Jul
21
In any busy metropolitan city you’re going to find fashionistas for sure, but I was really unprepared for the fashion norm here in Seoul. The more time I spend here though, I’m starting to really understand it, well parts of it at least. Hisung said they like to imitate New York style. I’m not sure exactly how New York it is, because I haven’t been there in a while, but some of it seems more easy going than New York. There’s a lot of layers and very loose fitting clothing. A lot of it is cotton or linen. Skinny jeans or leggings are the norm here, with shirts that are very loose fitting and comfortable looking, and long enough to be dresses, or maybe they are dresses….hmmm… There’s also a lot of those.
Women here seriously dress up. They also wear a lot of really short shorts and short skirts. I dubbed a certain move the girls have as they walk up the stairs in their too-short skirts. It's called, the Butt Bag. If one's skirt is so short that any normal person can see underwear up it when walking up the stairs, one must cover one's bum with a giant purse or bag. It's seriously funny to watch. Especially if a group of girls all together have short skirts on. They grab on to their bags with both hands and squish them up against their butts and waddle up the stairs. So I say, "Look! There's some butt baggers!" or..."They're totally butt baggin' it." I wish I could get a picture of them doing it. It's too funny. I took some other pictures in the subway though, so you can see.
A lot of people wear skinny jeans, even the guys. And honestly, sometimes I have a hard time telling some of the guys apart from the girls. They’re even skinnier than these super skinny women! So anyway, back to jeans…they must not be too hot to wear, because it’s so hot and humid here I couldn’t imagine wearing jeans all the time. The other day I wore jeans in the morning because the humidity wasn’t too bad and it felt fine, but as the day went on, it got more and more humid, and REALLY hot. My jeans were sticking to me all over, and I just wanted out of them as fast as possible. At one point I was so miserable that stripping in public was not entirely out of the question. Also, I was wearing tennis shoes and socks. I thought it would be comfortable since we were going to do a lot of walking. However! It was the exact opposite. My feet were so hot and sticky in my shoes that I really just wanted to go barefoot as fast as possible.
That brings me to another point. The women here don’t wear tennis shoes. It must be unheard of. I can count on one hand the number of women I’ve seen in anything even remotely resembling a tennis shoe. The most I saw were at night after 9:30. Maybe it’s because they are going to and from work, so they all dress up a little more, but I don’t think that’s it. Everyone wears high heels, flip flops, or ballet flats, and they all look really girly. Every once in a while you’ll see someone who’s not, but surely they must be the rebels. Here's a shot of some shoes, this is a group of some of the most comfortable looking shoes I've seen on people's feet.
Women here seriously dress up. They also wear a lot of really short shorts and short skirts. I dubbed a certain move the girls have as they walk up the stairs in their too-short skirts. It's called, the Butt Bag. If one's skirt is so short that any normal person can see underwear up it when walking up the stairs, one must cover one's bum with a giant purse or bag. It's seriously funny to watch. Especially if a group of girls all together have short skirts on. They grab on to their bags with both hands and squish them up against their butts and waddle up the stairs. So I say, "Look! There's some butt baggers!" or..."They're totally butt baggin' it." I wish I could get a picture of them doing it. It's too funny. I took some other pictures in the subway though, so you can see.
A lot of people wear skinny jeans, even the guys. And honestly, sometimes I have a hard time telling some of the guys apart from the girls. They’re even skinnier than these super skinny women! So anyway, back to jeans…they must not be too hot to wear, because it’s so hot and humid here I couldn’t imagine wearing jeans all the time. The other day I wore jeans in the morning because the humidity wasn’t too bad and it felt fine, but as the day went on, it got more and more humid, and REALLY hot. My jeans were sticking to me all over, and I just wanted out of them as fast as possible. At one point I was so miserable that stripping in public was not entirely out of the question. Also, I was wearing tennis shoes and socks. I thought it would be comfortable since we were going to do a lot of walking. However! It was the exact opposite. My feet were so hot and sticky in my shoes that I really just wanted to go barefoot as fast as possible.
That brings me to another point. The women here don’t wear tennis shoes. It must be unheard of. I can count on one hand the number of women I’ve seen in anything even remotely resembling a tennis shoe. The most I saw were at night after 9:30. Maybe it’s because they are going to and from work, so they all dress up a little more, but I don’t think that’s it. Everyone wears high heels, flip flops, or ballet flats, and they all look really girly. Every once in a while you’ll see someone who’s not, but surely they must be the rebels. Here's a shot of some shoes, this is a group of some of the most comfortable looking shoes I've seen on people's feet.
High heels are definitely the most popular shoe here, and I honestly don't know how these women walk as much and as far as they do in such enormous heels. I would be a cripple by now for sure. Here's a good example, and look at the toes.
See that polish? I've seen it all over the place. They paint their first toe and leave the rest blank. I've never seen it before, and it looks odd to me. Also here, you can find all kinds of crazy colors on people's nails.
As for me though, I can totally see why they wear some of what they do. First off, dresses and skirts are amazing. I can’t even tell you how awful I felt in jeans, and how cool and lovely it felt to wear a skirt. My feet too, even though there’s not that much support in flip flops, they feel so much better with the air circulating around them than cramped in the hot little sauna ovens also known as my tennis shoes.
After we got back to the apartment from wearing jeans I immediately shuffled through all my clothes to find something else I could wear. I came across something I almost didn’t pack. It’s a long black jersey skirt and I figured out I could wear it as a dress if I pulled it up. The waist part is really long, it’s gathered at the sides, and the seam goes below the bustline, so it’s really perfect. If I wear it as a dress it’s about tea length on me. So I put a couple of black tank tops underneath it and I got some cheapo black leggings at the subway that gather at the bottom and they’re cute. You can’t really see them when I wear the skirt as a dress, but just in case, for when I go up the stairs. I thought they might be hot at first, but when I put them on I realized the fabric is really light and it wicks away the stickiness so your legs stay cool. All of a sudden I feel like I should buy about 10 pairs of these babies and get a bunch of flowy dresses and or skirts. Haha! I didn’t get any pictures of me in this the other night, but I’m going to wear it again soon.
Oh, and another p.s. I forgot my hair straightener at Aunt Barbara’s house, and my hair is going seriously wild in this humidity. I keep trying to get my bangs to stay straight to no avail. They curl up and I look like I’m about 12. So I’ve been wearing my hair either up and braided, in a Gibson tuck, or down and wavy. That way my bangs don’t look so weird. The other day I got a hair straightener though, so I tried it out yesterday and holy cow! It worked so well. My bangs weren't even the slightest bit curly all day. This sucker's powerful!
I'm going to try to take more pics of the people and the fashion here. I am only just starting to get comfortable taking pictures of people on the street. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb already, so everyone's already looking at me. And I've gotten more than a few stares when I whip out my GIGANTOR camera. I'll take some more though, look for more soon!
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