Monthly Magazine Korea | Hanbok, a Fashion statement _Doing anything Hanbok
문화체육관광부 해외문화홍보원이 발행하는 영문 월간지 Monthly Magazine Korea 2016년 5월호 특집 'Hanbok, a Fashion Statement' 중 한국화가 김현정을 다룬 'Doing Anything in Hanbok' 코너 기사다. 한복을 입은 채 오토바이나 자전거를 타는 등 일상 활동을 하는 여성을 그리는 김현정의 '내숭(Feign)' 연작을 소개하며, 개인전 '내숭 놀이공원'이 2주 만에 4만 1000명을 모은 반응과 한복에 대한 작가의 생각을 인터뷰로 담았다.
전체 본문 보기
Doing anything in Hanbok
Kim Hyun-jung, a painter and Hanbok advocate, draws portraits of modern-day women engaged in modern-day activities while dressed in Hanbok.
In Kim's reinterpretations, the women wear high heels and brightly decorated nails together with the traditional dress. They also eat burgers, ride motorcycles and take part in indoor rock climbing.
"Because Hanbok is an elegant dress, it can confine the wearer's behavior in certain ways," Kim said. "For example, when I wear Hanbok I automatically straighten my back and even watch the way I speak. I turned that idea around in my head and contrasted Hanbok with things with which it isn't usually associated."
Kim said she hoped her fans would react with amusement and laughs.
Her solo exhibition, "Feign Playground," which ran from mid-March through early April, attracted over 5,000 people a day and 41,000 in the first two weeks.
Upon being asked how she would feel if the vision in her paintings came true - if people dressed in Hanbok as they went about their daily activities - Kim smiled and said Hanbok would look very different.
"I tried to ride a bicycle once in Hanbok," Kim said, "The skirt got caught in the wheels and tore."
Her custom-designed Hanbok had cost more than the bicycle.
Upon hearing the artist's remark, Inohjudan's Oh confidently said in a separate interview that she could provide Kim with a Hanbok that she would have no problem wearing on a bicycle or while using sports equipment.
"Who says women cannot wear trousers for Hanbok?" Oh asked.
"What we now know as the Western style of clothing also went through experimental periods to arrive at its current stage," she said. "I must point out Chanel's adaptation of male clothes to female fashion."
With innovative minds busy at work, it may not be too long before Hanbok hangs in everyone's closet.
5 "Feign: Flutter" (2013)
6 "Feign: #SnowWhitegram" (2016)
7 "Feign: Instagram, Instagram, who is fairest of them all?" (2016)
8 Kim Hyun-jung is considered a pop star of Korean illustration.
