Tuesday 15th November I went Victoria and Albert museum to visit an exhibition called ' The Korean Wave: Hallyu '. Is a showcase of the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea, in there you can explore the Korean wave and its global impact on the creative industries of cinema, drama, music, beauty and fashion.
Hallyu is a word which defined the popularity of the culture of the Korea, including K- pop music and K-dramas. Hallyu it was used in the 90s and in middle 2000s through the success of the Korean music industry which is correspond with the global rise of internet, social media and Gen - Z. For achieve its economic determination by investing in information and communication technologies and culture industries which led to growth its international standing through ' soft power ' of culture, therefore, with support of Korean government and finance.
When you entered to the exhibition, the first thing you can see and hear is ' Oppan Gangnam Style ' . On 15 July 2012 Park Jae-Sang is a South Korean singer, songwriter and producer which all known as PSY, he became very famous after the launched the song 'Oppan Gangnam Style' launched on youtube. The music video went viral overnight and had viewing records. Some people got inspired to make numerous parodies and prestigious awards and global followers. In 2014 the song had over 2 billion views on youtube and thanks for it PSY put South Korea on the map for people around the world.
In the 20th century in Korea was marked by long and successions of disastrous events, including Japanese colonial rule (1910-45), the Cold War which adage its area arbitrarily divided in 1945, North under the trusteeship of the Soviet Union and the South of the Americans and the Korean War (1950-53). At that time there was no peace between North and South Korea and still remain the war today.
In South Korea speedily evolved from a country ravaged by the war in late 1950s to leading cultural powerhouse by the early 2000s. The modern history is explored and analysed in the exhibition through photography, posters and achieve materials, at the side of objects ranging from Olympics posters to early examples of electronics.
Therefore, in another section you can find K-drama and cinema, from late of 1990s to the present day there are remarkable success of K-drama and film turn their rise in popularity through the multimedia, installations, posters, storyboards and costumes. In the exhibition there is a section include the icon of pink guard costumes and green tracksuit from the most famous Netflix series ' Squid Game ' and there is a recreation of the bathroom set from Bong Joon - Ho's Oscar winning film ' Parasite '.
On K- drama 'Squid Game' there is a minimalist retro fashion inspired by old children's books and vintage publications. The 70s tracksuit aesthetic in the contrasting colours of pink and green was part of the attraction of the crime - thriller - sci - fi drama. The significance in white Vans and white vests, which are constantly worn by all contestants. The pleasure of an easy to wear tracksuits it is carrying beyond the limits, especially for work from home wardrobe.
Chae Kyung - Sung revealed that the reason to choose the two colours pink and green were on purpose to amplify the contrast between the contestants and the guards ' we wanted to use pink to imply doing something unusual. That way we could symbolise pink as double - sided element that could deliver a twist to depict the cruel world ' .
Hallyu has positioned Korea as a global trendsetter in beauty and fashion. K-fashion is an eminence with a refresh of an interpretation 'Hanbok', the traditional Korean garment and versatile, fast moving and mix and matching approach to fashion. As you can see from the pictures Korean designers are full explosion of luxury with a casual street-style to form particular looks that are invite to young generation of consumers on both inside the country and beyond.
In other hand, the traditional Korean dress are similar of kimonos. In the late 19th century Korean people were differentiate their dresses from a recent influence western - style clothing. A century later, western clothing had overtaken Hanbok as the main style of dress reserved by Koreans, in turn, hanbok became more a traditional dress for ceremony which are reserved for holidays celebrations, events, weddings and funerals.
New generation of fashion designers have recreate hanbok for new audiences, through the collaborations they did with K-Pop group and K- Dramas. Modern designers have bring new life to hanbok and added an international interest as Korean culture continues to increase quickly on a global stage. Hanbok is not describe a certain design or shape of clothes instead serves as an umbrella term that surround thousand of years of Korean clothing. It has variations across the times with fluctuating sleeve length and width, silhouettes and dress folds. Furthermore, a Hanbok consists of a top piece and bottom piece with a cut and sewn flat, the tops are wrapped and tied together with a one-looped bow called Goreum .
The reason all hanbok are cut and sewn on flat surface is because it helps to reduce the amount of the fabric that be going to waste and with any leftover pieces which are being used as decorations for the sleeves .
The four main textiles fabric for make a hanbok are silk, hemp, ramie and cotton. Therefore, to create symbols and patterns, they used to painted on fabrics or block printed, tie-dyed, wax or starch resist dyed and decorated with extremely thin gold leaf.
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