10 Things I love most about Korea - Day 9: The Fashion

안녕하세요!!!

I was away for the weekend and unfortunately didn't get the chance to update my blog, so sorry for the delay but here is day 9!

The Fashion

There is actually nothing that really defines Seoul fashion as exclusively Korean, as far as I have seen. This city is one of the most fashionable I have seen, and fashions are actually quite similar to those in Australia. There are, however a few differences!

Just in general, fashion is a bit more outrageous than Sydney. You will see lots of crazy designs and accessories, and people walking around in bazar outfits that to an Australian, don't seem quite right.

Seoul is all about the aesthetics. That's why there are so many shopping districts, so many models, so many giant billboards, so much advertising, so many fashion icons, so many makeup/skin shops, (unfortunately) so many plastic surgeons and SO. MANY. MIRRORS. (Seriously, the amount of mirrors is ridiculous and sometimes they are in the weirdest places, such as in a toilet cubicle so that you can look at yourself whilst you're doing your business - so strange.) So, because of this, you will often be amongst people who are well-dressed and so it is very important that you bring your A-game (regrets, cause I brought with me to Korea the most boring pieces of clothing I own :P).

I will try and sum up the fashion here by pointing out what I have noticed to be the most common trends:

1. University Jackets: This wasn't something that I noticed too much in summer, but now that it is winter, the varsity jackets have been coming out. I am convinced that every student in Seoul owns one, because I see them everywhere. It's kind of cool because the design for these jackets is the same across all the universities, with the only differences being the name of the uni on the back and sometimes the colour. For example, students on my campus will wear one that says 'Sogang Univ.' on the back, and another student on the street might wear a jacket that looks exactly the same, except his will say 'Yonsei Univ.' on the back. So, you can tell who all the students are here! I feel it is definitely the default jacket that students just bring with them on cold days, because these days, everyone is wearing them. They are very warm, which is a bonus!!
   
   The jackets are personalised further by having a different colour design for every major (I'm not sure if this is how it works at other universities but at Sogang, this is the case). For example, the students who are Business majors will have a maroon colour, with 'Sogang Univ. School of Business' written on the back, whereas Economics majors will have a navy blue colour, with 'School of Economics' written on the back. For every major, there is a different colour. Students are also able to add a customised name to the sleeve of the jackets, and each jacket also has the school's logo on it.

   

   Dankook Univ. Jacket

   
   

   

   Hanyang Univ. Jacket

   
   

   

   Korea Univ. Jacket. You can make out the different logos on the sleeves.

   
   

   

   Sogang Univ. Jacket

   
   

   

   Yonsei Univ. Jacket

2. Short skirts: I don't know why, but Korean girls seem to crave the very short skirts. They are often circle skirts as well, so one gust of wind and it is game over. In Korea, it is inappropriate to show your shoulders or your chest, but okay to show your legs and midriff. So there is lots of that going on.
   
   What baffles my mind is that it is now winter, and girls are still wearing these skirts! And you have to understand that the Seoul winter so far is unlike anything I have experienced in Sydney. It is SO cold. So I just stare in awe and disbelief at girls who choose to wear the short skirts. Sometimes, they pair the skirts with really warm, fluffy jackets, which confuses me even more.
   
   I have tried to find some generic pictures on the internet of the kind of thing I am talking about, because I felt like it was weird for me to take pictures of women's legs for the sake of this blog:
   
   

   

   Walking up and down stairs in this skirt would be a definite nono.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   If you come to Seoul, please do not give in to this temptation. It is not worth the awkwardness when that gust of wind comes.

   
   
   
3. Oversized jumpers with random words on them: I will never understand how they come up with some of the words to put on these jumpers. In the first few weeks, I just kept asking, 'why?!!?!' But now I have come to accept that it's 'just fashion'. It 'doesn't have to mean anything' (worst). I am a massive fan of the over-sized jumpers. They are comfortable and modest. Take a look at some of these examples:
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Masks: I really don't understand this one. I think it's because Korean air has been known to be quite polluted and so people don't want to get sick, but I think it is also just a fashion piece a lot of the time as well:
   
   
   
   
   
5. Joggers: Whatever you want to call them (sneakers, tackies, runners etc), they are everywhere here. Koreans wear them with any style of clothing. I have seen even the most classy suited-up gentlemen wearing pairs of joggers. Some of them are plain, others in outrageous colours, and some really over-worn and old-looking. I can't quite understand why, but it is definitely a thing here. It's confusing, because I know that Koreans care so much about clothes and their appearance. But then I will see these well-dressed men in a pair of old tackies and I will be like, 'why?! Genuinely why?!' It's as if the feet don't count. I mean, it's kind of clever and I am cool with it because it means walking is easy and comfortable, but I just don't know how it started.
   
