What is it about Seoul that has the world in its thrall? I have fielded this question so often of late, tossed it back and forth, particularly with Koreans, as puzzled as I am by the sudden fervor. The Seoul of the ’90s that I knew as a child—as an American girl growing up in the Midwest, my mother taking me twice a year to the country of her birth—was rooted in smallness.
Seoul was the pack of yogurt drink left swinging on my grandmother’s front door, the windowless market where we’d buy sticky rice cakes, the underground hall where fake Chanel wallets tumbled from black garbage bags like stone fruit from trees. It felt like a stunted city yearning for sophistication. My American classmates could not place it on a map. “Is it like Beijing? Tokyo?” they would ask. “North or South Korea?”
As I entered my teens, I began to dread the prospect of flying 14 hours for dull department store lunches and walks along an ever-gray river. I craved the worldliness of New York, or Paris, or Tokyo, and wanted to own a real Chanel wallet instead of a convincing fake. Immature, I thought that Seoul lacked savoir vivre, and said so to my mother, who acquiesced and we ceased our yearly visits. The city faded from my view.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
WOMAN TO WOMAN
Chemena Kamali's debut for Chloé was notable most of all for the way it connected with so many. Chloe Schama meets the designer whose name is on everyone's lips.
In Wonderland
Coach creative director Stuart Vevers and husband Ben Seidler's country cottage on 40 rolling acres is filled with antiques, flea market finds and their gorgeous young twins.
SUPERNOVA
A searingly modern take on Sunset Boulevard, starring Nicole Scherzinger at the height of her powers, comes to the New York stage.
Mr. Happy
Kieran Culkin as electric an actor as he is a constitutionally ambivalent one-anchors the dark comic indie A Real Pain, and is leading Glengarry Glen Ross to Broadway. It's a lot to process.
SHAPE SHIFTER
Who is Lady Gaga now? A Hollywood superstar, a pop innovator, and a much happier, more grounded creature altogether. But as Jonathan Van Meter discovers, she's still an ever-evolving puzzle all her own. Photographed by Ethan James Green.
An Un-Still Life
The vibrant paintings of Hilary Pecis pulse with energy.
Giddyup Cup
The storied Austrian glassware maker Lobmeyr looks to the American West.
What's Going On With Pants?
The current (and oft-confusing) proliferation of them mirrors our lives today. By Maya Singer.
Full Flower
Erdem Moralioglu plants a new seed with his bloom-adorned bag.
Out of the Box
A biopic made from Legosfor Pharrell Williams.