Overview
A jeogori is a short jacket with set-in sleeves, a curved white collar-band (dongjeong), and a long ribbon (otgoreum) tied at the breast rather than buttons. The woman’s jeogori is very short, ending at the underarm; the man’s is longer and looser.
How it is worn
It is wrapped left panel over right and held only by the tied ribbon, worn over an inner top and above the skirt or trousers, with the white collar-band framing the face. The set of the ribbon and the curve of the sleeve were points of care and fashion.
History
The jeogori descends from the ancient jacket seen in Goguryeo murals, but its proportions changed sharply over the Joseon dynasty, the woman’s version shrinking to a tiny bodice by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It remains the core piece of the hanbok today.