Modelling in Seoul: Week 6
- Apr 11
- 6 min read
Moving into the second half of my stay I’m only now creating a wish-list of things I want to do before I leave, and as I've done hardly anything thus far... the list is large, however I ABSOLUTELY must tick these 5 off:
Hike Bukhansan Mountain
Get an acorn caricature drawn
Make my own custom norigae - Korean good luck charm.
Go to Namsan tower and overlook Seoul
Walk around the National Museum of Korea to learn more about Korean history!
(Honourable mention - visit the palace again)
Thankfully I ticked off getting the acorn caricature drawn just a few hours ago in Hongdae! SO worth it, and so cute. It was the equivelant of £7 and took 10 minutes and the outcome was so much more recogniable than I thought. You could 100% tell who was who... evidence below:
As for the rest of the list we attempted to tick off Bukhansan this past Sunday, but opted for a more chilled hike after finding out I was working Monday... and not just any job, a COVER SHOOT!!! (more on this below)
The weekend began however on Saturday with making the most of the week long cherry blossom season, so we headed to Seoul Forest to see the blossoms at their peak, and they were beyond beautiful.
Unfortunately the rest of the day wasn’t as warmhearted as it was Minna's departure day. So we had to bid her farewell - which was actually a lot harder than I thought!
All four of us went out for coffee near the apartment and got some cute photo-booth pictures to commemorate our little quartet before it turned into a trio once more.
As with most placements the people you meet are amazing, they turn into your temporary family, and eventually when you part ways there's a chance you will never see each other again.
I’m hoping that isn’t the case for Minna, because she's a lovely girl, but if it is, at least we had Seoul.
Sunday: Hiking Inwangsan Mountain in Seoul
Sunday we headed on our minimally planned hike up Inwangsan mountain, which overlooks the entirety of Seoul! It was supposedly supposed to be 1-2 hours each way, so we thought it would be perfect for our first outdoorsy event.
As far as exercise goes, hiking is one of the only forms I can appreciate because it’s equally as impactful but you get a scenic reward at the end which almost always makes it worth it. Today was no different because my god did it burn… but also my god was it worth it!
Inwangsan is located near Gyeongbokgung Palace (my fave attraction) and overlooks the entirety of Seoul so as you can imagine it was beyond beautiful. It ended up taking us longer than expected to reach the summit - but mainly because we detoured to get to a temple which was SO far off the beaten track I’m surprised we came back with all four ankles.
Whilst walking this detour we stumbled upon a 2metre tall golden Buddha statue and I audibly gasped when I saw it. Aoife keeps saying I must have been a monk in a previous life, and I’m starting to agree with her because the joy I feel whenever I see a Buddha statue is incomparable.
We left a little sentiment at his feet, made a wish, and continued on to the temple, and as we neared it we saw so many beautiful, extraordinary rock formations - some of which had been carved into with such intricacy me and aoife were mind blown!
But it just kept on going, we saw rock climbers dangling off the side of the mountain, caves which looked to have been inhabited at one point or another, a natural mineral stream, blossoming florals, and when we finally got back to the set pathway we were met with the steepest stairs I have ever seen in my entire life.
I was huffing and puffing getting to the top, and by the time we did reach what we thought to be the top, I turned to my left and saw that there was still more to climb! But we were both knackered we sat on a rock and journalled for a while.
After about an hour of reflecting we decided we finally recovered enough to head to the actual summit another 200 metres up. We hiked through “Ozempic alley” as Aoife labelled it because the path was very narrow; it could only fit 1-2 people at a time!
Once we were through we were met with THE most ethereal view that overlooked the entirety of Seoul and made the entire hike SO worth it!
The summit, the company, the serenity… It was a perfect Sunday and although the hike itself was more difficult than anticipated because of the unpaved, off the grid pathway (can’t tell if I underestimated the hike, or overestimated my fitness!) I’m very glad I’ve experienced it.
Monday: First ever Cover Shoot
As if that wasn’t enough wholesomeness for one week, the working week began amazingly as well. That is of course because my cover shoot was on Monday!
It was a Van Cleef & Arpels editorial for the biggest independent magazine in South Korea!!!! I immediately turned into the most chalant person to ever exist.
I had to snap out of it rapidly when they swapped me and the other models’ roles, making me serve elegant, moody, and chic instead of the smiley, bubbly persona I was listed as in the reference.
Hair and makeup alone was an event. I had my whole head curled to the point it was borderline architectural and miraculously, they colour-matched my foundation so perfectly my eye bags ceased to exist. Confidence was up, elegance was oozing and then came the main event…
Being dressed in head to toe diamonds. Each look had a designated briefcase of jewels that roughly equated to over £100k. So I had my own bodyguard which was a first. I loved it.
I also had my own personal dresser - stylist as per usual, but a separate dresser purely for the jewellery because although it was on my body I was unable to touch it! Crazy how a jewellery shoot works. I had four people holding q-tips between bracelets at one point as I hobbled over, to ensure none of them touched or got scratched.
I felt like a barbie doll, unable to move for myself but having a lovely time nonetheless. Dripping in diamonds is a feeling I could get used to for sure. I felt so expensive. But naturally, I was also being watched like a hawk. I’d been warned: drop something, scratch something, even breathe too aggressively near it… and it could be a problem.
So my posing became very delicate.
With stacks of bracelets all on one wrist I could barely move without risking a collision! So everything was slow, controlled, and very micro-managed. Because of this it started slightly stiff, but then I found a safe rhythm. Including some sculptural hand posing, and slightly unnatural face-touching - all in the name of showcasing the STUNNING pieces.
They must have grown to trust me because for the final look they had me hold one of the brooches, a small jade frog, over my eye! Which was cool in theory, terrifying in practice!
I felt a near heart attack incoming, and so did the rest of the team – a woman was lying down underneath me just in case I dropped it, and after seeing the invoice (₩800 million… about £400k) I don’t blame her.
Despite the mild panic, it was such a fun day. It didn’t feel like work because I got to wear pieces I’ll probably never touch again, experiment creatively, and for once… I actually loved the photos.
Now it’s just the waiting game. The other model was incredible (slightly annoyingly so), so it really could go either way. But still - I may or may not end up on the cover… but I will be on the inside no matter what!
It’s either me, or her on that cover. You’ll be the first to know.
As for the rest of the week it was beyond mellow, not much to discuss really other than the fact my casting success rate has noticeably increased since Aoife started working so much she was unable to come! Back to being a fan favourite - for now.
In other news, the 14 year old Russian girl arrived – and although she seems lovely, she is a literal child. It seems bizarre she’s even here, but she's been having the time of her life so at least she's unbothered!
(Was about to press publish but just wanted to add for any loyal readers... I went back to Hongdae today and bought the KILLER leather jacket with the rip in it from a few weeks ago! Which I only bought because I know I can fix it - and I haggled my way to 50% off #hagglingqueen)
Onto the next...
With love,
Mimi x
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