Ajumma Adopt Stylish New Life

By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

If your idea of "ajumma" is a hot-tempered, married woman sporting loose floral print pants and tight perms, you're living in the wrong time period. It's been a while since the symbolic group of middle-aged ladies started overhauling their long-held image.

From leather jackets to thigh-hugging jeans, a drastic change in fashion is what's leading today's ajumma makeover.

Ajumma have typically been portrayed as pushy and brave women who dash for seats on the subway or fight for bargain sales in a grocery store. But not anymore, at least for the emerging ajumma generation.

"They're fierce - not in a scary, ajumma kind of way, but in a fashionable way," says an official of Profashion Information Network (PFIN), a local fashion trend institute.

The transforming 30s-and-up crowd is so outstanding that trend spotters even gave it a name. Dubbed RUBY, the stylish club of women redefines what mama's all about.

The new buzzword is a combination of letters representing their characteristics. The "R" in RUBY stands for Refresh. "U" represents Uncommon, B means Beautiful and Y is for Young.

The RUBY clan's buying power is so strong that PFIN forecasts the "new senior" market as the "last remaining blue ocean in the domestic fashion industry."

This emerging generation of fashionistas, however, aren't interested in existing styles and brands designed for a typical ajumma.

"Nowadays, we see more ajumma shopping for younger brands," says Chang Soo-jin, a women's wear buyer for Shinsegae Department Store. "They're thinking, 'Why pay the same money and look matronly?"'

She says popular ajumma celebrities Jang Mi-hee and Kim Hee-ae are pushing middle-aged women to go for younger and cooler looks.

And such passion for a youthful image is, in turn, driving traditional matronly brands out of business.

According to the nation's top department stores, designer labels made for ajumma are closing year after year due to deteriorating sales. One retailer housed 33 matronly brands in 2004, but is now left with just 21.

"For fashion brands, it's no longer possible to survive with a simple two-piece suit with sparkly decorations," said Chang, who added that married women, just like young singles, want to show off their toned physique.

The undying "well-being" trend continues to fan a workout boom among ajumma, who used to be portrayed as pudgy and unattractive.

"Don't undermine today's ajumma," says Kim Ji-yeop, a trend spotter at Ultra Trend, a private agency. "They're constantly in the process of finding an improved image to define who they are."

jhan@koreatimes.co.kr

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