Are you going to the pre-Seoul Fashion Week, preview fashion show of famous Korean designer IMSEONOC (임선옥/Lim Seon-ok)!

Create Your Funeral
<Dinner Party by Dinner Party>

“Although we fear death, consciousness is splendid and delightful.”

Although every human being came through the “door of birth,” we must all pass through the “door of finality” someday. Perhaps this is the reason we humans consider so-called “death” the saddest, most painful moment of all. However, designer Im Seon Oc counters with the question “Why does the funeral have to be so heartbreakingly sad?” She also says, “Although we fear death, consciousness is splendid and delightful,” and invokes a theme of a funeral without solemn clothing, and filled with humorous episodes and beauty. If the last time that both the departed and those left behind will spend together is filled with laughter and beauty, this means that there is enough to create a culture of enjoying a “celebration” or a “show,” in the same way that director Dakita Yojiro’s film did in “Goodbye” or Lee is found in Cheong-jun’s novel “The Festival.” Both Yojiro’s film and Lee’s novel share the common element of the unfolding of somewhat paradoxical situations in the face of the recently departed’s death. The fifteen pieces of funeral wear designed by Im Seon Oc are similar to these situations. Although both black and white clothing symbolize the darkness of death, the flip side of this coin can be expressed through humorous masks, flowers, and lace, as well as episodes and laughter from the departed’s life.

Im Seon Oc compares life to “passion in broad daylight” or simply “being busy.” She speaks of all these things being part of the course in the enjoyment of a final, grand “dinner party.” Im Seon Oc extends you a formal invitation to this dinner party, filled with good food and drink, as well as a fashion performance to remember.

Are we gonna see you there? For us foreigner types, the translated address information is:

Date: October 8 @ 5PM
Place: Musée Shuim
Contact: 02-396-9277 | www.shuim.org

IMSEONOC
EGO Design Studio
www.imseonoc.com
[Email address: egods #AT# hanmail.net - replace #AT# with @ ]

In Chungmuro.

오픈토나 생달식 부츠들이 정말 유행인 것같아요. 지난 여름처럼 생달들이 생달일 뿐만 한 것아니라 범범 부츠가 된 것같네요. 더욱더 몇년전부터 낮은 부츠가 인기 있었고 샌들이라도 신으려면 지퍼를 사용해야 한 거예요.

Open-toed booties are all the rage, a natural extension of the strappy sandals that became dense enough to be confused with ankle boots, which many effectively became last summer, zipper to get in and all.

In Cheongdam.

위에 있는 구두에서 이번에 조금 더 가리는 부츠가 다음 단계가 된 거예요. 가을이 되도 눈이 와도 많은 한국여자들이 끝까지 치마를 입는 것처럼 죽어도 오픈토 부츠를 신을 거예요. 물론 타이츠랑. 그래서 이런 앤클 부츠를 신는만큼 짧은 치마들도 많이 보일 수 있을 것같아요.

From the tighter straps and higher, sturdier sandals of the summer come the natural next step. Korean girls don’t wanna give up the straps, nor the open-toes. And they won’t, even into the winter months. When it gets wintery cold, expect girls to forgo the straps, but not the open-toes. Thick black or colored stockings will go with ankle boots with a peep-toe this winter.

In Shinchon.

그리고 이렇게 대부분 입힐 걸 같은데 — 아주 높은 힐로.

And this will be the primary way they’ll be worn.

In Jongno.

바로 이 건 이번 시즌의 대표적인 스타일이 될 거고 4-6만원 버전으로 많이 팔릴 거라고 생각해요.

This is the dominant style of the season, and will be sold in cheap 40,000-60,000 won versions all over the country this season.

From www.CocoSwan.co.kr

We here at FMS are pleased to announce a new partner in covering street fashion, CocoSwan! Our plan is to build a team of a few different partner sites — in Korea, “online shopping malls” that specialize in everyday fashion, run mostly by everyday, entrepreneurial folks — who literally define street fashion by continuously supplying it. These online shopping malls have a lot of similarities to the western-style online magazine that takes up most of OUR entrepreneurial energy, in that you have everyday people producing extraordinary content. The one difference is that we don’t sell anything, since we earn power through producing content that garners more readers; the Korean online shopping malls sell things. But they also do so by tracking trends, modeling clothes, and offering their own kind of content, which we can use. So, we plan to use their clothing on our models, and take heed of their trend-watching clues, while also occasionally using the two young ladies who already model their own clothing as models as well. It’s a win-win situation, we think, since they supply the content and clothes, we supply the readers and traffic, especially since 4/5 of our readership is outside of Korea.

And we’ve finally reached the 30,000+ unique visitors per month mark (meaning about 4-5 times that many raw “hits”), and with another deal we’re about to enter with a very major Internet player, we may very soon be several times even that in just a couple months. We’re looking hard to make the site more professional, diverse, and full of a broader range of content, even while deepening the quality of the content we already make. And this partnership will be one of many steps in that process. Wish us luck, keep reading, and pass the word about us here at www.FeetManSeoul.com!

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FMS Editorials 섹션에서는 거리에서 본 한국 패션 트렌드를 스튜디오에서 한 층 더 가까이 살펴본다. 또한 더욱더 참신한 포토그래피, 이야기 거리 또는 사회에 관한 논평을 실험해 볼 수 있는 공간이다. 여기서 비로소 우리의 온라인 잡지가 독자들에게 한국 패션과 한국 문화의 다른 부분들도 더 자세히 보여 줄 수 있는 공간이다.

In our “FMS Editorials” section, we take a closer look at Korean fashion trends by taking the clothing off the street and into the studio, where we can get a better look. It’s also a place for us to experiment with more creative photography, stories, and even social commentary. This is our magazine’s place to show you more than a quick glimpse, but a closer look into Korean fashion and other parts of Korean culture.

