Time for a Seoul Flea Market feature! Today lets visit the Platoon Night Flea Market in the ever trendy + swanky Apgujeong neighborhood of Gangnam!
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Platoon Night Flea Market is by far the hippest of all the reoccurring flea markets held in Seoul, which is to be expected I suppose considering where it is held. This is a market that feels like a mixture of Seoul & LA hipster swirled into one event~ sweaters, hot pink nerd glasses, funky broaches made of old gold charms, colored Nikes, vintage leather briefcases etc.
The locations full name is “Platoon Kunsthall” (which means an “Art exhibition facility” in German) and it lives completely up to its name as a gallery space that looks uniquely and stylishly like army conex containers inside and out! Platoon is not just a gallery, it is a truly unique space for Korea that is used by all sorts of creative minds for a slew of events, exhibits, workshops, and much more. Since its opening in Spring 2009 it has served up xbox tournaments, concerts, VJ workshops, art shows, dance lessons, indie film screenings, and even parties featuring drinks from around the world! The original Platoon art space is located in Berlin, but the Korean location keeps up the original spirit by offering German food and drinks at the bar/cafe during open hours.
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Night Flea Market has been a popular event at Platoon for some time because it occurs on a regular basis and is becoming known as a go-to place for unique items. Apparently even fashion stylists for stars will visit this place to see what kind of unique items they can find.
Often the flea markets in Korea have great finds, but are run by Ajuma’s selling junk~ but Night Market is all young trendy people selling unique things for unique people in Seoul! It was so great to see so many interesting people all at once in Korea, colored hair… mohawks, fun clothing, etc~ You see them often in Japan, but in Korea people that stand out even with a piercing or crazy colored hair are a bit rare.
Some sellers are getting rid of old or thrifted clothing dumped into massive piles, others have modified things to make it more unique, some are selling original brands, and sometimes you will see an artist or two selling work. It is a really fun and creative vibe~ Nara and I instantly felt in love with the scene.
Since Platoon Night Market is more of a hipster flea market the prices are not dirt cheap, but they are actually not unreasonable either! Clothing raged from 10,000won to 50,000 won and accessories ranged from around 8,000 won to 20,000 won depending on if it was handmade or not.
You have to bring cash of course and you can haggle here… in fact we really should have haggled MORE honestly. On average you can bring down about 5,000-10,000 won off the asking price of pieces at least, and at the end of the event you can sometimes get leftover pieces for about half the original asking price.
At the front of the room they also had the bar open so you could grab a drink and hang out~ they had a spot for people to mingle outside and upstairs so lots of people just stuck around after the shopping to drink and socialize.
For the event (and the hours after) they had various DJs and bands up to preform for the crowds.
Unique Harajuku-inspired broaches by “Fantasy”~ I met her at the Seoul Handmade market too!
the new broaches she made look like nerds candy!
candy-colored collars by Koubou
pile of old fake channel and glam jewelery!
Totally 1980′s bling-tastic wallet clutch!
AMAZING Nike shoes, are these custom? The seemed to be. Regret not buying these so much, maybe next month.
awesome neon dress spotted in a pile of clothing. Since a lot of the sellers at this event are fashionable young adults, you can find really nice brands here sometime like topshop, Ralph Lauren, Guess, etc.
Awesome leather bag modified with studs. Loved it, but so HEAVY! haha
Also customized studded shoes~ studs are huge in Korea atm.. everything has them clamped on!
piles of fun used shoes at the market this month! Most ranged from around 6.5-7 in size
Designer selling his handmade leather goods! Guys crowded around this table since large leather clutch bags for men are really in this summer in Seoul.
The crowds are REALLY bad for the first two hours at this market! You have to come early to snatch the one of a kind good stuff!
Time to dig for the good stuff!
Music blasting and everyone dresses to impress!
Adorable modified clothing from an aspiring Korean fashion designer
This seller had shoes for sale in larger amounts, I think they had them designed special.
