Pots and pans, piles of shirts and sneakers, jewellery-laden tables, and packing containers brimming with bric-a-brac. Within the tangle of streets close to exit 3 of Seoul’s Dongmyo station, a whole lot of distributors promote every thing from outdated Instamatic cameras to books, luggage and vinyl data.
Positioned within the South Korean capital’s historic district of Dongdaemun, Dongmyo’s bustling flea market is scattered round a shrine inbuilt honour of an historical Chinese language army commander. However there’s extra to the neighbourhood than bargains, classic garments, and retro treasures. It additionally serves as a cultural hub for town’s senior residents to buy, socialise and showcase their distinctive model.
Proper: Shin Tae-geun offered youngsters’s garments for 50 years in Daegu’s Seomun Market, having began her profession as an assistant at a youngsters’s dressmaker the place she discovered to stitch and make garments. She nonetheless cares about trend, and makes certain to look excellent earlier than going out. Composite: Kim Dong-hyun
“At some point, I observed a senior gentleman on the lookout for garments similar to me. His model blew me away,” recollects Seoul-based photographer Kim Dong-hyun, 29, who spends his days documenting town’s vibrant senior avenue trend scene, a lot of which he shares on Instagram.
Through the years, Dongmyo has undergone numerous change, turning into a vacation spot for younger individuals’s newfound appreciation of classic clothes on a finances. At its core although, Dongmyo has all the time been a playground for town’s aged inhabitants.
“I’ve met some individuals who have been going there each week for 30 years,” Kim says, based mostly on the various conversations he has had with the individuals he has photographed. South Korea is a quickly ageing society. By 2050, the variety of aged individuals might account for almost 44% of the nation’s inhabitants. Whereas many senior residents really feel more healthy than ever and don’t regard themselves as outdated, aged loneliness is a big drawback.
“In Korea, there aren’t many locations the place aged individuals can go and have enjoyable. However in Dongmyo, they will buy groceries, they will play, meet associates and drink makgeolli [rice wine]. It’s their space, and so they don’t have to care about what different individuals suppose.”
“From their hairdos to their glasses and sneakers, they know the best way to look good and deal with themselves. They pursue their very own types and distinctive methods to specific their individuality. Many people imagine that fashionable individuals are simply younger individuals, a message additional amplified by the media. However trend has no age,” he says.
Among the many senior residents that hand around in Dongdaemun is Lee Seok-ki, one member of a gaggle generally known as the “army crew”. The group is comprised of three males whose types are completely different from one another: Lee prefers a minimalist conventional army look, whereas his associates prefer to reinterpret army model in a contemporary manner, adorning garments with vibrant embroidered patches and badges.
If something, senior trend is extra refined, Kim says. “It’s like wine. In your 20s, you simply style every thing, however by your 70s, your style is sharper – you realize what you want.”
As a toddler, Chae Myung-hee, 74, developed a ardour for trend that led her to work as a ladies’s garments designer for 40 years. Even through the pandemic when some individuals dressed down and prevented make-up, she says she made an effort to all the time look nice, whether or not she was carrying a masks or not. “It’s all the time been part of me,” Chae says.
Proper: Girl in Dior: When Kim Dong-hyun first noticed her, she was wearing Dior, so gave her the nickname. ‘Each time I meet her, I’m impressed by her sense of favor,’ he says. Composite: Kim Dong-hyun
In his upcoming e book, Mut – Road Trend of Seoul, Kim supplies a glimpse into the world of senior trend. He hopes the e book will present a brand new perspective on a demographic that’s usually ignored or under-appreciated. Kim says older individuals needs to be recognised for his or her cool and aptitude, which is named meot in Korean, or as Kim likes to stylise it on-line and in his e book – mut.
“It’s greater than the English phrase ‘cool’,” he says. “Generally it will possibly imply one thing is great, typically it will possibly imply good, typically it’s beautiful or fabulous. I can’t specific it otherwise or translate the phrase, and don’t see the necessity for it.”
The pictures provide hope, he says, and a brand new manner of taking a look at ageing. “I believe some individuals have hope once they see my photos. They’ll see that they can also proceed to be modern when they get older.
“When a headline makes use of the phrase ‘grandfather’, we robotically assume one thing detrimental … I wish to present that seniors have particular person personalities, that they can also have their very own meot.”
