Comme des Garcons.

Yesterday I visited the Japanese brand Comme des Garcons...

...which has a 7-floor flagship store in Seoul... not far from my house...in 한강진 Hangangjin...

Comme des Garcons is a brand that appears to challenge conventional notions of design and beauty...

(Photo Source: www.blogs.varsity.co.uk)

...Comme des Garcons most controversial collection may have been their 1997 collection, entitled 'Lumps and Bumps' (indeed an interesting and rather literal title right there...);

(Photo Source: www.blogs.varsity.co.uk)

The name, 'Comme des Garcons' means something like 'as a boy', in French...

...which may perhaps hint at a more...boyish aesthetic... 

(Photo Source: www.fashion.telegraph.co.uk)

(Photo Source: www.vogue.com)

Its not uncommon for Japanese designers to bend what are considered to be 'standardized' principles of beauty in the European design realm...

(Photo Source: www.vogue.com)

The Comme des Garcons store in Seoul is like a huge concept store... (although these days the term 'concept store' sounds super contrived and annoying...)

...and it has about 6 separate design areas... each with different themes and design mediums/collaborations...

Comme des Garcons (oddly?) has a continuing collaboration with The Beatles...

... (or more specifically, The Beatles franchise)...Comme des Garcons also did a collaboration with North Face...

(...North Face is too popular in Korea...)

One of the most visible images of Comme des Garcons is the heart with eyes... as seen here;

The interesting point that attracts tourists in Seoul to the Comme des Garcons concept store is the fact that it is designed to look like some kind of cave or crazy maze...

And a theme that seems to run throughout the entire store seems to be 'DOTS DOTS DOTS'...

...as seen on the outside of the store...

In the interior...

From the street the store looks like this...;

...(with a tour bus out front...하하)

So there are pretty much no stairs in the entire building...

...you have to wind your way around the maze to get from the bottom to the top...

(or...from the top to the bottom...as you can take an elevator up to the top...)

There is a cafe on the bottom floor...

(I want to go back for delicious treats...if anyone lives in the area ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ)

I like the fact that the store mixes homewares/outerwear/daily wear/collaboration/cake without really losing the plot...

...even though the brand has more than one big-name designer (Rei Kawakubo-founder/owner, Junya Watanabe-womens/menswear designer)

I am totally aware of the fact that Japanese design and Korean design are completely different and I rarely see an overlap between the two...

...as Japanese designers seem to deconstruct European designs, or go in the complete opposite direction to reinvent the wheel... (see above 'Lumps and Bumps'...)

I feel like Korean designers are more influenced by New York fashion...

Comme des Garcons: 한강진역, 739-1 Hannam-Dong Yongsan-Gu

Assimilation.

One of the issues that I battle with internally in Korea is the idea of whether or not I am supposed to 'assimilate' and 'integrate' fully into Korean culture...

...or remain on the outside of society as a 'minority'...

In Korea, foreigners have to use Korean language in daily life to interact with others (unless they live on a US military base)...

... and they must abide by certain Korean customs (to an extent)...

However... as much as the Korean government tries to create incentives to try and push foreigners to integrate more successfully into Korean culture...

...there seems to be quite a lot of Chinese, American and other foreigner groups who live in Korea...

...who still predominantly speak in Mandarin or American-English, without ever quite fully 'integrating' into Korean society and customs...

As part of the tiny tiny tiny Australian minority in Seoul...

I think it is possibly easier for me to take steps towards some level of 'integration' in Korea as there is NO such 'Australia-town' in Seoul with any Australian products or services...

(whatever those might be...)

...the Daerim 대림 area in Seoul seems to be the designated 'China Town' region...(although officially there is no 'Chinatown' in Seoul as the Korean government is slightly hostile towards Chinese...)

...there is also an 'America-town' area in the Itaewon/Yongsan region where the American military bases are located...

In Australia...

... more than 98% of Australian residents are immigrants, or descendants of immigrants. 

The native Aboriginal Australians make up less than 2% of the overall population. 

I find it really odd that the Australian government asks new immigrants to adopt 'Australian values' ...

...since the concept of 'Australian values' seems fairly vague and even Australians cannot successfully identify what an 'Australian value' might be...

In contrast to this... Korea does have A VERY STRICT VALUES SYSTEM...

...and there is no way of getting around this...

...In Korea, younger Koreans must respect older Koreans...and women should generally respect their husbands...

...and education and family are very very important to Koreans...as opposed to personal enjoyment and individualism..

I find that sitting between Eastern values and Western values is rather tricky at times because while I want to submit to Korean 'group-culture', I find that I feel stubborn on a number of points...

...for example, the right to NOT get married, and the right to NOT have children...which are individualistic thoughts that are generally frowned upon in Korea...

Sex Tourism.

I visited Bangkok last year with the (now ex) Korean boyfriend...

It was my first time in Thailand...

...and even though my younger brother loves scuba diving in Thailand and has visited a few times...

I have generally avoided Thailand because I feel uncomfortable about a few issues...

Firstly...

... I am generally under the impression that a lot of Australians (or Europeans, or Americans, or Japanese) go to Thailand to drink too much and go to clubs and to enjoy sexual services.

