The King of Joseon Dynasty Comes to New York
On October 3rd, I had the pleasure of attending the King of Joseon in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accompanying me was Gael Towey, Chief Creative and Editorial Director at MSLO. It was a celebration of traditional Korean cuisine and culture, focusing on the Joseon dynasty that spanned five centuries.
The evening benefitted the Every Woman Every Child effort that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon heads. The program aims on saving the lives of woman and children around the world, by providing education, healthcare, and improved living conditions for those in need. The evening consisted of a traditional fan dance by National Dance Company and then a walk of costumes designed by Hye-soon Kim. It was then followed by the King's Dinner, an elaborate multi-course meal featuring traditional cuisine eaten by the royal court, created by Bok Ryo Han and Hye Soon Kim.
1 The evening began with a performance by the National Company for Traditional Dance in the Great Hall.
2 Buchae Chum (the fan dance) is a traditional Korean dance, believe to have originated from shamans performing rituals with large palm leaves.
3 Council General of the Republic of Korea of NY Young Mok Kim gave the opening remarks.
4 I'm sitting with Sung Andersen, who is on the board of directors at Boston University and is a friend of Gael Towey.
5 Then began the Royal Walk, a display of Korean dress including ceremonial robes, military uniforms, and haute couture.
6 This type of attire is called hanbok, which literally means "Korean clothing." The term tends to be used when specifically referring to clothing of the Joseon Dynasty.
7 Hwarot is a gown worn by royal women for ceremonies or commoners for weddings.
8 Traditional hanbok for women consists of jeogaori, or a blouse, and chima, a long full skirt.
9 Fashion early on during the Joseon dynasty typically consisted or a fitted jeogari and a very full chima.
10 The fabrics looked quite luxurious as many of them were patterned silks or tulles. The full skirts had beautiful movement.
11 Large pleats are also characteristic of this period.
12 Large wigs called gache were worn by women of high society.
13 The way hair was braided or knotted told others of your marital status. Both men and women wore long braids until they marry. Married women roll their hair into a ball shape at the nape of their neck and pinned with a binyeo for decoration.
14 The Royal Walk was quite an artful display.
15 Hye-soon Kim designed the costumes. She is the Director of Korea Costume Science Foundation, as well as Korea's leading Korean Historic Royal Court Costume Designer.
16 The media was in full force throughout the evening.
17 We then moved to the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is an Eqyptian temple and made a beautiful setting for the evening's festivities.
18 Another view of the Temple of Dendur
19 A row of the models wearing ceremonial dress.
20 Bright colors were traditionally reserved for children and royalty, as commoners were restricted to white for daily wear.
21 Gael Towey and husband Stephen Doyle attended with me.
22 I loved the intricate hair braiding.
23 Nayoung Kim stopped to adjust what looks like a heavy wig!
24 Ornate hair picks called dwikkoji decorated the models' hair.
25 One of the first courses was Daeha Jjim(king prawn) and samsek milsam(tricolor wrap pancakes). Delicious!
26 The pattern on this bottle was lovely.
27 And fabulous wine.
28 The dessert table was a work of art.
29 Beautiful flower centerpieces interspersed the food.
30 Some of the bases of the centerpieces were made from naval oranges, which are native to Korea.
31 Dessert was an array of traditional sweets and cookies, called hangwa.
32 Hangwa refers fruits and vegetables that have been preserved with sugar.
33 It also includes sweets made from rice, flour, honey and sesame oil and are often tinted bright colors from natural dyes.
34 Each tower had different textures, colors, and flavors.
35 So colorful!
36 During dinner, models wearing full ceremonial dress from the Royal Walk sat in front of the dessert display.
37 The detail on their headpieces was stunning.
38 They lead us in a toast.
39 Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon gave his remarks during the dinner.
40 He spoke in great detail about his program, Every Woman Every Child.
41 Sitting at my table was Amy H. Lee, one of the last royal princesses. The dynasty she was born into ended in 1910.
42 I also sat with Kim Won-soo, Deputy Chief de Cabinet and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General.
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Martha, pictures #04 and #42 are good ones of you. I like your jacket.
The costumes and the food are beautiful.
I find it kind of funny that a Korean Celebration partially took place in an Egypian Temple, but it was all very interesting.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | October 14th, 2011 at 12:27 am
Martha you looked so fresh! And what a wonderful evening!
Posted by: Chris | October 14th, 2011 at 1:50 am
Thanx for photos. Love to learn about metropolitan museum and Korea.
Posted by: ann | October 14th, 2011 at 3:32 am
Good morning Martha, beautiful event and entertainment love the presentation of the sweets. Wish you a wonderful weekend. xo
Would love to share with you some of my cakes http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwjmdyF
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | October 14th, 2011 at 5:26 am
They are so beautiful !!
Posted by: Kimiko | October 14th, 2011 at 7:10 am
What a beautiful, meaningful event at the museum. The photos are wonderful; wish I could have been there to support this cause. Looking forward to getting back to New York and visiting the museum next year.
Posted by: Lisa Ernst | October 14th, 2011 at 8:29 am
What an interesting and beautiful evening. Some friends of ours just attended a wedding where the bride wore the traditional dress/costume...it was red. I loved the costumes you saw...a wonderful peek into the gracious culture.
Posted by: rosemary | October 14th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Hi Martha, What a terrific event headed by Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General to save the lives of women and children all over the world! I recall seeing your tweets and twitpics about it and your blog post is absolutely beautiful! You look fantastic and so does Gael Towey!! These photos are so beautiful with all of the amazing colors, hair, costumes, and clothing that the people wore in those performances! I'm sure the dinner was great because the food, sake, wine, and desserts look so delicious! The centerpieces were beautiful! My favorite photos were #4,17,21,&42-stunning!!!! Loved your TV Show again yesterday! So great that you have your audience members involved in crafting, cooking, etc.! Off to see The Daily Wag with G.K., Show Dog! Hope you have a great day and a terrific weekend! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | October 14th, 2011 at 10:20 am
Martha, thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | October 14th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Hi Martha,
The colorful costumes were gorgeous and the food presentation was equally impressive. Thanks for sharing - I've been over on youtube looking at videos of this last dynasty. It was sad to see how the last queen was killed. You certainly do attend some very interesting and thought provoking events! Trish
Posted by: Trish | October 14th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Hi, Martha,
Oh, my goodness! So very stunning! Thank you also for the URL to Every Woman Every Child. That's the sort of charitable organization I wish to support.
Thank you!
Posted by: Bobbie | October 14th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
How beautiful and interesting Martha! Thank you
Posted by: Brian Deniz | October 16th, 2011 at 11:52 am