아 — 어깨. 한국에서 너무나 야한 어깨. 한국에서는 어깨, 가슴을 노출하면 대게 야하다고 생각하잖아요. 웃기는 건 미국인의 기분으로 드레스/치마는 너무 짧은데. 보통 한국사람들이 미국은 ‘야하다’고 생각하지만 ‘왜 그렇게 생각하냐’고 물어보면 ‘그렇게 영화/TV에서 나온다’고 할 거예요. 근데 사실 내가 봤을 때 미국에서는 뭐 어깨/가슴을 조금 노출하면 하나도 야하다고 생각안하는데 우리는 대부분 치마길이 좀 더 길어요. 한국은 반대로 생각하는 거고. 진짜 평생동안 겨울에 미니스커트 입는 걸 한국에서 처음 봤어요. 상상도 못 했던일었죠.
Ah, the shoulders. The racy, exposed shoulder is one thing that Koreans have traditionally worried quite a bit about, and still make a good bit of fashion effort to cover up, or at least be modest about. Of course, many Koreans think Americans are the wild and crazy dressers, and most specifically, dress very “sexy” — but I think that’s the result of the Hollywood image of America. Only in fantasyland can there be a group of like 8 “Friends” who don’t have a single person of color in the mix in NEW YORK CITY, or can “Sex and the City” even seem like its even physically possible to keep up. But skirts and hemlines in general are generally higher here, and the first time in my life I’d ever seen a micro-mini skirt in the dead of winter was in Korea. Such a thing was scarcely imaginable before coming to Korea.
이 걸 처음 봤어요. 밑에서 나오는 어깨커버? 와우. 한국에서는 특히 원피스를 입는 경우에 이런 것들이 흔한 거예요.
This was the first time I’d seen anything like this: a shoulder cover coming from under the dress. Such ideas are fairly common in a lot of women’s fashion here, and is an imperative on many dresses.
아니면 투명한 소재로.
Or with see-transluscent materials.
“Go,go — you go girl!”
ㅋㅋㅋ
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new trend?
But yeah. Another “Oh, Korea” moment. ><
wooh! finally a post! i am addicted to this site. whee!!
Good article! I think it’s funny that I can wear a super short skirt and it’s fine. But when you show your shoulders, yo8u get those evil looks from the older group of Koreans…maybe 60s and up. I’ve also noticed that foreign women get stared at more than Korean women when they were more “risque” stuff.
Oops…”Wear”
HAHAHA the funny thing about me is that I feel embarrasses when I show my shoulders I always have them covered. Weird huh? As my legs I have no problem showing them off….well I have short legs and the more leg I show the taller I seem. hehehehe
man, that green dress with the lace shoulders is just ugly. ugly down to every last stitch. the utopian 1950′s college girls outfits are pretty gross too.
that’s kinda funny and pecuilar. you can’t show your shoulders in Korea? not “CAN’T” but it’s like… a subtle taboo?
more like “guhl”
you go guhl!
tinaxxe:
- showing your legs and/or almost everything around your private areas is ok in Korea;
- showing a piece of your chest and/or your shoulder is considered vulgar…
And those dresses (as noted by Imp One)…
Korea, Sparkling…yep…
hahaha…A few years ago, a Korean guy told me that my skirt was short. Guess it’s a double standard if you are a foreign girl. I even had a foreign guy tell me once not to wear minis or I’d be thought of as a tea girl, if you get my drift. He said even if Korean girls do it, I shouldn’t. whatever.
Wellll, I don’t think it’s impossible for people to not have a friend of color even in New York City, cos there are v. segregated people, but I def agree about the baring of shoulders in Korea.
My friend loves to tell me in the summertime that my preferred leisurely outfit of shorts and tank tops would get me labelled a loose whore in Korea. (He means it facetiously. Sort of.) More for my tank tops than my shorts, tho the shorts are really a more recent phenomenon.
I hate cap sleeves anyways. They were made with dainty, narrow shoulders, not my linebacker beasts (my affectionate nickname for my shoulders.)
I’m wondering if the scar left from smallpox vaccination that most girls here have is part of why they cover up? Don’t get me wrong, I still think think it’s just a vague cultural more tied in with traditional notions of modesty.
[...] 찍었어요. 특히 한국에서는 아무리 미국수준으로 치마의 높이 짧아도 어깨와 팔을 노출하는 건 더 민감해요. 조금 보수적이라고 할 수 있죠? 그래서 대부분 한국여자들이 [...]
[...] not own an adhesive bra, or as my friend would call it, “cutlets“. If you think bare shoulders are taboo in Korea, you should have seen the looks from the ahjuhssis when I went around [...]