Sabrina Faramarzi is a trend forecaster, futures researcher and journalist who’s obsessed with all things trend, innovation and design. When she’s not uncovering patterns across socio-cultural phenomena, she can be found at the latest electronic music night, swimming marathon lengths at her local pool, or worshipping cats on the internet.

Although the corset – an undergarment worn by women in the 16th to 18th centuries – largely belongs to bygone eras, it has been used as a powerful metaphor for South Korean women fighting back against stereotypes. Dubbed the #escapethecorset movement, scores of women in the country have been rebelling against the beauty ideals they say keep them constrained by ditching make-up, cosmetic surgery and other laborious beauty regimes they have felt duty bound to maintain.

For a country that is in the top two beauty markets in the world, valued at $12.5 billion (£9.7 billion), this is a huge change. 

 Beauty is South Korea’s top export (sales to the US alone were an estimated $207 million in 2015) and many of its brands have proven popular with Gen Z for their ‘masstige’ approach. 

 However, much of what international markets find exciting and novel about K-beauty comes from a darker reality. “For too long women here have been forced to live an ideal that men and even other women have pushed upon them,” says Dot Moore, an influential beauty blogger based in Seoul. “I know make-up and skincare to be an outlet for artistic expression and a way of self-care, but in contrast, Koreans have a very restrictive idea of beauty forced on them at a very early age.” 

‘How to 10 step your skincare regime like a Korean’

‘Everything you need to know about Korean skincare’

, Korean beauty has spurred all kinds of beauty fads, from 

. But there are some who don’t want to be part of it anymore. “Korea is still decades behind in women's rights and this movement is helping them to fight back against a completely unfair and unrealistic ideal,” says Moore. 

In May 2018, South Korean reporter Lim Hyeon-ju became the first female news anchor who challenged the beauty norms by appearing on air with glasses. Although male news anchors often wear glasses on air, this was the first time many viewers had seen a female wear them on national TV, particularly on a major TV network. 

 Hyeon-ju, who covers the morning broadcast at 6am (and typically wakes up at 2:40am for it to engage in a lengthy ritual of getting ready, much like many other South Korean women) says she ditched her contact lenses and false eyelashes because her eyes had become so dry from wearing them every day. This had even led her to using artificial tears just to keep them moist. 

It is these daily, lengthy morning routines in social and professional environments that are taking a toll on South Korean women. Ha Bae, 32, from Seoul, knows the professional pressures all too well. “My life in Seoul, I always felt under the pressure to be beautiful at all times,” she says, adding that she feels a little freer since moving to Berlin in Germany. Back home, Bae worked in a bank and had only two choices of uniform – a skirt or a dress, both of which only women were required to wear. “I later quit the bank to work as a teacher and every morning the head instructors would check all of the female staff clothing and make-up before class,” she says. “We weren’t even allowed to wear sleeveless uniforms in the hot summer,” she adds. “I asked, ‘Do students really care about this?’ But I was told by a male colleague, ‘No make-up, no manners!’.” 

These strict rules on women’s appearances in professional environments influence every aspect of their professional lives. A survey by a national job portal in South Korea found that more than 60% of HR personnel said that an applicant’s appearance affects their chance of getting the job. 

 Candidates are usually required to add photographs of themselves to their applications and, in some cases, even their height and weight (although South Korea’s president wants to ban this practice). 

 For South Korean women, not wearing a full face of make-up to work can be deemed unprofessional. More than half of South Korean workers said in a recent poll that they had never seen a female coworker in glasses, despite the fact that a large portion (70%) of people under 30 in South Korea have prescriptions for them. 

South Korean society has very precise beauty standards

Korea has a strong conformist streak when it comes to beauty. The pressure that women are under to look good is not just a desire to be beautiful in their own individual right, but rather to very specific standards and even ratios. “South Korea’s exacting beauty standards are the result of several factors that have combined to encourage women to aim for pale skin, big eyes, a high nose bridge, skinny legs, cherry-like lips, a small face and a nine-to-one body ratio, where the body is nine times as long as the face,” says 

Although South Korea is not alone in its obsession for ‘beauty tests’ (neighbouring China has seen everything from the 

), it is the sheer multitude of standards that is exhausting women all across the country. “There are mirrors in most subway stations and elevators here to continually remind people to be hyper-aware of their image,” says Moore. 

The way that women look has become commercialised and commodified here, and that is completely alien to traditional Korean culture

Owing to these pressures to always look their best, many South Korean women resort to more permanent procedures. The country has the most cosmetic surgeries per capita in the world and as much as a third of young women have gone under the knife, resulting in over one million procedures every year. 

 According to Gallup Korea, one in three women between the ages of 19 and 29 have had cosmetic surgery. 

 It’s something Emanuel Pastreich, head of the Asia Institute, says has escalated to an extent that is, in many ways, against Korean values: “The way that women look has become 

, and that is completely alien to traditional Korean culture… Korean culture used to place importance on what was ‘invisible’ in society, like righteous behaviour, filial piety, concern for one’s family and the community, but that has been replaced with this obsession with appearances.” Pastreich believes it is a type of “cultural violence towards women”. 

Despite this, South Korea’s cosmetic industry has become world-renowned. Medical tourism is a major industry in Seoul and there are 500 clinics in Gangnam alone. Many people from all parts of South Korea flock to get treatments in Seoul and there is further expansion of these services in the works to cater to foreign tourists. 

