A Seoul-style walk starting from Hongdae's "Geotgo Sipeun Geori

If you walk from Hongdae Walking Street to Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil and then to the Dongdaemun Fashion Town's night shopping area, you can see that Seoul's fashion scene is moving with a quite different face. In Hongdae, the clothing of people who come to see performances and the rapid display of small select shops create the flow of the street, while in Garosu-gil, beauty and fashion brands organize their tastes and show them through shop windows, scents, lighting, and packaging. When you move to the night of Dongdaemun, the atmosphere changes again. You can see where the clothes you saw in the stores during the day are selected, packaged, and moved, and the busy rhythm of Seoul's fashion distribution continues in the shops and wholesale market alleys around DDP.

Hongdae Walking Street Fashion Road

Hongdae Walking Street is a cultural tourism street located in the area of Eoulmadang-ro, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu. It is a section of about 500m from Eoulmadang-ro 107 to around 155-1, and the city of Seoul renovated the street space from October 2016 to July 2017, giving it its current form. Because it is a place where art, music, and club culture around Hongik University have been accumulated for a long time, shopping does not seem to be separate from this street. Teams waiting for performances, people who come to see clothes, and travelers who make appointments in front of cafes are naturally mixed on one street.

If you walk from Hongik University Station towards Hongik University, you will first see a road painted with red paint and a wide, open square-shaped space. On one side of the street, there is a busking zone, and on the other side, there is an outdoor exhibition space, a square stage, a meeting square, and a travel stage. Depending on the time of day, dance team performances, band performances, vocal busking, magic shows, and cheerleading performances are held, and the way each performance team attracts an audience is different, so even if you stand for a moment, the pace of the street changes quickly.

In this area, fashion is more easily seen on the street than in the stores. Hoodies and T-shirts with large logos, pants with loose silhouettes, vintage check shirts, baseball caps and beanies, mini bags, keychains, and mobile phone accessories, which are easy to combine, are quickly hung on the racks and displays in front of the stores. It is not a space where items are organized by floor like a department store, but it is easy to see seasonal and trendy items in a short space.

If you walk along the main street and then go a little further into the alley, you can see the texture of Hongdae more clearly. Small workshops, character goods shops, independent brand showrooms, tattoo studios, and cafes are lined up between low buildings, and some stores are decorated with items that reflect the creator's taste, such as stickers, posters, and fabric goods, rather than clothing. If you are looking for streetwear, you can first look at the clothing stores on the main street, and if you want to find a slightly different design or goods, you can slowly walk through the alleys, which will be a natural route.

During the daytime on weekdays, vehicles pass through some sections, so it is better to look around when crossing the red road. From Friday to Sunday, the street is operated as a car-free zone, so pedestrians can move more freely, making it convenient to enjoy performances and shopping together. On weekend evenings, people who want to see busking and shoppers gather at once, so it is less burdensome to finish trying on clothes or paying at popular stores in the early afternoon and then return to the square where performances are held after sunset.

Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil Beauty Fashion Street

Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil is a two-lane street that runs from near Sinsa Station towards Apgujeong. It is called Garosu-gil because ginkgo trees are lined up on both sides of the street, and even now, in the fall, yellow leaves brighten the sidewalks and the front of the stores. It is not a very wide street, so people naturally slow down as they walk, and you can see the first-floor windows and the stores that extend deep inside, as well as the cafes and select shops in the alleys.

At the center of this street are flagship stores of beauty brands, perfume and skincare stores, domestic designer brand shops, and lifestyle select shops. If Hongdae draws energy from street performances and impromptu outfits, Garosu-gil puts more effort into how to display products under what lighting and with what scents and packaging. Many cosmetic stores have long spaces where you can test seasonal colors, and fashion stores show the materials and silhouettes of the season through the mannequins in the windows and the displays at the entrance.

Many of the buildings in Garosu-gil are narrow in front and extend deep inside, so in many cases, the inside of the store is deeper than it looks from the outside. Some stores have perfumes or lip colors displayed lightly at the entrance, and then skincare lines, gift sets, and brand merchandise are displayed separately inside. In fashion shops, sweaters, jackets, bags, and jewelry are mixed together in one space, so it is good to browse while thinking about the overall styling rather than just one outfit.

