Fashion

I've been commuting to work in Seoul lately, which makes for a long day but some fantastic people watching.  I never get tired of watching the fashion here.  Even Andrew enjoys watching what people wear.  It's been said that since Korea is such a tiny country, what is "in" catches on with the whole population very quickly (much quicker than the U.S./Europe) so it becomes mainstream instantly and the fashionistas move right on to the next thing.  I could never dream of being fashionable in the States, so doing it here in Korea is comical.... And some of their trends are comical in my opinion.

One is shown in the picture here: jean shorts with black tights.  Works with a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers or with a lacy sweater and high heels apparently.  While it seems practical for this semi-Fall weather we've been having, I just can't get excited about the look.  Last winter I saw a lot of dressy wool shorts with tights and that made much more sense to me, but the jean shorts.... hmmmm.  In fact, I don't know if I saw any Koreans wearing jean shorts at all (without tights) this summer.

So I got onto Google Images to find a picture to use on this blog, and who was the first person who popped up modeling this trend? Katie Holmes!  And I saw more Americans and Europeans than Koreans sporting the look.... (Full disclosure, the woman in the photo is from Tokyo actually.)

Guess I'm even more fashion challenged than I thought!  I can't even successfully pick out a ridiculous trend that's unique to Korea.

Some of my other "favorite" Korean fashion trends:

• Jean shorts with black tights, but the shorts are so short that the line for the control top hose shows.
• Eyeglasses with no lenses, only rims.
• Men in suits made of fabric with a very noticeable sheen; we call them shiny suits.
• Men's ties in pastel colors with a ton of rhinestones on them.  Very bedazzled!
• The more lacy and frilly and floral a woman's clothes are, the better.  I'd hate to be a tomboy here!
• Disney characters, especially Mickey Mouse, on everything adult.
• Couples wearing matching outfits.