Thanks for the lovely write up @missvictrix! Clothes do go a long way in making us form opinions on different characters! So many dramas are coming to mind right now where I judged a character a certain way because they were dressed in a particular manner. It's interesting what all goes behind scenes and how many people are involved in delivering the basic idea of the script across!

In find the use of English words on character t-shirts to foreshadow moods or emotions its own trope.

Even when they're poor, they never wear the same thing more than twice.

When I read this, the first drama that came to mind was Misty (whose name does not deserve to be mentioned, but I will give it a pass for a second). We talked a lot back in the day about Go Hye-ran's pantsuits, but there was a definite shift at one point where she started wearing dresses, too. IIRC it was a little too obviously done, it was a little too forced, and it felt like the director was definitely trying to make a statement...the only thing is, I never quite grasped what statement they were going after. The tension between dressing women in pants vs skirts/dresses is a fascinating one to me, and nothing tapped into that quite like this show. But it never resolved it and that bugs me still. (especially since ALL of GHR's clothing was SO gorgeous. the costuming in that show was exquisite.)

Thank you, @missvictrix! While reading this, I remembered Rooftop Prince where the antagonist plays the corporation secretary - and she wore a long-sleeved blouse paired with shorts to work! I thought OMG this would never happen do in a corporate setting! But now I understand that it was to show her character. On the upside, the cast of Top Star Yoo Baek did a good job in representing the fashion of people in the islands - where people dress more for comfort.

I love fashion as a element of the character's story but I often find k-drama costuming to be absurd and fantastical. A big part of the costuming is really to sell clothes—these characters are walking product placements. We've all observed "poor" characters with their endless stream of wool coats.

When I started watching K-dramas, I was stunned by the tiny skirts worn by female characters. I work in public broadcasting at a large university; we're fairly casual but I've never seen that much leg in an office setting.

In I'm Not A Robot, for example, Ye Ri El wore skirts so short it didn't seem possible to sit down without showing her underpants. They'd film her from the waist up when she was sitting down.

It also drives me crazy to see most female characters wear stilettos. Even cops and secret agents.

I just finished watching Fates and Furies and saw a clear distinction between the costuming for Hae Ra, the designer from a poor background and Soo Hyun, the chaebol daughter. Soo Hyun—a woman desperate to control every aspect of her life—dressed flawlessly in crisp, smooth lines in a mostly neutral base punctuated by strong color or texture. Her clothes were gorgeous.

And Hae Ra? Ugh. With the exception of a couple events where she borrowed gowns for formal events, nothing about her daily wear suggested her design training or that she'd lived in Italy. Her coats looked like expensive bathmats, she wore white stilettos with pants or ugly sweater dresses. Her clothes often had too many damn buttons. It didn't make sense. Worst of all, she had few repeats.

The lack of repeats was totally off. I can't speak for all designers because we're a varied lot but, amongst the visual designers I work with, we tend to lean towards a uniform or a capsule wardrobe. I think real designers would have favorite pieces they wear again and again. We mix high and low, and we thrift shop for those high-end treasures like nobody's business.

Last thought: One of my favorite Beanie screen grabs during the Hwayugi run was a shot of Jo Pal Gye (the pig) wearing what looked like ... an upside down/backwards down coat. I think the only text was something like "WTF?"

@egads—What was that show you saw with that woman who always wore ill-fitting clothes? One of your posts had me in stitches because described her wearing just about every trend in a single item—including cold shoulders.

I work in corporate and my clothes are basically always either pencil skirts and blouse combo or tailored ankle height pants and blouse combo. The other day just on a whim I decided to put on a dress. Everyone commented if I was on a better mood that day ('better' because I am apparently never in a good mood!!). So I understand how important it is for fashion to tell a story about the character. And no I was not on a 'better' mood that day. I just ran out of combinations that day thats all...

Just here to high five @missvictrix for talking about Flower Boy Next Door ~ I hadn't thought about it before, but that's a great point about Go Dok Mi's transformation! Thank you, for another excellent article ^_^

Dal Ja in Dal Ja's Spring had the best office clothes I have seen. To this day, I still admire her dresses and winter coats.

+++
I always like when production teams match the outfit colours of main leads. School 2017 - in one of the BTS, Kim Jung hyun was wearing a black shirt. When Se Jeong joked that they were not matching colours, he insisted in changing his to white (he didn't stop talking about changing until they allowed him to lol) so that they'd look more like a couple. Yknow little details like this, I appreciate.

Please keep these kinds of posts coming @missvictrix ! I thoroughly enjoy them and am looking forward to more!

We do too discuss the fashion here!! Who else has coat envy? Which Beanie in a warm climate has a collection of coats?
Evil, insidious and absolutely irresistible.
Oh yeah, the clothes do tell a story as well. Just a little bit too well...
^^

I find it fascinating that even their hair is used to tell a story . Sometimes it’s just to give the impression of time passing but other times it indicates changes the character is going through.

I just rewatched Kill Me, Heal Me and it was interesting to watch Do Hyun’s hair change. He and Shin Se-gi start by having very different hair styles but as things progress their hair styles evolve and approach a middle ground.

The funniest twist on this topic was in 'Woo Hoo Waikiki' in the episode where Seo-jin gets a pile of hand-me-down designer clothes and combines them so she looks just like a homeless person - but she imagined herself looking like a million bucks.

Oh, my favorite K-drama fashion choice was in the 2014 series 'Pinoccio' when In-ha walks into the family living room wearing her old hoodie sweatshirt *backwards* so she could use the hood as a feed-bag to hold her snacks under her nose. Even the recapper noticed it and called it 'genius'!

Hanboks, you forgot hanboks. The good ones always wear light colors while the bad ones always wear dark colors.
And eye makeup too.......

No matter what, the variety of character outfits sure make the drama way better.

Back when I started dramas in 2008, over the next couple of years I noticed the "antagonist dress+hairstyle" of the scheming women who were against the OTP. They always had short hair, their outfits were sharp & striking, the eyeliners were pointy & they catwalked everywhere.