This is a review of the popular studio Goguan in Seoul, where tourists go to dress up in Korean traditional outfits and have their photos taken professionally. To save you from reading the post in case you’re in a rush, TLDR my conclusion is that it’s not really as great as people made it out to be. It definitely is once in a lifetime experience to get your photo taken like that, but I don’t think it has to be Goguan, if you’re adventurous i’d strongly recommend shopping around and trying other studios.
My main peeve is not the experience itself of having your photo taken, but rather the experience at Goguan, which was mediocre at best. Not horrible but not great either. One of those ‘meh ok’ kind of places.
Let’s start from the beginning.
I was in Korea for a semi-solo trip for a couple of days and was looking out for new experiences. Saw this online and decided to make an appointment at around 11am on a regular weekday, was told there’s vacancy so I could come.
When I arrived at the location though, the place was packed! There was a queue of people who didn’t make an appointment. I managed to jump the line yes, but was made to feel pretty unwelcome about it.
I started out by speaking Korean, but they responded in Chinese naturally assuming I’m Chinese so ok fine, I personally feel my Chinese is more rusty than my Korean but i’ll take it, whatever gets me to communicate with these people. The good thing is they can speak four languages quite fluently – Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English (i wish i had that kind of talent omg), though their weakest link might be their English since every time I try to switch to English, they go back to Chinese.
Anyway, I’m going to lay it out in stages as to how this works:
1. Choosing your outfit
I was given this menu to choose from, I had already decided in my mind I wanted a Gisaeng outfit largely due to the influence Hwang Jin Yi* had on me. It was more expensive though to be a princess, queen or gisaeng. Had to top up maybe like 15,000 won.
*Hwang Jin Yi was a real gisaeng who was renowned for her beauty, talent and unconventional attitude towards gender roles. She was said to have gone out with no makeup at all (considered blasphemy at that time) just because she can like what a badass. Her story was expanded and semi fictionalized in a 2006 drama Hwang Jin Yi, starring one of my fav actresses Ha Ji Won.
I didn’t take photo of the menu but you should safely set aside about 100,000 won (about $100 USD) in case you want a more expensive outfit, add on CD soft copy etc etc. Check out more on their site: http://goguan11.cafe24.com/?page_id=1514
At least they have strong wifi!
After telling the dude at the counter my choice, he put me in the queue for choosing the outfit. I was led into an open room where they were doing makeup and fitting the customers. I was very curtly led to this wardrobe of clothes where it wasn’t really clear where the selection starts and ends. I had to double confirm with one of the rushing staff member and was kinda given the eye for asking more questions than they would’ve liked. Anyway, I picked out the white and purple one in the end.
My chosen Gisaeng outfit
2. Fitting and makeup
I was then brought into a dressing room where the staff helped to fit the outfit. It was done really quickly and then I was ushered out to the makeup area.
They put the makeup on in lightning speed and set the heavy af headset on me. It was so heavy it folded my ears and hurt my neck, it really made me wonder how the women in those days did it. Crazy stuff. Lots of respect.
3. Waiting for the professional shoot
This deserves its own section because of how long I had to wait for mine lol.
After the outfit was complete they brought me back out into the waiting benches near the reception where they told me to wait for my turn at the photoshoot studio. How it works here is that you get professionally shot photos, and also your own time to go around taking selfies and whatnot with their props. Near the reception area there was one of such room to entertain those waiting or done with the professional photoshoot.
Tiny room but very nicely done
I went alone so I didn’t really have anyone to take a photo for me. Didn’t find a friendly face either so I gave up and selfi’ed for this section haha.
Can’t say I liked the makeup very much tbh. It was thick and I didn’t feel like the lipstick color suited me at all.
I spent quite a bit of time waiting around the area like maybe 15 min or so, before the reception dude caught my eye and started asking the other staff members if I had my photo taken yet. So apparently, they forgot about me.
After realizing they didn’t queue me up for the professional photo, they hurried and put me next in line.
4. Taking the professional photos
I was ushered into the professional studio set where the photographer directed what to do and what not. He was quite pleasant so it was easy to follow his instructions and it was over pretty quickly without any hassle.
Here’s an insta pic of how the photos looked like in the end:
My awkward smile HAHAHAHA. But anyways, they photoshopped a V-chin for me so I can conveniently see how I’d look with plastic surgery. My lips kena photoshopped to be super thin also wtf.
5. Free unlimited time for own photos
They have a second floor where there were more props and settings. Before I went up I was stopped by a kind staff member who helped me pick the best selfie stick out of their collection HAHA, that was really sweet of him. I hadn’t seen him around previously so my guess is he could be the editor or someone who wasn’t serving the customers, but either ways he was the nicest of the bunch.
