11 Responses for "French Maids in Seoul?!"

1. James Turnbull July 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm 1

   I’m curious as to if you think Cledor is aware of the associations the French Maid outfit has? Like Wikipedia says, it was once functional of course but “it is now mostly associated with cosplay, sexual roleplaying, and fetishism,” and so I feel inhibited from testing my Korean colleagues’ knowledge to compare(!).

   If you think Cledor was aware of them, do you think they went ahead with that marketing campaign despite them, or indeed precisely because of them? I’m tempted to think the latter, but given narrator models’ already very skimpy clothing then the high dresses may just be a coincidence.

2. impolite one July 22nd, 2008 at 5:01 am 2

   James, I think those definitions are by far and large, unfamiliar with Korean people, as much as they are with people worldwide. Those are fringe subcultural leanings that get beasted over by Japanese otaku and then wannabe otaku worldwide, who are fair enough to say, outcasts, no?

   Koreans in the mainstream are indeed extremely well-versed in Japanese comic book culture whether they are aware of it or not, because most of the comics filling Korean shelves are translated Japanese classics. I think that’s about where it all ends though, that whole Akihabara/otaku culture thing as a social context is far removed from Koreans, plus you probably are well aware of how shy Korean people are when it comes to their sexuality, so I don’t think many would’ve gotten that meaning from 4 kids in maid outfits. Koreans still think of sexuality as getting drunk on soju and making mistakes in DVD bangs.

   Koreans don’t think much of the weird vinyl moonboot girls who talk into a PA and dance all day in front of newly opened stores or special sales events at E-mart. Those girls who come with the painted-on faces, a vinyl bustier, miniskirt, spats, and 3″ platform sneakers, I’m pretty sure are similar to this situation. They’re also a Japanese-cosplay thing, but the intent is more sexual than these kids in maid outfits right? I’d say the maid outfits were just done in the name of all things ‘cute’ and no more.

   Related to this, I was in this same park some time ago on a Sunday afternoon, when I saw a lone girl walking around in a Japanese sailor school uniform. A little while later, I noticed she was walking around being followed by some greasy looking guys with huge cameras. This was either genuine cosplay, or part of a porno shoot, I’m not sure.

3. andrew July 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm 3

   I think these photos would make a great essay on Metropolitician, but frankly I’m surprised you’re posting them here, accompanied by, “And who’s going to pass up pics of French maids for free?” A little more critical thinking, please.

   About the implications, there’s a huge french maid thing in Japan, of course, and while I agree with you that it doesn’t have the same sexual connotation as it would here, it’s certainly a sort of conscious fetishization. But so is a lot of fashion and marketing, so should we be surprised?

   The one thing I’d like to know is exactly what sort of “marketing exercise” has students dressing as french maids and selling ice cream with their bodies. Surely they meant to say “part time job”? or is business school getting easier?

4. Gomushin Girl July 22nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm 4

   I’m not sure quite what impolite one is trying to say . . .
   but I’m willing to be they’re aware of the associations, James. What is interesting to me is the acceptance of this highly fetishized and sexualized clothing (and let’s face it, most “cute” styles in Korea have this at heart) in the public sphere. It’s not that fetishized clothing *doesn’t* make an appearance in North American advertising, but using it in advertising or in this sort of promotional way would be highly, highly controversial. Ambercrombie and Fitch and American Apparel have both gotten lots of negative press for risque print ads (although I would only count the AA ones as fetish-y and incidentally, pretty creepy) but even then I can’t imagine a company advertising this way. This is very obvious use of a sexualized (don’t try and tell me that this is “in the name of all things ‘cute’”) costuming, and I would think that the Korean understanding of this would be very similar to the Japanese understanding of the “maid cafes” - and don’t try and tell me that they’re not aware of the nature of that!
   At any rate, I’ll ask around. I have no shame.

5. Gomushin Girl July 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm 5

   Ok, hm . . . I showed this around my office, and the reaction so far has been that it’s “cutesy-sexy” but the immediate reaction was to ask if it was a cosplay. In fact, I had to mention french maids before it ever came up - almost from the first it was thought of as “Japanese”. The other interesting bit is that one girl mentioned that she associates the outfit with *men* and cosplay (and hentai). According to her, she’s witnessed a number of men of her acquaintance get into similar outfits as part of jokes (usually about them being . . .well, perverted. That to me shows that even though the association has shifted from French maids to Japanese cafes, there’s still some idea of subservience attached to the outfit. In other words, I’d say that the history is not well known here, but the meaning is.)

