Gosh, I’m such a fail when it comes to giving a title. Maybe some can guess that this post is about one of the dramas that premiered yesterday, and yeah, it is about the drama The Moon that Embraces the Sun. But I’m not going to recap it again, not when three great bloggers already delivered such great recaps: Fanderay, Ockoala, and Javabeans. I’m just amazed by the pretty hanbok they are wearing in the series, and I can’t help but notice some little features I haven’t talked about yet. For your information, I’ve already covered a lot of clothing, accessories, and footwear of Joseon Dynasty in another post here, so this is just a complimentary post for it. Part of the reason: thanks to the colorful first episode of MoonSun.

Nothing could surpass the beauty of sageuk when it comes to dramas^^

While people are watching it for the second time to hear what Queen Dowager Yoon is saying to Minister Yoon, I’m paying close attention to what she is wearing, because the accessories never fails to fascinate me.

The long golden binyeo. Or another name for it: yongjam, derived from ‘yong‘ (dragon) and ‘jam‘ (from the head part of the stick, ‘jamdu‘). It was worn by the royal family members, exclusively for the queens and queens consort. And those dwikkoji made in the shapes of flowers are so pretty. But then..

The head shaman’s dwikkoji, or small hair pins, bear striking resemblance to Queen Yoon’s flower dwikkoji, except for the flower-shaped metal craft behind it. To think that a queen of Joseon is wearing the same ornaments as what people below her are wearing is bizarre, but maybe the props are of similar shapes. But really,  those are beautiful.

So that’s why, several years later, she is seen wearing another set of dwikkoji:dull green jade and butterfly-shaped green jade, and still maintaining the yongjam.

 

However, I’m still amazed at how they deal with the details and don’t make noticeable mistakes regarding the main ornaments. Here, Queen Consort Han (in red dangui) is wearing yongjam, while Royal Noble Consort Park Hee-Bin (in blue dangui) is wearing another type of binyeo called geumbongjam: derived from ‘geum‘ (golden), ‘bong‘ (phoenix), and ‘jam‘. Basically, it’s in the shape of phoenix, reserved for consorts and princesses. So, people would know how to differentiate between queens and consorts, although most of the time, the former worn more elaborate hanbok than the latter.

Another pretty dwikkoji worn by Lady Shin, Yeon-Woo’s mother. Hers is in the shape of an orchid, quite a different one from what I’ve seen before.

 

Yeon-Woo’s hairpin or dwikkoji has the shape of a butterfly. And I love how she puts some make-up on. She’s pretty in her hanbok, wearing baeja. It’s a sleeveless short jacket worn over jeogori, or the top part of the hanbok.

Another proof of this setting being in the later Joseon is from the gwanbok worn by Minister Yoon when he meets Queen Dowager Yoon. The Joseon officials started to adapt the mandarin square from Chinese Dynasties into Joseon, known as hyungbae around that time. It’s also known as rank badges, used to depict the ranks of Joseon officials.

 

Notice how Minister Yoon’s robe, or gwanbok‘s colour changes. He was an ordinary officer, between 3rd junior and 6th junior rank, thus he’s seen wearing blue gwanbok and hyungbae with one crane. After the time jump, in several years probably, he’s the Minister of Personnel (Ijo Panseo 이조 판서), donning red gwanbok and bearing hyungbae with  two cranes.Not to be missed, he also changes his hairstyle. I prefer the former.

The hat that Yeom and Woon wear during the ceremony isn’t a big surprise for me. The flowery hat is called aisahwa, given by the king to the top scorers in gwageo, or royal government examination along with the green aengsam and a drink personally  from the king.

 

Aww..little Yeom is cute! Who can resist that face? He’s wearing saekdongot, a top jacket made from patchwork of colorful stripes (see those on his arm). It’s usually worn with a jeonbok, a long sleeveless vest on top of it and hogeon, a type of headgear made from black silk with tiger gold pattern.

The bigger version of what little Yeom wears can be seen on Hwon, except for the saekdongot. Since the colorful attire is reserved only for boys under seven years old, Hwon wears a plain light purple jeogori, topped with a darker shade of purple jeonbok. To match his attire, he wears an even darker purple hogeon. Guess that he’s in an almost perfect look for a young nobleman, except for that red umbrella. Guess that some Joseon kings also know how to take care of their skin. hehehe

 

The best parts: Yeon-Woo and Hwon’s little arguments, Hwon’s advice, and Yang Myung’s screaming,”I’m not an ahjusshi!” Waiting for more beautiful scenes and more pretty hanbok, for I’m more than willing to spazz about the clothing. On another note, I’m already having the second lead syndrome. The leads are already lovely in my eyes, but to ship the second lead from the first episode is totally new for me. Let’s wait and see what this show have for me.

*For other clothing, headgears, accessories, ornaments, and footwear, go here^^

source: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |