Dongdaemun - Migliore, Lotte Fitin & Shopping Tips

Sorry for not posting and not visiting your blogs, I was sick the whole past week. TT___TT

I'm healthy now so I'll catch up soon! Thanks for understanding. :)

I'd say that if you can only choose one place to shop for clothes and accessories in Seoul, choose Dongdaemun. It has everything from cheap clothes on par with prices and styles in Gangnam station as well as wholesale markets, to sportswear, higher end Korean brands and young designers at the start of their career. And there will be something open pretty much 24/7. The two malls we explored in detail were Migliore and Lotte Fittin, so for now I'll write about them.

Migliore

Migliore is fairly cheap, with prices starting at 3 000 Won for simple T shirts and going up to 50 - 70 000 for fancier dresses (men's fashion is a lot pricier than women's though). It has sportswear, children's section, women's section, men's section, accessories, shoes, traditional items, bridal section. Most shop owners are very friendly and open to haggling, especially when you buy two or more items and when you're friendly. They're much less happy about taking photos though.

The girls section is pretty nice, most shop owners are women and in the back of the 0th floor, there is a tiny shop of a starting designer - Divine Comedy. I got a two-piece set from her the second day after she opened the shop, so she gave me a really big discount (I swear that if she's still there next year I'll buy something from her for a full price). Even without it it would be afforable though - probably on par with Zara or H&M, as the top was 28 000 Won and the Shorts 22 000 or so. She said she makes all the clothes herself and it seemed most pieces are one of a kind. She also said that she doesn't have any website or blog yet.

The men's section is really intimidating though. It's actually a very weird situation - the moment a girl enters the floor all the boys (almost all shop owners are men, majority in their twenties) brighten up and start shouting and flirting. Which doesn't make a lot of sense since the girls who go there will most likely shop for - guess whom - their boyfriends. The best illustration is probably the following situation:

Me: I'm looking for a gift for my boyfriend.

Shop assistant: You're looking for a boyfriend? I'm single!

So if you don't have a boyfriend and want one, men's section in Migliore is apparently a good place to start looking.  Anyways, if you can get over every single person on that floor asking your name, nationality and relationship status, when you actually buy, it seems that as a girl it's easier to get the price down. But beware, once you start haggling, you will be pretty much expected to buy the items eventually. Of course they won't chase you around the store if you decide not to, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear some swear words. I got this feeling when at one point I was fed up with debating with pretty much the first shop owner and I said that I'd like to take a look around first and then maybe come back - and he said that I cannot do that since he already spent so much time settling the deal with me. And he offered me a bigger discount so I bought it, but I think that had I really left, he'd be super mad. It can be a funny experience though, because he called me a gangster for mercilessly asking for a really low price. Also be prepared for a bit of body contact, I had my hand grabbed (the guy actually took my hand and lay his head on it and pretended he was crying in desperation over the final price) and things like that, no real harassment though.

 

20 000 Won

42 000  (Divine Comedy)

Shorts - 5 000

Unfortunately the shorts have appropriate length only in Korea (and at the beach in the rest of the world). 

 

Fake bangs - 15 000

Lotte Fitin

 Lote Fittin has pretty much the same range of merchandise as the other malls, but instead of off brand or beginner designers, it offers more expensive Korean and foreign brands, though the majority is still quite affordable (we only checked shoes but those were generally under 100 000 Won). It has also a nail salon in the basement, food court and restaurant floor and the topmost floor belongs to K Live - k-pop hologram concert. One of the floors also promotes young Korean designers and we saw some really cool handbags made with hangul-printed fabric (60 000 - 130 000 Won).

There was supposed to be an ulzzang photo machine in the basement - but apparently they replaced it with some karaoke booth instead.

We had dinner in an octopus restaurant - we opted for bibimbap, because it was the only dish they serve for one person, and the two-people sets looked like they would suffice for a whole family. We were served thyme tea before and during the meal - it was my first time drinking it and it was surprisingly tasty.

The sour cold soup tasted really nice and helped tone down the spiciness of the meal - I love bibimbap and I can take very spicy food, but this one was pretty extreme - we saw even most Koreans in the restaurant sweating when they were eating this.

And then we shared Berry bingsu in Angel in Us coffee upstairs to cool down our mouths. =D

Yours truly

Vita