Dior Designer Appears Wearing 'Edae Gwajam' at Fashion Show
University 'Gwajam' Expresses Belonging and Identity but Sparks Controversies Including Promotion of Academic Elitism
Maria Grazia Chiuri, the chief designer (Creative Director) of Dior, made a surprise appearance wearing an Ewha Womans University jacket. Photo by Dior YouTube capture.
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] "Oh? Isn't that Ewha W. Univ jacket?", "Why is the department jumper showing up?"
Recently, at the Dior fashion show held at Ewha Womans University in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, chief designer Maria Grazia Chiuri (58) appeared wearing an 'Ewha W. Univ jacket' (Ewha Womans University department jumper). News that a specific university's department jumper appeared at a fashion show sparked great interest on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, with comments such as "It's amazing to see a department jumper at a fashion show" and "What is the connection between Ewha and Dior?"
The 'department jumper' is a shortened term for a department jacket, a baseball jacket-style outerwear. The jumper she wore was a plain one with a dark green base, featuring an 'E' on the front and the school name in English, 'EWHA W. UNIV,' on the back. Underneath, she wore black top and bottom.
This was the first Dior fashion show held in Korea in 15 years since the 60th anniversary Asia Pacific fashion show held at Seoul Olympic Park in 2007. Notably, this was the first time a fashion show was held at a domestic university.
On the 30th of last month, the French fashion brand Christian Dior held the '2022 Fall Women's Collection Fashion Show' on the Ewha Womans University campus. Attendees from the French headquarters included Dior Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari. Domestic figures such as figure skating queen Kim Yuna, BLACKPINK’s Jisoo, and actors Suzy, Nam Joo-hyuk, Jung Hae-in, Ahn Hyo-seop, Park Joo-mi, Han Ye-ri, and Jang Yoon-ju also graced the event.
While the celebrities attending the fashion show attracted attention with their glamorous outfits matched with Dior’s new products, the most outstanding was the 'Ewha W. Univ jacket' worn by Chiuri, Dior’s first female chief designer. Chiuri exchanged brief greetings with the Ewha audience on the finale stage, wearing the green Ewha W. Univ department jumper, instantly capturing the audience’s focus.
Ewha W. Univ and Dior have signed an industry-academia cooperation and scholarship donation partnership agreement, and this fashion show was also a result of their collaboration following Dior’s partnership with Ewha last month to foster next-generation female leaders. Chiuri’s appearance wearing the 'Ewha W. Univ jacket' seems intended to emphasize the cooperative relationship with Ewha while highlighting Dior’s value of focusing on the female community.
The 'Gwa-jam Protest' held last August at the main building of Inha University and the 'Online Gwa-jam Protest' conducted on social networking services (SNS) (from left). / Photo by Reader and Instagram capture
◆ Pride in Affiliated University and Sense of Belonging... Laughs and Tears over Department Jumpers
Department jumpers bear the school logo and department name, and have long been loved by university students because they evoke a sense of belonging. They also serve to show students’ identity.
Inha University students staged a 'department jumper protest' last August after failing the Ministry of Education’s '2021 University Basic Competency Diagnosis' and losing general financial support. Considering the COVID-19 situation, students conducted the so-called 'department jumper protest' by taking off their jumpers and displaying them on campus. At that time, over 730 department jumpers were displayed on the seats of Inha University’s main auditorium.
Although university students have favored department jumpers to emphasize belonging and identity, some criticism has been raised that they promote academic elitism. Excessive emphasis on belonging can also highlight exclusivity, potentially causing others to feel a 'relative deprivation.'
In fact, some students at prestigious universities have worn department jumpers to flaunt pride and superiority, leading to side effects. In May 2019, a student identifying as enrolled in the Future Education Institute lamented, "Many Kyung Hee University students are criticizing us for wearing the school 'department jumper.' We are also affiliated with Kyung Hee University, but it is wrong to discriminate even in clothing just because we did not enter through the CSAT." Kyung Hee University students expressed dissatisfaction when some Future Education Institute students made and wore jumpers with the school logo.
As department jumpers became a means of 'academic prestige,' cases emerged where jumpers, originally costing only tens of thousands of won each, were resold online at a 'premium.' Prestigious university students exploited the earnest feelings of exam takers before the 2019 CSAT by selling department jumpers at high prices. At that time, department jumpers from top universities such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University were traded around 40,000 to 50,000 won, with Seoul National University College of Medicine jumpers from the class of ’17 listed at 120,000 won and those from the class of ’18 at 80,000 won. The original price of department jumpers varies by manufacturer but is about 40,000 won per person for an order of 50 pieces.
Meanwhile, some in the university community believe the meaning of department jumpers has changed from the past. A university student in their 20s said, "In the past, seniors wore department jumpers almost every day. Of course, people still wear them nowadays, but more as a jacket rather than to emphasize belonging." They added, "The kind of 'disciplinary culture' where you must obey seniors’ words no matter what is almost gone. So, people seem to wear department jumpers more freely." Another student named Kim said, "The job market is so tough that I can’t even think about feeling belonging or senior-junior bonds by wearing a department jumper."
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