Remember the hit K-drama Princess Hours (2006), also known as Goong?
Its leading lady, 40-year-old South Korean actress Yoon Eun-hye, certainly does.
In the romance series set in a fictional monarchy, she played Shin Chae-kyeong, a high school student who finds out she is betrothed to the crown prince of South Korea.
Almost 20 years later, Yoon recreated her character’s high school look from the show on her YouTube channel.
A 15-minute video uploaded on April 21 shows her putting on makeup as she reminisced about filming Princess Hours. She also uploaded photos of the completed look to Instagram.
In the video, she said she did not often use foundation back then, as her skin was so good. She added that the series was filmed over seven months, and she grew very comfortable with the cast and crew.
After her makeup was done, she changed into the uniform from the series, complete with the track pants the character often wore under her plaid skirt.
At one point, she put on a furry hair accessory similar to the one Chae-kyeong used to wear, and took out a flip phone common in the 2000s. She also put on red-rimmed glasses.
Yoon even recited some lines from the show. There was a scene in which she threw a shoe at the crown prince Shin (Ju Ji-hoon) and yelled at him: “I’m not your maid. In my house, I’m a princess too.”
She said: “Now I understand why people are so nostalgic. As the actress, I feel shy too, so I can’t confidently bring the series up. But seeing fans reminisce, it’s strange and so surreal, I feel like I’ve unlocked a forgotten memory.”
She then switched up her hairstyle, from a side up-do bun to double plaits – both sported in the show – and took photos in the get-up.
Yoon got her start as an idol as part of the girl group Baby Vox, which she left in 2005. The group reunited for the first time in 14 years with a performance on the South Korean music programme KBS Song Festival in December 2024.
She made a successful pivot to acting with Princess Hours, and went on to star in series such as Coffee Prince (2007) and Lie To Me (2011).
Ju played Yoon’s love interest in Goong, and actress Song Ji-hyo played a ballerina fighting for Shin’s affections.
Ju was recently in the popular Netflix medical series The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call (2025), while Song is a regular cast member of the long-running South Korean variety series Running Man (2010 to present).
Kim Jeong-hoon, who played another prince and cousin of Shin, has not been active as an actor in recent years. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
