In an interview with Haps, French stylist Charlie le Mindu of Lady Gaga, human hair clothing and nude runway hat model fame, was less than smitten with the fashion he saw on the streets of Korea during a brief visit in April.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Korean fashion made much of an impression on the designer when he visited the peninsula for the first time. He surmised that it was perhaps “jet lag” or not being in the right part of town.
According to le Mindu he saw, “all the iconic Korean things: temples, towers, weird food, crane-lobster games. But if Korean fashion is what I saw, I will call it non-existing.”
He does, however, share the ROK’s love of plastic surgery:
“I’m a huge fan of plastic surgery! I do remember seeing some beauty salon [in Korea] where they do human placenta injection to look younger. It’s pretty amazing and intense.”
You can read the rest here.
As for me, I am a blue jeans, t-shirt, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” kinda guy myself. I wouldn’t know good fashion from bad, but the MH demographic is no doubt full of fashion connoisseurs who can address Charlie’s claim.
One of his London shows last year featured a nude model drenched in blood and another with head-wear made entirely of dead rodents, so I assume he knows his stuff.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, I just can’t resist….
Without defending Le Mindu, I can say that — as least for Korean dudes — one of the real surprises I had the last time I lived in Seoul was to work with (and snicker at) 20- and 30-something attorneys making mid-six-figures coming to work — and meeting international clients — in their 200,000 won poly-blend suits…right off the rack from some subterranean Seoul tailor shop.
And these guys were still head and shoulders more fashionable than the senior partners!
Still, I have to say, if you have a few extra million won (or two) to splurge, you can’t do much better than Lansmere, in Cheongdam-dong:
http://www.divaasia.com/article/9885
It’s a Samsux/Cheil outfit, but, damn, give ‘em credit where it’s due.
DLB
You had to be here in the 90s if you really wanted to see ‘no fashion’ – for men anyway. Nowadays Korean young people are probably better dressed than their American counterparts, although that may not be saying too much.
le Mindu’s dead rodent suit is really the only way to go if you want to impress your clients. It’s no wonder Koreans have no fashion. A board room without a rodent suit is pitiful indeed.
You’re on to something there. Here in Silicon Valley, a jacket and necktie are practically unheard of. The last time President Obama was in town, he was the only adult in the room!
I know I wear a suit and necktie to work every day, and the jokes just don’t stop.
Hell, even at a night at SF Opera, it’s all open-neck dress-shirts and blazers…not a necktie, suit, or tux to be seen.
DLB
How does a posh man like you survive that hippie town?
Ummm… TMH should not try to comment on fashion. First of all, there are not enough female guest bloggers or commenters on this site and second of all a lot of the commenters here seem to gauge Korea from the lens of the 90′s to early 2000s when its fashion truly sucked.
Ha. I don’t know about posh, but, yeah, SF and especially Berkeley can be a little crazy….and even scuzzy.
But what the hell, I love my state and I love the Bay Area, so taking the good with the bad comes with the territory.
Come to think of it, the same could be said of some former girlfriends. Yowza!
Cheers,
DLB
Koreans are truly good at copying and that’s a compliment. Take Samsung for example. They blatantly copied Apple and are now churning out the hottest Android phones/tablets in the world. It’s the same with fashion. They may not have dressed well a decade ago but I guarantee you they are collectively the best dressed people in Asia today. You can just tell who’s Korean and who’s not in places like NYC & LA by the way they are dressed. And in places like Shanghai it’s not uncommon to see clothing stores displaying large banners that read, “Made in Korea” or “Korean Fashion.”
I’d agree that LA and NYC kyopos are head and shoulders better dressers than their Seoul counterparts, but you are in good company. The Sartorialist seems to have nothing but good things to say about the place:
http://www.thesartorialist.com/photos/on-the-street-dosan-park-seoul-2/
Still, I lived in Seoul in 2007-2008, and return about once a year on business. Some of the younger generation may have cutting edge street fashion, but polyester is still the miracle fabric of choice for most office dudes, from what I can see.
To be fair, though, the expat crowd is a pretty motley bunch as well, so….
