Many of you have heard me rant before about the situation regarding sizes in Korea — how everything in the stores runs from size -2 to 2. Maybe 4s if you’re lucky. If you lopped off my breasts, and I was my absolute thinnest, I could maybe fit into a 10. It’s the bone structure, babe, and I generally have to buy 12s, which do not exist here, unless you’re buying ‘grandmother’ clothes. It’s called an XXL, you have to buy them specially off the Internet, they’re the cheapest looking things you can find, and they assume if you’re that size, you have no waist.

 

Okay, so I get it. That’s the norm they cater to in their market. The problem is, though, the lack of size choice is affecting more than us foreigners with the big skeletons and muscle tone (comparatively). The Korean diet is changing – before, the diet was based on rice and vegetables with small portions of meat. In the last 20 years, however, the increased prosperity in the country meant meat was more affordable, and Western food became more available and popular. So now the meat, dairy and bread that makes up the muscular (again, comparatively) structure of Westerners is appearing on the current crop of junior high and high school students – especially noticeable on the girls, who have curves!

 

It’s going to be a huge problem for the fashion industry. I already hear the complaints from the freshmen girls I teach that they can’t buy clothes in a size 6. I know it’s a boon for the diet/exercise industry as these girls fight to get the fashionable “S” figure that they will probably never achieve again because their bodies developed differently from their mothers’.

 

But I’ve given up being down on the Koreans. America, I’ve discovered, is not handling the size issue much better – one designer line’s size 10 is another’s 6 or 12, and websites that sell from various designers like Bluefly, Amazon, Macy’s or Windsor (etc.)  need their own special charts for figuring out what size is going to fit you. And if you’re hard to fit, be prepared to send something back (not an option for me, which explains why I’m one of the last holdouts against Internet shopping).

 

I didn’t realize EXACTLY how hard I was to fit until I popped onto a BMI (Body Mass Index) site on the Internet. The formula for configuring BMI is different for Asians and Americans. When I register for a yoga class here they plug in my numbers and gasp, “Oh, you’re so obese! You need to lose 50 pounds.” That might be possible if you’re talking about me losing one of my kids, but not so much my weight. So I thought, “Let’s see what my REAL BMI is.”

 

I plug in my height, weight and measurements, being totally honest. I expect a not great, but not unreasonable number to pop up. What do I get instead? “You have not entered your measurements correctly. Try measuring your waist again and re-enter.” Apparently, even by American standards, my body defies physical possibility.

 

Sigh. I guess I’m doomed to a lifetime of trying absolutely everything on before I purchase it. Unless you know of a shop that sells short-waisted petite sizes for hourglass figures?

 

Don’t let anyone tell you size doesn’t matter.

Got a message from Madeline, Ji Haye’s assistant designer, and she said the Paris show went off well. You can check out photos of the creations at this link for the designer Yumi-Katsura:  LINK

House of Ji Haye haute couture

Due to my little hot tub encounter (see previous post), Donna and I were invited to tour the shop of designer Ji Haye. She only moved to Korea two or so years ago, having spent twenty years in Japan and Paris.  As a result, she’s not that well known in Korea, and her shop is in an arty, but unassuming, neighborhood.

Unfortunately, she ended up with an appointment she couldn’t miss, so instead we met with her assistant Madeline for the tour. In a way, it was a good thing, as we could communicate in English and enjoy a much longer chat!

 Interesting tidbit: Women in Korea very, very rarely purchase formalwear — even wedding gowns! Everything’s a rental, and it’s altered to fit the renter. As a result, most of the dresses in the shop were the exact ones from the runway — some of them very worn around the edges, though. But there were several racks of them, and all very impressive, as almost all work on them was hand sewn.

You never know who you’ll meet in a hot tub — and no, this is not an open letter to Penthouse.

One Sunday last month I took the kids to a local haunt of ours, a traditional bath house. It’s a great place to spend a day. There are showers, hot tubs of varying temps, saunas, “cold saunas”, heated stone floors, massages of varying types — you can easily spend 5 or more hours lounging and being pampered. (For example, if I got an hour’s massage, a full body exfoliation and enjoyed the saunas and baths, I would pay approximately $70. JUST the saunas and baths, $12. No time limit.)

 ANYWAY, I was sitting in the hot tub next to another white woman, approx. 25 years old. She was looking slightly lost, so I struck up a conversation. It went something like this:

Me: Hi. Where are you from? (Note: I was a little less abrupt, but I’m skipping the boring niceties)

Her: I’m from France, but I’m half New Zealander.

Me: Ah, that explains your interesting accent! What are you doing here in Seoul?

Her: Actually, I’m a fashion designer.

Me: (Blink, blink)

Her: What?

Me: Sorry. It’s just that you usually hear, “English teacher” or “I’m here on business.” Also, I’m going to be going to design school in the fall for fashion design!

Her: That’s great!

Me: So what kind of design do you do?

Her: Haute Couture.

I’m going to interrupt here to explain haute couture to those of you not familiar with the term. You’ve probably seen pictures of gowns on the Paris runways where you’ve looked at them and said, “No one would ever where something like that in real life!” THAT’s haute couture. It’s basically fashion’s experimental laboratory, and only a very small number of designers (I think it’s currently 15) are allowed to even use the phrase with their designs. It’s very strictly controlled by the French government. Those gowns are almost completely hand sewn and extremely intricate. Oh, and purchasing one is usually the equivalent of buying a new car.

On with the conversation:

Her: I’m actually an assistant designer. My boss brought me here (to the baths) to relax before our big rush because we leave for the Paris shows in 10 days.

