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[Drama Chat] Can I have your wardrobe?


In addition to being character-driven delights with a proper beginning, middle, and end, K-dramas also give us great aesthetics.

From the sets to the drama’s palette to the “look” of the characters, there’s no detail left untouched. A character’s wardrobe, in fact, is one of the primary tools a production uses to build the character and tell us about them. But storytelling mechanics aside, they’re also just great to look at. Whether it’s the sharp suits in Vincenzo, the cheap-yet-edgy look of Geum-hee in Business Proposal, or any and every drama’s tendency to never use the same coat twice, K-drama wardrobes are a thing to be remembered.
 

Who are some iconic dramaland dressers? How did their wardrobe fit their character and help tell their story? And of course, which wardrobe/look would you steal?

 
Let the chatting begin!
 
Thanks to @tiredys for the prompt.
 
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Yoon Se-ri in Crash Landing on You or Scarlett in Search:WWW for choice. The outfits don't look too flashy even when they're wearing really bright colours and I love the way they accessorised with gorgeous shoes or statement jewellery.

Actually both Son Ye-jin and Lee Da-hee in general have great styling. Loved Da-hee's look as Kang Sa-ra in The Beauty Inside too.

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I know it's far back but I reallyyy loved Yoo Inna's (as Oh Yoonseo) wardrobe in Touch Your Heart / Reach of Sincerity. It's sophisticated but not unachievable, yknow? Like something I could find dupes of in Zara or sumn. Her dangling earrings game was on point, too. And not to mention her spacious walk-in closet? T_T Mewantsobad.

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Even further back- yoo inna in secret hotel

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I have a couple who come to mind

For the women:
-Seo Yea-ji in IOTNBO has to be the first for me.
-Kim Min-Jung in The Devil Judge
-Son Ye-Jin and Seo Ji-hye in CLOY
-IU in Hotel Del Luna

For the men:
-Song Joong-Ki in Vincenzo.
-Lee Jong-Suk in RIABB
-Gong Yoo in Goblin
-Lee Min-Ho in TKEM

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IU in Hotel del Luna was my first thought! But I’d have to get her figure first…

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Lee Jong-suk in Romance is a Bonus Book was my first thought - all the lovely sweaters, especially the soft purplish one in one of the early episodes, and so many beautiful coats. But he also wore the single most eye-bleedingly awful garment I have ever seen in a drama - the terrifying pink and red camouflage coat in the last episode (I think it was Valentino). I need to re-watch some earlier episodes to wash that out of my brain.

Through the first 8 episodes, Kim Hee-sun's wardrobe in Tomorrow is shaping up to be one of the best ever. I'd wear everything she's worn so far, and I'd trade one of my children for those silver boots.

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LJS's wardrobe perfectly telegraphed his character as creative, self-confident, wealthy, and more than a bit vain.

KHS's is all about being (at least on the outside) a risk-taking badass who is indifferent to others' opinions and judgments about what is 'appropriate.' I think her costumes are also a kind of armor that help her look more confident than she really is, and the dominant black and red elements evoke her hellish past.

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Ohh, yes. I also love KHS's style in Tomorrow.

I couldn't remember the red and pink camouflage coat so I just went and checked 😂. I agree, you should definitely wash that out of your brain

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Cha Eun Ho in Romance is a Bonus Book has to be one of the best styled males in a drama ever. I believed his character and everything they said he was because of how he was dressed.

I like that it was not the usual suits or fashion magazine styling either. He looks like how his character felt.

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I have just finished Chicago Typewriter and I loved Yoo Ahin’s wardrobe in both eras! His stylist was on point.

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I actually wrote a theme of the month post like this a few years ago! For me, the main one would be Park Shin-hye in Heartstrings. Her summery uni-student wardrobe was iconic. She was the one who awakened me to my love of little t-shirts tucked into full-length skirts. It's all I wear now.
But also:
-Hong Seol's yellow jumper in Cheese in the Trap
-Song Ji-won's long pineapple cardigan in Age of Youth 2

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It was. She and Hong Seol are emulatable.

