Seoul Designs

Retail Therapy

I returned to Seoul after 6 years. Unlike the usual city trips where I focused more on cafes and restaurants, what made me wanted to revisit are the huge, spacious layout, with loud, attention grabbing installation stores, the perfumeries especially. 

1 Apr 25

Hannam-dong

This is the American area of Seoul. Visitors are more familiar with Itaewon, with many restaurants and pubs. Recent memory would be the unfortunate deadly stampede which occurred during the Halloween party in 2022. Itaewon Class drama serial was also using this area as the backdrop. Prior to Seongsu, this would be quite a popular tourist area for shopping. It is easier to take the subway to Hanggangjin and walk the shops towards Itaewon, as it is on a straight road. The shops are however spreaded within the lanes off the main road, with one side having steep slopes. 

Born to Stand Out

The loud red has to stand out! The whole paintworks is decked in bright red, as if preparing one through a baptism of fire. This store features perfumes, air fragrances, plates and bottles made using clay. This is just down the street from Leeum Museum of Art.

Tamburins

The famous Korean perfumery, made famous by Jennie of Blackpink, has cutting edge, huge installations. Its boutiques are typically big, with a section on the various product groups. But it always has a central talking piece, as if it is an art museum. This store features fabric look, where the wall is decked in fabric with design and colour tone matching the centerpiece onion and flower.

Seongsu-dong

This seems to be on every social media videos for Seoul travel. This is near to Seoul Forest and I visited a much smaller container box area during my last trip. I was warned of the long queues for the viral brands like Tamburins, Dasique etc. So I was mentally prepared not to be able to tick off all on my itinerary in Seongsu. But I was able to, when I visited on a Monday afternoon. There was no queues and it was quite easy to walk around the big industrial area where the shops are scattered around. I alighted at Seongsu station to start my exploration. The main stretch of retail shops is on Yeonmujang-gil.

Varied Store Designs

The 1st store I entered was Musinsa (3rd photo) just outside Seongsu Exit 3. There are at least 3 Musinsa stores in Seongsu. This store feels like a walkway with the 2 storey tall screen. It is a multi-label store carrying fashion wear. As I walked into the lanes, I passed by Danny's supermarket (2nd photo), which has an American cartoon feel. This is a cafe selling pretzels and drinks. Around the corner was EQL S Factory, also a multi label store carrying quite a range of sports shoes. What caught my eye was Nou Nou (1st photo).

Wood . Cement . Grunge

It was getting late and we had yet to have our lunch. Seeing Standard Bread (1st photo), I could not help but to get a queue number. This is well known for its creme brulee french toast. Though it was supposed to be late lunch, and I wanted to have the savoury soup with bread more, I stuck to the french toast. It was not bad but better for showing. Standard Bread is coming to Singapore, so I will try the savoury soup and drinks here. While waiting for our seats, we popped over to LDCD (2nd photo) which was featuring yet another perfumery - FRA 422. After our meal, we walked over to a Le Sserafim pop up exhibit (3rd photo).

Bukchon-ro

I love the vibes of Bukchon-ro as I walked a long stretch from Junggu. That day felt cultural and artistic due to the areas I was in, from Jung-gu hanok style shops and cafes, Insadong arts and craft items, then to Bukchon-ro. It would actually be a nearer walk from Angguk station but Bukchon-ro is not exactly near any subway station, so there would still be some walking to do. This is another retail area where most of the perfumeries are housed. This area has relatively less crowd so I enjoyed the walks and shops.

Cement in Various Finishing

The 3rd photo is my favourite road of this trip. There are cafes like Osulloc Tea House, Tartine; Bukchon Arts and Culture Museum and retails shops like Nonfiction, Pleats Mama located along this quiet stretch in Bukchon. Prior to reaching Bukchon-ro, I walked along Yulgok-ro 3-gil where I explored the side lanes shown in the 1st photo and at the junction of this road and Bukchon-ro lies a 3-storey Tamburins.

Leather Goods

Other than perfumeries, I was also interested to check out some viral leather bag brands. There are a couple of vintage feel leather handbag designs. Tout Y Est (3rd photo) was one store I wanted to visit. It was located near to National Folk Museum along Samcheong-ro, near to Jeongdok Public Library. It was getting dark when I visited and started to snow again. It was a nice English vibe store and 2 levels to try on the bags. 

Apgujeong

Gangnam is known to be an affluent area. In its heyday, Apgujeong street was to go to street for cafes and fashion shopping. With Hallyu, there is a section dedicated to Kstar artistes. Visitors can walk along Apgujeong road to take photos with their favourite Kpop artiste/group bear mascot. This street also houses many of the luxurious brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Dior. I visited Dior during my last visit for its tulip like store design and cafe. This round, it is to visit the glass clad Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul. Another area to visit would be the Apgujeong-Rodeo street where there is Stussy, Wiggle Wiggle and Dosan Haus.

 Weaves and Glass

The designs and textures one see on bags are now replicated on the store facades. This is one reason why I enjoy walking down this stretch of Apgujeong road. The 1st photo is Van Cleef and Arpels, 2nd photo is Fendi. All these stores have drop off and parking areas for their customers to drive their cars and park for easy access to the stores.  

The newest kid on the block would be Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul (3rd photo), designed by Frank Gehry and Peter Marino. The entire building is a white glass feel, which allows for sunlight which brightens up the store with natural light.  This design has elements of Gehry's renowned shapes featured in his Paris intervention, as well as parts of historical Korean architecture such as the Hwaseong Fortress, and the swooping movements and white costumes of the Dongnae Hakchum.

Stacks and Faces

Another unusual building would be this stacked building (2nd photo) which is near to Van Cleef and Arpels. I mentioned about the loud installations earlier and this was another one found in Gentle Monster at Dosan Haus (3rd photo), which also houses Nudake cafe and Tamburins. This was where I had my cheese fog cake and dutch latte.

또 만나요 서울

It has been a good 1 week semi solo trip, exploring the city at my own pace, though harried at times (I tend to pack my itinerary). Nevertheless, it was easy to just pop in and out of stores I like, snap pictures along the way. Totally enjoyed the Hallyu culture from shopping, cafes, Music Bank experience to Kpop dance. Here's leaving with memories from HiKR, Cheonggyecheon and KBS Music Bank.