(A Korean woman approximately my age with a dazzlingly crooked smile — oh, fully nude as we were, btw — joins us. Again, get your minds out of Penthouse mode.)

Her: Ah, here’s my boss. Oops, it’s my turn to be exfoliated. Excuse me.

I’m not going to transcribe, but rather describe, how the rest of the conversation went because said designer only spoke French and Korean, her assistant Madeline spoke French and English, and I am barely literate in Korean and only picking up odd phrases here or there in French. It was interesting to say the least!

It was also slightly embarrassing, because the designer, Ji Haye, is actually quite famous in France and Japan — and I didn’t have a clue who she was! (And of course, I googled her as soon as I got home. Here’s a couple of sites I found on her:

video of her 2004/5 collection:

http://www.ftv.com/online/page.php?P=846&id=10948

Her website:

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jihaye.couture/accueil.html

She was one of the youngest — and the only Korean — designers ever to be invited to show at Paris’ haute couture shows. Once I saw the websites I recognized her work, even if I didn’t recognize the name. She is currently designing for a Japanese couture house in anticipation of being named the successor (of a Japanese designer whose name has escaped me today).

She was so incredibly nice, she invited Donna and I to tour her atelier the next day!!!!!

Okay, to get how exciting that is, imagine someone saying to you, “Yesterday I bumped into Yves St. Laurant and he invited me over to watch him work.” Unthinkable!!!!!! And it happened fully naked in a hot tub! (Seriously, am I going to have to slap your mind out of the gutter?!)

So next time I post, it’ll be about the tour — with pics!

Thoroughly Modern Donna

This dress was actually Donna’s design. She drew it up and I devised a pattern for it. This is the very first piece I made after ten years without sewing, and had to create my own pattern for it! It might have been nicer with a contrasting color, but we had only this one fabric at that time. It’s a nice little cotton eyelet though.

The Bubble Dress

This is another of Donna’s designs. She was also the one who insisted I make the bow in the back so large! She’s going to outgrow it before the weather is appropriate for it, unfortunately, but it’ll make a great gift for one of her younger cousins!

Green A-Line

For this one I altered an American pattern. I found it extremely frustrating! I had to buy a size 22 (I buy a 12 off the rack) in order to fit it over my chest. I then had to take 3 inches out of each shoulder and another 3 inches out of the back (because apparently, if you are a size 22 you must have a round, fat back as well). And when all is said and done, it is still too small over the bust with the smallest seams possible!

 Asian Halter Top

My own pattern again. This was a particular challenge as I had to add gussets to my original design under the arms because the fabric is traditional hanbok fabric — which is only 22 in. wide. Maybe a size 0 could have fit the original… Anyway, I love the results — especially with the frog clasp at the neck that I had to hand-dye to match.

 Sleeveless Asian Top

This one was a marginal success. Love the trim, but I had a little trouble with the machine puckering the silk. Fortunately, I’ve got it figured out now (but not soon enough to save this one). It also should be worn by someone with a flatter chest, as it just doesn’t fall smoothly otherwise. Live and learn.

 Double-breasted teal coat

This was my next stab at using an American pattern. In this one, I was able to make the alterations fit (with what I’d learned with the last one, and by making the outside in a muslin throw-away first!). The purpose of this was to make a coat so that I would FINALLY be warm when the Siberian winds started howling down the Korean penninsula. Thus, the result is a little “poofier” than your normal A-line coat because the lining is double-sided fleece. (BIG note to self: single-sided is plenty warm enough).  Other than that, this is some of the best-quality sewing I’ve done.

Maybe I should mention that this is the warmest winter they’ve had in Korea since I arrived 13 years ago, so I’ve yet to have a day cold enough to wear this?!

That’s what I’ve got so far. I’m working on something now that is completely my own design and my own pattern and a real grown-up dress, and as soon as I get a chance to finish it, I will post it here. Stay tuned!

How about you? Have you sewn anything lately? Send me a pic at seoulfash at gmail.com (substitute @ for “at” — I don’t want a zillion tons of spam) and I’ll post it here!

Now that you all know about the big move and career change (and if you don’t, check the previous post before you read this), everyone’s asking, “What’s going to happen with the family?” Apparently, I’ve even started up divorce rumors. Well, set your minds at ease. Sang and I are separating, but only by an ocean, honest!

Here’s the plan. The kids and I are going to ‘vacation’ in LA this summer. We’ll be finding an apartment, setting up house and doing a little traveling and beach-going. At the end of August Donna and Jason will return to their daddy in Seoul to finish out the school year (which ends in January of each year as opposed to June in the States). At the start of 2009 they will come to live with me in LA. Sang will then take some time in Seoul to build up his business to where he can have it run by a manager, then come and join us (6 months? A year? We do not know the answer to this yet). He hasn’t been able to devote the time for expansion as he does most of the “soccer mom” duties in Korea (hard for me to do with the language barrier and my inflexible, odd-hour teaching schedule).

It’ll be tough — first being apart from them and then being a ’single mom’ – but I’ll have six months in LA to figure out afterschool activities, sitters, etc. before Donna and Jason arrive. I also thought it was important for them to help with pick out the apartment, etc. so that when we are apart they can visualize where I am and what I’m doing. Thank God for the Internet! We’ll be able to talk, exchange videos, pics  and emails so easily and cheaply!

So that’s the plan. If any of you are familiar with L.A., I’ll take advice on good neighborhoods and schools in the area! (Hopefully within a reasonably insane commute to downtown where FIDM is located.)