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I will steal Bae Doona’s wardrobe in Stranger S1. They. Are. So. Cool.

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Sameee

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Seo Yea-ji in "It's Ok to Not be Ok." Such gorgeous, distinctive clothes that not only looked stunning on her, but also represented the character's emotional contradictions. A perfect wardrobe for a fairy tale goth princess with impulse control issues.

Aesthetically, I also loved PMY's pencil skirt/silk blouse outfits in "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim," and in terms of being perfect for the character, Kim Hye-soo's track suits and gaudy jewelry in "Hyena."

For men, SJK's perfectly tailored suits in "Vincenzo" gave him the gravitas he needed to pull off that character.

Honorable Mention: Kim Woo Bim's teeshirts in Our Blues because they perfectly accent his very admirable biceps :)

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I also loved SYJ's eye-popping style in IOTNBO, but KHS managed to made me want to purchase an Adidas tracksuit for the first time in my life. Spoiler, I ended up getting a black one, because while she looked incredibly cool in gaudy red and green ones, I felt like I channeled too much sporty ajuhma vibes in those colours
It was a fortunate decision, because not long after Squid Game's green tracksuits became a popular cosplay 😄

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Ah, sporty ajuhma vibes!🤣

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For the women
- IU in Hotel Del Luna
- Kim Seo-young in Mine
- Yoon Soo-hee's Kim Hwa-Goon in Ruler : Owner of the mask.
- Chu Ja-hyun in My Unfamiliar Family

For the men

- Lee Gyu-han in She Would Never Know
- Gramps in Business Proposal
- Kim Jae-wook in Temperature of Love.

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Run On's Oh mijoo and Dan Ah's outfits I liked.

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Oh right, Dan-ah's outfits were fabulous! Definitely also on my list.

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I love how she always wears sneakers with her outfits just in case an opportunity to kick a soccer ball arises.

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Yes! The blue power suit with white sneakers was a favourite 🤩.

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While I'm a fan of PMY's pencil skirts in Secretary Kim & her lady-boss pant-suits from Her Private life...... they feel a little one-note to me.

However, ever since I saw Kurumi Mashiba in Kikazaru Koi Ni wa Riyuu ga Atte I've been wanting to raid her entire wardrobe. Including her lounge-wear! T_T The Tasaki accessories, color-blocking and her shoes really brought together every single silhouette she ever wore :D I believe there's even an instagram fan-page documenting every little detail of all her outfits, and the best part is, it isn't even un-achievable! ^^

Ps. Special shout-out to Seo-Dan's over-coats from CLOY that were particularly enviable & lust-worthy! For men, i would say a healthy mix of Huaze Lei and Xi Men's wardrobe from Meteor Garden 2018! ^^

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Kurumi Mashiba in Kikazaru Koi Ni wa Riyuu ga Atte. Good shout!

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Seo Yul , no competition.

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Min Jae's suits in "Dali and the CP". He's suits were as bright and unique as his personality. I love them.
Sae Bom's comfortable clothes in "Happiness". Her clothes describe her personality well. And I think she's the first FL I've seen wearing that kind of clothes for the whole drama LOL. SB is iconic.
Bong Hwan-ah's hanboks in "Mr Queen". They were just too pretty.
Woo In looking badass in "Doberman" when she wears the pink wig, sunglasses and leather jacket.
Jang Na Ra in "Sell Your Haunted House". She looked great, like a badass. It fits her personality very well.

Everyone in "Tomorrow" when they wear the black suits. PS. I can't get over the bling bling boots HS was wearing like two weeks ago.

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I remember Min-Jae's first pair of shoes in Dali- They were so over the top that I wanted to get a pair- although I am not sure where I would have worn them.

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I know, it's like all his outfits had their own identity.

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Sae Bom is defo iconic, such a contrast to the usual styling. It was funny how awkward it was when she wore a dress that one time.

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Totally.
We need more FLs like her.

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All the hanboks in Mr Queen were really pretty.

