Would you dare to go to Hongdae for a night out wearing the traditional Korean costume, hanbok? Or would you be willing to wear hanbok as everyday apparels like jeans? Here’s a young Korean designer who dares to do all of the above, promoting the beautiful Korean traditional costume all over the world. Hf met the author of I go to Hongdae in Hanbok, the 28-year-old modern hanbok designer and CEO of Sonjjang Designer Hanbok, Hwang Leesle (황이슬).

你敢在弘大夜蒲時穿傳統韓服嗎？你敢把韓服當成牛仔褲般每天穿著嗎？這位年輕的韓國設計師敢，她還希望把傳統韓服推廣至全世界呢！Hf 早前遇上了《我在弘大穿韓服》的作者，亦是現代韓服店 Songjjang 的 28歲年輕設計師兼 CEO Hwang Leesle（Leesle 的意思解露水）。

It All Began With Ggong

Born in Jeonju, one of the most traditional cities in Korea, designer Hwang Leesle stepped into the hanbok industry when she was 20 years old. As of now, she has become the leading icon in the industry with 8 years of experience. She fell in love with hanbok when she saw the popular Korean comic Ggong. She made a personalized hanbok out of the comic series and tried it out at her university’s festival. Soon, she was a hanbok entrepreneur designing, making and selling hanboks and organizing hanbok fashion shows.

Hwang Leesle 生於韓國古城全州市，20歲時踏入韓服工業，到目前為止已經擁有8年經驗，在行是內數一數二的人物。早年前名為《宮》的漫畫在韓國大行其道，她亦從此愛上韓服。她參考漫畫中的角色造型，自己動手製作韓服，並於大學時期舉行的節日慶典中穿上。不久，她便成為了一個韓服企業家，包辦韓服設計、製作和售賣，並舉行韓服時裝秀。

As Easy As Jeans

As a young entrepreneur, she made use of the Internet and targeted young people through social media channels. She opened up her website, blog and Facebook page to lure the twenties into the hanbok market, which traditionally consisted of the elderly. She uploaded pictures of herself wearing hanbok casually, hoping that one day people will regard hanbok as daily apparel as easy to try on as jeans.

傳統的韓服市場主攻老人家，作為一位年輕的創業者，Hwang Leesle 善用了網誌、Facebook 等社交網絡開拓年輕市場，喚起二十來歲消費者對韓服的關注。她把自己穿上悠閒韓服的照片上載至網上，希望終有一天穿韓服能夠成為穿牛仔褲一樣容易。

Therefore, she actually used cotton or denim materials to get close to modern apparel and lower the risk factors some young generations might have on choosing hanboks to wear. A stereotype that hanboks are expensive and hard to try does not apply at her shop. She focuses on minimizing the traditional details and instead makes simple hanboks at affordable prices.

因此，她運用了棉質和牛仔布料製作韓服，讓韓服更貼近日常衣著，提升韓服對於年青人的吸引力。在她的店鋪裡，沒有所謂「昂貴」和「難穿」兩個字，她簡化了傳統韓服上的細節，致力製作簡單易穿、讓年青人也能夠負擔的起的現代韓服。

What to Consider in Hanbok Design

When asked for what she considers the most important in hanbok design, Hwang answered she cares the most about TPO (Time, Place and Occasion). ‘It is important to design hanbok according to the customer’s age, status and occasion,’ she said. ‘Hanbok has to be designed carefully to fit the occasion to boost manners, look classy and formal.’

當被問到製作韓服時最重要的考慮是甚麼時，Hwang Leesle 表示最關心的是TPO，即時間、地點和場合。「設計韓服時最重要的是能夠對應顧客的年紀、身份地位和場合。」她說道，「韓服必須要設計得合乎場合才能讓穿衣服的人顯得有禮貌、優雅和端莊。」

Tips for Wearing Hanbok

Hanbok is one form of clothing, so you need to choose the color that fits you the most. If your complexion is more of a yellow tone, avoid yellow Jjegori, and go for bolder colors such as red and blue instead. If you have darker skin, muted colors such as wine red and navy go well. Fair skins go along well with any color.

韓服也是衣服的一種，因此也要選最適合自己的顏色。膚色偏黃者要避免穿黃色的 저고리（即韓服上衣），應選擇紅色或藍色；膚色較深的人則要選擇偏暗啞的顏色如酒紅和軍藍；膚色白皙的穿甚麼顏色也好看。

Just like any other clothes, hanbok can be worn to fit your body shape. If you’re short, you can appear taller by wearing the jjegori short and the skirt long. If you are busty, you can cover up your chest by choosing a long jjegori.

跟其他衣服一樣，穿韓服也要根據身型選擇適合自己的。個子小的可以利用上短下長的掩眼法拉高身高，上身較豐滿的可以穿較長的 저고리 平衡一下。

Hanbok in the Global Stage

Apart from domestic orders, Sonjjang gets most orders from the U.S., Australia, Europe and South East Asia. Most of the overseas orders are placed due to the high population of the Asian communities in each country. Overseas customers’ interests are wide, ranging from traditional hanbok to modern fusion hanbok. Oriental hanbok is popular among SE Asia customers because they get inspired from watching Korean historic TV shows. Royal dynasty themed hanbok such as the king’s and scholar’s hanbok are favored.

除了本地訂單之外，Sonjjang 的大部份訂單來自美國、澳洲、歐洲和東南亞的亞洲社區，海外市場口味較廣，傳統與現代韓服均有人喜歡。受到韓劇的熱潮所影響，傳統韓服在東南亞地區特別受歡迎，尤其是劇中皇帝和書生的造型。

For more information, please check out her related pages:
如欲了解更多，歡迎瀏覽：

Homepage: leesle.com
Website (overseas): sonjjang-hanbok.com
Blog: blog.naver.com/ys871220
Instagram: ys871220

Photo courtesy of Sonjjang

INTERVIEW & TEXT: JISU J
CHINESE TRANSLATION: FLORIELLE