Traditional costumes of our countries

Welcome to our Blog! We are Patricia and Se young, two students of the Minor Your Future Work at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. In this blog we would like to write about our cultures. 

There are different definitions of culture. For example, the Cambridge English Dictionary defines culture as “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”. All cultures have a traditional costume. It is a very important part of eachother's culture because it is a sign of social identity (Hendrickson, 1997). Particularly, in this first post we are going to write about the traditional costumes of our countries.

One of the most traditional Spanish costumes is called traje de gitana. It can be a dress or a skirt and a shirt. In the following pictures you can see the difference between the dress (left) and the two pieces outfit (right).

As you can notice, in both pictures the outfits are long-sleeved. However, there are others that are sleeveless. The dress or skirt is usually long, but there are also short versions. 

The dress is usually brightly colored and it can be plain or patterned. A common characteristic in all of these versions is the layers of ruffles on the skirt and sleeves. Finally, the outfit can be completed with a shawl over the shoulders and a flower and a comb in the hair.

Nowadays, there are important fashion shows in which models wear the colors, patterns and forms that are going to be in. Consequently, new styles of this costume are created every year.

Furthermore, this is the traditional costume to dance sevillanas, the typical dance of Andalusia. An essential element to dance sevillanas properly is the ruffled skirt. This dance is usually trained with a body and a skirt.

The traditional Korean costume is called ‘Hanbok’. The name applies for both sexes. When you wear ‘Hanbok’, there are many steps and accessories. Furthermore, they are different according to people’s status and age. The higher their status is, the more complex clothes are. They also affect materials of clothes. People who are rich or in a high position wear dresses made of luxurious textiles like silk, gold and fur. On the other hand, ordinary people or the poor wear dresses made of cotton or linen.

The first ‘hanbok’ is for a little girl. The top called ‘saekdong jogory’. It is very colourful and the sleeve is the most colourful part of clothing.

The second dress if for a bride. They wear various hair accessories and fancy dress compared to daily look. The cloth which is above a bride’s hands is used to get something from her parents in her wedding.

The third example is for ordinary people. Actually this is for middle-class women not for the poor. The textile of cloth is different in ordinary people.

The last example is for a queen. Like you can see, it looks really fancy and luxurious. Those patterns are all made of real gold. Accessories are also gold and silver. The big difference of design between other status’s cloths is a ‘dragon’. On her dress, the dragon patterns are embroidered.

According to the examples, there are various kinds of Hanbok for women. The type of dress is changed depending on status, age and situation. Except what I introduced, there are lots of Hanbok in Korea and people try to make it simple these days to wear it in our daily lives.

Thank you for reading! Do you know the traditional custom of your country?