Street Peeps: Sunday Couple

Street Peeps는 우리들의 눈길을 끌고 질문을 던지게끔 호기심을 유발하는 이들을 가리킵니다. 아마도 그의 패션이나 태도 혹은 내면에 숨겨져 있는 뭔가가 느껴지기도 하겠죠. 전철 옆자리나 줄을 서서 대기하는 사람이나 혹은 길거리에서 스쳐 지나가는 이들처럼 우리 주변에는 주목할만한 인물이 많고 우리는 그들에게 말을 건내지 않지만 Street Peeps에서는 이 기회를 붙잡아 여러분들께 보여드립니다. 그들은 우리들의 생각보다 재미있고 특별한 동시에 우리와 비슷한 사람들이라는걸 깨달을 수 있어요.

“Street Peeps” are interesting people who, for some reason, catch our eye and make us want to ask, “Who are you and what do you do?” Perhaps it’s their fashion; perhaps it’s their attitude; often, it’s just a feeling that there’s something under the surface that we want to know about. All around us – sitting next to us on the subway, waiting behind us in line, walking past us in the street – there are fascinating and remarkable people, yet we never stop to talk to them. Well, we do. And what we keep realizing that you should never judge a book by its cover. Most importantly, we realize that perfect strangers are often much more interesting that you might think, but are very much like you and me.

아… 일요일 서울의 이대나 신촌거리엔 커플들이 많다. 여친이나 남친이 없는 싱글이면 속상할 정도로 많은 거죠. 그리고 비지니스들이 거의 커플전용인데: 커피샵, 아이스크림, 패미리레스토랑, 극장, 등등. 완전히 ‘커플의 문화’가 있다고 할 수 있는 거예요. 그리고 이 문화에서는…한국에서…남자가 여친의 가방을 들어줄 때 많아요.

사실 미국사람으로써 상상할 수 없는 일이예요. 왜냐하면 여자의 가방을 만지는 것도 실례일 수도 있어요. 여자의 가방은 자기 비밀들이 들어가 있어서. 그리고 패션쪽으로 생각하면 여자의 가방은 바로 자기 옷이랑 꼭 함께 나와야 되는 거라고 생각해요. 그래서 미국에서는 “가방을 들어줄께” 그 것은 상상할 수 없는 일이예요. 여자한테 잘한다고 배려주는 거라고 생각도 안해요: 아예 있을 수 없는 생각이니까요.

근데 한국은 다른 나라, 다른 문화예요. 미국여자가 자기 가방을 죽도록 양보하면 안된다고 생각하는 거랑 반대로 한국여자들이 즐겁게 자기 남자친구들한테 가방을 많이 주는 거죠. 서로 기분 좋게. 귀엽게. 사랑스럽게. 그래서 윗사진에서 남자분이 자기 잠바 여친한테 입게 하는 것, 가방을 들어주면서 – 그 모습은 되게 귀엽네요. 아주 한국스러운 모습. 그리고 왠지 서로 아주 많이 사랑하는 느낌이 나죠. 이렇게 배려주는 건 자연스러운 것같아서.

Ah, Sunday in Seoul. On any given Saturday or Sunday in the big city, you will find certain neighborhoods full of couples. The area near (and between) both Yonsei and Ewha Women’s Universities are so full of couples, one feels strange to not be in one. And the area is chock full of places catering to both couples, or small groups of women – “family” restaurants such as Outback or TGI Friday’s, a million coffee shops, and a mixture of specialty ice cream, dessert, and other kinds of places to eat things not good for you. And as is the fashion in Korea, it is considered courteous for the man to carry the woman’s bag.

But, as an American, I can’t help but think traditionally: the purse is part of the woman’s outfit – and the funny difference is that most American women would never relinquish their bag to a man. Still, I think that men are putting a lot more effort into their appearances than they used to, but with the new influences of hip hop/skater/punk cool, men aren’t really supposed to look “dressed up” but yet are really putting effort into the details of their look, down to the exact amount of battering their jeans take and where, and how scuffed their shoes are. It seems to be part of a very calculated look that says, “I’m a man and secure enough to use my girlfriend’s accessories as my own personal bling.”

And I just have to ask – is this bag not fabulous? Nice choice, girlfriend! And it’s pretty representative of the continuing trend of having big bags with metallic “futurist” materials. Her dress is also typical of the more simplifying trends of less complex or “mod” patterns, and they say that this year, “gray is the new black.” Well, girlfriend’s gray and silver all over, and in a way that definitely works.

