This has been on my bucket list for a while! Something about the Korean culture just absolutely fascinates me and I’m always wanting to learn more about it. 🇰🇷
A Hanbok is a traditional style of clothing worn by Koreans dating back to the Gogoreyo period (37BC-688AD) but the present day hanbok pertains more to the Joeseon dynasty (1392-1897)
Hanboks were traditionally worn by royalty and nobility. (Hence why I probably wanted to wear one if you know my background with Disney 👑 ) so this blog post is dedicated to renting one in Seoul! Here we gorrrrr….
In Seoul, you’re gonna wanna take the metro and head to Gyeongbokgung, exit #3. 🚇
Once you exit there will be so many cute side streets filled with places where you can rent a hanbok!
We walked into about 2 or 3 stores until we found one called ‘In Korea Hanbok’ If you’re over 5’8” they have some longer skirts to pick from also!
To start off you’ll pick the skirt, and then someone who works there will help you pick a top.
It can be overwhelming trying to pick a color/design and with so many others there doing the same. But you’ll find one that calls your name! 😆
Once you have one picked out, find an empty locker and put your belongings in there. 🔐
(If you’re set on the store you can put your things in a locker beforehand because it can get a bit crowded in these stores)
What to wear under your hanbok:
If it’s still a bit chilly, like it was when I was there, I had some heat tech tights on which helped. You could easily fit jeans underneath also as the skirt has lots and lots of room! If it’s summertime, shorts will work perfectly.
I showed up wearing a dress which would’ve fit underneath the hanbok but the sleeves of the hanbok were sheer so you could see under.
I would suggest a nude T-shirt of some kind or a camisole👚
Putting the hanbok on is quite easy. It’s only 2 pieces! (3 pieces if you wanna wear a hoop skirt underneath which I do recommend!, it is at an extra cost tho!)
First piece is the skirt. (If you want the hoop, tie that one first tho!!) The skirt looks like overalls so just slide that on and it ties in the back, which an employee can help you with. And then slide on the top, which a nice employee will also help you with! 👍🏼
Once you change into your hanbok you can get your hair done! (At an extra cost for some specific hair accessories) There are a variety of hairstyles and hair accessories to pick from. I got a half up-half down braid and the nice lady put in colored pearls, beads and flowers in. I was definitely feeling like a princess at this point! 👸🏻
We touched up our makeup and picked out some cute little bags/clutches that they had there. We paid and we were off!!
You have the option of 2 hours or 4. We picked 2…and the time definitely flew by!
The palace is right on the next street over so it’s easily walkable. If you’re wearing a hanbok you get into the palace for free! 😎
There will be lots of people once you enter. But head into the back, there are lots of beautiful angles where you can still get lovely shots!
We meant to also go to Bukchon Hankok Village which is a popular area filled with restored traditional Korean style homes…but time escaped us while at the palace.
And the reason WHY time escaped us is because while we were at the palace some photographers came up to us asking if they could take some pictures. We said yes, but that we wanted these pictures also 😆🙈 They took us all around the palace and took some amazing shots! We got really lucky to meet them!
Let’s talk prices….
For 2 hours, I got a ‘special hanbok’ so 20,000, underskirt 4,000won and special hair accessory 5,000won putting me at 29,000won which equals to about US$22ish which isn’t bad!!
This was such a lovely experience! And they have clothes for men also!! I unfortunately didn’t get any footage of any men in their traditional clothes but they had them!
In Korea Hanbok address: 20 Jahamun-ro 2-gil, 사직동 Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Kitty&Co. 