There is something freeing about vacation outfits. You don’t see anyone you know, and there aren’t any obligations like work or meetings. You wear what feels comfortable, and you can add cuteness as desired. Your prints can be a little louder and colors a little brighter. You can show a little more skin and be bolder with your choices.
This type of freedom stood out to me in Bali because of its contrasting counterpart— how I feel about getting dressed in Korea. Long story short, I feel self-conscious about what I wear in Korea.
One, I think it’s a Korean mother-daughter thing where my mom feels very free to judge all my outfits out loud as if it’s a special service that only she can lovingly provide with the razor-sharp truth. God forbid nobody tells me that a pair of pants makes me look fat, and I live my life just continuing to wear it, blissfully unaware of its unflattering shape. As a mid-thirties grown woman, I still care what my mom says, though I don’t like to admit it.
Another part of it is the whole body image issue that rears its ugly head in Korea. Everyone here is so, so, so small. My mom and I went around a department store and asked if they had sizes big enough for me as she pointed at me apologetically (me, a small/medium and size 6 in the US). And some of them didn’t! They just looked at me up and down and said no. Didn’t even try.
Truthfully, in a country like Korea, being a “normal" size in the US is considered big, and there is a lot more stigma and shame associated with being “big.” There is already a level of conservatism in Korea, but after that department store experience, I started to feel pretty self-conscious about wearing tight clothes or ones that exposed my arms or legs too much. As a result, I would wear outfits in 90F weather with high humidity as if it was a cool low 70s. Whatever makes me feel most comfortable, right? I honestly would rather be a little hot (or HOT!!!) than feel uncomfortable in other ways.
Believe it or not, Bali was much cooler than Korea in August. It’s dry season there; technically, it's their “winter.” Temps were in the 70s to low 80s with little to no humidity. It was truly a delight to be outside, and the weather was the type that you never think about. My favorite Bali outfits:
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