It’s been quite awhile since we visited Mom’s Closet. Let’s step inside for a little Halloween story. Click on the Mom’s Closet tab above and scroll down for “Spooky Halloween Wishes from Mom’s Closet.”
Archive for October, 2018
Fashionable Quote of the Week by Miru
Posted in Arts, Fashion, Uncategorized, tagged fashionable quotes, I'll be Right There, Korean literature, Kyung-Sook Shin on October 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »
She wore the same clothes every summer for four years. But the next summer, she took them out to discover that they were threadbare and unwearable. The sleeves were frayed. She took them to a seamstress and asked her to make her a new set in the exact same style from the exact same fabric. The tailor examined the frayed clothes and said she could make the same style but the fabric was no longer available. So my sister left. I told her the tailor could make her something better, but she said there was no point if it wasn’t the same fabric … That’s what she was like.
Miru, fictional character in the novel I’ll be Right There by Kyung-Shook Shin. Translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell (Other Press, New York)
I’ll be Right There takes place in Seoul, South Korea in an unidentified era but the author says she was thinking 1980s, a time when university students were protesting in the streets for democracy. She chose not to be specific so young readers could place themselves in the narrative.
The story centers on four students, who are friends and are lost in their youth, affected by the tumultuous times. A bit opaque and most certainly depressed, the characters are nevertheless compelling. They remind me of (British author) Anita Brookner characters, people who slowly plod through life and seem content to go nowhere. Much of the action in the story comes as the characters walk the city, which gives the reader a nice feel for Seoul.
Kyung-Shook Shin is an award winning author in South Korea, having published seven novels and eight short story collections. She is among the few Korean writers translated and published outside South Korea as well as the first woman and first Korean to be awarded the Man Asian Literary Prize for best Asian novel either written in English or translated.
Fashionable Quote of the Week by Marcia Gay Harden
Posted in Fashion, Uncategorized, Vintage, tagged fashionable quotes, Marcia Gay Harden, memoir, The Seasons of my Mother on October 22, 2018| 1 Comment »
This was the midsixties, no T-shirts for these middle-class moms, no sweatpants, canvas shorts, or jeans. To school, their daughters wore dresses, or skirts and blouses (always tucked in, thank you very much), skipping in white socks and two-tones shoes or penny loafers or Keds. So their mothers were not sloppy in their gardens, even as they planted.
Marcia Gay Harden – American actress. This quote is from Ms. Harden’s memoir, The Seasons of my Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers (Atria Books).
Fashionable Quote of the Week by Crystal Hana Kim
Posted in Arts, Events, Fashion, Uncategorized, tagged Crystal Hana Kim, Gwangiang Market, hanbok, hanbok for rent, Korea Textiles Tour, ramie, Seoul fashion, South Korea fashion, traditional hanbok on October 15, 2018| 3 Comments »
Custom made hanbok at Korean Costume, Gwangjang Market.
The day after Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I pulled a hanbok out of my closet. I felt compelled to wear this traditional Korean garment, with its stiff collar, short top, and floor-length, empire-waist skirt, as my small statement of resistance. To some, such a gesture might read conservative, feminine, or modest but to me it was defiantly different. After all, with every sexist or xenophobic barb Trump lobbed, I became more determined to flaunt my womanhood and Korean identity.
Crystal Hana Kim – Korean-American author.
I am currently in Seoul, South Korean on a textiles tour. Last week we went to Gwangjang Market, which is a large building of vendors many of whom sell fine quality fabric and construct hanbok.
Ramie fabric.
We were lucky enough to meet with one of the hanbok vendors, Jung Jae Won from Korean Costume, who kindly spoke to us about the process of having a hanbok made.
Hanbok was worn daily in Korea up until around 1900. Today it is worn usually for weddings, holidays, and other special formal occasions, although, some Korean designers are updating the silhouette to better suit the taste of modern fashionistas.
Traditional hanbok for women includes a distinctive full skirt called chima, short jacket called jeogori and layers of undergarments. The fabric used is silk or ramie, a stiff fiber known to hold its shape and resist wrinkling. Petticoats are worn for fullness.
There are many selections to make from the color of the fabric, to any applied decoration to hair accessories. Color is used to communicate social and economic status. For example bright colors are for unmarried woman and blue trim on the cuffs of a woman’s jacket indicates she has a son. (No special color for a daughter.) A widow might have an extra decoration on her jacket, like embroidered flowers.
Renting hanbok for a day and roaming around the city is a current trend among the young set. There are rental stores at the various palaces and other tourist areas. These hanbok are more ostentatious with embellishments such as stamped gold edges or embroidery. Instead of the traditional petticoat a hoop skirt is worn for a more exaggerated fullness.
Stay tuned for more Korean fashion stores.
Fashionable Quote of the Week from Ask a North Korean
Posted in Events, Fashion, Uncategorized, tagged Ask a North Korean, fashion in Seoul, fashionable quotes, North Korea, South Korea, travel on October 8, 2018| 1 Comment »
There are many, many regulations in North Korea on how a woman should look. You’re not meant to put your hair down, skinny pants are frowned upon, jeans aren’t allowed, and there are definitely no short pants. If you’re ever caught breaking these rules you’re forced to write a self-criticism report; or if you have long hair, risk having it cut short. Nevertheless, some girls turn a blind eye to these penalties, all in the name of beauty.
This quote is by a North Korean defector and contributor to the book Ask a North Korean: Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World’s Most Secretive Nation (Tuttle Publishing).
Why would I be reading this book? Well, I saw it in on the shelf at my local library and I took an interest because as you read this I’m in Seoul, South Korea on a ten day textiles tour.
I’ve been reading about both North and South Korea. I had no idea that Seoul has the fastest Internet in the world. Or that North Korea had a famine in the 1990s that pretty much stopped all governmental aid to the people. Seoul is a serious fashion city, with world renowned designers creating avant-garde looks. I was first introduced to fashion in South Korea last year at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s Couture Korea exhibit. At the time I was also taking a textiles class at SFCC. Both opened up new worlds to me and when this opportunity to travel to South Korea fell in my lap, I decided to take it.
This is my first trip to Asia. What an adventure it will be and you bet I’ll be writing about it. Stayed tuned.
Fashionable Quote of the Week by Rene Magritte
Posted in Arts, Events, Uncategorized, tagged fashionable quotes, Pandora's Box Rene Magritte, Rene Magritte on October 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Pandora’s Box, 1951. By Rene Magritte.
The presence of the rose next to the stroller signifies that wherever man’s destiny leads him, he is always protected by an element of beauty.
Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Belgium artist.
I’m drawn to this painting for so many reasons: the hat, the cobblestone road, the hazy feel to the environment, the European scene. But most of all the rose as companion and I like Magritte’s thought that beauty is omnipresent. Something to remember in our current mixed-up, dark world.
OverDressed for Life 