Am I being too judgmental?

Secondly...

I feel that these 'activities' compounded leads me to believe that most tourists don't generally visit Thailand to;

a) interact with Thai culture

b) learn about Thai customs, OR

c) understand the history of Thailand

I am aware of the fact that a lot of honeymooners and couples travel to Thailand to enjoy beaches and food etc...

...but the part that bothered me seriously in Thailand was the fact that every couple that I saw in my Bangkok Hotel was compromised of ...

...one obese 50 years (or over) white man with a seemingly 19-year-old Thai woman.

Even though I cannot fully interpret the nature of their 'relationship'... somehow this made me depressed...

These large white men peered over at me suspiciously...

...as if they were offended by a white woman having an Asian boyfriend...

...while I was more offended by the fact that they seemed somewhat disrespectful of Thai women and Thai culture in general...

I know I am oversimplifying this sex tourism issue a lot...

... and I know I am absolutely stereotyping what is going on between old European Grandpas and young Thai students...

but...

I do have negative feeling about foreigners engaging in sex tourism in general...

because;

a) Travellers must respect the traditions and the residents of the countries they visit...

AND

b) Negotiating paid sex which is not necessarily consensul and is possibly with minors/children does NOT constitute 'respecting traditions or respecting the nation's residents' (as mentioned in 'a')...

The reason why I thought about this issue again recently was because I was introduced to some foreign businessmen last week who came to Seoul for a weekend...

...they were under the impression that Seoul was similar to Bangkok...

...and they asked if they could find 'cheap pussy' in the streets of Seoul...

I was startled (and offended) by this comment because I know that many foreign businessmen like to generalize about how 'all Asian cities are the same'.

I find this incredibly irritating...

...as Seoul is different to Shanghai, which is different to Hong Kong, which is different to Manila, which is different to Bangkok...and so on and so on...

So just to make this clear...;

...if you a foreign business person in Seoul...

Seoul is NOT the place for sex tourism...(nor should such an industry exist in any country...*in an ideal world*)

...and foreigners need to adjust their attitudes when travelling to Korea for business...

...as Korea and all countries in Asia are very very different...

(...it is also very insulting that so many foreigners appear to have clearly absurd and severely misguided opinions about Asian women...)

Fusion Hanbok.

Last week I decided to try and make a new hanbok 저고리...

I was asked to write about the modernization of hanbok a month ago...

...but I really wasn't sure about how to approach the topic...

... as hanbok in its present state is very artistic and it expresses Korean historical developments and gender roles...

...so fully modernizing Korean traditional dress looks almost sinful...

Why mess with something that has been successfully utilized for more than 500 years of Korean history?

While aware of that point...

I decided to play around with some hanboks...

Mindful of the fact that the hanbok is a key part of Korean traditions and it is a big part of Korean weddings and other Korean ceremonies...

...there are a couple of things that I would like to closely consider when wearing MY OWN HANBOK...

I deconstructed the 저고리 (top) from the hanbok below;

To consider creating a 'fusion hanbok'...

... I didn't want to diminish the fact that the hanbok essentially expresses modesty...

...at least to the extent that hanbok should NOT convey sexuality...

(nevermind the Gisaeng...I will try to explore the Gisaeng hanbok in the near future...)

However...

...shortening the hanbok may be useful on a purely practical level...

One thing that stops present-day Koreans from wearing hanbok on the subway is the fact that the hanbok 치마 skirt is SO HUGE...

...you literally have to pick up the 치마 skirt to walk up and down stairs, and you have to make sure it doesn't get caught in any doors...

For this reason...

I decided to pair the 저고리 top with business pants...

Because...

a) this is a functional decision and movement is maximized

b) the role of women in Korea has changed dramatically over the past 50 years... so pants seems like a logical progression for a 'fusion hanbok' (at least from my feminist point of view)...

With regards to materials...

I decided to cut up a Dalmation-print vest that I found in my wardrobe...

I have a LOT OF STUFF around the house that I don't really need...

...so I sat in the painting room and sewed the panels into one of my hanbok 저고리 in under 2 hours...

I like using mixed media...

...and I also considered options for making the hanbok warmer since it is still quite cold in Seoul at the moment...



Winter hanboks often utilize fur vests...

...but I decided to go one step further and sew the (*fake*) dalmation fur directly onto the silk hanbok...

My favorite colors are yellow and green...

...so I always try to incorporate something yellow or green into costumes/traditional dress...

...as I believe that yellow and green are lucky colors (not because they are 'Australian colors')

...so I also used the same hanbok tassel (whose traditional Korean name is eluding me right now ㅠ.ㅠ) from an old hanbok...

A lot of hanboks traditionally feature rusty or nature-inspired colors...

...as hanbok silk is dyed using organic pigment dyes...

...but I decided to integrate animal prints into the hanbok...because I love patterns...and I also love Cruella;

(Photo Source: www.velvetcigarette.com)

The result is something that is functional which is still representative of Korean traditional dress...

...but it also demonstrates that hanbok can be utilized by non-Koreans who are curious about Korean customs...