Korean Job Discussion Forums

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

hey everyone

i got a new job

but they say "business casual, plus tie" which is just fine but i don't know the first thing about how to dress for success. i didn't even wear a suit until i was 31, i'm a punk mook with no class. my current hagwon doesn't mind if i wear my "lucky jeans" which have holes big enough to shoplift stereo equipment with.

anyways, the job is an extra 500,000 won a month so i don't mind looking the part. the cheapest quasi-formal shirts i can find are those chambray shirts, i see them for as cheap as 10,000 won, they're super durable and cheap.

thing is, i don't know if they're considered 'too casual' to wear with a tie. above all, i don't want to look like a freakin' knob.

what's your opinion? chambray+tie, yea or nay?

tsgarp · Joined: 01 Dec 2003

If you wanna look like Jethro Bodine, go for it. Biz casual would at least imply a buttin down cotton twill shirt, pants with pleats and shoes that are capable of sustaining a shine. A sport coat should also be worn.

peppermint · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:57 pm Post subject:

Congrats on the new job.

I'm hardly the expert, but I'd suggest investing in a few reasonably good button down shirts, and ties. You want them to think you're worth the extra half mill, and looks count for a lot here. I'm not sure that a sports jacket is essential, particularly in summer, though.

Try to find a way to get over the hatred of the tie, too. Korean men wear ties very well, and foreign guys tend to look ridiculously uncomfortable in comparison Wink

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

My dress shirts cost 15,000 won. For the price, they look really nice and the quality is excellent. I get them at the "sale" racks by the escalators in the department stores.

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

perhaps chambray is the wrong word.

chambray, i have discovered, is the word that refers to shirts made out of that sorta quasi-denim fabric, about the same color as the blue borders of this forum.

these shirts i speak of are a similar pattern and cut, but the fabric is just regular old linen/cotton or whatever. i think they're very tasteful. i'm just anxious over what works, and various google searches say that yes, chambray + tie is kosher for biz casual.

and i'm comfortable with ties. i actually look like a CHAMP in formal wear. when you consider the dude under the tie, it's 800,000 times more satanic.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

Use the extra money to buy some custom tailored shirts in Itaewon for 20,000 each.