Seoul food for fashion fiends
On most nights, Tongdaenum stadium in west Seoul is where you'll find hundreds of teenagers milling about waiting for the clock to strike 8pm. It's not a pop concert or soccer match they've come to see, although the buzz is just as exciting. The big attraction lies across the road at the Migliore department store - open from 8pm to 5am nightly - where 11 floors of funky streetwear, nightclub fashions and accessories, dozens of kimchi-scented eateries and occasional pop group guest appearances await. (Subway: Dongdaemun Station-Line 1,4)
It's not just Seoul's restless and hip-to-the-groove youth who are drawn to the night-owl business hours. Foreign fashionistas are also seeing the entertainment value, and while English is not widely spoken, Migliore's stall holders are competitive and discounting is rife. For 30,000 won (HK$196) it's possible to walk away with enough electric-blue socks, jocks and psychedelic-print tiny-T-shirts to avoid the laundry for a month. The selection for extra large (XL) sized-shoppers is limited, however: the European equivalent of a local XL is an medium (M). Japanese kanji character and manga design T-shirts are big-sellers with plenty of stretch for 4,500 won a piece.
Less than six hours after closing time, the doors to a second 20-floored Migliore store swing open across the city in the Myeongdong. Two million people pour into this 3,300 sqm precinct daily, and it leaves you wondering whether you have stepped off the plane in Tokyo for all the neon billboards, coloured hair and consumer hype that prevails.
Sleek Range Rover and Armani showrooms nudge the boutiques of Esquire, Giordano and Prada over Myeongdong's three main shopping streets. Prices are heady, but along the sidewalks bristling with cafe culture and plenty of youngsters desperate to look cool, bargains hide.
Time, not money, is the issue in the UTOOZone shopping complex (from 10am to 9.30pm, Street 2), where 60 stores stocked with Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Burberry items, selling for roughly two-thirds the European price, can keep feverish shoppers trapped for hours.
One block south, two stores popular for their East-West fusion fashions are Yisaekui Unique Clothing and HI Joy (both open from 10.30am to 10pm) which retail unusual clothing, shoes, bags and accessories and seem to be a hit with tourists seeking conversation pieces.
Nearby TREND 20 (from 11am to 9.30pm) has plenty of young sales staff with bright red lippy and severe eye-liner who will show you sleek formal wear - including groovy Reservoir Dogs-style suits for women - at slick prices.
Supermarket (from 10.30am to 10pm) pulls a lot of trend-conscious Japanese tourists on shopping pilgrimages and with its five branches strategically located throughout Myeongdong seems to command the lions' share of accessories for the female hipster. Each branch has a different atmosphere; check out Circle Supermarket (Branch Five, central Myeongdong) for its less-hectic crowds and restorative coffee-bar sofas.
Elsewhere in Myeongdong caffeine is in no short supply. Seoul has undergone a coffee-shop revolution in the past five years and now Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Coffee Bean and Japanese cafe chain Doutour outlets sit every 20 metres along Myeongdong Street. Expect to pay 2,000 won (HK$13) for an iced-macchiato in summer, or a searing hot latte when the snow arrives.