The way the street is used also changes depending on the season. In the fall, the ginkgo leaves turn yellow and brighten the sidewalks, and in the winter, you can see some sections where the trees are decorated with knitted ornaments. During the day, the ginkgo trees and the buildings are reflected together in the window glass, and in the evening, the store lights and the lights from the cafes extend onto the narrow sidewalks. It is a good street to walk around, stopping at a perfume store, a bookstore-style select shop, and a dessert cafe, even if you don't have a specific shopping purpose.

If you turn off the main street into a side alley, you will find a small commercial area that is often called "Serosu-gil." In this area, there are relatively many brunch restaurants, small cafes, independent select shops, and lifestyle goods stores, which move at a different pace from the Garosu-gil center, which has many large brands. After browsing the new products of beauty brands and fashion stores on the main street, you can go to the local shops in the alley, and you will naturally see how consumption in Gangnam is divided between flagship stores and small shops with unique tastes.

Garosu-gil has more cafe lines and store visitors on weekend afternoons and evenings. If you want to shop leisurely, it is better to visit the stores on the main street during the day and then move to the alleys in Serosu-gil for meals or coffee. It is a street that connects Sinsa Station and Apgujeong, so it is easily accessible by public transportation, but since there are also sections where the sidewalk is not very wide, it is more convenient to move around with a short distance as the number of shopping bags increases.

Dongdaemun Fashion Town Night Shopping Area

Dongdaemun Fashion Town is the area that comes to mind first when talking about night shopping in Seoul. Around Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, there are many complex shopping malls and wholesale stores, and not only clothing but also shoes, bags, accessories, fabrics, and accessories, all of which make up the fashion industry, are available in one area. During the day, you can see tourists and office workers visiting large shopping malls, and as the night deepens, the flow of wholesale transactions and logistics becomes even clearer.

If you are visiting for the first time, the easiest route is to start around DDP and walk along Doota Mall, Hyundai City Outlet, and the Millioire area. This section is connected to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station and has a wide pedestrian space, so it is not difficult to find your way. Shopping malls like Doota Mall and Hyundai City Outlet, which are easy for retail shoppers to use, have many stores that are relatively close to fixed prices, and the floor guides are well organized, so even first-time visitors can easily find the items they want.

In complex shopping centers like Millioire, clothing and accessories are divided by floor, so you can compare casual wear, formal wear, bags, and shoes in one building. Shopping in Dongdaemun is more about quickly comparing prices and designs by moving between different floors and buildings, rather than spending a long time in one store. When you find clothes you like, it is a good idea to check the size, whether it can be exchanged, and whether you can pay with a credit card.

As the night deepens, Dongdaemun changes into a different scene from the daytime shopping area. Around the retail shopping malls, there are bright signs, mannequins, and seasonal clothing displays, and in the wholesale area, the merchants move faster as they pick out clothes, pack them in plastic bags, and move boxes. The transactions that continue until dawn are not just about keeping the stores open late, but rather about organizing and moving the products that will be passed on to the next sales location.

Wholesale-oriented stores may have different transaction methods than general retail stores. Some stores prioritize selling in bundles or to businesses rather than selling individual items, and the exchange and refund policies are also different from large shopping malls. For tourists, it is less burdensome to first visit easily accessible shopping malls such as Doota Mall, Hyundai City Outlet, and Millioire, and then lightly follow the movements of the surrounding wholesale stores. If you plan to visit late at night, it is a good idea to check the opening hours and closing days of the shopping malls you plan to visit in advance.

The area around DDP is a good place to take a break in the middle of shopping. With its curved exterior, wide plaza, and underground passageways, it is relatively easy to move around even when it is raining or cold, and it is directly connected to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, making it easy to return to Hongdae or Gangnam. If you walk between the shopping malls and come out to the DDP's outdoor pedestrian space for a moment, you can see the flow of Dongdaemun at night, with store lights, store signs, and buses and taxis passing by.

After shopping, it is also convenient to use the restaurants in the area. In the Dongdaemun area, there are many restaurants, cafes, and eateries that operate until late at night, making it easy to plan meals before and after night shopping. After seeing street fashion and performances in Hongdae, and browsing brand stores and beauty shops in Garosu-gil, you can experience night shopping and the distribution scene in Dongdaemun, and you will naturally see how Seoul fashion flows from street trends to store displays, and then to wholesale and logistics.