Abstract
All aspects of clothing, including color, are a visible form of expression that carries invisible value. The purpose of this work is to study the expression of resistance in the white Hanbok in modern culture, specifically after the 1980s. Koreans have traditionally revered white color and enjoyed wearing white clothes. In Korea, white represents simplicity, asceticism, sadness, resistance against corruption, and the pursuit of innocence. This paper looks at: (i) the universal and traditional values of the color white, (ii) the significance of traditional white Korean clothing, (iii) the resistance characteristics of white in traditional Korean clothes, and (iv) the aesthetic values of white Hanbok. The white Hanbok often connotes resistance when it is worn in modern Korea. It is worn in folk plays, worn by shamans as a shamanist costume, worn by protestors for anti-establishment movements, and worn by social activists or progressive politicians. The fact that the white Hanbok has lost its position as an everyday dress in South Korea (instead symbolizing resistance when it is worn) is an unusual phenomenon. It shows that the white Hanbok, as a type of costume, is being used as a strong means of expression, following a change in the value of traditional costumes as it take on an expressive function.
