Trying on clothes

[rfh16]

Okay, so I am brand new to Korea, been here for 2 weeks, and arrived in my new town (Cheongju) 3 days ago.  On the weekend, I tried to go shopping with a friend in town, and we had a lot of issues.  The main one was people not letting us try things on.

I want to know if this is a 'normal' thing in Korea, or if it was just us?  We were asked to just kind of hold the clothes against us to see if they would fit.  We couldn't even try stuff on outside the changing room, or anything.  Was a very confusing and frustrating day.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Any advice anyone could give would be extremely helpful!

Cheers,

-Rebecca

[Duffman]

I have never had that problem before. Were you shopping at some tiny 'mom-and-pop' clothing store? Maybe they simply didn't have any place for you to try on the clothes. If you are shopping at any decent sized clothing store or a department store I don't see any reason why they wouldn't let you try the clothing on. Unless you were shopping for "certain" items that once tried on now belong to you, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, not being allowed to try on clothes is not a normal occurrence in Korea.

[Robot]

It's normal for them not to let you try on tops. Korean women (and some Korean men) wear A LOT of makeup so if they allowed people to try things on, they would have to spend a huge amount of time trying to get the stains off of the clothes.
It's generally a blanket-ban so it doesn't matter if you personally are not wearing make up. No one is allowed.
Larger Western stores like Zara and Forever 21 let you try on tops but that's because they can afford the fabric cleaning machines.

Stores that sells pants let you try them on but you may have to stand behind a blanket that only covers you from halfway down your chest.

[Koreak]

It's normal for them not to let you try on tops. Korean women (and some Korean men) wear A LOT of makeup so if they allowed people to try things on, they would have to spend a huge amount of time trying to get the stains off of the clothes.
It's generally a blanket-ban so it doesn't matter if you personally are not wearing make up. No one is allowed.
Larger Western stores like Zara and Forever 21 let you try on tops but that's because they can afford the fabric cleaning machines.

Stores that sells pants let you try them on but you may have to stand behind a blanket that only covers you from halfway down your chest.

Exactly what Robot said.  If there is anything that you would have to pull over your head then the store won't usually let you try it on.