The Blackpink Fashion Effect

1/5/24, 11:35 AM The Blackpink Fashion Effect: K-pop Group’s Mark on Luxury and Trends – WWD
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FASHION / FASHION FEATURES
The Blackpink Effect: How K-pop’s Biggest Girl

Group Has Taken Luxury Fashion By Storm
Blackpink's new album will continue to make waves in fashion, where they are among the strongest
forces influencing trends and luxury sales.
By MISTY WHITE SIDELL

AUGUST 18, 2022, 4:06PM
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In the wee hours Friday morning, a phenomenon will erupt on the internet.
Blackpink, the world’s biggest all-girl group and most successful girl group in K-pop
history, will release their first new single in nearly two years.
“Pink Venom,” as the song is titled, has already caused a sensation before its release.
The past week of teaser images and videos released on social media have crossed
millions of eyeballs and inspired frenzy among their fans, a global audience that —
judging from the group’s Instagram following alone — is larger than the population
of a mid-sized European country. “Pink Venom” is part of the forthcoming album,
“Born Pink,” which is expected in mid-September and will be accompanied by a
world tour.
What Blackpink has done better than any girl group before it is leverage fashion as a
tool to position its members as larger-than-life idols — more stylish, composed and
beautiful than mere humans. But in carefully edited videos and behind-the-scenes
features released by the group’s record label, members exude a giddy kind of youth
that still makes them approachable. It’s this tension that makes their fans, better
known as “Blinks,” feel fiercely connected to their cause.
And that loyalty is resulting in big business for the brands that Blackpink members
Jennie, Lisa, Rosé and Jisoo choose to wear or hold ambassador contracts with.
Last year, Self-Portrait founder Han Chong told WWD that he sold through five
production runs of a cardigan that Jennie wore in a Netflix documentary about the
group.
Mimi Wade, a British designer that has repeatedly dressed Jennie and Rosé, said
that, “the reaction has been huge, I get a lot of messages, fan art, collages and
reposting…They have a huge influence on fashion and people look to them a lot for
inspiration.” She too has pushed through multiple production runs of designs worn
by the girls.
In the six years since their debut, each Blackpink member has individually signed
jewelry, beauty and fashion contracts that are each estimated within the seven-
figure range. Lisa, with the biggest Instagram following at 81 million strong, holds
contracts with Celine and Bulgari; Jennie is signed with Chanel and promotes its
fashion, accessories and fine jewelry as well as designing glasses for Gentle
Monster; Jisoo is an official ambassador for Dior’s fashion and beauty activities; and
Rosé is signed with Yves Saint Laurent and Tiffany & Co.
Jennie Kim of Blackpink at front row of the Chanel show, spring 2022.
STEPHANE FEUGERE/WWD
Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany & Co. executive vice president for product and
communications, said of the group: “Blackpink has an enormous global audience
who are influenced by their style. We have seen the impressive success of K-pop
and K-drama across the globe. Korean talent have been a fixture in our culture and
continue to be the epicenter of influencing global trends.”
Tiffany has gone to great lengths to leverage its partnership with Rosé. It recently
featured her in an ad for new editions of its Hardwear collection, flew her to
London for a retrospective event and hung an eight-story-high billboard of her face
over its flagship scaffolding as it undergoes renovation.
Arnault feels this has given Tiffany a huge boost. “Over the past two years, Rosé has
introduced Tiffany and our collections to her loyal and dedicated fanbase. She has
the ability to engage with her audience in an authentic and personal way, which has
been amazing to see. Through our partnership, we’ve been able to reach a new
audience globally and look forward to continuing our relationship with her,” he said.
In 2019, a luxury accessories brand told WWD that Blackpink’s record label YG —
considered among the most powerful companies in South Korea — had priced a
collaboration with Jennie between $1 million and $1.5 million, but that was before
the group’s global following had exploded during the pandemic. Another high-level
luxury publicist told WWD that they estimate an appearance by one Blackpink
member at an event to cost in the “high six figures.”
But according to data released by Launchmetrics, that might be a bargain.
Jennie’s appearance at the Chanel show in March was estimated to generate $3.6
million in media impact value. Dior also saw a big boost that month when Jisoo
attended its fashion show and posted an image from the event to her personal
Instagram account. The post alone is estimated to have generated $1.74 million in
MIV. When Lisa appeared front row at Celine’s show in July, she drew thousands of
screaming fans and hundreds of millions of social media impressions in China alone.
Since their “Ddu-du Ddu-du” era in mid-2018, Blackpink’s look has been
orchestrated by YG’s in-house stylist Min-hee park — one of South Korea’s biggest
fashion power brokers, who can initiate make-it-or-break-it moments for big
brands and emerging labels alike.
It is understood that Park is tasked with overseeing everything from the girls’ more
relaxed airport paparazzi snap looks to collaborating with stylists on magazine
cover looks that need to be YG-approved.
Jisoo of Blackpink at Dior, spring 2022. STEPHANE FEUGERE/WWD
But when Blackpink started, their fashion was devised by Kyoung Won Choi, who
met with WWD earlier in 2018 as she was preparing the group’s tour of Japan.
Choi spoke of YG’s early intent to set a new K-pop paradigm with Blackpink, using
fashion as a broader communication tool for the group’s activities. “From the
beginning, YG wanted them to be different from all the other groups and create an
aura nowhere near the competition. From a styling perspective, I have full support
— usually for a new band there isn’t a big budget but YG has connected me with
designers and given me a very flexible budget,” she said.
“You can’t deny the power of K-pop and K-drama. South Korea is very trend-driven
and if someone famous wears something, everyone goes after it — it creates a
phenomenon,” added Choi of the group’s influence.
BOOK NOW
Gildas Loaëc, cofounder of Franco-Japanese label Maison Kitsuné, attested to this.