The chilly mornings and evenings accompanying the biting wind say that fall is here. It’s time to take out your cute long-sleeve shirts, dark tights (why were women wearing these in the summer?), and clothing with heavier fabrics from the back of your closet.

밤낮으로 낮은 기온과 쌀쌀한 바람이 가을이 왔다는 신호다. 이젠 예쁜 긴팔 티와 어두운 타이즈 (왜 여름에 이걸 입는 걸까?) 그리고 조금은 더 두터운 옷감을 꺼내야 될 시간이다.

But fall does not merely mark a change in wardrobe but also a change of make-up. Darker, deeper hues are the norm, so I thought I would brighten up the palette with bold colors. Remember the last post about the three B’s? Well, the three Bs are even more wearable in the fall/winter seasons; your bold colors will stand out from the crowd of monotone colors.

그러나 가을은 옷장뿐만이 아니라 메크업에 변화도 줘야 한다. 일반적으로 깊고 짙은 색을 많이 선호하지만 더욱더 과감한 색으로 색채를 밝게 하고 싶었다. Three B’s을 소개했던 글을 기억하는가? Three B’s의 룩은 가을/겨울일 수록 단조로운 색채 사이에서 튀고 싶다면 입어주자.

First, the bronze eye with the nude lip–a basic yet versatile look.

첫 룩은 브론즈 눈 메크업과 누드 색채의 입술인 기본적인 룩은 활용하기 간편하다.

For the second look, we kept the eye make-up but used a matte vermilion lip color that complements our model, Yoonie’s gorgeous skin complexion with olive undertones.  By the way, Yoonie, a budding fashion student will be modeling more looks for FMS — she’s an intern for us as well.

두번째 룩에서는 눈 메크업은 그대로 나뒀으나 우리의 모델 Yoonie의 올리브 색채를 띠는 훌륭한 피부와 어울리는 입술 색으로 메트한 주홍빛나는 립스틱을 골랐다.  패션 학교 진학 예정인 Yoonie는 FMS를 위해 더 많은 패션 사진을 찍을 새로운 FMS 모델이며 우리의 인턴이기도 하다.

We put Yoonie in a print skirt with a biased cut, which became a tube dress with a handy clothespin. Here, I wanted to introduce a dual-shade eye (blue and pink) and a dab of white to bring out the eyes even more, with a bright hot pink lip. While this make-up combination can look very cute and girlish,  it can also look grown and sexy depending on the outfit.

우리는 Yoonie에게 바이어스 컷의 긴 치마를 입혔는데 빨래 집게를 사용해서 튜브 드레스로 변신했다. 여기서 나는 이중 색채(파랑색과 분홍색)에 하얀색으로 포인트를 주었고 밝은 핫핑크 립으로 룩을 마무리했다. 이 색채 콤비네이션은 비록 매우 귀엽고 소녀답지만 룩이긴 하지만 옷에 따라 섹시하고 성숙하게 보일 수도 있다.

For the last concept we put together elements of what we saw as Korean fashion–basically a overload of ribbons with fabrics that don’t go well together.

마지막 콘셉으로 우리가 보는 시각에서의 한국 패션–간단히 말하자면 지마친 리본과 잘 어울리지 않는 옷감을–과 같은 요소들을 한 룩으로 선보였다.

A thick white mini-dress, white heels with pink ribbons, bunny ears, and a pink and blue ribbon obi.  A caricature of “cute” Korean fashion indeed. Incorporating all these elements somehow reminds me of salesgirls who try to solicit customers in Myeongdong…

두터운 하얀색 미니 드레스, 핑크 리본이 달려있는 힐, 토끼 머리띠와 파랑-핑크 리본 오비다. 한국 패션을 풍자화한 룩이다. 이 요소들을 부합시킨 이 룩은 왠지 명동에서 호객행위하는 여성 직원들을 떠올리게 한다…

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우리 “길거리 스타일” 컬럼은 개인의 패션 선택만 벤치마킹 하는 것이아니라, 차라리 대표적인 길거리에서 보일 수 있는 패션 장르를 잡으려고 해요.

“Street Styles” tracks not just individual fashion choices, but tries to capture fashion that is representative of types of fashion genres visible on the Korean streets.

Lately, the so-called “vintage look has been everywhere! From what I’ve seen, the various retro looks from the past few years have combined to allow a “vintage look” to finally make a mainstream beachhead into the Korean streets. The fashion leaders in the clubs and underground had already been keeping up with the vintage trend overseas, and were also mixing it with an “alternative” style. Even now, the “vintage” look in Korea is not so purely such, but also seems influenced by both an alternative aesthetic, as well as the recent “ethnic” trend in casual fashion. I’d expect an interesting vintage/alternative hodge-podge to be far more visible this fall than ever before. And be called a “vintage” trend in Korean.

요즘에 이른바 ‘빈티지 룩’는 어디서나 보일 수 있네요. 내 생각엔 2-3년동안에 ‘레트로’ 트렌드들의 영향이랑 섞이면서 원래부투 언더그라운드 클럽에서 약간 빈티지스타일과 ‘알터니티브’스타일도 보일 수 있었어요. 이젠 많은 이런 스타일들처럼 대중화가 된 거예요. 그리고 빈티지일 뿐만 아니라 약간 알터니티브의 스타일도 들어가 있는 것같아요. 보니까 요즘에 ‘에스닉 룩’한테도 영향도 받는 것 많이 봤네요. 이번 시즌에 아주 흥미스러운 빈티지 짬뽕을 기대하고 있네요. 사실 빈티지랑 알터니티브하고 섞여있는 건데 한국에서는 ‘빈티지’로 불려있을 것같아요.

언니야, 가방은 최고다!

Love the purse, dear!