Since its much-anticipated debut in late March, “Pachinko,” based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, has captivated viewers with its gripping story of one Korean family through four generations. While “Pachinko” is a work of fiction, the Apple TV+ series – like the book – effortlessly weaves historical authenticity into the lives of its fictional characters. In fact, authenticity was the “bedrock” of the show, as Soo Hugh, the creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer, has frequently spoken about maintaining the historical accuracy of Korea throughout the 1900s. Hugh captures the era through the characters, the beautiful sets, the vivid food, and of course, the clothing.
In only five months, costume designer Kyunghwa Chae procured all of the period garments of “Pachinko,” about 80 percent of which were custom-made. Others were discovered from vintage shops in Japan and France. While Chae has been a regular on Korean film sets for the past two decades, “Pachinko” was her first US-based project, a feat she didn’t take lightly. “Since I was the only Korean amongst a primarily foreign staff team, I felt a great sense of responsibility to play my part in the authenticity [of the show],” Chae tells POPSUGAR ahead of the season one finale, which aired on April 29.
The costumer “completely fell in love” with the original novel, and after a single meeting with Hugh, she wanted in on the project. As historical truth was key for Hugh, Chae and her team consulted historians and professors and pored over books, photographs, and photo albums that belonged to people who had lived during the early 20th century.
Ahead, Chae walks POPSUGAR through what came of the tireless research, the evolution of the hanbok, navigating various time periods in three different countries, and more.
Apple / Juhan Noh
The Making of the Hanbok
While hanboks are known to most as colorful, traditional Korean dress often worn for special occasions, the mostly custom hanboks we see in “Pachinko” are relaxed, worn-in, and of soft, light hues.
“This traditional garment really captures the story and the identity of the Korean people,” Chae says. “The hanbok may seem similar across different time periods, but actually, there is quite a subtle difference in the jeogori (the hanbok top), blouse, skirt, and goreum (the ribbon used to tie the blouse). In these small details, we wanted to make sure everything was accurate, so we received very thorough advice from our historians and our advisors.”
She adds, “During the Japanese colonial rule, we were known to wear and love the colour white; Koreans are known as ‘the people of white clothes.’ The basic concept inspiration for the wardrobe started from white, which also symbolizes the people of Yeongdo’s resistance to the Japanese. I wanted to make sure the clothing fabric was of soft colour tones, like a watercolour kind of vibe. The colour of Sunja’s purple jeogori is similar to shade of the mugunghwa, Korea’s national flower. This is significantly different from those flashy, shiny clothes and hanboks that you would see in other previous period dramas that feature the royal family.”
Apple / Juhan Noh
The Importance of Fabrics
“Washing our clothes is a very important part of our [Korean] culture. As you can see in “Pachinko,” many characters wash their clothes at the streams. I wanted to make sure the fabric looked to be washed many times and worn out, so it would look as if it had been worn by these people for a long time.”
She continues, “Even if the characters were living in the same time period, let’s say the ’30s, I wanted to show how some people were really fashion leaders trying to catch up with the trendiest fashion, whereas other people would wear clothes that were really worn out from the ’20s. Yangjin, Sunja’s mother, wouldn’t have been able to afford those trendy clothes. She would wear costumes of the past.”
Apple / Robert Falconer
Sunja's Journey to Japan Through Clothing
In episodes four and five, Sunja embarks on her travels from her small village in Korea to Osaka, Japan, and her journey is also told through her clothing. “When she boards the boat to Osaka, she wears the durumagi (a hanbok overcoat) and then when she arrives, there’s that great shift to a Western-style wardrobe.”
The blue durumagi also happens to be Chae’s favourite garment. “I remember when we first made it and Sunja (Minha Kim) tried it on, everybody was really blown away. I adore the scene where Yangjin gifts that durumagi to her daughter. It means more than simply a costume – it symbolises a mother’s love. As we were working on these clothes, of course, making them historically authentic was important, but I tried harder to make sure the wardrobe would embody something more than that, like a mother’s love or the solidarity of a family and so forth. Just like Yangjin’s serving of white rice to her daughter and her newlywed husband symbolizes her love, the blue durumagi also carried a lot of significance.”
Apple / Robert Falconer
“When Sunja was young, living in Korea, she had very loving parents and a happy life, although they weren’t well-off. In that regard, I wanted to use very warm colour tones like peach and pink colours as the main inspiration for her clothes. But after she moved to Japan, I shifted to cold colours like blue shades since she had departed from those times of love and had begun to face a harsh reality.”
Chae adds, “We were also aware that in this time, there were certain Korean people who were wearing Western clothes, but average Korean people would’ve worn hanbok. So we started off primarily with hanbok and after Sunja moved to Japan, we wanted to show her wardrobe change gradually as she got used to life in Japan more and more. Her fashion items would change item by item. We thought about where would she have gotten these clothes, and we concluded that those cardigans and the Western items would’ve come from Kyunghee’s wardrobe.”
Apple / Robert Falconer
The Difference Between Hansu and Isak's Suits
“For hanbok, we had to triple check to make sure everything was correct by referencing YouTube clips, books, and more. However, for men’s suits, there were more pictures and references to go off of. I wanted to make Hansu feel like plastic, kind of artificial, amongst that natural landscape of Yeongdo.”
On the other hand, she continues, “If you look at Isak’s clothes, his shirt’s collar is more of a round shape, which was popular and in fashion in the 1920s. His clothes are a little bit more outdated and there was no shine at all. Whereas for Hansu’s clothes, we would use a lot of silk and make sure they were very shiny. Hansu was emanating more of a rigid, artificial vibe and Isak gave off a soft, organic, natural vibe that would blend in more naturally with the hanbok that the people of Yeongdo were wearing.”
Kyunghwa Chae via Twitter
The Biggest Challenge
“Rather than wrestling over a specific piece of clothing, I think the fact that we were short on time was the challenging part. We had to make a lot of costumes within a short span of time, so everything was very difficult as I tried hard to choose the right color and fabric that I had in my mind.”
