Seoul, Land of the Black Winter Coat – Part 1

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Why Does Everyone Wear the Same Colors Here?

I had a lot of fashion observations after my first visit to Seoul last summer, and I wrote some over on The Face Book for my handful of Friends after I returned.

I wrote about how there seemed to be a specific national color palette in terms of what everyone wears here, and this puzzled me no end. It was hot summer, and everyone wore some version of black, white, and beige. I documented this in photographs, just randomly taking pictures.

And in every direction, at any given time, people wore beige, white, and/or black. There were occasional appearances of garments in other hues, but these were definite outliers. It was predominantly black, white, and/or beige.

There was Black with White, White with Black, Black with Black, White with White, and Black or White with Electric Beige.

Sure there are blue jeans. But summer is supposed to be an explosion of brights, neons, florals — but not in Seoul. It gets very hot in Seoul in the summer, and still people were going about their business in head-to-toe summer black.

I started noticing that entire clothing shops were full of black, white, and/or beige clothes. Occasionally another color might show up. But I was not sure anyone was buying them.

It was like there was a national mandate that these were the colors people wore!

Where on earth had this come from? So: I investigated. And now I can expand my sartorial observations because I am here in a whole new season.

Now it’s Winter in Seoul.

Which, incidentally, is pretty cold! It has been below freezing, and we have had a few snow flurries.

I commenced my fashion observations immediately upon arrival. (I am going to refer to some of my summer fashion notes along the way here, for continuity and context. Some of you may have perused some of this material before. In which case, consider this the handy refresher you never asked for.)

The core of this fashion investigation rests on my curiosity about how national fashion habits can reflect a national set of values and perspectives. Can you learn about a nation by looking at what its people wear? Those were my starting questions. And also: Why only 3 colors? And why these 3 colors?

But before concluding this first installment, I must emphasize that this is not a dull place! Quite the opposite! This is a dazzling, bright, color-filled place.

Coming soon: The Black-White-Beige Investigation. Will there be answers? Will there be more questions? Will there be lots more questions?

Stay tuned.