Old school K-pop had a number of elements that made it so darn fun. There was the catchy music, cool dances (which I covered at length here, here, and here), and the bubbly personalities of the groups and their members that everyone loved. But there was also one other very important element that helped K-pop gain legions of fans; the fashion. In all the writing I've done on the subject of Korean music, I always try to include fashion where I can because it was an absolutely integral part of the entire K-pop experience. Even those of us in America watching our VHS tapes would take fashion cues from our favorite singers and imitate them because it was probably the one thing that fans could do to outwardly show their allegiance to their favorite singers and groups.

On today's Way Back Wednesday, we'll walk down the runway with some of the most memorable fashion statements from K-poppers of the past. I'm no fashionista but even I was able discern some of the best and craziest fashions from back in the day. Don't worry people; this list isn't nearly complete and we'll have round 2 another time.

J.Y. Park - An Original

You cannot start any conversation about K-pop fashion and not include The AsianSoul, J.Y. Park. This guy has been both lauded and lampooned for his stylistic choices and they have been bold to say the least. No matter what you think, the man has a unique sense of style and big you-know-whats to even try wearing what he does. J.Y. Park often says that when he thinks of a song he thinks of the whole concept from music, clothes, dance, music video, etc... It's that way of thinking, a little different from others, that I think has helped him achieve the success he has. They say pictures paint a thousand words so instead of babbling on, why don't we just take a look.

H.O.T - Furry Overalls

So why are the fantastic five on yet another list? It's because they are the originators of the whole idol, cute overalls, jersey numbers, paint under eye, each one has a color, look at my out place sports accessories, trend. It was their performances for "Candy" when they were wrapped up in furry overalls, swim goggles, plush bucket hats and were immensely popular with fans all over the world. That formula would be the blueprint for all the idols and while styles have changed today, you can still see that influence on modern K-pop groups. When they morphed into brooding bad boys with doo rags, eye make-up, and crazy dyed hair, they sparked another trend as nerds like me tried to copy that look too but alas, not all could pull off the look. I have at least four or five bandanas back home from when I tried to copy Moon Hee Jun's bandana over the ears and eyes look. My head was too big for it to work but, I tried my best.

SES - The Hair

Hair styles were just as much a part of the K-pop fashion scene as the clothes were and for many girls of a certain age, if SES did it, they were doing it too. In the critically acclaimed and groundbreaking drama 'Reply 1997' (if you couldn't tell, I really liked it), there was an episode when the main character played by A Pink's Eunji tried to emulate the post modern bouffant hairstyle of Bada from SES. The results were mixed and I love her father's recoil in horror when he sees her hair. But that was the impact that SES had. Girls wanted the hair with the white balls and the strategically placed strands of hair. Eugene had the long, natural look, parted down the middle. Shoo took perms to another level but made it look cute. I saw a lot of Eunji's growing up and I'm sure many reading this were doing the same thing (like my friend Lana who refuses to acknowledge that she ever did it but you know she did). By the way, there's another great part of that whole scene where her friend played by Shin So Yool had her hair done like actress Lee Eui Jung from one of my all-time favorite Korean sitcoms, '3 Guys, 3 Girls'.

Yoo Seung Jun - West Side Hair

If girls had Bada's hair to emulate, then guys had Yoo Seung Jun's. If you're not familiar, it's the look where you cut your hair pretty high and tight, spike it up with copious amounts of gel, but you leave a few strands offset to the left, nice and long until it reaches down to your chin. If you accomplish that, then you have what I refer to as the West Side hair. All the guys wanted it, but very few could actually pull it off. Chicks dug the dudes who could make it work and guys like me... well, we just hated on them. The other thing that Yoo Seung Jun brought was a little bit of that west coast, Korean-American swagger to K-pop. For those of us who grew up in the States, you'll remember that era as when Korean guys would have the chains on the outside of their black t-shirts, fake diamond earrings, baggy jeans, lots of cologne, and loud exhausts on their lower end Japanese cars... OK, I just had a flashback. By the way, if you haven't seen pictures of Yoo Seung Jun recently, check it out; that guy is jacked.

Seotaiji and Boys - Ski Gear as Haute Couture

When Seotaiji and Boys released their fourth album, they were already the biggest musical act in Korea. Whatever they did, people emulated. The music and dances were already legendary and soon, so was the fashion. For their hit "Come Back Home", Seotaiji and Boys came out with ski goggles, gloves, snow pants and made wearing winter accessories as everyday fashion cool. It sounds kind of lame now but at the time, it was high fashion in the world of K-pop. That influence is still felt anytime some idol comes out with a pair of gloves or ski jacket for no apparent reason. My mom thought I was nuts when I would go to a friend's house with a beanie and snow gloves on in the middle of summer but she just didn't understand the influence of the Taiji...







A lot of K-pop artists are rocking fashion brand Boy London now but member Lee Juno used to rock it back in the early 90's.

Chae Rina - Baring It

I know that the queen of bare midriffs back in the day was a young Britney Spears but in K-pop, that title belonged to Chae Rina of Roo'ra. She was able to fuse together this look of fitted tops with big, baggy pants for a look that was all her own and very hot. The other thing she did was introduce me to the world of Tommy Hilfiger boxer briefs because she would wear those with the bare stomach and have the band exposed with the brand name. Again, in my youth, that was really cool but alas, I lacked the flat stomach to pull it off. Plus, my mom thought it was crazy to buy $15 underwear when she could get a whole pack from Costco for the same price (my mom is getting a lot of press today). That look and the way she pulled it off made Chae Rina the epitome of cool and sexy for many and I know for a fact that there were a lot girls wearing that look around... and maybe some that should not have been.

UP - Zeitgeist

Now that I think about it, UP's fashion was insane and I don't think you can really label it anything other than crazy. They would come out in pajamas, beachwear, crazy green stuff, I mean, there was no logic to it other than to be weird. I'm not sure who thought of that whole concept but at least it was fun and UP was kind of extreme but still a good example of the fashion in that era. There weren't any rules and people weren't trying to be overly trendy; you needed to stand out but also express the music with what you wore and they did that. And those plastic squeaky hammer things... they had those with them all the time.







We'll end today's column here but have no fear, for we'll take look back at the fashion trends that made all of us love K-pop on the next edition. As always, feel free to add your favorites and maybe, just maybe, you'll see them on the next Way Back Wednesday!