Commoners were to wear muted colors, the
lowest classes wearing undyed fabric, while the upper
classes were able to wear brighter colors, the brightest
being worn, of course, by the royal family - red, blue,
and yellow. Commoners were absolutely forbidden to wear
yellow, as it represented the center of the universe, and
only royal costumes were made from yellow fabric.
Upper class women who were unmarried wore
yellow juhgori (bolero-like blouse) with red chimas
(skirts), newly married women wore ok (jade)
colored juhgori with a red chima, and
married women wore yellow juhgori with blue chima.
Common women were not allowed to wear lined
chima, thus their skirts were transparent. (But
they wore petticoats and pantaloons underneath, of
course!)
The more pleats a chima had, the
higher the status of the woman wearing it. Commoners were
forbidden to wear chima that of more than 10 or
12 pok (width of strips of cloth). Commoners
also had to overlap their skirts on the right side,
instead of the left, like the upper classes.
Senior scholars of Confucianism were
allowed to wear white robes with black bands on the
collar, sleeves, and hems. Scholars who had taken their
civil service examinations, but were not yet officials
wore robes of pale green or blue with bands of black.
Lower class men were not allowed to wear gaht
(a wide brimmed, distinctly Korean hat, usually made from
horsehair).
Danghye (flat, leather shoes
covered in cotton and silk) were usually only worn by
queens and the wives of the crown prince, and then only
during special occasions. Commoners were not allowed to
wear them.
