Fashion industry slave? Or cost conscious....
So, the past few weeks have been slightly more expensive for me than normal, for a number of reasons. First, since I've come to the realization that I've been here for just about one year, I've concluded that with all of the money I have, I really should be dressing better than wearing my faded old navy "special and discounted" bluejeans. That and I hadn't really bought any new tops except a foray into the internet shopping phenomenon at ae.com (which I add, would have saved me a lot if the stupid customs officials hadn't charged me 55,000 Won on my 160,000 Won purchase- it turned a rather cheap 175.00 shopping trip for six articles of clothing into a rather expensive 230.00 clothing trip...)
South Koreans I've come to understand have this attitude (and others can feel free to correct me) that if you aren't the best at something, you may as well look good doing it - so essentially, make up for your lack of expertise by dressing much more expensive than you can realistically afford. This rule, by nature, means that you end up with a society of nice looking people wearing fashionable clothes. It just means that for people like me who were never born with a shopping gene in their body, nearly faint when, going to a jean shop, discovers that the pair of jeans he's holding are 151,000 Won, or 165 Canadian. Now, I won't lie, my decision to buy the jeans was encouraged by the very cute store clerk who knew enough English to tell me that I really looked good in them (Cripes, I should look good in anything that costs me that much) However, my wallet was still stinging when I was told to expect this when shopping for good clothing. (that may be, but when you're shopping at a dept store, and you don't recognize a single fashion label in the store, how in the world do you know if they're a legitimate store, or just a front for a couple of Chinese sweatshops selling something else other than their brand. I probably don't want to know) So I wore the jeans last week, and I got a lot of compliments, even a scary one from my boss when she stopped mid-sentence in a conversation with a parent to compliment me on my nice new jeans (strange, but not bad)
The other thing that I recently bought was a casual jacket, to be work with pretty much any colour pants that I want. Now, I think its clear by now that I'm no fashion guru - (you should know me better if you disagree with that statement) my fashion sense consists of glances from the first people I run into that I know - if they show one of those hesitating glances, then its off, and I'm already changing something so that they can't say, hesitantly, "Uh, what a nice matching set that you've done..." So this Sunday, when I went shopping with two of my good friends, I was more than snoggered when I saw that the suit jacket that I was interested in was 310,000 Won - really now, who sets the market prices for this stuff. Sure, again, I won't lie, two women's opinions that it really looked good helped lesson the pain of spending that much money, however, maybe I'm in for a rude awakening when I get back home, and realize that prices have either changed a lot since I've been gone, or I've been buying poor quality clothing all my life, and it took a year in South Korea to realize it.
Well, needlessly to say, I'm becoming more Korean. My friends have commented on it already. Apparently, I think like I a Korean, because I've stopped looking for the logical response to everything, and I've just come up with the most unexpected answer possible, and then gone with it (if there was logical thinking in this country, nobody would pay 310,000, 151,000 and 60,000 for three articles of clothing - they'd be nuts) So I guess with that train of thinking, I'm the idiot. If that's so, then far be it from me to change. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
Well, aside from my fashion junket, things are going good. The weathers starting to turn to spring, and just when we adjust to it, we'll get dumped with snow. School's going good, and my forays into the gym 6 days a week are going good. I hope and pray that all things are going well with each of you - take care, and I'll catch you all later
me
South Koreans I've come to understand have this attitude (and others can feel free to correct me) that if you aren't the best at something, you may as well look good doing it - so essentially, make up for your lack of expertise by dressing much more expensive than you can realistically afford. This rule, by nature, means that you end up with a society of nice looking people wearing fashionable clothes. It just means that for people like me who were never born with a shopping gene in their body, nearly faint when, going to a jean shop, discovers that the pair of jeans he's holding are 151,000 Won, or 165 Canadian. Now, I won't lie, my decision to buy the jeans was encouraged by the very cute store clerk who knew enough English to tell me that I really looked good in them (Cripes, I should look good in anything that costs me that much) However, my wallet was still stinging when I was told to expect this when shopping for good clothing. (that may be, but when you're shopping at a dept store, and you don't recognize a single fashion label in the store, how in the world do you know if they're a legitimate store, or just a front for a couple of Chinese sweatshops selling something else other than their brand. I probably don't want to know) So I wore the jeans last week, and I got a lot of compliments, even a scary one from my boss when she stopped mid-sentence in a conversation with a parent to compliment me on my nice new jeans (strange, but not bad)
The other thing that I recently bought was a casual jacket, to be work with pretty much any colour pants that I want. Now, I think its clear by now that I'm no fashion guru - (you should know me better if you disagree with that statement) my fashion sense consists of glances from the first people I run into that I know - if they show one of those hesitating glances, then its off, and I'm already changing something so that they can't say, hesitantly, "Uh, what a nice matching set that you've done..." So this Sunday, when I went shopping with two of my good friends, I was more than snoggered when I saw that the suit jacket that I was interested in was 310,000 Won - really now, who sets the market prices for this stuff. Sure, again, I won't lie, two women's opinions that it really looked good helped lesson the pain of spending that much money, however, maybe I'm in for a rude awakening when I get back home, and realize that prices have either changed a lot since I've been gone, or I've been buying poor quality clothing all my life, and it took a year in South Korea to realize it.
Well, needlessly to say, I'm becoming more Korean. My friends have commented on it already. Apparently, I think like I a Korean, because I've stopped looking for the logical response to everything, and I've just come up with the most unexpected answer possible, and then gone with it (if there was logical thinking in this country, nobody would pay 310,000, 151,000 and 60,000 for three articles of clothing - they'd be nuts) So I guess with that train of thinking, I'm the idiot. If that's so, then far be it from me to change. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
Well, aside from my fashion junket, things are going good. The weathers starting to turn to spring, and just when we adjust to it, we'll get dumped with snow. School's going good, and my forays into the gym 6 days a week are going good. I hope and pray that all things are going well with each of you - take care, and I'll catch you all later
me