π¨ Recommended Webtoon for Those Who Want to Dress Well: Dress Code
Welcome back to the Santa Clara Meditation blog for Part 4 of our Her Subtraction Life series!
You know those people around youβthe ones whose objective, actual body shape might not be perfect, but they still have great style. People who build their own unique vibe. The kind of people you just think look incredibly cool.
“I want to build my own style too,” “I want to dress well,” “I want to hear people say I dress well…”
I’m sure many of you have had these wishes. For those who want this but have absolutely no idea where to start, I’d like to introduce a webtoon that truly helped me. If you just read and follow this, you too can finally dress well! ^^ Dressing well isn’t that hard~
At our meditation center, we often talk about how your mind shapes your reality. Surprisingly, your mind also shapes your fashion! Let’s explore this through Chon Kye-young’s webtoon, Dress Code. β¨
π Cartoonist Chon Kye-young’s Real Transformation Project
(Serialized: 2011.08.10 ~ 2014.01.27)
Dress Code is a webtoon that was serialized every Tuesday on Daum Webtoon starting in 2011. It documents the process of cartoonist Chon Kye-young, who was a complete novice when it came to fashion, learning about clothes step by step and undergoing a fabulous transformation. It’s literally a “real transformation project.”
Because the author herself was neither a fashion expert nor someone with a flawless figure (^^), she personally experiences the difficulties felt by countless ordinary people and learns everything from the ground up: What kind of clothing silhouette suits my body type? What neckline or collar flatters me?
As you follow the author’s journey of exploring clothes, before you know it, you’ll also figure out which clothes suit your own body best. The important thing here is that learning about clothes means learning about your body, and ultimately, learning about your mind.
“To me, fashion was an object of admiration, something to be looked at from afar like a painting in a gallery. But while preparing Dress Code, I realized something. Fashion isn’t the outfits in glamorous magazines, nor is it the exclusive property of models with perfect proportions or fashionistas, nor is it the works of famous designers. It is simply my everyday life.”
“When preparing Dress Code, I set the theme ‘Fashion is the mind’ and started from there. I believe that fashion is discovering your own mind through clothes, revealing it, and showing it to people. So, I came to think of ‘trends’ as the ‘mind of the times.'”
Author Chon Kye-young states this in the prologue of the published Dress Code book. Unraveling the secrets of clothes for nearly 7 years since she started her research, she underwent a massive transformation. They say this work itself was a turning point in her life.
Thus, the author asks: “Isn’t putting effort into dressing well perhaps a much more tremendous thing than we think?”
π§ Fashion is the Mind
In Dress Code Episode 41 (the ‘Mind’ episode), there is a fill-in-the-blank prompt: ‘Fashion is OO.’ The author fills in the blank with ‘mind.’ As expected, the mind is the most important thing in the world, right? (In that sense, welcome to the Santa Clara Meditation blog! Haha πΏ)
Author Chon Kye-young set the theme ‘Fashion is the mind’ and weaves this code throughout the series. Let me introduce one memorable episode: Episode 15, the ‘Height’ episode.
Depending on how you coordinate the exact same clothes, you can look taller or shorter! The author studies the rules of dressing to look taller, dresses accordingly, and goes to meet a publisher she has met before.
The publisher remarks, “Why do you look so tall today?”… Even though she is 153cm, she looked 160cm. Mission accomplished for the day~!!! π
However, the publisher tells her something very surprising. A few years ago, when Chon Kye-young wore cropped pants and pink flat shoes, she didn’t look short either. That was an outfit that completely defied the ‘rules of dressing to look taller’ that she had just figured out.
Then why did she look tall back then? The author explains:
“Back then, I was experiencing the joy of dressing up for the first time in preparation for Dress Code. I bought and wore shoes I never would have had the courage to wear before, and I was so happy I felt like I could fly. I absolutely loved how I looked.”
And as if to support that thought, the publisher replies:
“You looked incredibly confident back then, Author.”
π The Core of Style: Confidence
In a word, ‘The tallest-looking person is a confident person.’ That is the conclusion Author Chon Kye-young comes to. It makes me think that perhaps the absolute basic foundation of fashion is ‘confidence and self-assurance.’
(To add a little side note here, Korean comedian Jung Hyung-don, who was once called a terrible “fashion terrorist,” is a prime example showing that fashion is confidence. At some point, he found his confidence, coined the catchphrase “G-Dragon, are you watching~”, and boldly dissed even the fashion of world-class fashionistas. With that unwavering confidence and perseverance, no matter what anyone said, he reached a level where even mismatched clothes became high fashion when he wore them! Haha π)
πͺ Flex Your Mental Muscles!
Anyway, back to the main point! With basic confidence and self-assurance as your foundation, if you follow along with Dress Code, understand your body, and discover the dressing code that fits it, you too will be able to hear people say, “That person dresses with quite a bit of sense.”
And if you want to build that foundational confidence, self-assurance, and clear away the clutter in your mind, just visit us at Santa Clara Meditation often. We will definitely help you build your mental muscles. Flex~!!! πͺπ
