The small, big fashion stories: When the fashion police measured miniskirts

If you are not great lovers of dress codes, to follow on the occasion of a particular event to adapt your style choices to a theme, after this story you will undoubtedly re-evaluate yours perception of “fashion imposition”.
As we all know, every decade brings with it a series of implicit rules in dress, which however are far from the social obligation, and come to the collective imagination in the form of ephemeral trends to follow. This, at least, is what has been happening in the West for several decades, but in recent times there has been a curious example (or rather, two) that have shown a different line, effectively imposing a series of very specific restrictions on dressing: this is the Korea, first in the South and then, still today, in the North. The first, in fact, returned to being a democracy only in 1987, but in the 70’s, when the miniskirts began to be flaunted by women in every corner of the world, the government began to forbid them along with other very specific style details.

In fact, the Korean police, under the popular dictator Pak Chung Hee, ensured that the rules of good social behavior were respected, including choices in clothing and public image in general, measuring the length of the skirts on the street, as well as gods hair For the men. If the former were too short, the women could receive very high fines and even be arrested, while the citizens not only risked imprisonment, but were often taken – literally – by the hair while walking, and then undergo an improvised haircut by part of the police: of the real “fashion patrols”, the ones that patrolled the streets of South Korea, and which followed state laws which also included the prohibition of showing too many inches of skin. At the end of the 1980s, with the last bars of the military dictatorship, most of the authoritarian restrictions foreseen by the Minor Offences Act were finally abolished: although men were also subject to control by the state, it was the regulation of clothing , of the general behavior and actions of women to play a central role. The reason is easily understood.

On a socio-cultural level, in fact, it was the latter a be examined in their reproductive role, which also implied a reputation to carry on to find a husband or, even worse, not to ruin the image of one’s family. Over the coming decades, the South Korean context has changed dramatically with new democratic policies, unlike what still happens in North KoreaHere, in fact, the fashion police still exist, as the war on Skinny jeans waged by Kim Jong-Un recently showed. Where does this aversion come from? In this case, these are real bans applied for decades by the dictatorship which also include freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion, in addition to a detailed list of what you can and cannot wear. Unlike South Korea a few decades ago, the current socialist dictatorship, however, has an additional tool to exercise “fashion hegemony”: a fashion publication.

This is the state newspaper Choseon Ryusung, a magazine aimed at North Korean women which recommends “clothing suitable for the socialist lifestyle”, establishing the length of hair and clothing – including skirts, of course – the modest style and the comfortable and not very revealing fit of the clothes and, above all, the strict prohibition against trends or styles that recall foreign countries. The ideal of beauty of reference is that of the urban security guard, with its austere tailored suit in shades of blue and white.

Suffice it to say that the latter are chosen precisely for their appearance, and must retire before the age of 26. In addition, the patrols that check the looks of women on the street in North Korea are made up of women: in the capital Pyongyang, the guards of Unity of women, this is their name, they position themselves at the intersection of the streets wearing traditional Korean clothes in black, and carrying whistles with them.

These serve for stop and question all women who sport banned clothes, makeup or hairstyles: short or skimpy skirts, trousers rolled up above the ankle, dyed or long hair, are all grounds for disciplinary intervention which, as in South Korea in the 1970s, can range from a small fine to imprisonment. A source of the Telegraph he explained that “The police are active in the streets and public areas every day to prevent” unenlightened “people from showing behaviors that could dishonor the country”. Unity of women it also has authority over children, adolescents and unmarried women in some areas of the nation, while married women are traditionally monitored by their husbands.
A story that may seem anachronistic, but which is still reality and leads to think deeply about the meaning of dictatorship, surveillance and control, in which fashion, once again, expresses more than you can imagine.