Ornament

Item number Ed1.338 d from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

Public

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Data
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This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Four ribbons in beige, pale green, blue-green, and pale green silk gauze, attached to a tab at the top.

History Of Use

Such decorations were used on bags or pouches worn at the waist and used to carry eyeglasses, the wearer’s wooden identification tag, cigarettes, or other things. Those with floral decorations were used by women.

Specific Techniques

Completely hand-sewn. Elements were sewn inside out and then turned, so that all seams are invisible.

Iconographic Meaning

The floral decorations indicate that these were decorations for a woman’s bag.

Narrative

Most of the clothing in the J. McRee Elrod Collection was made for him and his family by friends while they were living in Korea, much of it by Kim, Sung Sook. She and her family lived cooperatively in the same house as the Elrod family. While they were there, the Elrods preferred to wear Korean clothing on very cold days and for social occasions. They found it to be more comfortable than western clothing in cold weather, as public buildings were unheated in the period immediately following the Korean War. It also was more comfortable for floor seating in Korean homes, and easier to store with limited furniture than western clothing. The children’s clothing was worn by their children Mark and Lona.