Paper short abstract:

Following the story of a Korean maker of clothing and movements, practising relational creativity through collective clothes making and wearing since the 1980s, this paper explores how East Asian values of symbiosis and flow are enacted through reimagining traditional attire amid ecological crisis.

Paper long abstract:

Radical systematic transformation might begin from quotidian practices, such as putting on another type of clothing. South Korea’s democratisation movements against authoritarian military dictatorship in the 1980s, included not only protesters marching through the streets but also wearing a casual adaptation of traditional Korean garments. A group of college students started a movement that suggests an alternative way of everyday living based on traditional beliefs such as symbiosis and flow. Through practising traditional music, fermenting food, designing traditional clothes and reviving folktales, they have recalibrated relations between humans and the cosmos. Amongst the diverse activities, wearing traditional clothing has been widely accepted by fellow citizens. Symbiosis and flow were donned on bodies across Seoul. Collective clothes making became the work of hope and a way of thinking differently about the future and its possibilities. Reimagining traditional attire continues nowadays in diverse contexts even in the digital realm. Some still aim to generate hope to respond to the ecological crisis by making and wearing traditional Korean garments. Following the sequence of seasons, garments are crafted in relation to more-than-humans such as the blowing wind whilst the structure of the dress affects the inner energy flow. The air flows and circulates through the garment, just like how the human body flows with nature and the universe. East Asian way of understanding the body as a microcosmos is translated through the structure of the garment as well as traditional dyeing and fastening methods, sensually transforming the wearer and their worlds.