Blackpink and the luxury fashion industry
Blackpink, one of the most famous K-pop groups in the world, has a huge impact in the fashion luxury industry. They are elevating the sense of fashion through their roles as international ambassadors.
Luxury brand Ambassadors
Thanks to their popularity, Blackpink caught the eye of the French fashion houses Chanel, Celine, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dior and have become global brand ambassadors for each of the brands. Even though all the members are part of one group, the four members have individual styles that lend themselves well to the brand they are partnered with.
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Chanel was founded in 1910. Noted for having a classic style combined with modernism, simplicity and elegance. Since 2019, Jennie became the new face of chanel, being the most important ambassador the brand has had for a while.
Since her official announcement as ambassador, the artist's impact on the brand has been notorious. The sales recorded in the year of the announcement are estimated over 12.273 billion, a 13% increase compared to 2018. Therefore, Jennie's estimated influence on the brand continues to increase in annual values up to 15% for the forward years.
Olivia Mathery, Worlwide Marketing Director advocates that “The opportunity to have Jennie as an ambassador has benefited the image and exclusivity of the brand".
Among fashion partherships, Jennie & Chanel is undoubtedly one for the books. It is no surprise that the superstar traveled to paris to attend the French brand´s latest collection unveil. On the last Fashion Show, the attendancy duplicated since the artist had been confirmed to be the ultimate “Chanel Princess” at the next spring-summer 2022 show.
The numbers dont lie. Since Jennie is the official ambassadors, the acquisition of chanel product triplicates in Korea. From 11% in 2021 to 34,5% in 2022, Chanel has almost all product (seasonal and trend) sold out faster than anyone. Showing the huge impact that the member of Blackpink possesses.
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Since 2020, Lisa, also known as the maknae of Blackpink - a korean term that refers to the youngest member of a group- became the principal ambassador for Céline. The french brand was founded in 1945, by Céline Vipiana and her husband Richard as a custom children’s shoe business. After about a decade, they expanded into women’s footwear and even wider into women’s fashion. Slimane, becoming the creative diirector, chose Lisa as his first global ambassador in 2018. He said that “ As a rapper and dancer, Lisa is very charismatic and has a boyish style, somehting that represents the essence of Celine nowadays”.
Lisa has attended Céline past runway shows and events making the reputation of the brand going higher and higher between her fandom. Since 2020, the number of value of the brand has turned up almost 2.5% predicting an annual profit of 2.2 billions of euros by 2023.
According to Fashion Network, in Phoebe Philo's time, the brand's sales fluctuated between 430 and 440 million euros. The importance of the idol was once again confirmed when Vogue mentioned Lisa in an article, expressing the unique way of using Celine products during concerts and events.
The frequency of Lisa wearing the brand, made her irresistible of a true “trendsetter” and caught the attention of all the fandom. Publications, trends, hashtags and more become constantly used for people to reach the importancy and influencial side that Lisa has for the brand.
Celine´s Fashion Show
South Korean idols are much loved by Gen Z and have massive, fiercely loyal fanbases. Lisa is an especially notable case. Her influence is so strong, that during the last fashion show organized by Celine, the artist's confirmation to attend the event provoked euphoria throughout the French capital. Evidenced by the crowd that surrounded the Palais de Tokyo the whole event. Lisa’s post-show antics, i.e. pole dancing at the afterparty, have created a viral hashtag and a virtual battleground between netizens. The appearance of actor Park Bo-Gum and the BTS´s member Kim Tae-Hyung was also notable. The collective hashtag #park bogum, kim tae hyung, Lisa at Paris Fashion Week# currently has 150 million views.
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Yves Saint Laurent was created in 1961. YSL values freedom, creativity, and pushing the boundaries. The creative director Anthony Vaccarello saw these qualities in Rosé and chose her to be the brand’s global ambassador. Since 2020, Rosé became the new face for YSL and since the official announcement the instagram account of the brand duplicated in one night.
