BTS and NewJeans promote traditional Korean culture to the world

At the special exhibition room on the second floor of the National Palace Museum of Korea in Jongno district (Seoul), foreign tourists continuously took pictures with exclamations before a “Hwarot” robe displayed with topic “Wrathful Hwarot, the wedding outfit of a noble woman in the Joseon Dynasty”.

“Hwarot” is considered the “royal wedding dress of the Joseon Dynasty” sewn in the early twentieth century with many diverse motifs such as lotus flowers, peonies, phoenixes, herons, and butterflies embroidered on dark red silk, to wish good luck. for the young couple to live happily ever after.

According to the museum, this Hwarot was donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1939 by art collector Bella Mayberry and was conserved with the support of RM, leader of the popular K-pop group. pop Bulletproof Youth Union (BTS). RM (real name: Kim Nam-joon) donated 100 million won (74,300 USD) to the Overseas Cultural Heritage Fund to restore the original Hwarot. After the restoration process, this outfit was put on public display for the first time at an exhibition in Seoul, attracting more than 130,000 visitors within a month, including about 8,000 foreigners from many different backgrounds. different nationalities.

Over the years, K-pop artists have regularly brought traditional Korean costumes to the global stage, such as BTS wearing hanbok to perform the song “Idol” in front of the Geunjeong Hall in Gyeongbok Palace. Phuc), girl group Blackpink wore a jeogori shirt in the MV “How You Like That”, or Jang Won-young wore a phoenix-shaped brooch at a fashion event in France.

Besides costumes, girl group NewJeans introduced the outstanding beauty of Hanji, a traditional Korean paper, in a video by the Korean Institute of Handicrafts and Design (KCDF) in early January. year. The girls shared highlights such as the outstanding durability of Hanji paper, and then directly experienced making this traditional paper to preserve national intangible cultural assets. The video has attracted 160,000 views on YouTube, filled with comments thanking NewJeans for making traditional Korean paper known.