6. impolite one July 22nd, 2008 at 4:17 pm 6

   ok, what my point was, was let’s be honest here, is this really that sexy? I’d give it about a 1 on a scale of 10. You’ll notice 2 of the 4 girls have modified their outfits to incorporate shorts/leggings, and the guy looks like a modified bbiki, so yeah. I think it was just done in the name of having some ‘cute’ dressup fun as with many things Korean, not to elicit thoughts of a foreign culture’s sex fetishes, that’s all. Americans don’t really immediately think of German porno when they see something odd, do they? That is the separation here, thereabouts.

7. sf July 22nd, 2008 at 4:51 pm 7

   I’ll have to go with Impolite One for this.

   The outfit struck me as far more “cosplay”-ish than ‘fetish.’ Albeit there is a very fine line but…hmm…. I’d definitely go with fetish IF they were dressed in something less ’subtly’ sexual to Korean eyes, like a gi-san or uhh, a mini skirt and hooker heels?

   Oddly enough, this maid getup makes a weird kind of sense in the “service” aspect. They are serving ice cream. While OBVIOUSLY a cute ‘waitress’ outfit might be more practical to Western eyes, it must be noted that the traditional sexy ‘waitress’ outfit is not only a distinctly Western image but one that is not very well known at all in either Korea or Japan. I might even venture to say this is because the ‘waitress’ outfit is quite similar to the French maid look (tiny apron, ruffled sleeves, little hat). In fact, the only truly defining feature is that French maid outfits are generally B&W.

   The French maid look, while still Western, is the closest thing, I think, Japan and Korea have to some kind of kind Westernized attire incorporating an apron and is related to to ’service.’

   Also, seeing the boy’s waiter outfit (coincidentally, waiter/waitress outfits are traditionally B&W) - I’m definitely going with the idea that the French maid get up was inspired by the simple desire to:
   1.) match the girls’ outfits with the boys’ and
   2.) send a “Westernized” aka cool image

8. FMS July 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm 8

   Naesung — Actually, the critical thinking and analysis would be more apropos for Metro, while I think a light touch is better here. I simply saw these kids on the street, thought they were visually interesting and pretty unusual, since I’d never seen anything like that before. They were pretty scantily clad, but it struck me that they seemed like nerdy kids, not the skinny professional “narrator models” you might see, who themselves usually aren’t that risque. Since they were unusually articulate and seemed highly educated, I asked them more specficially what they were doing — lo and behold, they were almost all Yonsei and Ewha students, with one from another 4-year college, and were all taking a marketing class. One of them (the main one at the top) had a long conversation with me about “cultural contents” production and marketing online multimedia, which is up my alley — so their interests were definitely broader and more academic than simply pushing ice cream that day — they were all interested in marketing techniques, dynamics, and such.

   I had initially asked if this was “알바” they replied that it most definitely wasn’t part-time work, but for a class on marketing, and was something more akin to “실습”, to which they nodded to vigorously when I used that word. So it is more akin to a “real exercise” or an elaborate homework project than anything else. And they said they were taking a marketing class.

   As for their rationale behind choosing this stuff, I’m interested in asking them more, but I suspect they were given the assignment of promoting a product, and perhaps they came up with the cosplay-esque French maid stuff, and seemed to be trying to come up with an interesting way of having fun with it. Perhaps the look is a little weird to us, but my hunch is that the kids were starting with what they knew and are familiar with, and they seemed to be having fun doing it.

   In any case, it certainly did draw a lot of attention, which was their goal.

9. FMS July 22nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm 9

   One of the things that struck me about the group is that I think they were not only having fun wearing the outfits themselves, in a cosplay-ish kind of way, but were getting a kick out of doing it in such a public way, in front of so many people who are/weren’t associated with the cosplay scene, or whatever one might call it.

   I get the feeling they were like, “Let’s get crazy risque costumes and do the street promotion thing. What’s a funny way to do it? French maids SERVING the ice cream! Yeah!” Or something like that. Whether a stroke of marketing genius or not, seems like the sort of thing a group of energetic undergrads might come up with, and a fun thing them to do.

10. Alienman July 29th, 2008 at 7:31 pm 10

    The short skirt and garters sure seem sexually suggestive to me.

11. James Turnbull July 30th, 2008 at 8:51 pm 11

    Sorry I didn’t write this earlier, but thanks everyone for taking the time to write such comprehensive answers. I couldn’t really have asked for much more!