Her popularity and influence can be seen not only on social media but also on the sales market of the brand. According to data from iPrice Group, people´s interest in YSL has increased across the globe. The 13% average of increasing the productivity for the brand uprise in all southeast Asia, making possible to open new stores in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. The highest jump in numbers are in Korea and Philippines, coming up between 23% and 22% respectively.
The most searched products are handbags, which the numbers increased by whopping 1,1168%, especially the ones that the idol show through social media and in special events.
Rosé was the center of attention at the last YSL Fashion Show, making the showcase of the event going from thousand to millions in just few minutes. According to Le Monde, “She could truly elevate any look with her grace and elegance”.
Apart from her members, Rosé is the only one to have dedicated Instagram highlights for Saint Laurent, having an impact over the 55 millions of followers that the artist has. Inceasing the fame and popularity of the brand through a new audience that follows what their idol wear.
Rosé has been present in many of the brand events around the world. Being in the last Fashion Week show in Paris and the Met Gala in New York, allowed her to reach more attention from the media. She seemingly has the closest relationship with her brand’s creative director as shown by their joint attendance at the MET Gala, and Rosé herself mentioned that they are always contacting each other.
Met Gala 2021
As a Saint Laurent ambassador, she arrived on the carpet dressed in one of Anthony Vaccarello’s slinky LBDs and a crystalized choker covered in lacquered four-leaf clovers for good luck. Since the announcement of Rose's participation in the event, the number of fans and spectators has doubled. “Live from E!: Met Gala” grew 132% over the 2021 telecast in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic (267,000 vs. 115,000) and 121% in total viewers (613,000 vs. 278,000). Showing again the power that she possesses in the fashion world.
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Dior was founded in 1946 and is a brand that sells clothes, shoes, handbags, fragrances, and beauty products, all of which can be bought in Dior stores and on their website. Dior values sophistication, elegance, and femininity and inputs these values into their products. Qualities that the oldest member of the gorup has. Jisoo has been the ambassador of the brand since 2021, and made a huge impact in the brand sales and fame.
As an example, the brand posted a photo of her onto their account. That post became the brand’s most highly rated Instagram post and had double the success compared to their post from the prior season. The power Jisoo owns as the new ambassador has been reflected in numbers for the brand. In 2019, she posted photos of her at the Paris Fashion Week, just looking at the results following Paris FW, Jisoo was crowned the top celebrity with only two posts valued at $15.7 million in media impact value.
With this much impact in the fashion world, the brand increased their sales. According to the World Fashion Report, Korean e-commerce market presented a high rise of their sales, having products sold out and a profits around 484% compared to previous years.
Dior also became the top brand account with 8,088 posts valued at $39.1 million.
Jisoo’s presence has been noticed throughout the different events that she attended, drawing attention to the way she dresses and wears the brand's garments. Furthermore, she sets trends that take over social networks for the luxury industry around the world.
Paris Fashion Week
Jisoo sets the tone for the first day of Paris Fashion Week. The massive impact she had, left the fashion world in awe. They understandably witnessed the shock of having her presence there, where a massive amount of fans were present, lining up outside the venue to receive her, send her greetings of affection and love. She became a trend in Twitter, having the hashtag #JISSOxDiorPFW re-tweet over 500k times. Making her ranked #1 in Top 10 fashion influencers in that year.
After seeing what she and Dior have done together so far, everyone is looking forward to what the future has in store for the two.
« The South Korean luxury market is projected to register a CAGR of 4,82% during the forecast period between 2022-2027 »
This increase in the luxury market is reflected in the target consumption people that buy these products. The MZ generation - a Korean term that refers to millennials and Generation Z (people born between the 1980s and 2010s') - has developped a dependency on luxury goods, especially the ones that their idols represent. So almost 55% of the market is managed by them, changing trends and making the luxury acquiscition a basic need for society.
Looking at this scenario, the luxury brand will expand and conquer new generations of clients. The influence of the idols, actors and celebrities make that goal possible within a few years, and Blackpink shows a clear example of how powerful they are inside the luxury industry. Making everyone taste the real pink venom.
