While there are been many instances of horrific fashion choices committed to celluloid in the history of K-dramas, merely to highlight fugly fashion would ultimately be an empty endeavor. With each new wave of K-drama fashion, comes a tide of questionable wardrobes that best be quickly forgotten.
For all my drama-watching, there has been only two instances where the collective outfits of each of these two men were so WT-frak bad, not to mention prolonged watching almost gave me an eye disease. I’m sure veteran drama fans know exactly which two dramas I am talking about.
Yes, it is indeed Full House and Goong. And I am in fact talking about Rain in Full House and Joo Ji Hoon in Goong. It is especially galling that I am holding up as shining examples on how NOT to dress, a movie star character and a crown prince character. Like, really?
Have You Looked in the Mirror Today?:
Crown Prince Shin – a walking, talking block of wood dressed by a 6 year old girl.
(Pink shirt with blue polka dots + pastel multi-color button down with white collar and ruffle panel in front – so if Korea had a fictional monarchy, the Crown Prince would be styled like a he’s attending a pink-themed garden party?)
(Auditioning for the role as Henry Higgin’s metrosexual helper + napping in mono-color linen chest baring glory)
(Watch out, there is a spider attached to your chest + tea is best enjoyed in a lavender striped white-collared shirt)
(Accessorized with a straw hat or a scooter, it still can’t dim the fuschia flower print of thy shirt, which is so blinding that you can short-circuit anyone’s vision)
Mega Movie Star Lee Young Jae – a buff action hero dressed by a fashion-challenged grandmother.
(They let you out of the house wearing that? – the security at the airport should have stopped you from boarding the plane because you are clearly blind and in need of assistance – not only is it heinous individually, as combined your top clashes with your bottom)
(Yes, it’s a fact that no one looks good in a white linen deep-V chest baring top + your fluorescent yellow sleeveless shirt and bright blue pants combo belongs in separate bins at the local thrift store, the bins where people go to buy rags to use as window-washing cloths)
(Wow, could that mess of a shirt have any more color and pattern combinations, is not possible + fuschia is not a acceptable color on a man, and you committed the even graver sin of clashing with your date)
(Yo, Rain, you forgot to put on a shirt under your suit jacket + it’s red, it’s sleeveless, it’s got a slit down the front and middle, it’s clear that you are consistent)
(No man should wear a little scarf tied around the neck unless you are hiding a tracheotomy scar + wow, Korean movie stars wear tie-dye, so hippie chic!)
Honorable Mention:
Goes to: Jang Geun Seok in You’re Beautiful – heinous, yes, but also somewhat appropriate because he was playing a glam rock star (though of the fairy variety). In the end, he owned the clothes and they got progressively less barf-inducing as the drama progressed.
Unlike poor Prince Shin and Movie Star Young Jae, who sported all of the above cringe-worthy outfits throughout the entire drama, and then some. I know there are lots of fugly clothes in the K-drama universe, but I don’t think any other character in any other drama can match these two gentlemen in sheer atrocious spirit mixed with the fact that their characters are so loaded they can afford good clothes and stylists.
You totally read my mind for bad kdrama fashion choices! Bravo.
totally agree! for Young Jae, remember that lime V-neck sweater with the purple collar lining?
Wait… let’s not go there. Don’t remember! Don’t!
http://www.showwallpaper.com/wallpaper/0509/000548.jpg
I couldn’t resists but to google more Rain images from the show and guess what sweater showed up! You failed to mention how deep the v-neck was. WOW
Oh my eyes, my eyes, Kristal, did you intend to blind us all? Wow, it’s like every single thing he wore was barfed up by a hobo.
JaeMin fr WHIB and YoungJae are Fall/Winter and S/S wardrobes of the same guy. I can totally picture YJ spotting tiger fur and matched his naked poster accordingly when first snow hits the glass house. AND JM do need the scarfs to hide all the bite marks fr daddy dearest, even in that red sleeveless slitted to waist #. The wardrobe works perfectly for JaeMin as opposed to YJ….nth pisses a golf club hauling evil Kdrama macho dad more than dressing up like a psycho bitch w/ a feline fur fetish and a backpack. You can not convince me a very tiny part of why SJ had the hardest time choosing because of the demerits of his wardrobe IF u have to hold hands and walk down streets like normal ppl w/ JM
Love it! A thousand giggles for a thousand polka-dots!