 According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea spends $1 billion a year attracting medical tourists. 

 In 2013, it became the first country to introduce a national licensing system of International Meditour Coordinators – people who help foreign patients organise every aspect of their trip, from schedules to appointments, food and travel from their home country, facilitating treatments and more. The global medical tourism market is expected to reach $33 billion by 2019 and South Korea has seen an increase from 159,464 visitors in 2012 to 364,189 in 2016. 

Violence against women has further fuelled the feminist movement

Despite the weight of expectation South Korean women have carried on their shoulders for many years, it was a number of incidents that led to rising feminist movements such as #escapethecorset. In 2016, a 23-year old woman was stabbed to death in a public toilet near Seoul’s Gangnam station by a 34-year old male restaurant worker. The perpetrator later told police he did it because "women have always ignored me". CCTV footage showed the attacker leaving several men alone who passed by the same toilets until he killed the first woman that walked by. 

 There were huge outpourings from women across South Korea, who left messages of condolence across subway stations in Seoul and other major cities and used the hashtag #survived on social media to share their own experiences of violence. 

, have also encouraged South Korean women to look closer to home and report sexual violence when it occurs.

Although violent crime in South Korea is much lower than in other countries across the world, there has been an increase in reported cases. 

 South Korea has also seen protests by women against spy cams under the slogan ‘My Life is Not Your Porn’. South Korea’s police has found that illegal filming of women in changing rooms, toilets and even their homes (including ‘upskirting’) rose from 1,300 cases in 2011 to more than 6,000 in 2017. 

 “The reaction to the murder in Gangnam was so misogynous. Many men commented that the reason she died was because she was wearing heavy make-up and sexy clothes,” says Bae. “At that point, women’s anger exploded and feminists across the country questioned whether she would have died if she was a woman who had short hair and no make-up on. The incident really became the starting point for feminist demonstration, including the ‘escape the corset’ movement.” 

Some of the parents and kids I teach think I favour the ones who are beautiful. They are only six years old.

On social media, South Korean women are posting videos of themselves removing make-up, cutting their hair short and smashing cosmetic products such as lipsticks. A video by 21-year-old South Korean YouTube beauty star Lina Bae titled ‘I’m Not Pretty’ went viral, with more than five million people watching her removing her make-up and showing her ‘bare face’. 

 Another social media star, Jiwon Joy Park, started an 

 to promote body positivity. Although both have been praised for speaking out, they have also received hateful comments and even death threats.

But many have commented that this bullying would occur with or without adhering to the standards. Halima Madden, 27, works as an English teacher in Seoul and says that bullying and body awareness starts at a very young age. “I had one child in my class who was bullied for having big eyes (as that is what is beautiful here) because the other children were envious. Some of the parents and kids I teach think I favour the ones who are beautiful. They are only six years old.” 

Social media could be used to empower women to use make-up

It is possible that the same things that propelled K-beauty into the international spotlight – social media videos of the multi-step processes – are the very same things that are being used to tear it down. Skincare is now self-care and make-up routines have turned into creative outlets for self-expression. Many women have been urged to take part in a nationwide strike movement whereby they avoid buying beauty products, engaging in beautification rituals or anything that contributes to the beauty industry on the first Sunday of each month. 

 Although there is little information yet as to how this movement is affecting sales in the beauty industry, many are now trying what is being dubbed as ‘skip care’, using products that do a number of things at once, without indulging in laborious routines that take hours. 

But the #escapethecorset movement is about something much larger. “[It] doesn’t only aim to challenge the sexual objectification of women, but also changes the status of women as subordinate to men,” says Lee Na-Young, a women’s studies professor at Chung-Ang University in Seoul. “As a result, we’re not only seeing a change in make-up and cosmetics, but also the way women dress. These women are experiencing liberation, and once they experience that, there’s no going back.”

With beauty brands holding so much power in South Korea, one key opportunity is for them to take note of other beauty brands worldwide that are using their platforms to take a stand. Whether it’s 

Patagonia speaking out against consumption

, or even looking to their neighbours in Japan for their incorporation of gender-neutral make-up and manicures, there is an opportunity here to embrace real and individual beauty, but also to be a vehicle for changing the damaging and oppressive attitudes towards women. 

 “The key to 'escape the corset' movement is to move away from the stereotypes that are expected of Korean women – that they should be neat and tidy, patient, obedient, pretty, slender,” says Bae. “The most important thing about this movement for South Korea is to change people's minds and attitudes – regardless of make-up or length of hair.” 

is a hair and make-up artist and beauty influencer blogging under the pseudonym '

'. Originally a Texas girl, she relocated to South Korea to explore and work the rich beauty scene. Now with nearly 12k followers on 

, her dedicated following turn to her for the newest innovations in beauty.

Central & East Asia

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Interview with Ha Bae conducted by the author

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Interview with Halima Madden conducted by the author

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'With Manicures and Makeup, Japan’s ‘Genderless’ Blur Line Between Pink and Blue', The New York Times

From cutting their hair short and wearing glasses on TV to smashing their cosmetics, many South Korean women are rebelling against strict beauty standards. Online movement #escapethecorset is battling against the country’s traditional cultural ideals and highlighting other feminist issues.

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