• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2002

This article is to study the ancient Korean make-up based on ancient men's and women's facial decoration. The adornment is mainly about make-up, but I didn't employ make-up in this article on the ground that it isn't an appropriate concept in men's case. The study on the ancient Korean make-up has been conducted on the basis of Goguryeo mural paintings excavated in the tombs. Contrary to the Baekje and the Silla Kingdoms, Goguryeo women's make-up carne to fashion like China. The Goguryeo mural paintings depicted women's make-up which painted their faces white and lined on the eyebrows to make them raise toward their foreheads after removing their own eyebrows. They outlined their mouths smaller than their own and, in some occasions, applied make-up differently on the upper lip and the lower lip. As the time passed by, women applied the blusher, which attests to the fact that make-up of those days was considerably developed. Unlike women, men didn't put on cosmetics but they grew beard as a symbol of adults. The beard had a diversity in shape such as goat-shaped and fan-shaped beards. It can be understood that women's make-up was applied as a manifestation of adults like men's growing beards.