About

This research explores the influence of Japanese colonialism and American imperialism in Korea by observing the development of its fashion production in Seoul’s garment district, Dongdaemun.
 
Dongdaemun garment district was once the heart of the national export-based economy, following the global division of labour in the 1960s when Korea took on the role of an Original Equipment Manufacturer. This meant that Korea in the later twentieth century was a ‘sweatshop of the world’, particularly of Western fashion conglomerates, without the ability to operate as an independent design and manufacturing power. Dongdaemun thus often represents an image of an ‘ugly modernisation’ where undereducated women, under poor working conditions, mind-numbingly churned out products for brands like Nike and cheap copy products made with the leftover original equipment and models.

While numerous studies on East Asian modernity in history, urban studies and anthropology emphasise speed and compression, this research casts doubt on this approach as it risks reproducing the Eurocentric framework of modernity, which assumes modernisation in Asia was a 'copy', following the encounters with the (refracted) Western colonial powers. Instead, it aims to zoom in on the divergences made in Dongdaemun and the wider fashion system, and the negotiations made by the state, city and individual makers to define modern Korean fashion. Thus, it will define colonial modernity as not only what has been lost and replaced but also survived and revived. The research will be in conversation with material culture and fashion history, as well as postcolonial and decolonial theories. 

In terms of methodology, the research will gather original sources from interviews, taking an oral history approach, and include object analyses and participant observations to understand how government initiatives influenced by global powers (e.g., Creative Design Studios, sewing classes) affected the ideas and practices of fashion in Dongdaemun.