Sseugaechima

headpiece skirt) is a kind of headwear that noble Korean women used during the middle and end of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) to cover their faces.

They were called mongsu (Korean: 몽수; Hanja: 蒙首) at the time and were passed down from the Sui and Tang dynasties; they were mostly worn by noble women as luxury items.

During the Joseon Dynasty, Confucian ideals, such as the division of the classes and sexes, became more influential and had an impact on everyday life.

Therefore, in order not to see each other, different types of face-covering headpieces for women were developed including the jang-ot, sseugaechima, and neoul.

The process to make and wear the sseugaechima was easier than that of the neoul, a face covering worn by upper-class women.

[3] Women put the sseugaechimas on their heads so that the waistline aligned with their faces and the skirt part covered their hair.

In the late Joseon Dynasty, society changed to a more male-oriented one, lowering the ranks of women to strengthen the Confucian ethical ideology.

By making only the women wear different face coverings, society reinforced a male-dominated concept and reflected a relationship similar to that of a master and servant.

Compared to the neoul and jang-ot, the sseugaechima was easier to make and wear, and as the social rank division started to blur with time, it became more widely used.