Ooh, a throwback youth drama? You know how much I love those. KBS is currently considering an adaptation of the novel Lingerie Girls’ Generation as their next Monday-Tuesday drama following School 2017 this fall, which makes me excited at the prospect of going from high school drama to high school drama, just backwards in time. Lingerie Girls’ Generation is a 2009 novel by Kim Yong-hee, about a girls’ high school set in 1970s Daegu. I’m hoping that means it could be another Answer Me or Sunny, with thick regional accents and waves of nostalgia in the form of embarrassing fashions and old pop songs.
The coming-of-age novel is about the chaotic adventures of a group of teenage girls, led by the second daughter of the family who owns the local toy factory. She’s a cheerful eighteen-year-old who doesn’t do so well with studying or tests, and though her teachers try to control her, she continues to rebel. Just like other girls her age, she likes pop music and spends class daydreaming, and falls in love at first sight.
Then one day, a transfer student from Seoul joins their class and becomes the center of attention, creating jealousy and friction among the heroine and her friends. It’s the story of their growing friendship, as the heroine and the new girl start to bond despite the initial rivalry. Aw. There’s also a darker side to the story, with a mystery surrounding an increasing number of sexual assaults in the city. And at the local toy factory, female workers begin disappearing one by one…
The novel is known for depicting the era with loving detail, as the setting is drawn from the author’s personal youth, and it’s said to accurately portray the feelings and consciousness of young women of that time, as well as the social oppression that they experienced. Man, I am SO ready to love this drama.
Directing will be PD Hong Seok-gu of Perfect Wife and Golden Cross, and writer Yoon Kyung-ah of Perfect Wife, Please Mom, Medical Top Team, and God of Study will pen the adaptation. Lingerie Girls’ Generation is looking at the September Monday-Tuesday slot following School 2017.