Sophilicity

First of all, I'd like to apologise, I'm not very good when it comes to committing to a project because I get carried away with a lot of other projects too. So much so, it's been over 4 years since I started my blog, and the last actual blog post I made was in February 2018. In June 2018, I started a project on my blog showcasing my experiences as I wanted to try a different approach so I started talking about stereotypes as my first subject. However, I haven't had much time to offer more experiences since. If you haven't already, you can find out more about my experiences in the experience tab at the top of my blog page!

However, it's been a busy period these past couples of years, but blogging is something that I definitely want to get back into. I don't want to make any promises since I'm not very good at making commitments with this blog, but let me provide you with an insight of content which I hope to share with you from now. 

To summarise my experiences since 2018:

• July-September 2018 - Worked with Katy&Sean for an internship experience in Events, PR & Marketing. Assisted with the Korean fashion brand, Sewing Boundaries and worked to host K-Pop concerts in collaboration with Beyond Ent. e.g. BIGONE & UP10TION.
• September 2018 - Began 2nd year of university, working as the social secretary of the UoN Korean Society till May 2019.
• January 2019 - Left my job at UnitedKpop and flew to Budapest, Hungary for a short trip with my best friend, Ying.
• March 2019 - Left my job at PHunk'D and was elected as the new general secretary of the UoN CFM Society. Also flew to Lisbon, Portugal during reading week, with two friends, Aneeqa & Kira.
• June 2019 - Finished my 2nd year of university and flew to Ningbo, China for UNNC Summer School programme. 

If anyone of you actually remember, I took part in the 10th K-Pop Academy programme late September 2016! Sorry for such a long hiatus but I didn't think it would be right to leave a blog series incomplete~

I was actually really looking forward to taking part into class. I've had various opportunities to try out a hanbok before if I'm perfectly honest, I've actually known much about it.

Injoo Lee, founder of Moon Lee artwear presenting us a lecture about K-Fashion (Hanbok). Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK

 The class this time was taken by Injoo Lee, a London-based contemporary womenswear designer. She founded a brand for herself called Moon Lee artwear, which was established in 2015.

You can check out some of her designs and works below:

https://www.moonleeartwear.com/

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Moving onto the class~ Let me give you guys a bit of information which I gathered from this class!

What is Hanbok?
Hanbok is the traditional clothing for Koreans as is acknowledged as the beautiful, cultural treasure of Korean. "Hanbok" means "Korean clothing" and has a history of over 16000 years.

What is the Hanbok composed of?
For women, the basic composition of the hanbok is the jeogori (‎저고리) which refers to the top, along with a chima (치마) which refers to the skirt.

For men, the basic composition of the hanbok is similar to the women however instead of a chima, the jeogori is paired with a baji (바지). The baji refers to trousers.

Other additions to the women's hanbok can include the daenggi (댕기) which is a traditional Korean ribbon added to the end of a women's braided hair. Along with the norigae (노리개) which is a typical Korean accessory added to chima (치마). It can also be attached to the goreum (‎고름) of the jeogori (저고리) which are the coat strings.

Whilst other additions for the men's hanbok can include the gat (갓) which is traditional hat worn along with the hanbok - although this was only seen to be worn during the Joseon period. It was restricted to only men who had passed their gwageo (과거) exams. These were the civil servant examinations which took place during the Goryeo and Joseon eras. Men were also seen to wear durumagi (두루마기), which is an overcoat, worn over as the top-most layer for their hanboks. In current times, the durmagi (두루마기) is usually worn for formal occasions.

Lee Junki wearing a gat (갓) along with his hanbok - Did anyone watch him in Moon Lovers: Scarlet Ryeo? The feels-

History of Hanbok
The baji (바지) was usually worn by men and the chima (치마) by women, however in mural paintings dating back to the Gorguyeo (otherwise known as Goryeo) kingdom shows that there is no distinct difference in the hanbok between the sexes.

During the Goryeo kingdom, as a result of the influence from nearby Mongolia, traditional design of jeogori (‎저고리) underwent a change, adopting shorter lengths and narrower sleeves.

Whilst in the Joseon kingdom, women's jeogori (‎저고리) in particular were being worn shorter and tighter than previous periods - a decisive turning point leading to the gradual transformation of the hanbok.

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Lesson over!! Did you learn something new today?

The variety of hanbok pieces available for us to choose. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK

After our lecture, we were shown a demonstration on how to wear a hanbok. Our lecturer for the day, Injoo Lee selected candidates from the audience to show us. We had Charley and Yi-Ling for the girls, and Michael for the boys - although Michael was the only boy in our class but that doesn't mean he didn't receive just as much love... Even more to be honest aha!

Charley wearing the women's hanbok. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK

Michael wearing the men's hanbok. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK

Once the demonstrations were completed, we all headed off to pick our hanboks. The group who worn last week's contest (where we had to perform Arirang as a group, the best performance was awarded first choice of the hanboks the following week) headed up to pick their hanboks. Then the rest of us went to collect our hanboks and get dressed!

Irena getting ready in her hanbok with Marta assisting her. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Of course we all had to have a photo session with all of the students aha! From selfies to photographer moments, it was a great laugh! -cough- time for a selfie spam -cough-

The previous week, we were all given plain fans to go home and design, so as you can see, me and Jamila decided to design our fans, mine with cherry blossoms with my name written in Hangul, whilst Jamila designed hers with various women in different hanbok styles.

Me and Lisa - Lisa ended up wearing a men's hanbok because they ran out of women hanboks aha!

Me and Kira, also wearing a men's hanbok - but that jawline tho- ahaha

Group selfie, featuring Kira, Drew, Yi-Ling, Lisa and myself!

Natasha, Yi-Ling and myself! Yi-Ling wore a royal robe from the demonstration, but she's gone without her crown and wig in this picture aha! I heard it was quite heavy...

And of course, we did take a couple pictures which show our outfits better!

I'm sure whenever I wear a hanbok I'm usually attempting not to trip over the skirt...

Top row (L-R): Irena and Jamila Bottom row (L-R): Zeinab, Lisa and myself.

After our own individual photo sessions, the staff made us split into two halves and form a catwalk. We each went up and walked the catwalk with our hanboks and as we got to the end, we were made to pose for the camera. For some of us, like myself, we dragged another to walk the catwalk with us aha! I decided to walk with Lisa~

Yass Jamila~~ Slay gurll!! Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

On the other hand... Me and Lisa were in laughing fits that we couldn't even do the catwalk properly... And although this wasn't captured, we ended our catwalk with a straight dab LOL. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

After the catwalks were complete, we proceeded to get individual pictures taken of our hanboks. I'm gonna post my squad's photos ahaha!

I couldn't find a picture for Kira, but this one is on pointe!!! Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Lisa being cute and sending her hearts to you ahahaha. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Tasha wearing her elegant black hanbok~ Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Deciding between two pictures of Drew was a struggle aha! She's looking super cute in this! Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Jamila constantly looking amazing in her hanbok along with her fan~ Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Last but not least, myself~ You can't really see my hanbok properly because I blocked it with my fan like an idiot lmao. Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

Ahahaha although there's quite a few of us caught off guard, this group are such a lovable bunch, this picture pretty much summarises a lot of our characters a lot! Cr. Korean Cultural Centre UK.

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Homework of the Week!

I hope you enjoyed my next blog entry! I'm nearly half-way through my blog series~ Next up, K-Cuisine! Check back soon, to read more~ Thank you for reading!