근데 패션잡지이라서 한번 자기 원래 옷과 액세서리로 바뀌줘달라고 했죠. 이 모습도 너무 멋지지 않아요? 남자는 좀 쿨한 스포티 룩, 여자는 아주 이쁘게 나오고. 아주 사랑스러운 표정을 하면서. 우와. 좋은 ‘사랑의 모델’들이네요. 그래도 여자가 자기 가방을 들고 다시 포즈를 잡으니까 좋잖아요. 가방은 너무 이뻐서요.

For the sake of fashion, I had the couple switch back to their original clothes and accessories for another shot. What you might notice about the man is he seems far more dressed down than his companion, I think, to Western eyes; in the Korean context, I do see an ongoing trend that’s a definite change from even ten years ago, when it was common to see men on dates who were simply casual, with no real effort having been placed on their appearance. Or you saw men in suits, dressed to the nines. As I just noted above, this is changing, and fast.

Nowadays, the trend for men isn’t necessarily getting more formal; rather, it’s getting more purposeful. What I mean by this, is that in a masculine look influenced more by hip-hop and “skater” looks, which has formed into a more masculine look, a macho chic that is a strong counterpoint to the “metrosexual” and quite frankly very effeminate look that is also popular among Korean men these days. In a way, the girl dressed to kill on the arm of a man who is content to enjoy the woman as the center of fashion attention just seems somehow to work in the Korean context.

근데 이 사진을 찍은지 좀 오래 되서 오늘은 이메일이 왔었어요. 이렇게 나왔는데요:

전 회색원피스에 긴 파마머리였꾸요,제 남자친구는 짧은 빡빡머리에 흰티셔츠를 입고 있었어요-

싸이트에 저희 사진이 안 올라진건지 찾을 수가 없어서요..ㅎ

사실, 4일인 이번주 화욜날 남자친구가 군대를 갔꺼든요,

그래서 남자친구도 머리가 짧았던거구요-

이렇게 멜 드린건,

잘 나왔든 안 나왔든 상관없이 남자친구랑 같이 나온 사진들,

혹 보내주실 순 없으실지 여쭤보려고 메일 드려요..^-^

답 메일 기다리겠습니다.

우와. 감동적이다. 사실, 이 사진들이 너무 잘나왔으니까 좀 좋은 글이랑발표하고 싶었던 거예요. 근데 다른 입장으로 생각하면 그 커플이 잘 안나온 줄 알 수 있겠다고 느껴진 거예요. 그래서 빨리 올리고 싶었고 그리고 이 말을 알리고 싶었네요: 이런 사랑스러운 사연까지 받아보게 되어서 진짜 깊은 좋은 사랑인 것같으시네요. 제대후 이 여자분 꼭 기다리고 있을 것같아요. 그러니 남자분! 성실히 부담없이 자기 나라를 지킬 수 있을 거라 생각해요.

But just tonight, a funny thing happened. I got an email from the young lady in the picture, which translated like this:

Hello. I’m the girl who wore the gray dress with permed hair.

And my boyfriend was the guy with the white t-shirt and the really short buzz cut -

We couldn’t find the picture on the site or if you uploaded them.

Actually, my boyfriend went off to do his military service last week on Tuesday the 4th.

That’s why my boyfriend’s hair was so short that day.

So I’m sending you this mail,

because whether or not the pictures of us together turned out well,

I was wondering if you could send the pictures to me.

I’ll wait for your reply.

Wow – that really tugs at the heartstrings. Actually, these pictures came out really well – one of the best sets we’ve taken so far – but we were waiting to finish our Ewha series and also wanted to make sure we had time to write great text to go with it. And it is a portrait set that actually made us happy to make – seeing such earnest and eager love like that actually put us in a better mood and was a real pleasure to shoot. And I do remember telling them that this would be a great memento – I just had no idea how much so.

So what we’d like to tell this young couple is to not worry: one doesn’t see this kind of deep love expressed so clearly in pictures like this, as it’s literally written all over their faces. For the young man in the picture, you should go serve your country without any worries, as we really believe that this young lady will be waiting for you when you return.

And to the young lady, we hope these pictures will make the long wait a bit more bearable. Good luck to both of you!