Hedi Slimane’s latest menswear collection closed out Paris Fashion Week yesterday and if you’ve been paying attention, it was an unprecedented spectacle… not because of the fashion but because of some of the guests.
BTS’s V, aka Kim Taehyung, flew from South Korea with his good friend and movie star Park Bo-gum, and BLACKPINK’s Lisa who also accounted for a lot of the hype. Lisa is an ambassador for Celine, so she’s no stranger to Paris Fashion Week. This, however, was Tae’s first time. And given BTS’s historic and global popularity and the power of its ARMY to mobilise support, you can imagine what the crowds were like and how Team Korea was received.
Or maybe you can’t imagine…because even fashion industry regulars who are regulars at these kinds of events were surprised by the response. Listen to the cries of the thousands of fans who’d queued up in advance to see Taehyung and Lisa.
While certain attendees may not have been prepared, fortunately it seems like the organisers were. Because, again, there is no exaggerating the enthusiasm and commitment of k-pop fans. Water was passed around, security seemed to have everything under control, a back entrance was used to keep everything running smoothly – they fully prepared for a rock star arrival, and that’s exactly what happened.
So here’s my petty-ass response to the people (admittedly fewer and fewer people) who still come at me for all the BTS content on this site. They’re among the biggest superstars on the planet, but you don’t bring that same complaining energy when it’s Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber or Kim and Pete making headlines at every single entertainment outlet every day. Tell me what the difference is.
As for the fashion, Tae and Lisa both wore sequins up top with a high collar. Lisa wore her sequins over a pair of shorts and boots with an exposed bra and blonde extensions:
Tae accessorised with a dramatic necklace (as did Bo-gum) and a red leather jacket over black leather pants. Men wearing statement pieces – more of this please!
And I do think that’s one of the reasons why Korean male celebrities are being courted more and more by the high fashion industry. They’re successful, yes, they attract a lot of attention, of course, but it’s also the aesthetic. They wear makeup, they experiment with different shapes and cuts, they’re not afraid of an earring and rings on all fingers, they step out often with a handbag, they’re into print and colour and clash – so for designers it must be so refreshing to actually break out of what men are conventionally expected to wear, the safe sh-t we see on men on the Oscars red carpet for example.
So this is what it looks like for V on break from BTS. Jungkook’s new song with Charlie Puth “Left And Right” dropped Friday and is already a smash hit. J-hope announced this weekend that his new album, Jack in the Box, is coming July 15…
For ARMY, it really doesn’t feel like a break, LOL. The content is still coming in hot. And that’s maybe why it’s taking me so long to get my sh-t together for my piece about BTS’s break.
Thank you for your emails asking about it and I’ve been working on it for days. They’re been as visible and active on socials as they were when they were promoting the album. The media misreported their news and turned it into this massive thing and…maybe it’s really not that big of a deal that the band is hitting pause for a while? They’ve just confirmed a concert next year! Do I really need to publish a thousand-word article on this?