Ok I’m going to have to defend JGS again. His wardrobe in YB was fun and awesome (and he can carry it off).
Bi’s outfit’s were probably the worst I’ve ever seen and I remember feeling it was cringe inducing. It also made him totally not hot. I was rooting for the 2nd lead just because he had great hair and wore better looking clothes–yes I can be shallow.
Also Han Ji Min’s outfits in Great Inheritance was pretty god awful. Her acting in that kdrama + clothes = pretty distracting and annoying.
BTW I have the flowery green wrap dress that SHK wore in FH. Its a diane von furstenberg wrap dress and I had bought it for a spring wedding and I was so bowled over when I saw her wearing it on the show.
Wow, when you line all the images up that way, they sure look awful, lol, especially Prince Shin! Funnily, I didn’t pay attention to the fashion in both shows; was too busy screaming at loopy plot developments.
Both dramas share these similarities: addictive first half, gorge-your-eyes-out-from-frustration second half; male protagonists who keep ding-donging between old loves and new ones; gorgeous to-die-for settings; clingy woe-is-me second leads (yes, Prince Yul, I’m talking about YOU!), etc.
Fun post, ockoala!
To be honest, guys (aren’t I always), my first watch of Goong I shipped Prince Yul bc he had the better wardrobe. No, I’m serious. I could not imagine my adorable (1/2 only) Chae Kyung could be happy with a man who dressed like THAT and treated her like crap.
It was only later, much later, after I saw non-in-character Joo Ji Hoon and realized that indeed he was as cute as people claimed, that I ceded to shipping Prince Shin (also, bc Prince Yul was a useless piece of lameness in the end). See, clothes do make the man (I keep saying this to Mr. Koala and he keeps telling me I’m shallow and he is a man who does not rely on looks, and I’m all – rely more on looks, please do, sir!).
As for Full House – I think Rain looks worse that Joo Ji Hoon if I were to line them side-by-side. Sometimes Rain looked like a transsexual gigolo. I never watched more than half of FH so I don’t know how (more) ridiculous the plot got, or his outfits. But I remember from the second his character got introduced I was just lock-jawed at how godawful he looked. And that he was playing a movie star! Oh, the terrible irony.
Speaking of Rain looking like a gigolo, have you watched Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School? There he was literally a gigolo! 😆 Still my favoritest Rain drama ever.
LOL.
To be perfectly honest, I’m sure I scratched my head at Joo Ji Hoon’s questionable wardrobe but the dullness of the plot and my relative newness to kdrama land at the time might’ve been why I overlooked the craptastic fashion choices. Or was it because the rest of the show was so exceptionally pretty?
Rain on the other hand? The second he stepped on the screen I wanted to gorge my eyes out. That outfit was so awful and I was already HATING the weirdo plot so I never made it past the first episode and now I def never will 🙂
Fashion challenged grandmother indeed ^^
Agree Thundie. Rain as gigolo was good in Sangdo–his best acting yet (or maybe ever). The ending was little WTF though.
Hahaha, entertaining post.
But, I love Jae Min’s wardrobes! Somehow I think it emphasized his playboy flamboyant character.
I actually don’t really mind so called ‘metrosexual’, ‘edgy’, ‘dandy’ fashion choices of lead actors in Kdramas.
For example, I particularly dig Lee Minho’s wardrobes in Personal Taste…yes I like that long but not too long trousers he wears ( idol boys use that often too 😛 )
I just have to say: I loved Jae Min’s ridiculous and sublime wardrobe in WHIB. It was adorably fierce!
I actually kinda liked his fur collar coat, thats about the only item from his wardrobe that really sticks out in my memory.
Maybe because of Yoon Eun Hye (Chae Kyung) wardrobe is a lot more pleasant to the eye-princessy type that Ji Hoon’s fashion is somewhat (guilty) overlooked! I am a YEH fanatic and I really don’t notice the guy’s clothes most of the time, but I still like JJH-oppa for YEH, whatever you say. 🙂 maybe he should have you know suggested more coordinated manly clothes. like suits. I remember that he donned a suit over a sleeveless shirt? i think that’s episode 24,when he was taken by the police? it looks weird but because of the intensity of YEH’s acting, I just looked the other way. and inthe last scene when Prince went to Macau? suit and tie then shorts? haha. But I still find hot though. Must be something wrong with me. 🙂