How K-pop Conquered Fashion Week

Always in search of runway show hype, fashion brands are turning to some of the biggest young stars on earth. This originally appeared in Show Notes, GQ staffer Samuel Hine’s fashion week newsletter. For more stories like it, hit the link above and subscribe.

Every era of fashion has its own stars. In the ’90s, it was supermodels. In the aughts, it was actors. Then came the rush of bloggers and influencers. The rappers who were once shut out of Paris Fashion Week (as immortalized in the famous Tommy Ton photograph of Kanye West’s gatecrashing crew in 2009) were finally given pride of place at fashion shows last decade. Some of the politics around who gets coveted front row seats are not political at all—sometimes A-listers happen to be in town when their favorite brand is unveiling a new collection. But taken broadly, each wave signals the luxury industries shifting priorities and evolving strategies for finding new audiences. (One of the few figures who seems to show up year after year, for decades? Jared Leto!). Now, we’re squarely in fashion’s K-pop era.