Sunday, February 10, 2008

[The Chosun Ilbo, January 22 2008] The Rise of the Gold Misses

Late last year, a TV series called "Cashmere Mafia" began airing in the U.S. It tells the story of four Manhattan career women who have found success in publishing, finance, hotel management and cosmetics. Classmates from the same business school, the foursome are called the "Cashmere Mafia." The term suggests that the women work like men in the way they help and support each other for successes and promotions. These "alpha girls," who have never tasted defeat, are constantly on the move, chasing ever bigger ambitions and happiness.

▶In several ways the show resembles another American TV series, "Sex and the City," which gained popularity in Korea. Wearing stylish attire, the main characters of "Cashmere Mafia" are always busy looking for decent restaurants where they can talk about work and love. The level of women's success in TV dramas has risen remarkably over the past few years. "Cashmere Mafia" deals with female corporate executives. Women like these are entitled to VIP "gold" credit cards, so they're called "gold misses" -- a term, created from the broken English "old miss," that made it onto a list of fad words of 2006. A higher level of gold miss is "platinum miss."

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