Depth | Why do Asian faces become the stars chased by the fashion circle? Naomi Osaka|Asian Face|Fashion Endorsement_Sina Fashion_Sina.com

Reprinted from: WWD International Fashion News

Original title: Depth | Why do Asian faces become the stars chased by the fashion circle?

Ten years of Hedong and ten years of Hexi, in the past, if you were talking about the Asian representatives who jumped into the fashion world at a rapid pace, it should be a group of designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. Today, although there are still oriental designers who continue to make their names in the industry, it is obvious that the spotlight has also become the Asian stars and celebrities who are in the limelight.

Some time ago, the South Korean girl group Blackpink officially returned, and the “fashion moment” that accompanied this top girl group into the public eye was one after another. In the preview of the comeback single, all members are dressed in Mugler’s exclusive custom-made costumes. With the release of the music video of the first single “Pink Venom”, the colorful 20 sets of styles in it have inspired netizens to get together and flock to the collective movement of “picking the same style”, from the short-lived Chanel bird at the beginning of the MV and estimated to be close to 160,000. Cage dinner bags, to the millions of Bvlgari Serpenti Viper necklaces worn by Lisa, are the topics of conversation among fashion lovers.

　　

At the just-concluded MTV Music Tape Awards (VMA), the four members made a surprise appearance with all-black dresses and luxury jewelry of their respective endorsement brands, which caused widespread heated discussions on social networks. Lisa, who won the Best K-Pop Award, has made its sponsor Italian luxury jewelry brand soar, and has been mentioned more than 60,000 times, becoming the most mentioned fashion brand, compared to the American designer brand exposed by Taylor Swift. Oscar de la Renta nearly five times more.

Some analysts have pointed out that Blackpink is the most commercialized idol team today, with almost every member serving as the spokesperson for both head fashion and jewelry brands. Lisa is Celine and Bvlgari, Jisoo is Dior and Cartier, and Rosé is Saint Laurent and Tiffany. & Co, while Jennie’s fashion and jewelry contracts are all from Chanel. In addition, apparel brands in the affordable luxury price band have also thrown olive branches to Blackpink, such as Jennie, who appeared in Calvin Klein’s 2022 autumn series visual blockbuster, interpreting the latest denim and underwear series.

　

The promotion of Hallyu idols to fashion darlings is not just a special phenomenon that happened to Blackpink. In recent years, there have been many cases of Korean stars and fashion luxury brands holding hands with high profile: the Korean men’s group named as one of the top 100 influential figures by Time Magazine BTS was invited by Louis Vuitton to serve as a global brand ambassador; Lee Jung-jae and Jung Hao-yeon, the protagonists of the popular drama “Squid Game”, were recognized by Gucci and Louis Vuitton respectively; Loewe, who has always played less star cards, also unexpectedly officially announced South Korea Female singer HyunA is the brand’s first global ambassador; Swiss luxury watch and jewelry Chopard announced that South Korean singing group aespa has become the new face of the brand; actress Jun Ji-hyun recently won the Burberry brand endorsement.

　　

In addition to Korean stars, another Asian force rising strongly in the fashion circle is Asian athletes, and Osaka Naomi is a typical representative. At the beginning of last year, Louis Vuitton officially announced Naomi Osaka as the new brand ambassador. In the 2021 spring and summer fashion advertising blockbuster directed by Nicolas Ghesquière, the artistic director of womenswear, Naomi Osaka debuted as a brand ambassador for the first time. Nicolas Ghesquière commented: “Osaka Naomi is an outstanding female indicator, not only for her generation but also a role model for everyone, and her faith in her values ​​and career is very inspiring.”

In September of the same year, Naomi Osaka was appointed by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the American version of VOGUE, to co-chair the Met Gala with singer Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman and actor Timothée Chalamet. According to incomplete statistics, Naomi Osaka holds a total of 16 brand endorsements, and its commercial representative at IMG, Stuart Duguid, said: “Naomi Osaka’s commercial value is rising rapidly, and its Asian-African identity makes it highly valued in both the U.S. and Japanese markets. .”

　　

Coincidentally, Gu Ailing, a Chinese-American mixed-race skier who is widely known for winning the Beijing Winter Olympics, is also a rising fashion star. According to the statistics of “First Financial” last year, the number of Gu Ailing’s commercial endorsement brands has exceeded 20, and the number has successfully outperformed many first-line entertainment stars. It is worth emphasizing that there are many who choose to be bundled with Gu Ailing, such as Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. & Co such a head brand.

