Why Is Everything Black and White in South Korea?

 

Living in a Black-and-White Korea

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When I first moved to Korea, I noticed something strange.

The cars were mostly black or white.
The outfits? Black or white.
Even winter jackets looked like a coordinated army of dark padding.

Coming from tropical islands where color is everywhere, I found Korea muted at first.

But the more I lived here, the more it made sense.

Black and white are safe. They’re professional. They match everything. Car brands like Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation sell huge numbers of white cars because they resell well and never go out of style. The same logic applies to clothes — neutral means timeless.

Korea doesn’t reject color. It just prefers calm confidence over loud expression.

And somewhere along the way… I realized my closet slowly turned black, too.


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