The Prospectus

o A provisional title : What is fashion of Korea?

o What on a PERSONAL level is interesting/compelling/meaningful to you about your project?

As an international student from Korea who has lived in Seoul for most of my life in New York, I wondered about question of diversity, especially this question: "What is unique about contemporary Korea?" Of course there were countless unique characteristics, but the reason why I wondered about this question was that I always "felt" that Korea always seemed to follow the trends that were seemingly set by the foreign countries. It did not seemed to create its own trend or to have own aesthetics.
In the fashion approaches course, I realized fashion choices can reflect a lot about the person's state of mind, perception of the place that one lives in ,..et cetra. By asking many international students who has lived both in Korea but also in foreign countries about why they would wear certain clothes more comfortably in New York rather than in Korea and vice versa, I wanted to see what does "Korea" make people feel, how that location influences not only the fashion choices but also the mood/emotions of people.

o What kind of thinker are you? How does the project reflect what kind of thinker you are?

I believe I am a type of person who likes to "relate" different pieces of evidences to form a larger argument. For example, this little project of accumulating what Korea(or Korean society) makes people feel can be used to discuss the issue of acceptance of diversity in Korea which I believe is the umbrella problem that links many societal problems including high suicidal rate ,malicious internet rumor problems, education system problems.. et cetra

o What do you want to get out of doing this project?

o How it might be build on or depart from (or both) the work you’ve done so far in college, school, life?

o Discuss a few moments the course. How might they inspire your project?

As I mentioned in the above question, I wanted to gather primary sources of evidence or narratives that shows Korean society's atmosphere and traditions restricts and discourages diversity and uniqueness of individuals. Diversity and richness of fashion is something Korea look up to in other cultures, but Korean society does not seem to realize diversity in fashion and in culture starts from accepting different personalities and fashion of individuals, not just well-known designers. There are of course, some prejudices about fashion in America as well, as Ryan's interview shows. But it was in a suburban area of America, and Ryan became more freed from it when he went to college, and is consequently happier.

The fashion apporaches course motivated me to think fashion as a tool for social change.

The biopower of fashion and Nan Enstead's article I read during this course made me to think that the biopower of fashion and enacted wish images that clothing have would be a great source of emancipation of individuality that could be surpressed within restrictive education system. The stressful and restrictive education system encourages school violence (both verbal and physical). Since fashion could be a great way to let students to express their dreams and desires, it could also have an educational value.

Inspired by the film "Pepe" and Sally Singer's video (which I found online after the class she led),I was motivated to research more about the thrift stores and different ways to promote green consumerism in fashion.

o If your project could be anything it would be a… [map/walking tour/film, etc.] If you are thinking of writing an essay for the project, what kind would you like to write? Personal? Lyric? A formal analysis within your disciplinary area?

For this project, I did it through blogging, since I believe it is the best way to share this story or evidences I gathered.