Comfort vs. culture: International students struggle to cover up in Korea's hot summer

K-campus

Published: 22 Aug. 2022, 18:09 Updated: 03 Mar. 2023, 17:51

Comfort vs. culture: International students struggle to cover up in Korea's hot summer

[SHUTTERSTOCK]

For young women like Adelina Blaschke, a 22-year-old German exchange student at Korea University, planning an outfit feels like a losing battle — she either chooses conservative clothes and sweats through the day or wears something more revealing and gets ready for constant staring and pointed comments.

“I am uncomfortable either way,” Blaschke said, “and as a woman, when elderly people or men keep staring at my shoulders, it makes me very uncomfortable."

What Korea considers revealing often feels worlds apart from other countries for people like Blaschke. While revealing in Germany, for example, might mean a sheer dress and a lot of skin, in Korea, anything that shows the shoulders, chest or is on the shorter side could qualify as revealing.

“Compared to other countries, like the United States and Australia, Korea is a little more conservative when it comes to revealing clothing due to its basis in Confucianism,” said assistant Prof. Woo Hong-joo of Yonsei University’s Department of Clothing & Textiles. “Some of Confucianism’s concepts and norms remain, such as it being inappropriate to reveal the body, and as such wearing shoulder or chest-bearing clothing could be seen as inappropriate.”

Videos on Korea’s conservative social dress code flood social media sites, with foreign women showing how outfits they are used to wearing — such as tank tops and off-the-shoulder or backless tops — get a very strong reaction on the streets of Korea.

These videos often spark online debates, with some people arguing that it is disrespectful not to dress in a way that matches the culture and others saying that everybody should be allowed to wear what makes them comfortable.

Ultimately it is a question of cultural sensitivity — is it okay to wear what you want or is it culturally insensitive?

“I do not wear tank tops to be disrespectful or rebellious. I am just hot,” Blaschke said. "But any time I wear more revealing clothes, I feel like I am perpetuating the stereotype of the foreigner who refuses to fit in — which is really not my intention."

Wearing an outfit that could be seen as revealing could lead to more than just the occasional stares: Whispering, unwanted approaches and disrespectful behavior are also common, according to Aly Nguyen, a 21-year-old student in Korea.

“People should be able to wear what they want to without being stared at or whispered about,” Nguyen said. “Anytime I wear tops with spaghetti straps, tube tops and such I get negative attention. During the day, men sometimes approach and ask me if I am ‘open-minded’ or make other inappropriate comments.”

When they want to wear an outfit they know might get unwanted attention, women like Blaschke and Nguyen often pack a shirt to cover up when they are in busy areas like on the subway.

Despite the stringent social dress code, younger Koreans have also started adopting more revealing outfits, with short crop-tops and low-rise pants dominating the fashion scene and becoming a more common sight in youngers areas like Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong in western Seoul and Seongsu in eastern Seoul.

“Revealing fashion is one of the growing trends among young consumers, as a form of self-expression,” said Woo. “Revealing parts of their body helps them build their identity as confident individuals.”

For Nguyen the answer is simple: Comfort always wins.

“When people wear revealing clothing it doesn't mean they want attention," said Nguyen, "it just means they just want to be comfortable."

BY LAURA SENIOR PRIMO [lauraseniorp@gmail.com]