DLB
Koreans have really good fashion, actually.
I personally wear more and more Korean designers and it is quite good and makes sense if you aren’t corn-fed. I like all of it except some of the jeans with the washboard wear pattern on the front.
What is not to like about the ‘hot pants’ on the lasses this summer? The problem is, he came in April when coats were still worn.
some of them look like they are dressed in the dark by their permed ski suit wearing grandmothers.if le Mindu is referring to the masses who choose to sport their sunglasses on the subway or at night, or even worse, those who wear lenseless glasses, one has to admire his opinion.
I don’t really have an opinion on Korean fashion but this guy’s toile suit with the fugly shoes are just a big No.
No kidding. The fashion trends in Canada and Australia? To die for!
Have any clue why most North Americans don’t wear business suits? Ever heard about ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit
Can I
afford those million won suits you recommended earlier? Absolutely.
But, I have no use for them
because everyone I work and do business with is dressed casually. Besides, casual is not always cheap. Ever set foot into a Bean Pole store? You can easily spend a million won on jeans, a T-shirt, and a jacket there.
“To be fair, though, the expat crowd is a pretty motley bunch as well, so….”
So says the guy who’s wearing a baseball cap and what looks like Oakley’s in his profile picture.
Absolutely. In fact, the ridiculous cost of “casual” clothing is a never-ending fascination for me. Now, I’m admittedly old-school, and have a weak spot for this relatively trivial area of sartorial concerns, but I should at least mention that a very good friend in my office — the one who gives me the most ribbing for wearing a suit to work every day — himself dresses in $150 Tommy Bahamas. So go figure.
The good news: we both look great!
Cheers,
DLB
Well, my excuse is that I was sailing at the time. Personally, I think baseball caps worn anywhere outside of the world of sport are an abomination.
BTW, if you ever see me wearing one on the streets of Seoul, you have my permission to push me in front of a speeding cab.
Cheers,
DLB
No love for the shiny suits? In order to get to that fabled Emerald City you gotta look like the Tin Man.
I agree that Koreans are very stylish dressers. But it does feel like the ’80s never reached Korea until now.
i.e., douchebag popped collars, the hats that look like Duckie from Pretty in Pink, the Miami Vice jackets…
dl,
I guess the sociological effect of ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’ has escaped you. After the novel was published, men began wearing increasingly casual clothes at work because the novel struck to close to home. I believe someone’s published a book which examines this phenomenon.
Yes, I don’t think a guy who wears his grandmother’s curtains should be giving fashion advice.
For some reason, there seems to be a limit to how far down the Reply
chain Disqus will allow one to go, so I’ll respond to SGIK’s post above
here. Mea culpa, mea culpa.
I actually agree with the whole “Man in the Grey Flannel Suit” thang,
but only to a point. One only has to watch an episode or two of “Mad
Men” to realize that for the all conformity that novel railed against,
something was lost when grown men moved away from adult clothing towards
the permanent undergrad look. Count me among those who think grown-ups
should dress like grown-ups.
And keep in mind that I live and work in a part of the country (Silicon
Valley) where Mark Zuckerburg’s hoodies and flipflops are practically de
rigueur! (The horror, the horror.)
Now, I’m not saying a return to three-piece suits and fedoras is
necessarily a good idea — though I do occasionally sport my own fedora
during winter evenings out, and can be seen in a damn fine Panama during
summer weekends — but please do keep in mind that my interest is
really in the office dude crowd…expat English teachers (an honorable
profession, BTW) can do their own thing, and no doubt will, from what
I’ve seen.
But if, at the end of the day, fashion is kinda trivial, for some reason
it still matters. Or should. Style may not always be substance, but
sometimes it is.
Cheers,
DLB
Don’t forget that Mad Men is a modern, fictionalized account of that era.
As for Mark Zuckerburg’s dress attire…It’s all about image, a very transparent attempt at making his company appear young and hip. It’s nothing new. Remember Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak in the early 80′s or how every internet company during the boom in the late 90′s would have a 21 year-old VP as their spokesperson?
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