Heart and Soul in Seoul
I was recently in Seoul Korea representing The Sustainable Style Foundation at the 2009 Global Fashion Forum (Green fashion was this year’s theme and our SSF director, Rebecca Luke, was a keynote speaker). I’m a SSF board member and we support and encourage sustainability in all aspects of design and lifestyle with no judgment while staying true to your individuality. It’s not just about fashion; it’s about raising awareness and being in the world in a conscience and creative manner. Our motto: Do good, be fabulous.
Sustainabilty extends to being a responsible dog owner. I’ll talk more about that later. What I really wanted to tell you about was an experience I had while in Seoul.
I was trying to explain to my friend, Rebecca why I enjoyed working with dogs and people and she kinda got it but it really became clear after we encountered a grumpy shop owner in the Hongdae neighborhood. We were in Grumpy-Shop-Owner’s shop and she was very unfriendly (rare in Seoul for us, most people were uber friendly and helpful). No smiling, no warmth, no love at all for Brenda and Rebecca being in her store. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything there.
We left the store and we were standing across the street discussing how and where we were going to continue our evening when a man drove up to the store across the street and got out of the car with a little dog in a cute sweater. Grumpy-Shop-Owner rushed out of her shop and scooped up the little dog and actually…smiled! She took the dog in the store, and while she went to the back of the shop, the little dog stayed at the front looking out the front door.
I told Rebecca I was going to go over there to sneak a picture of the dog for my blog, hopefully before Grumpy-Shop-Owner returned from the back of the store. I made my move. Crossed the street, snapped the photo and was caught mid-picture by G.S.O. (sh**!). I smile sheepishly and said “cute dog” . Grumpy-Shop-Owner suddenly transforms into Smiley-Friendly-Shop-Owner. She’s smiling, laughing, holding up the dog for me to get a better picture. Wow. I thank her and cross the street. She waves goodbye, still smiling. Rebecca is looking on incredulously. “Did you see how that lady transformed?” I asked Rebecca, she nods “That’s why I like to work with people and their dogs.” Rebecca totally gets it, I have a cute picture for my blog and a sweet memory of a lady and her little dog.