Dear Gossips,
For the past few weeks, Matt Bomer has been on the campaign circuit in support of his series, Fellow Travelers. The Emmy nominations period is now underway and Matt has decided to take his pretty to Italy for men’s fashion week.
If you’re sleepy on this Monday morning, let me wake you all the way up with these photos of Matt at Armani today, fully aware of the chaos he’s causing in this tan waistcoat over white pants with his arms all cut and his skin all tanned and glistening and his hair wavy and tousled just so.
Sir, this is both generous and cruel. This much beauty is evidence of God’s grace. But this much beauty makes everything else so ugly! How can we look at anything else when we only want to look at him? Well, maybe not just him.
Matt attended several shows this weekend in Milan, including Prada, where he was photographed with Byeon Woo Seok – and this picture has broken my brain. After all, Matt’s visuals are distracting enough as it is, but when you add Woo Seok to the equation… it’s too much! Too much attractiveness in such a small concentrated amount of space, leave some for the rest of us, you selfish bastards!
For those of us who watch Korean dramas, we KNOW Byeon Woo Seok. But let me explain for those of you who don’t. Byeon Woo Seok is the male lead in Lovely Runner, the K-drama that has exploded across Asia over the last couple of months. This show has been an underdog on so many levels, from development to production and during airing, because its ratings were relatively modest in comparison to other more high profile projects – but it’s the outsize way people have been responding to Lovely Runner that’s made the difference. People like me, LOL, because I’ve just completed my fourth watch of the series from beginning to end… and it’s only been over for two weeks.
No exaggeration, all over Asia and beyond, viewers are losing their f-cking minds over this show. I am losing my mind over this show. The story is cute and funny and sad and suspenseful and gorgeously shot and SO ROMANTIC, all at the same time, and as a result, it has made Byeon Woo Seok a superstar sensation literally overnight. In the last four weeks alone he’s picked up almost TWO MILLION followers on Instagram.
He started his career as a model. He started acting eight years ago, mostly in supporting roles. He’s currently 32, will turn 33 in the fall – this is late for Korean actors, especially since Woo Seok completed his military service early, which means his career path wasn’t interrupted by mandatory duty. The point is, he’s been paying his dues in the industry for a while and with this one role, it’s all changed, suddenly and dramatically. Lovely Runner, by all estimates, is a phenomenon, and it’s made him, in a few short weeks, one of the most famous Asian stars on the planet.
Look at this crowd in Bangkok the other day when he was there for a fan event.
It’s been like this, not just across Asia these last few weeks, but also now in Milan where he was greeted like an idol.
Woo Seok was seated next to Matt Bomer in the front row at Prada, an act of kindness and torture on behalf of the event organisers.
As easy as it is to look at Woo Seok, though, it’s more than just his appearance – he is doing the most in Lovely Runner: he’s hilarious, he’s goofy, he’s swoony, and my GOD when he cries, it’s over. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I don’t know what it is about Korea and the tears, but when people cry on television, even the tears are pretty. And this man is so f-cking hot when he cries, I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from it. This is a major problem for me, I am obsessed. All I want to do is watch this goddamn show over and over and look at pictures of him. And for the last few weeks I’ve been restraining myself from doing that here, on the site. But now Byeon Woo Seok is being invited to fashion week and we’re getting mainstream access to him so… the lid’s come off, the gush cannot be contained. Welcome to my preoccupation.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
