2016/11/22 by Seunghye Cho · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Fashion and Cultural Textiles #Law in Society and Culture #Chinese history and philosophy
paper · doi:10.1080/1362704x.2016.1251089
openalex publication_date 2016/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article investigates nae-oe seugae, the institutionalized headdresses of Korean women during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). The ruling class of the Chosŏn era adopted Neo-Confucianism as the national religion and ideology. Nae-oe, a Confucian principle of modesty, emphasized a clear distinction between the domestic sphere for women and the public sphere for men, which led to strict confinement of women’s lives within the household. With the gradual Confucianization of Chosŏn society, Korean women had to wear headdresses to avoid exposing their faces to strange men when they went out. Social custom even went so far as to adapt the skirt and the overcoat from the women’s hanbok, the traditional Korean dress, to develop two kinds of veils: the suegaechima and the jangot. The other representative form of the nae-oe seugae, called the neoul, was passed down from the preceding epoch. As the authority of Confucian doctrines over women’s lives weakened during the early twentieth century, the custom of nae-oe seugae gradually disappeared and has never regained its cultural or religious significance. The process of institutionalization and vanishing, therefore, well illustrates that Chosŏn women’s headdresses were not a stylistic choice but an ideological product restricting women’s lives.