6. Cartoon prints: Cartoon prints are very common, and I crave it. I am a massive fan of cartoon prints, so this is definitely my place. The most common prints you will see are Disney, Marvel and Looney Toons. I am okay with all three of them.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Those weird skirts that look like jackets tied around your waist: I'm not sure how I feel about these, but yeah. They're a thing.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Snapbacks: This is last because I love these things and I am SO happy that I am in a country where it is acceptable to wear them without looking like a try-hard. I think they look great on most people and there are so many different options here. Everywhere you go, you will see snapbacks for sale. Some are only $5, and others are $100. I usually cannot handle shopping because I always see snapbacks that I want and the designs here are SO. FLIPPING. COOL. I have six new snapbacks and I will leave behind some of my precious clothes if I have to, in order to bring them back with me to Australia. Either that or I will wear a multi-layered snapback on the plane ;) Snapbacks are common in most places, and are worn by people of all ages.

   

   This is a common print in Korea. You can find it on shirts, pants, hats, accessories and a lot of K-Pop stars wear this design in music videos.

   
   

   

   I saw this hat once and had regrets for not buying it on the spot.

   
   
   
   
   

   

   A less-outrageous design.

   
   
   
   
   

   

   These are often what snapback-stalls look like. Stalls like this will typically sell snapbacks for anywhere between $5-$20 

   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   A shot of Girls Generation (the most well-known K-Pop group worldwide) donning some awesome snapbacks.

So there you have it: All I could find time to write about before heading to my class at 7pm tonight. In general, I really enjoy Korean fashion. However, I do not enjoy Korean shopping because there are NO CHANGE-ROOMS ANYWHERE. But more on that later. Here is a picture of a couple of street shops in Hongdae:

Hongdae has some awesome street shops, and I have definitely been there for shopping more than anywhere. You can see on the racks here a lot of things which I have written about above!

Here is a brief list of things you WON'T see in Korea:

1. Ugg Boots
2. Singlets of any kind (unless you're looking at someone who's in the gym). NO WIFE-BEATERS thank goodness.
3. Thongs (this one seems strange but I definitely haven't seen any so far. I am still not convinced though, so I will keep on the look-out).

Thank you, as always, for reading!

Signed in Seoul,
Kristin

Kristin is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

10 things I love most about Korea - Day 8: The Couple Culture

So, for the last few days I have been swamped with study for mid-terms (why I would choose to commit to this blog series during mid-term week is beyond me), but now I am back with Day 8! And what I will write about is possibly one of the main elements by which Korean culture can be defined:

The Couple Culture

Couples. are. everywhere. My friends and I constantly feel like certain things in Seoul are designed only for couples. Indeed, almost everywhere you go, you can identify a feature of a place that is specifically there for the sake of couples.

Walking down the street is an interesting experience, because at any time of the day, you will see boy and girl, hand in hand. There are so many couples. Everyone is paired off, and at some places in particular, you feel like an outsider purely because you are alone (the term 'forever alone' has been thrown around here more times than I care to admit). It's almost unfortunate to be single, because there are so many more things that you can experience if you are part of a couple.

A classic example of this is the Namsan Seoul Tower. It is the tallest tower in Seoul and has a beautiful view of the city. However, it is most famous for its 'love locks':

Couples all over Korea go to Namsan to pledge their eternal love for one another. They do this in the form of padlocks, which are symbolic of their 'eternal love'. There are so many of these love locks, and most of them contain photos, messages and names. The idea is very romantic, and also very cute. I find it very cute that some of these love locks are also in the form of random things, such as phone cases, paper, and even this sock:

As you can see, the variety is quite large, and some of these padlocks have been locked to the tower for years (you can see that the older ones are rusty, underneath the new ones). I hope that these relationships have endured! ^^

On most of these padlocks are written romantic, cheesy messages, but there are some locks which are related to family as well, which I think is lovely. The love lock on the right in the above photograph is even related to a cat, for whatever reason. 

