3rdgensooner
4/13/2011, 12:30 PM
What Not to Wear (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/11/what_not_to_wear)
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/110411_fashionkorea.jpg
NORTH KOREA
Sartorial offense: Long hair or pants
The debate: In North Korea, where daily life is a parade of regulations, clothing is no exception. In 2005, North Korean state TV showed (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jan/12/broadcasting.koreanews) a five-part series on personal grooming titled, "Let's trim our hair in accordance with the socialist lifestyle." It instructed men to pick one of several officially sanctioned haircuts. Options included the crew cut and the "high, middle, and low" styles. Hair should be trimmed every 15 days, the show advised, and men over 50 were permitted to grow their hair up to 2.75 inches in order to hide bald spots. Unfortunately, Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's signature pouf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWdebw0bB8) was not on the menu of options.
Proper dress in North Korea is considered vital to the country's health. According to the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jan/12/broadcasting.koreanews), a radio broadcast in 2005 titled, "Dressing in accordance with our people's emotion and taste" informed North Koreans that looking tidy would keep the capitalists away and would promote "the socialist lifestyle of the military-first era."
The consequences for not dressing in accordance with the people's emotion are dire. North Korean women face hard labor (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090724-156849.html) if they are caught wearing trousers instead of skirts. In 1986, Kim Jong Il issued a decree urging women to wear traditional Korean attire. "The Dear Leader has said national character shows up not only in language, etiquette and morals but in attire as well," official North Korean website Uriminzokkiri said in 2009 (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090724-156849.html). According to the site, Kim said that the country's traditional garb is a "source of [national] pride."
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/110411_fashionkorea.jpg
NORTH KOREA
Sartorial offense: Long hair or pants
The debate: In North Korea, where daily life is a parade of regulations, clothing is no exception. In 2005, North Korean state TV showed (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jan/12/broadcasting.koreanews) a five-part series on personal grooming titled, "Let's trim our hair in accordance with the socialist lifestyle." It instructed men to pick one of several officially sanctioned haircuts. Options included the crew cut and the "high, middle, and low" styles. Hair should be trimmed every 15 days, the show advised, and men over 50 were permitted to grow their hair up to 2.75 inches in order to hide bald spots. Unfortunately, Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's signature pouf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWdebw0bB8) was not on the menu of options.
Proper dress in North Korea is considered vital to the country's health. According to the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jan/12/broadcasting.koreanews), a radio broadcast in 2005 titled, "Dressing in accordance with our people's emotion and taste" informed North Koreans that looking tidy would keep the capitalists away and would promote "the socialist lifestyle of the military-first era."
The consequences for not dressing in accordance with the people's emotion are dire. North Korean women face hard labor (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090724-156849.html) if they are caught wearing trousers instead of skirts. In 1986, Kim Jong Il issued a decree urging women to wear traditional Korean attire. "The Dear Leader has said national character shows up not only in language, etiquette and morals but in attire as well," official North Korean website Uriminzokkiri said in 2009 (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090724-156849.html). According to the site, Kim said that the country's traditional garb is a "source of [national] pride."