Fashion in Korea - round 2

This week I took my camera to school with me and let my kids play with it. Some of the resulting pictures will be scattered throughout this post. Right now i'm in a fantastic mood. It's beautiful outside. The Mavs won game 2 of the NBA finals with an epic comeback (I yelled so loud I scared the kids in next classroom when they won). I'm done with classes for the week. And even better, this Monday is the Korean Memorial day. I'm going to use the 3 days off to explore a bit more of peninsula. Pictures will follow.

Now i'm going to fulfill a request I got last week and write a little more about fashion here. Clothing choices here are an odd mix of conservative and risqué but always stylish. People dress well here. Men rarely wear shorts and almost always wear suits to work. A button down shirt, slacks, a vest and a tie is a casual dress day for a Korean man. Even after work, button down shirts and nicer shoes are the rule rather than the exception. Women are a bit the opposite. While men never show their legs, women wear micro skirts and tiny shorts all the time. High heels are standard. And though women aren't bother by leaving their legs completely uncovered, to reveal any shoulders or cleavage is downright scandalous. This results in the odd site of a man in business semi-formal attire walking arm in arm with a woman in an expensive dress with very high heels and full jewelry. This might not sound out of the ordinary until you saw them turn into Burger King for dinner.


This also means that i nearly always wear a polo when going out. Though my inner athlete and my love of comfort still have me in t-shirts and basketball shorts every now and again.

Haircuts here are also somewhat more interesting than expected. Since nearly everyone has the same basic black, straight hair variety is achieved with hairgel and dyes. Men opt for one of four haircuts most commonly. The bowl, the random parts sticking up, the military or the longer shaggy look. Examples of each are provided.

The bowl


The military


The Shaggy


The random parts sticking up

Women tend towards either the bob or the classic long and straight. The interesting part is when they decide to dye it. Almost the only color i've seen used is a cross between blonde and orange. It's ..... interesting. Brown, red and normal blonde are rarely seen. See below.

The bob


The long


The strange color