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I thought Vincenzo's collection of suits were absolutely stunning. All the Business Proposal clothes for the guys and the girls were beautiful. Hari's clothes for the first Blind Date were perfect. Yoon Seri in Crash Landing was always beautifully dressed, and the same applies for any drama where Son Ye-Jin appears. See Ye Ji in Its OK Not to be OK looked amazing throughout, and I do hope we will see her back soon.

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I have a bit of a weird fascination with all KDrama high school uniforms - they are so different to the versions with which I am familiar, and often feel quite high maintenance! But, common to global teens, there is the need to customise... To that end, I loved Moon Ji-woong in 2521 - his great reveal under his uniform of the t-shirt which had been worn by the criminal - and the reaction it drew - was glorious, and was perfect for pointing us to the way he would thrive as an adult. Loved it!

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Funny that you mention the school uniforms! Public schools here don't require them, but my kids love them from kdramas and tiktok. As someone who suffered an uggly-ass brown uniform for 6 years, I find ithis fascination funny. Personally, I don't like the "girls in skirts/ boys in shorts" typical uniforms, specially because they are kind of sexist - like, it's not really practical for girls who like to jump and run around (guess what, I was one of those kids who looked totally lame with my short hair, permanently worn out shoes, and bony legs).
But I do love kdrama characters who wear sweatpants underneath the skirt. When I first saw it, I found it a genius move 😄

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It's a thing I like in Cdramas, it's their tracksuit uniforms. It's all the same for girls and boys and it's comfy!

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Agree with all the comments praising Lee Dahee in Search:www, Seo Yejin in It's ok to not be ok, Kim Min Joon in Devil Judge and in Mr Sunshine. In a less sophisticated style, I also loved Nana's looks in Into the Ring and Kim Hye Soo's tracksuits in Hyena. They all looked stunning and I had a huge crush on every one of them while watching these dramas. As for male actors, Song Joonki in Vincenzo and Park Sunghoon in Psychopath Diary both look like a million dollars.
I'm still watching A Business Proposal, and the four main characters all have great styling, specially Kim Se Jeon while disguised - she really threads the line without coming off as tacky

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Also, shoutout to Seo Kang Joon's fluffy sweaters in When the Weather is fine, that made him look like the most huggable cinnamon roll that ever cinnamon rolled in Dramaland

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1. Dali from Dali and Gamjatang
2. PM Ku(?) in The King: Eternal Monarch

Gimme all their wardrobes and I’ll be a very happy clam.

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Dalli’s closet is something that I’d like to have too.
The crow hat and icy blue dress pairing is simply gorgeous.

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The ML instantly fell for her.

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Oh yes both of these were really good and rather subdued.

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I love their fashion tastes.

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I also like Jeong Eu-gene's wardrobe in Romance is A Bonus Book in general.

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I would not steal this wardrobe because it only works if you are an ancient monkey god - but Lee Seung Gi’s wardrobe as Son O Gong in Hwayugi was iconic. So many excellent coats!

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Women: Seo Ye Ji, IOTNBO
Shin Min Ah, Hometown Cha Cha Cha

Men: Lee Min Ho, The King: Eternal Monarch
Jang Hyuk, Money Flower

Sageuk edition: Hang Jin Yi, My Country

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There was a webdrama about a dying girl who hires an actor to make believe he's Gong Yoo and reenact classic scenes so she can imagine she's having a romance with him. The actor shows up in a tight wine colored high turtleneck that looked like something out of 2008 and the girl objects 'I didn't mean THAT version of him!'

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😂😂

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Gu in 'My Liberation Notes'. Actually that's already how I dress but it just doesn't look the same.

