Editor's note: With the good, the bad and the ugly, 'Look of the Week' is a regular series dedicated to unveiling the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
cnn
—
Closing out the second day of this year's Coachella, K-Pop girl group Blackpink made history Saturday night when they became the first Asian act to headline the festival. Before a crowd of reportedly more than 125,000 people, Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé took advantage of the groundbreaking moment to pay homage to Korean heritage by taking the stage in hanboks – a type of traditional clothing.
While the garments were removed just seconds into their opening track, “Pink Venom,” revealing each member's custom black and pink Dolce and Gabbana suit, fans around the world had already gotten the message. Screenshots The moment spread quickly among Blackpink superfans, also known as Blinks. “The way they walked onto the biggest Western stage in hanboks…literally proved their place at the top of the industry,” one Blink tweeted. “Blackpink really are in a league of their own.”
Another called the group “Korea's cultural delegation” on Instagram, referring not only to the hanboks but also to other visual cues incorporated into their show, such as one of the stage backdrops that features an angular tiled roof reminiscent of the architecture Korean traditional.
In recent years, Blackpink has enjoyed a meteoric rise to global fame. According to Guinness World Records, they are currently the most streamed female group on Spotify and have the most viewed music channel on YouTube. Last year, they were the first K-Pop girl group to reach No. 1 on the UK and US album charts, and in 2020 their song “How You Like That” became the most viewed video on YouTube in 24 hours. (The group also wore modernized hanboks, designed by Kim Danha, in one of the music video scenes.) Their milestone set over the weekend was in fact a continuation of another milestone: In 2019, they became the first female K-Pop fan. group that has never played at Coachella or any other festival in the United States.
From Jean Paul Gaultier's iconic conical bra that Madonna wore for her 1990 Blond Ambition tour to Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell's Union Jack minidress, the right stage outfit can live forever in audiences' memories. Especially when used in a career-defining moment. During another defining Coachella performance, one headlined by Beyonce in 2018, the singer's custom yellow Balmain collegiate hoodie was a light-hearted nod to Black culture, specifically historically Black colleagues and universities.
The group's four black hanboks were custom created by South Korean pattern design brand OUWR and traditional Korean dressmakers Kumdanje. Inspired by the cheol-lik silhouette, each garment was hand-embroidered with traditional Korean metallic motifs, including dan-cheong patterns and peonies (a symbol of royalty in Korea). “It was a pleasure and a great honor for us to be able to showcase the beautiful values of Korea and Hanbok together,” the designers wrote in a combined Instagram post. “Blackpink showed the beauty of Korea and dazzled the world.”
In Korea, hanboks are still worn for special occasions and are often seen in Television dramas. Many designers in the country have also created contemporary versions that are incorporated into everyday wear. At Seoul Fashion Week, JULYCOLUMN's Fall-Winter 2023 collection drew on the voluminous silhouette of the hanbok to create structured shirts and jackets. Last September, Korean brand BlueTamburin brought the garment to Western audiences using exclusively traditional hanbok fabric to create its Spring-Summer 2023 collection at Milan Fashion Week.
Whether you're a Blink devotee or not, the looks marked a moment of Asian visibility, recognition of traditional craftsmanship, and a powerful example of sentiment seen through fashion, representing Korean culture and symbolically embracing both its past and future.
At the end of their performance, and having addressed the audience between numbers in English during their two-hour-long performance, Blackpink ended their performance in Korean: “So far, it's been Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, and Rosé Blackpink. Thank you.”
Cover image: Blackpink performing at the first weekend of Coachella 2023, shortly after taking off their hanboks.
