G-Dragon
The Chanel Haute Couture front row in January was heaving with Karl Lagerfeld’s usual favourites: Diane Kruger, Clémence Poésy and Cara Delevingne with her plus-one-pooch, Leo.
Sat rather conspicuously in their midst, wearing head-to-toe Chanel (including a fur Chanel rabbit trapper), was a relatively unknown (on this side of the world at least) singer named G-Dragon, real name Kwon Ji-yong.
A key member of South Korean boy band Big Bang — Korea’s answer to One Direction — he is essentially the Harry Styles of Seoul. With a fiercely loyal Instagram following of 7.7 million (@xxxibgdrgn), the 27 year-old has been tipped as K-Pop’s top menswear style influencer.
A sartorial chameleon, his style formula involves an androgynous mash-up of Givenchy, Saint Laurent, Rick Owens and Balmain, with elevated streetwear from Hood By Air and KTZ.
His hair can range from a pink pixie crop one week, to flowing red and green rainbow locks the next. In fact, his appearance changes so rapidly it’s sometimes impossible to recognise him.
As well as the Chanel Haute Couture show, G-Dragon graced the Chanel Cruise 2015 front row last May, and invites from other influential designers such as Yohji Yamamoto and Lanvin have been forthcoming.
YG Entertainment, the music label that represents Big Bang, recently received an investment of over $50 million from LVMH, so G-Dragon’s fashion star looks set to rise even further.
Follow G-Dragon on Instagram @xxxibgdrgn
CL
Rapper CL (real name Lee Chaelin), is swiftly becoming South Korea’s answer to Beyoncé. Since her 2013 solo breakout from 2NE1 — the girl group she began her career with and still fronts — the 25 year-old has paved her own sartorial path and ditched the typically clean, conservative style of most K-pop stars.
Challenging gender norms, she has established a reputation for wearing young, emerging menswear designers, most notably supporting British talent Nasir Mazhar, Astrid Andersen and Sam MC.
The Seoul-born, Paris-raised star has 3.6 million followers, and is rapidly racking up fashion designer fans too: Jeremy Scott calls her his muse, she was the only celebrity invited to an exclusive dinner celebrating French label-of-the-moment Vetements, she joined G-Dragon on the Chanel Cruise 2015 front row, and when Alexander Wang assembled a ‘Wang squad’ to show off his recent SS16 campaign in a series of polaroids posted on a separate Instagram account, he included CL in the mix of fashion’s current 'cool squad' of models including Molly Bair, Hanne Gabby, Binx Walton and Kaia Gerber (daughter of Cindy Crawford).
The hysteria caused by her appearance on the Kye front row at Seoul Fashion Week last week was certainly Bey-worthy. Watch this face.
Follow CL on Instagram @chaelincl
