This research explores the cultural significance behind the popularity of hanbok, examining how fans express cultural identity, gender, and nationality through sartorial fandom. By analyzing Koreanified Disney Princesses and non-Korean “hanbok princesses” on social media, this study shows how performers from different nationalities use hanbok to express fan interests, materialize affective affinities, fashion transcultural selves, and envision a cosmopolitan Korea. In Disneyland, Korean fans enact “cultural Disneybounding,” creating a fannish self-brand while promoting Korean culture in transnational fan settings. In contrast, hanbok princesses, primarily non-Korean tourists, use hanbok to leverage fan identities and actualize transcultural selves. They also participate in repositioning hanbok in global fashion trends while reaffirming Orientalist logics that feminize and Other Korean culture. By analyzing online discourse, this article considers how sartorial practices help navigate intersecting identities and fan affiliations, revealing the dual processes of reorienting and re-Orientalizing in sartorial fandoms.
AffusoEScottS (eds) (2023) Sartorial Fandom: Fashion, Beauty Culture, and Identity. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
2.
BareitherC (2023) Content-as-practice. In: CostaELangePGHaynesN, et al. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology. London and New York: Routledge, 171–181.
3.
blovelyy_b (2024) ນາງສາວ ງອອນ on Instagram: ‘Throwback to the Time I Felt like a Princess in This Gorgeous Hanbok #hanbok #hanbokkorea #gyeongbokgungpalace #seoul #hanbokphotoshoot #hanbokrental #daehanhanbok #laosgirl,’ December 27. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEFXSVIOnmg/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
4.
BrockNA (2017) The everyday Disney side: Disneybounding and casual cosplay. Journal of Fandom Studies5(3): 301–315.
5.
ChinBMorimotoL (2013) Towards a theory of transnational fandom. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies10(1): 92–108.
6.
ChunKH (2023) Reconstruction of memory and reinterpretation of tradition at royal palaces in Seoul. Korea Journal63(1): 208–242.
7.
claramaure (2021) C L A R A on Instagram: ‘So How Does One Go about Signing up to Play in a Historical Kdrama so Hanbok Can Become Daily Wear?’. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVuikHcBwRp/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
8.
claramaure (2024) C L A R A on Instagram: ‘When We Played Korean Princess for the Day …,’ January 19. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2SBNLJKL4c/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
9.
DadadaTV (2023) 디즈니 100주년! 디즈니 프린세스 한복 만들어 입고, LA 디즈니랜드 가기 (Disney’s 100th Anniversary! Create and Wear Disney Princess Hanbok and Go to Disneyland LA). YouTube, June 30. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_vGj4Gk7MI&t=704 s (accessed 11 January 2025).
10.
DuaraP (1993) De-constructing the Chinese nation. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs30: 1–26.
11.
itsmeshy08 (2024) Shy QV-Macuse on Instagram: ‘In My Princess Hours Era 🇰🇷🇶🏻 #korea #hanbok #travel,’ December 27. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEFQOPEyjKx/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
12.
JenkinsHWilsonTWangY, et al. (2024) Notes on transcultural fandom, imaginary homelands, and sartorial fan practices. Asian Communication Research21: 322–330.
13.
joanne.cwc (2024) Joanne Chan on Instagram: ‘In a Hanbok, I Feel the Whispers of History and the Power of a Princess #seoul #gyeongbukgong #hanbok,’ December 30. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DENeaqAB0bZ/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
14.
JonesCLeshkowichAM (2003) Introduction: The globalization of Asian dress: Re-orienting fashion or re-orientalizing Asia? In: NiessenSLeshkowichAJonesC (eds) Re-orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress. Oxford, UK New York: Berg, 1–48.
15.
kellavisuals (2024) Kella Visuals on Instagram: ‘공주님 . . . #gyeongbokgungpalace #southkorea #korea #seoul #blacktravelgo,’ October 17. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBOFusoSpKj/ (accessed 14 January 2025).
16.
KimJHJungMHChoiHJ (2021) Popular culture influences on national image and tourism behavioural intention: An exploratory study. Journal of Psychology in Africa31(4): 390–399.
17.
KingE (2016) Tailored translations—translating and transporting cosplay costumes across texts, cultures, and dimensions. Signata: Annales des Sémiotiques/Annals of Semiotics7: 361–376.
18.
kittymarsrn (2024) Disney Pwincess #seoul #hanbok. Tiktok, April 24. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@kittymarsrn/video/7361117744458255634?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7405395595526424107 (accessed 14 January 2025).