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"but it just doesn't look the same" -> just got me, it Always doesn't look the same. The reason stops me buying more cloths to emulate my favorite FL in K dramas. ha ha

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Since I embrace the minimalist life style, the glomorous wardrobe from the iconic female leads (IU in Hotela De Laluna, Sohn Ye-jin in CLOY, Seo Yea-ji in IOTNBO) I don't want to steal. But I really want to have Jung Ryeo-won's office wardrobe in Diary of Prosecutor. The style is just this unisex, tends to be tomboyish, comfortable and practical. She never used high heels and that drama, just that darn stylist flat shoes. I want them too

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Okay well first, we have to get the iconic looks that have shaped/are my brand out of the way:

The Pink Sunglasses Club, but mostly their founder, Ah Si's Hot Pink Sunglasses in Meteor Garden 2018. (MG18 also had good coat porn, and the iconic Pineapple Hair :P)

Everything Seo Ye Ji wore in It's Okay to Be Not Okay, but specifically the Jester Skull Umbrella- I still want it. Really badly. I just don't have $800 to drop on an umbrella right now.

The Purple Suit Club- Lookout, Vincenzo, and because they still technically count, Monthly Magazine House and now just recently, Crazy Love.
(There's also the Purple Suit/Hanbok Club: Sageuk Edition but the only one I feel like listing right now is Bead Boy's.)

- The Umbrella Sword in 9Tails, just for like, having an umbrella that turns into a sword, but it would be nice if one day it were the real deal... :P

I have a LOT of opinions about costume design, as like an actual narrative tool, but for now I'll just list other stand out favourites that don't fit the above category, that I can remember right now:

- Ji A/ Jang Nara in Sell Your Haunted House
- The Coat Porn in Hwayugi (The Monkey King, my love, unfortunately I'm still salty they toned this way down in the second half for no reason, like excuse me, bring back the obnoxious and the drama, please)
- The Hanboks in Moonlight Drawn By Clouds, are still some of my favourite Hanboks ever. Especially Park Bo Gum's. A lot of sageuks have really beautiful hanbok and traditional clothing that are worth mentioning, but these always stand out to me and I'll forever be obsessed with them.
- Dali and Gamjatang, for me, mainly at the beginning, as I found it dropped off in signature flair in the latter half, but it still deserves a mention.
- Hwang Jung Eum's modernised hanboks in Mystic Pop Up Bar , especially the lipstick print one.
- The Secret Lyfe of My Secretary, for the contrast between Gal Hee and Fake Veronica, real Veronica's looks, especially her earring game, the suits, and for the show not only having a thematic purpose for Gal Hee's design, but keeping said design to the very end, and not makeover-ing it out.
- I know Byung Hee was more iconic for a lot of people, but I've always really loved the design for specifically Ji Hyuk/ Sung Joon in Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, which was just complimented by how he played him.
- Vincenzo in general

Random pieces I still remember for some reason:
- Key in Lookout
- the orange hoodie in Extracurricular
- the fact that the characters in Rookie Cops were colour coded? but like the show didn't really do anything interesting with that and sucked otherwise so
- the fluffy lime green angora type sweater that showed up in at least three dramas...
- can I saw LSH's styling in Scholar Who Walks in the Night even though I haven't seen it? hahaha
- Ki Seon...

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... Gyeom/ Siwan's TERRIBLE styling in Run On, except for like 2 outfits and that necklace.
- kinda wanna shout of Age of Youth for nailing the complimenting the traits of each main character through costume.

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Omo, yes. with this topic I only cqn think of two boys: Min Jae in Dali and Si Wan in Run On.
Min Jae because he looked unique and awesome, and Si Wan because he's outfits looked terrible (or sometimes it looked like he stole something from a GOT7 member' closet lol).

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Siwan's stylist for Run On must have hated him, I can still picture all those weird outfits 😂

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You CAN'T mention the purple suit without mentioning Seo Yul. You shouldn't.

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Is this Junho's char from Chief Kim, or someone else? Because I haven't seen it if so, and I'm very sorry to both Junho and Namgoong Min but I am unlikely to ever watch it either, so I can't ADD IT when I had no IDEA ABOUT IT.

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Yes, it is Junho 😄

Come on, give it a try.

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It was always on my watchlist, but unfortunately I really didn't like Vincenzo (costumes aside, LOL), so that has put me off the writer's other works pretty much entirely.

