I made some noble attempts to do some clothing shopping this week and figured out my Korean pant and shoe sizes. Both of them are really difficult to find and are also uncertain. The maximum for pants is usually 30, and for shoes 250. If you find anything in those sizes they’re usually some hideous and cheaply produced style because they don’t want to waste resources on the nicer designs if nobody’s going to buy them.
The sizes don’t always mean consistency, either. One pair of 30 pants can be too tiny and another way too large, and most places don’t let you try on their clothes. I re-visited Namdaemun market after I had done some traveling around and realized that other districts are selling the same things in their fancy stores for double or triple the prices (sometimes even more), so I went back there and bought some jeans for ten dollars!! Some stuff is so affordable here.
I haven’t had the confidence to ask random people on the street and subway whether or not I can take their picture when I see remarkable fashion so I’m not ready to try and describe fashion inSeoul. Women are all extremely fashionable even if there is a range of style and most if it is easy to swallow because it has such a Western/European influence.
Men’s fashion is a whole new story though and when I try to imagine any guy in the US wearing the things guys wear here, they’d truly stand out. It makes no difference here of course. The clothing is frequently very feminine in style and color and you see couples all over the place and think from behind that it’s two girls walking together, but it’s not the case. You know how your mind kind of categorizes people subconsciously and when someone breaks your expectations your brain gets jarred a little bit? Anyway sometime I will try to get some pictures and explain what I’m talking about.
