Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine August 2016 | Page 91

Travel | Seoul

87

© therealrealjd /Flickr; © Jirka Matousek / Flickr

5 Senses – Sight
SIMONE HANDBAG
MUSEUM
If you’re a shopaholic or just have an
interest in fashion, then don’t
miss this Gangnam-district museum in
a glass building with a roof that
resembles handbag handles. Some
of the handbags on display date back
centuries. A whole floor is devoted
to changing handbag fashions in the
West during the 20th century, with
examples from many of the world’s top
designers. Informative signage traces
design influences and handbag usage.
www.simonehandbagmuseum.co.kr
Jika Anda seorang shopaholic atau
penggemar mode, jangan lewatkan
museum di distrik Gangnam di gedung
kaca dengan atap seperti pegangan
tas. Beberapa tas yang dipamerkan
sudah berusia berabad-abad. Ada juga
satu lantai khusus yang menampilkan
perubahan mode di Barat pada abad
ke-20, melalui karya-karya desainer
top dunia. Terdapat papan informasi
kronologis pengaruh desain dan
penggunaan tas-tas tersebut.

A clothes shop in Hongdae.
Hongdae gadgets.
Cookies for sale in a Hongdae shop.

trendsetting centre of Korean fashion, with
branches of the Lotte, Shinsegae and Migliore
departments stores and plenty of malls – both
underground and above – for clothing, shoes,
accessories and cosmetics. You’ll find the latest
offerings from Paris, London and Milan here.
The Lotte Department Store is an elegant affair
and even has elevator girls in peach uniforms
and white lace gloves to welcome customers
and press buttons as you ascend through floors
of European and US designer clothes. Shinsegae
Department Store is also great, even if you never
get beyond its surreal exterior featuring floating
men in bowler hats.
Close by Myeong-dong is Namdaemun Gate,
a beautiful 14th-century building that is the
symbol of Seoul. But Namdaemun is also one
of Seoul’s major shopping districts and keeps
going 24 hours a day, though late evening and
into the night is generally reserved for wholesale
business. Stalls and shops line the streets, while
a three-storey building is crammed with more
stalls groaning under teetering piles of hosiery,
underwear and handbags; you have to clamber
over sack loads of shirts and duck beneath

dangling bunches of stockings to hunt down
what you’re looking for. All of Seoul comes here
to shop for clothes, sporting goods, toys, pottery,
tableware, sunglasses and more. The shopping
isn’t necessarily for the discerning – watch out
for those ‘Leevis’ jeans and almost-Rolex
watches – but prices are hard to beat.
If you aren’t exhausted yet, another 24-hour
market, Dongdaemun, has a similar mix of
clothing, household goods, sports gear,
leather and textiles sold by the metre,
including the country’s largest collection
of silks. Many of the stores are no bigger
than an elevator, and hundreds of them run
for ten city blocks. Vendors watch Korean soap
operas on portable TVs, kids fall asleep on
bales of shirts, shoppers rub the hems of
colourful dresses, and trendy young men
order new glasses from the optician. Lively,
fun and distinctively Korean, it’s another area
that makes Seoul such a great place to shop.