Someone had fun here.

Another super cheesy (to the point of being humorous) feature of the Namsan Tower is the heart-shaped seats, which dip in the middle, to allow couples to get closer together:

These heart-shaped seats are also covered with multiple hand-written love messages, perhaps for those couples who were not equipped with padlocks. It seems kind of silly to us Australians, because I cannot think of any place in Sydney that is even remotely close to this, but in Korea, it's really just standard. If you visit Korea as a couple, at some stage you will get sucked into the romance and end up at Namsan, pledging your love eternally. Probably in matching outfits.

That's another thing here. Matching outfits. It is such a common thing. Koreans like to express their love openly and it's almost as if it's a competition between each couple about who can turn the most heads when they walk down the streets. Matching outfits are a means by which each party can 'mark their territory', because a man/woman in a matching outfit is definitely off the market.

A classic example of matching outfits.

You will see a lot of school students in matching outfits (which typically consist of a matching pattern or a matching colour). Sometimes, everything matches: from accessories down to shoes. Other times, it will just be a hoodie or just a single accessory. Regardless, it's cute and considered extremely normal here.

On the topic of matching things, another common expression of romantic love here in Korea is matching couple rings. These range in price, so that all sorts of couples can afford them, but the more serious couples opt for rings as expensive as $200 (each). Couple rings serve the same purpose as promise rings, sort of like, 'we will be together forever'. This confused the heck out of me when I first came to Korea because THEY WEAR THE RINGS ON THEIR WEDDING FINGERS. So when I first came to Korea, I saw all these wedding-looking rings on my Korean friends' fingers and I was like, WHY!? WHY IS EVERYONE MARRIED HERE?! Especially because I know that in Korean culture, it is very uncommon to get married young.

Finally, I asked one of my friends and he explained the whole couple ring thing. I was like, 'cute'. 

There are many kinds of couple rings. These ones are a thick band with an engraved message.

Sometimes, couple ring designs can be quite cheesy, such as the ones pictured below:

It's all very... Korean drama. :p

Aside from these obvious external expressions of love, in general there are just many things in Korea which seem to scream, "we love couples! Please be romantic and make every foreigner feel uncomfortable!" At the cinema, for example, there are the standard couple seats that you might find in Australia:

But even outside the cinema, in the waiting lobby, there are couple seats. And in restaurants, there are couple seats. I even walked past a bar the other day, with a sign that said, "free drink if you're a couple!" Sometimes, it's really cute, but other times, there seems to be a unified groan amongst the foreigners. I don't mind it at all, and I can appreciate it because even though there are so many couples, who wear matching outfits (which some might describe as 'lame', 'unnecessary' or 'sickening'), they are rarely inappropriate in terms of their public displays of affection. I have only seen maybe three (random) couples kiss openly during my entire stay in Seoul. It is refreshing, and an example of how vastly different their culture is from ours.

Common couple activities in Seoul include:

• Going to the movies
• Going to a sauna together
• Travelling to different cities
• Going to the beach
• Going to theme parks such as Lotte World/Everland
• Going to Karaoke
• Pledging their love
• Sitting on their phones in cafes
• Studying together
• Drinking beer
• Dancing in clubs
• Going shopping (apparently Korean males have a lot more patience shopping with their girlfriends... Although this doesn't surprise me, given how fashion-crazy Seoul is).
• Going to touristy places/places with amazing views
• Apparently just walking the streets

...So, kind of similar to Syndey. The main difference is that couples tend to hang out alone. I haven't really seen many couples in large groups. It's all about the romance. It will either be boy and girl alone, or boy with a large group of boy friends/girl with a large group of girl friends. Couples are very exclusive, and for this reason, it is also weird for a girl to have close guy friends if she is in a relationship (and visa versa).

I have not finished analysing the couples here in Seoul. Perhaps I will add to this post later. Regardless, its couple culture is a defining feature of Seoul, and I kind of enjoy it, because there is a lot of happiness in the air.

Until (hopefully) tomorrow!

Signed in Seoul,

Kristin

Kristin is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade