Sokgot

Sokgot (속곳) is a collective noun for various types of traditional Korean undergarments. They were worn as part of a hanbok before the import of Western-style underwear. Women usually wore several layers of undergarments, the more layers they had the richer they were.^[1] Undergarments were considered very important, thus it happened that the quality and material of the underwear was better than that of the visible outer layers.^[2]

There were several types of sokgot: underskirts were generally named sokchima (속치마), while underpants were referred to as sokbaji (속바지). Under a jeogori, sokjeoksam (속적삼) and sokjeogori (속저고리) were worn.^[2]

A clothing item similar in function to today's panties was called dari sokgot (다리속곳), which was a wide band of cloth pulled through in between the legs and tied with ribbons at the waist, forming a shape similar to the Japanese fundoshi. Above this came the lowest layer of underskirts, called soksokgot (속속곳). One of these layers was a mujigi chima (무지기치마), which itself was sewn of several layers at knee-length, its function was to give shape and volume to the chima, raising it. Above this a daesyum chima (대슘치마) was added. Noble women also wore a noreunbaji (너른바지), a kind of additional underpants.^[3]

Male undergarments were significantly simpler, under the pants a pair of sokgoui (속고의), underpants^[4] were worn, while jeoksam (적삼) came under the jeogori in winter, and was worn on its own in summer.^[5][6]

• Photo of a sokjeoksam
• Photo of a soksokgot
• Photo of a mujigi chima
• Photo of a daesyum chima