Jennie has been photographed in Kitsuné’s clothes at airports or while relaxing at
home and this has, “made a snowball effect. After that, other K-pop talents started
wearing our clothes and then we were also seen on different Korean TV dramas.
Those shows are very popular across South Asia as well as Japan,” he said. The
Jennie effect helped contribute to Kitsuné’s sustained success across Asia, including
Korea where it now has 25 stores.
Hee Sun Choi, stylist for the K-pop group Itzy, told WWD in 2019 that over the
years, “Fashion is more and more a really vital part of K-pop. I can tell, I’ve been
working as a stylist for a long time and the budget for fashion has increased
tremendously. It means that companies are aware of how important a group’s image
and fashion is to their success.”
BOOK NOW
Blackpink’s look is a chaotic mix of what’s trending in luxury, novelty and the
underground — with a dose of cuteness for good measure. The balance between
these elements is carefully adjusted to suit the tone of single releases; with a poppy
song, they’ll look cutesy while a thumping dance track will often result in the girls
wearing edgier, distressed clothing.
It’s understood that, unlike traditional celebrity dressing agreements, Blackpink’s

stylists purchase their clothing from brands and stores outright. The girls’ slight
frames require heavy alterations for a proper fit. There is also the issue of making
them onstage dance appropriate, and so undergarments are often sewn into
costumes to avoid any wardrobe “malfunctions.”
BLACKPINK - ‘Pink Venom’ M/V
Pink Venom’s promotional imagery represents the first time a brand has singularly
dressed all four Blackpink members at once. For the honor, Park worked with pop
music’s preeminent costume-maker: Mugler.
Mugler creative director Casey Cadwallader — who has put the French house back
on the map by strategically collaborating on boundary-pushing looks with some of
music’s biggest talents — said he’s, “never known a group of people so powerful —
their fans are so loyal and energetic, I’ve never experienced anything like it — it can
feel like they’re more famous than Michael Jackson.”
“It’s a great impact for us, most things they wear immediately sell out. It just
happened to really work out — we dressed them in my new collection that hasn’t
come out yet and I just happened to do a lot of pink for the first time. It was
important for each girl to have a different take but the color unified them at the
same time. The brief was pink ‘Hunger Games,’ Cadwallader said of working with
Park on the looks.
BOOK NOW
When Pink Venom is released Friday morning, it will provide the first real metrics of
how Blackpink’s popularity has ballooned during the pandemic — when many young
people, stuck at home, discovered the group on the internet.
For Cadwallader, it makes perfect sense: “Their music has a lot of energy and a
really strong sense of drama and strength. That’s really captivating to people; each
girl is beautiful in a different way — there is a lot of appeal for people.”
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1/5/24, 11:35 AM The Blackpink Fashion Effect: K-pop Group’s Mark on Luxury and Trends – WWD

TODAY'S DIGITAL DAILY MY ACCOUNT

FASHION / FASHION FEATURES

The Blackpink Effect: How K-pop’s Biggest Girl

By MISTY WHITE SIDELL

But according to data released by Launchmetrics, that might be a bargain.

Jisoo of Blackpink at Dior, spring 2022. STEPHANE FEUGERE/WWD

Gildas Loaëc, cofounder of Franco-Japanese label Maison Kitsuné, attested to this.

It’s understood that, unlike traditional celebrity dressing agreements, Blackpink’s

BLACKPINK - ‘Pink Venom’ M/V

Watch: WWD Reel Talk feat. George Clooney

How Leonard Bernstein’s Wife Felicia

Marimekko Once Again

Alana Springsteen: The

2023 Was the Year of

Get all the top news stories and

WWD Unwraps the Best

5 Luxury Handbags That Top

Top Gifts for Men to Receive

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