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OH! I didn't know they are by the same writer! Oh wow!
Actually, I watched about half of Vincenzo ep1, and thought it too juvenile. Like I immediately called my sons and told them they can add it to their watch-list. From what little I saw I don't think the two shows have anything in common. At the very least Chief Kim is not juvenile.

I'm not trying to press you. This is just me rambling after making a shocking discovery.

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LOL! 😂😂
Vincenzo actually got less juvenile after about ep 4, maybe, but it didn't get any technically better, and I sort of... ended up hate watching it lol. Just do many fundamental flaws I have no confidence in liking anything by the writer again 😅😅
And yes, Fiery Priest is by the same writer as well hahaha.

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Now that I come to think of it, Fiery Priest was by the same writer, wasn't it?? How I disliked that one! Looks like Chief Kim has been a fortunate mistake of this writer😄

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For women it would be very hard to top Kim Nam-joo's wardrobe in MISTY, IU's wardrobe in HOTEL DEL LUNA or, for absolutely fitting into the drama's location, Park Min-young's wardrobe in I'LL COME TO YOU WHEN THE WEATHER IS NICE even though I will concede that her over-all wardrobe was perfectly stylish (and professional) in SECRETARY KIM.

For men- I do not think that it is possible to top Vincenzo's suits (and shoes) in VINCENZO not just because they were so sharp but because they so perfectly fit his character as a formerly high ranking mafioso From Italy. There is no way his character would ever wear anything else. Those suits did not just fit the man- they fit the part.

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I have disliked more wardrobes than what I have liked. I did not like secretary Kim it was a bit too much “I am your secretary I am your sexy subordinate with no rights of my own” vibes. Similar to what one would expect women in mad men to wear in the 1960s. Soo Yeji wardrobe was again something I did not like since that would only suit someone very tall and very thin (which she is) so non replicable. My favourite wardrobe is Victoria song from find yourself. I loved a blue outfit she wore, so much so that I looked for a similar coloured outfit (I never do this). I also liked the outfits in Shen Rouxin wore in Rational Life. She was an older lady but her clothes looked comfortable and stylish and colourful. I also loved the outfits that Jennifer Anniston wore for her Raplh Lauren job. They are timeless, comfortable (diverse since people who are plumper will also look good in them), and very classy.

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"since that would only suit someone very tall and very thin (which she is) so non replicable." - nonsense, jester skull umbrellas do not discriminate against height or body type.

In all seriousness though, I don't actually agree. Some of them maybe, would suit taller and more willowy women, but there are others that would equally suit many others, someone who is very curvy for example could pull off the purple dress and anything with shoulders, like the pink outfit and the multiple black dresses with puffed sleeves.
The defining factor, imo, of a lot of her outfits is actually extreme lines, bold accent points and statement pieces, which would be absurd to say just tall thin women can wear.
On top of that, there's a drama and gothic nature to her outfits that can certainly be borrowed or emulated, no matter what your body type is.
Ofc, if statement pieces aren't your thing, then they're not your thing.
But, if you wanna wear a statement piece? Then wear the darn statement piece, that's what it's for.

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Well I guess we are diverse in our thinking 😊. When I think goth I want Jessica Chastain in the horror movie Mama, with bold eyeliner and lots of Pizzazz. And clothes which show collar bones. The clothes she wore in It’s ok not to be ok were just a bit too much. I do like statement pieces or jewellery as I call them since I do wear them myself. But yes I don’t like chunky ones either. But it was totally not my aesthetic. Anyhow it is what it is we all what we like and don’t what we don’t so let’s respectfully agree to disagree 😊👍

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Oh part two I guess slash me adding stuff whenever I think of them~

A Business ProposalI actually really liked Ha Ri's outfits when pretending to be Geum Hi, the checks, the patterns, the gloves etc, and I also liked the little details in her Team Manager's fits, especially the bold glasses and shoes. :P

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I can't believe I scrolled to the end and no one mentioned Jun Jihyun aka Cheong Songyi from My Love From Another Star! She is the OG kdrama fashionista.

Otherwise, agree with the two ladies of CLOY and Seo Yeji in IONTBO.

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