From T-shirts to sneakers, lipsticks and jeans, as far as luxury brands are concerned, everything K-pop stars touch turns to gold

With the rise of premium streetwear brands such as Vetements, Supreme, and Kanye West’s Yeezy line, and the fun, youthful, and street-style-influenced ready-to-wear collections of luxury labels such as Gucci, Fendi and Burberry, fashion has entered a new era where streetwear and luxury intersect.

In Asia, the arrival of the luxury streetwear movement coincided with the global popularisation of K-pop music. Although K-pop encompasses many genres – from traditional Korean trot pop music to indie rock bands – its mainstream sound is bubblegum-pop-infused hip hop and R&B.

K-pop tracks are catchy and immaculately produced, and accompanied by flashy, highly entertaining and well-choreographed music videos; with most girl or boy bands featuring at least one rapper, K-pop has become the perfect musical counterpart to the burgeoning street style movement in Asia, and K-pop stars the faces of this trend.

It was only a matter of time before fashion brands linked up with K-pop stars to front campaigns targeting young Asian consumers (the average luxury consumer in China is in their thirties).

When boy band Big Bang opened ticket sales for their 10th anniversary Seoul concert in 2016, almost 2 million fans in China alone vied for tickets. Boy band EXO’s online fan club has more than 3 million members. Meanwhile, Korean TV dramas featuring K-pop stars such as Yoon Im have proven hugely popular and continue to set fashion and beauty trends in the nation.

Over the years, ever more brands have begun engaging K-pop stars as their ambassadors to help them reach audiences in China, says Bettina Ding, a consultant at Hong Kong-based luxury marketing firm Cherry Blossoms. However, traditional luxury brands are still wary of how they market such collaborations.

“Korean celebs working with luxury brands … tend to represent what we call ‘light luxury’. We wouldn’t [normally] associate top brands with pop stars,” says Ding. She explains that K-pop stars are often regional ambassadors, rather than global ones, and tend to promote entry-level luxury products such as casual wear and cosmetics, rather than higher-end fashion items.

“[For instance] it was surprising when [K-pop group] Girls Generation collaborated with Burberry. I’m not sure they ever reached official ambassador [status], but they were invited to the shows and wore Burberry in their music videos.”

Still, whether unofficial or official brand ambassadors, K-pop stars are undeniably the faces of the new era of luxury street style in Asia. Here are five to watch out for.

Kris Wu

Chinese Canadian and a former member of EXO, Wu is one of the scene’s biggest stars to have emerged this decade, and has made a seamless transition from K-pop to fashion icon and solo artist.

Wu recently released a heavily auto-tuned single and music video featuring rapper Travis Scott, and has had several fashion collaborations. He has walked and attended Burberry shows, and curated a capsule collection with the brand that was so popular Burberry credited Wu’s presence with a boost in sales. Additional items from the special collection were released on the brand’s website a month ago.

Victoria Song
Song, a Chinese former member of girl band f (x), has graduated from representing domestic Korean brands to international ones.

As spokeswoman for K-beauty brand Tonymoly, Song featured in everything from make-up ads to posters and pictures on the brand’s cutely designed product displays.

Since spring 2017, Song has been an ambassador for luxury jeweller Damiani, and attended its store opening in Shanghai. Song will star alongside Wang Leehom in upcoming Chinese fantasy film Legend of The Ancient Sword.

Suzy Bae
A former member of girl group Miss A, Suzy Bae doesn’t have international recognition yet, but she’s well on her way. Known for her fresh, wholesome, and down-to-earth image, Bae was announced as the new face of Lancome last month.

Taeyang

Taeyang may not be as well known as his Big Bang bandmate G-Dragon, an official Chanel ambassador, but the R&B singer has been a fashion icon in Asia for many years. His style is experimental and youthful – street with a slight ’80s punk affectation.

The singer has embraced a variety of hair colours and hairstyles, and like G-Dragon, isn’t one to shy away from using eyeliner. Taeyang recently collaborated with Fendi on its 2017 Young Bae capsule streetwear collection, whose prices ranged from US$447 to US$9,490.

He recently launched a commercial for carmaker Lexus featuring his single So Good, and is an official ambassador for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Source: scmp.com