19.
KwakHEKimJHKimSY, et al. (2019) Korean Dance performance influences on prospective tourist cultural products consumption and behaviour intention. Journal of Psychology in Africa29(3): 230–236.
LunningF (2022a) Cosplay: The Fictional Mode of Existence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
23.
LunningF (2022b) Cosplay: A surexistence of multiple modes of fictional existences. Mechademia15(1): 54–78.
24.
McCarthyW (2019) ‘Meet me on main street’: Disneyland as place attachment for Southern Californians. Tourism Geographies21(4): 586–612.
25.
MonceriF (2019) Beyond universality: Rethinking transculturality and the transcultural self. Journal of Multicultural Discourses14(1): 78–91.
26.
NiessenSLeshkowichAJonesC (eds) (2003) Re-orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress. Oxford, UK New York: Berg.
27.
RuhlenR (2003) Korean alternations: Nationalism, social consciousness, and “traditional” clothing. In: NiessenSLeshkowichAJonesC (eds) Re-orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress. Oxford. UK New York: Berg, 117–137.
28.
SAIDA (2020) (eng)엘사 한복을 본 진짜 디즈니 프린세스들의 반응은? When I met my favorite Disney princes DDSAIDA. YouTube, April 6. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzqYSR4XDtM&t=36 s (accessed 11 January 2025).
29.
SAIDA (2022) 디즈니랜드에서 직접 만든 한복을 입었을 때 벌어지는 일들 (What happens when you wear a DIY handmade hanbok at Disneyland). Youtube, July 27. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT7_4MZ8mIE&t=294 s (accessed 11 January 2025).
30.
SantoA (2017) Fans and merchandise. In: ClickMAScottS (eds) The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom, 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 329–336.
31.
SatinskyEGreenDN (2016) Negotiating identities in the furry fandom through costuming. Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion3(2): 107–123.
32.
SeoJHKimB (2020) The ‘Hallyu’ phenomenon: Utilizing tourism destination as product placement in K-POP culture. Tourism Economics26(4): 719–728.
33.
WilliamsR (2020) Theme Park Fandom: Spatial Transmedia, Materiality and Participatory Cultures. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
34.
WilliamsR (2023) Disneybounding and beyond: Fandom, cosplay, and embodiment in themed spaces. In: AffusoEScottS (eds) Sartorial Fandom: Fashion, Beauty Culture. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 205–218.
35.
YouTube (n.d.) Kdrama Dhara - YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/@KdramaDhara (accessed 13 January 2025).
36.
노영은, 류웅재 (2020) 유튜브 콘텐츠에 재현된 온라인 공간에서의 민족주의 - ‘외국인 리액션’ 콘텐츠를 중심으로 (The spread of nationalism in the online space represented in YouTube - focused on ‘foreigner reaction’ contents). The Journal of Image and Cultural Contents20: 7–38.
37.
박소영 (2019) 방탄소년단 정국, 생활한복 직접 구매..해외팬까지 정국 효과 (JungKok from BTS, buying daily-dressed hanbok directly… the idol effect also influences fans outside Korea). Osen, November 19. Available at: https://www.osen.co.kr/article/G1111263891 (accessed 13 January 2025).
38.
이녕 (2022) 디즈니랜드에 한복 입고가면 벌어지는 일들 (Things That Happen When You Wear Hanbok at Disneyland). YouTube, October 11. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgWjZwFQczk&t=215 s (accessed 11 January 2025).
ງອອນ 
on Instagram: ‘Throwback to the Time I Felt like a Princess in This Gorgeous Hanbok 
#hanbok #hanbokkorea #gyeongbokgungpalace #seoul #hanbokphotoshoot #hanbokrental #daehanhanbok #laosgirl,’ December 27. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEFXSVIOnmg/ (accessed 14 January 2025)
on Instagram: ‘So How Does One Go about Signing up to Play in a Historical Kdrama so Hanbok Can Become Daily Wear?’. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVuikHcBwRp/ (accessed 14 January 2025)
on Instagram: ‘When We Played Korean Princess for the Day 
…,’ January 19. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2SBNLJKL4c/ (accessed 14 January 2025)
#seoul #gyeongbukgong #hanbok,’ December 30. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DENeaqAB0bZ/ (accessed 14 January 2025)
#seoul #hanbok. Tiktok, April 24. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@kittymarsrn/video/7361117744458255634?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7405395595526424107 (accessed 14 January 2025)