Adorable Cherry Sandals!
I regret not buying this! Argh so pretty!
really unique headbands, pins, and bracelets made with vintage toys!
Amazing shoes straight out of the 1980′s cartoon JEM!
Adorable Dino rings and other treasures from “Fantasy“!
Don’t look at the camera random white guy! lol
Funny story, those pink Nikes are a special Easter Court Force style from several years ago. I spent 2 years creeping on ebay to find a pair even close to my size (I found them finally, and brand spanking new ta boot) go figure all the way in Korea the same shoes in my exact size appear again before me! I had spent so long looking for my other pair I almost bought these to have as a scrubby backup pair hahaha.
Smart jackets, man bags, and ties from this seller
After an hour the room started to finally die down a bit. You can see each of the sellers sections marked with tape~each only costs about 20,000 won for the event ($20 usd) so if you have cool items to sell it is a great cheap place to set up!
some people just had piles to dig through, a little lazy… but that is half the fun I suppose!
One really sweet girl was selling some of her gently used shoes, handmade tassels, and bracelets!
Piles of cool ties and fun handmade bracelets!
outside was a back area (can you see it behind the truck?) with seating that you could mingle and drink or smoke. Even the valet parking booth is awesome at this place!
Korea Shopping Haul Time!
So do you want to see what Nara and I managed to find? Haul time!!
Nara managed to find a really nice white denim jacket that he may modify later in some way, a soft star scarf, and 3 handmade chain bracelets!
haha Korea double trend of Punky Pop and Neon on one wrist!
I managed to find a few cute things as well! I found this awesome jacket/dress by “See by Chloe”~ asking was 55,000won but I got it for 45,000 won. Like new, just needs a button sewn back on…really good deal since this brand is sold at Nordstrom for over $200 usd. I also got a really nice jacket modified into a K-pop-tastic vest by a designer at the market!
Snapshot at the market we took due to lack of mirrors! I think it is really interesting!
The jacket she made this out of was a really nice quality and the extras on the sleeve + miss-matched buttons are so much fun! Cost was about 40,000 won!
While I was taking some photos Nara snuck away and grabbed me this dress as a present from one of the girls selling dresses they had sewn! It looks funny when you lay it flat, but on it falls really interesting and looks good with a big belt~ I love it! Nara said it was 20,000 won but he got it for just 10,000 won since it was the end of the day ♥
“Funky Sweet” by Jenny Lee~ really awesome connected ring + bracelet she made! Cost was 10,000 won
Another cute bracelet by “Funky Sweet” hand braided with studs added, love it! Cost again was 10,000 won
Directions + Info for Platoon Flea Market in Seoul
Platoon Kunsthall | 플래툰 쿤스트할레
When: 1st Saturday of every month
Time: 5pm- 8pm (although some sellers stay later)
Where: Gangnam-gu Nonhyeon-dong 97-22 | 논현동 강남구 97-22
Please note that the time for this market has changed through the years, it used to run much later~ but now (as of this posting in 2012) it opens around 5pm and the scene changes to more of a party after around 8pm. To double check the time you should visit the official site or facebook linked below, both are bilingual and kept fairly up to date. Same thing with costs to set up a both, originally it was free~ but I believe now it costs 20,000 won.
Getting to Platoon requires a little bit of a walk, but it is fairly straight-forward and the building is hard to miss! You can take the Olive Green Line or the Orange Line and both will drop you off in the general area.
Naver map images are a bit old so the building is not pictured, but if you are walking from the Orange Line you can use the larger buildings as a marker for when the street is coming up. Basically it will a long straight walk and you will be able to see Platoon clearly on your right from the road.
For the Olive Line you are going to exit and keep walking till you hit your first major 4 way intersection and take a left. Continue down that road for a ways till you hit Platoon on your Left eventually.
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Sorry if the directions are a little vague (I mainly cab to this location) if you follow a map it should be fairly easy though!
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