidays and occasions, such as one's 1st and 60th birthday.
The goal of the ministry's campaign is to promote more modern looking hanbok styles that are practical for everyday wear. As of yet, however, young people are reluctant to adopt traditional dress in the modern world, and people over 70 years old still comprise the great majority of South Koreans who can be seen wearing hanbok today.
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