Korean Beauty Secrets: #1 Fashion & Style

Introduction

   

People will commonly judge you based on your appearance: Korean Society is especially guilty of this. In the West, there is a lot more variation of what is classed as attractive than in Korea. Trends change quickly and everyone follows them perfectly because Korea is a very competitive society. Koreans have no problem with commenting on the way other people look, and because of this you will commonly find Koreans glued to reflective surfaces to keep an eye on any imperfections that dare to appear. Whether it's the girls sat on the train checking their reflection in their phone or hand mirror, or the guys checking themselves out in all the windows they walk past.

In this set of articles I am going to share the tips and tricks that Koreans use to make themselves as attractive as possible to their fellow Koreans~ 

Part 1: Fashion and Style

One of the most important things when it comes to looks is the way you present yourself, so in this first article we shall take a look at Korean trends and fashion!

Let's start with hair: your hair can have a massive affect on the way your features look and can make a huge difference to your outfit. In the West, if you were to go to your hairdresser and ask for a perm they would probably laugh at you but in Korea getting a perm is very common. Koreans, like myself, suffer from dead straight and volume-less hair. The solution? Perm! Perms are great because there are different types, from adding curls to adding volume, and are therefore equally popular between boys and girls.


You can add different types of curls or even give your hair some volume with a perm

The most common hair style with males is a variation of the "short back and sides" except the sides are kept long enough to grow sideburns. 


Olympic swimmer, Park Taehwan, doing it right
  
A combination of a good cut and a perm is enough to give your hair some volume but it still doesn't hit the mark without styling correctly. There are even things you can buy to wear in the morning before you head off to work, to keep your sideburns from sticking up:

He doesn't look very happy about wearing that...

When it comes to hair colour, most Koreans stick to black although it is pretty common to run brown highlights through your hair. Idols are often dying their hair anything from brown to even extreme colours like white, blue or red. Bare in mind though these are just idol hair colours; if an everyday Korean wants to be taken seriously, and not laughed at constantly, they will keep their hair black/brown. 

Girls tend to keep their hair longer: girls who cut their hair short normally wear it in a bob style as Koreans think girls should look girly and feminine, not look like boys. And the only women who tend to wear their hair short are ahjummas. 

Next let's take a look at clothes!
The trends in Korea change quite often but 1 thing that remains constant is that tight/fitted clothes are always in and baggy clothes make you look like a scruffy beggar. The only time baggy clothes are allowed is when they are actually fitted, and girls are allowed to get away with loose/over-sized t-shirts. LOOSE not BAGGY


Baggy... but fitted

The recent trend for guys is casual-dandy/business-casual. This includes: blazers, shirts, designer t-shirts, cardigans, v-neck sweaters, fitted jeans, oxford or converse shoes, leather bags etc.

Popular idols, DBSK, are masters of the casual-dandy

The casual-dandy style is also very popular for girls right now. Girls can wear the same as above but can also wear nice skirts or shorts instead of slacks/jeans as well as high heeled shoes. Korean girls opt for very natural looking make-up, and top it off with a manicure or gel nails and you're good to go!

Even though you have to stay on trend, it's important to get one-up on your peers and you can do this using BRANDS. This way you can still follow the latest fashion trend, but do it so much better than everyone else, it's standing out without actually standing out. Not only do Brand labels make your outfit so much better, it's also a chance to show off how well off you and your family are by being able to waste money on clothes. 

Final Notes

• Invest in a perm or a good pair of curling irons
• Dye your hair dark
• Head over to Apgujeong for some Designer clothing

Coming soon: Part 2 Height & Body Proportions →

A/N: Remember, this is all just for fun~