Korea's largest hanbok fair blends modern fashion with 120 years of craft
Long before machine looms and mass production arrived in East Asia, a Korean hanbok was built to tell a story through every stitch, from the precise weight of its silk to the gold leaf stamped onto its cuffs. For 120 years, the epicenter of that painstaking labor has been Seoul’s Gwangjang Market, where generations of tailors have quietly kept the craft alive. This week, that living heritage is…
For over a century, Korea's hanbok - national traditional attire - has been meticulously crafted in Seoul's Gwangjang Market. This week, the city's Dongdaemun Design Plaza is hosting the 2026 Hanbok Sangjeom fair to celebrate this heritage. The event, centered around the theme "The Market That Crafts Hanbok," immerses visitors in the historic workshops of Gwangjang Market.
Over four days, 149 vendors showcase the entire process of traditional garment-making. A special pavilion within the fair recreates the historic silk district of Gwangjang Market, allowing visitors to follow the journey of a single hanbok from raw silk selection to the final wearable art piece created by master artisans.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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