I started out largely awkwardly selfie-ing on my own, but along the way I met this Chinese girl who happened to be on her own as well. Well her dad was with her but I think he wasn’t as willing to follow her around helping her to take photos.
We caught each other’s eyes, smiled and yes! We agreed to help each other out. 🙂
With the girl whom I worked together with.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: the most beautiful part of going to places alone is always that you connect much quicker and easier with strangers. ❤
So anyways, on to the photoshoots that she very kindly helped me to take. Fair warning in advance that i’m pretty awkward when people take my photos, i fare better at selfies in general, so prepare for cringeworthy photos HAHAHAHA.
I had a narrative in my mind when I posed this one. Was trying to act like I was some empowered Gisaeng who spoke up against traditional gender roles and hence put behind bars, but still has a lot of fight inside her and wants to glare intensely at guards so they feel moved or fall in love with her and feel conflicted cuz she’s so intense and beautiful but she’s a criminal. #myeyebagstho #evenwithallthatmakeup
I mean, I obviously had Hwang Jin Yi in mind cuz she was intense af and beautiful af and was also thrown behind bars at one point of time in the drama. Look at this intensity:
Grand example of expectation vs reality HAHAHA.
Life aint fair when Ha Ji Won exists, but whatever
My favorite shot cuz my face half hidden lol. There is an EXACT shot of HJW like this but i can’t find it atm.
Awkward smile is awkward lmaoooooooo. Trying to act all dainty and shit. Sometimes I wonder at myself
After all that heavy headgear has been removed and phew. What a relief. Took this shot to show how thick the makeup was.
I think i suit this era better. Shame. I always thought if I lived in that era I’d make a great queen or empowered gisaeng. Or maybe i would’ve been a water maid that got assassinated simply because she was in the way of the assassinator trying to kill the actual queen, but in the end the queen didn’t even die either, so like as a water maid i would’ve died without really knowing why and for no greater purpose. Plot twist: king was in love with me so i flipped the palace upside down cuz of my death yes this sounds like a decent alternative
6. Closing thoughts + details of Goguan
All in all, I did enjoy the experience and I never looked back in regret that I went ahead to do it. It wasn’t quite what I expected obviously, I frankly wasn’t very pleased with the makeup and the clothes weren’t fitted properly (it kept getting undone), and the staff was borderline cold. I can’t blame them though, I think a large part of it was because they accepted customers without appointments too and it felt like a factory churning out gisaengs and princesses and warriors without hospitality. It’s disappointing because for the price paid, I had hoped they would limit the people and pay attention to each and every one of their guests, like a photo studio would have. But because they’re so popular and have become such a tourist attraction I guess they got too commercialized and wanted to cash in as much as possible. I can imagine the experience would be much warmer if they weren’t so popular.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I think it’s a wonderful experience to try on the costume for yourself and have a memorable time doing awkward photoshoots, like the headgear really opened my eyes to how the women had to live in the past. I’ve read about headgears causing neck and back problems in the past for these countries, but it really brings new perspectives when you try to do it yourself. My ears and neck were hurting after just about an hour of wearing it!
All the same, I don’t think you necessarily have to go to Goguan. I don’t know any other photo studios, they could be no different, but well I hope at least from this post you get a sense of the experience you can anticipate with Goguan. It ain’t bad at all but is mediocre at best, in terms of service.
Goguan Photo Studio
Address: Seoul, Chungmuro 1-ga, 22-15, 2F
Opening hours: 0900 – 2200
Their Insadong studio is closed at the time of writing. The address I shared is for Myeongdong.
Sidetrack: I’ve decided if I do a photoshoot again I want to be a woman who disguised herself as a man (probably a palace guard since they have the nicest outfits) to carry out some epic mission. So like, I’ll dress as a palace guard but still have full on face makeup like dem dramas because nobody would be able to tell obviously. Then the king falls in love with me or whatever and i go on to become the empress. 100% plagiarized from Empress Ki who was also played by Ha Ji Won. Basically all the roles she played are #goalsaf. She is also #goalsaf. ugh
Another sidetrack: Right before this photoshoot I encountered this foreign couple, a cab driver and a booth owner trying to communicate. Basically the couple were trying to say smth to the cab driver, who didn’t understand and got down to ask for help from a booth owner. I stepped in and became the hero that I am, speaking English and Korean and acting like I know it all when in reality i just barely made out what the cab driver was trying to say. Thankfully I understood enough to help the couple and cab driver come to an agreement about the cost and all, i was so nervous after that and just hugely relieved that i didn’t just confuse everyone even further. Man I got a long way to go with this language. But still. Baby steps count!
darmawanders 