　　

What structural changes in the fashion industry are reflected in all aspects of the rise of Asian forces represented by Hallyu idols and Asian athletes? For the Chinese market with strong luxury consumption but not yet born domestic stars who lead the world stage, what is the reference for these oriental faces who have successfully gone overseas?

The sudden emergence of Asian power in the fashion circle is inseparable from the increase in the weight of the local market in the global luxury market. According to data from Fortune Business Insights, from 2016 to 2020, the luxury market size of the Asian market has surpassed that of North America and Europe. It fell sharply to $875, but the numerical ranking is still above Europe and the United States.

The positional advantages of the Asian market are also revealed in the latest financial reports of major luxury goods groups. LVMH, the world‘s largest luxury goods group, announced its financial report for the first half of 2022 some time ago: During the reporting period, the group recorded a revenue of 36.729 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 28%. In terms of sub-regions, although the Asian region was affected by China’s epidemic control measures, it only recorded a low growth of 1%, far less than the double-digit growth in Europe and the United States. However, if you consider the indicator of performance contribution, Asia is a well-deserved sales leader, accounting for 32% of total sales.

Similarly, the financial data released by Kering Group for the first half of fiscal year 2022 also provides evidence of the importance of the Asian market. Due to sluggish consumption in China, revenue in the Asia-Pacific market excluding Japan fell by 8% year-on-year, but 34% of sales were still far ahead. On the contrary, the North American, Western European and Japanese markets, which have entered the fast lane of growth, accounted for 27%, 26% and 6% of the group’s total sales, respectively, all lagging behind the Asia-Pacific market.

After realizing the unrivaled consumption potential of the Asian market, luxury brands naturally raise the banner of localization in the appointment of spokespersons, in order to quickly and effectively win over local consumers. But it is worth emphasizing that although Hallyu idols and Asian athletes are both Asian samples, the reasons why they are sought after by brands are quite different.

Let’s talk about K-pop idols first. At the moment when the attention grabbing is becoming more and more intense, luxury brands reuse Hallyu idols, no doubt because of their top-notch attributes, and it is worth noting that the popularity of Korean stars is not limited to the local field, and the emphasis on cultural output makes They often have influence across national borders. By comparing the cooperation effects between luxury brands and celebrities in the past year, the data analysis agency ListenFirst pointed out that the K-pop stars on the Internet are actually no less than the top European and American stars such as Harry Styles, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish. For example, after the South Korean boy group BTS was appointed as a global brand ambassador by Louis Vuitton, related Instagram posts exceeded 500,000 views in just a few hours, and on the new media account of the Gucci brand, the top performer was South Korean star Kai Kai. dance video.

Due to their own hot search physique, once Hallyu idols are deeply tied to the brand, it will bring the latter a rapid increase in visibility and penetration. A report released by the market research agency NetBase shows that since the formation of the partnership, thanks to the traffic transmission of Blackpink members Lisa and Jisoo, Bulgari and Cartier have won the list of jewelry brands with the highest mention rate on the entire network in 2020 respectively. won the championship seat. According to the report, both Bulgari and Cartier were mentioned more than 2 million times, while Tiffany & Co, which had not yet joined hands with another member of the team, Rosé, was mentioned only 430,000 times throughout the year, a huge gap. .

It needs to be emphasized that, unlike the stars who “applaud but don’t sell well”, in Hallyu idols, the traffic that can be monetized accounts for a significant proportion, and the same model can easily be sold as a hard-to-get hit. Han Chong, founder of fashion brand Self-Portrait, said that after Blackpink member Jennie wore the brand’s red cardigan in a Netflix documentary, orders surged, causing Han Chong to increase orders five times in a row.

In addition, the competitiveness of Hallyu idols lies in their ability to digest fashion. According to reports, instilling fashion knowledge has always been an indispensable process in South Korea’s star forging chain. As early as the trainee period, the brokerage company will arrange for industry experts to teach by words and deeds, and regularly hold examinations to check the results. For example, by setting the theme of dress for the trainees to match with their own hands for evaluation, the long-term discipline makes the trainees feel good when they debut. Has a relatively mature single product control ability. It is worth mentioning that Korean stars often do not copy or accept the fashion trends created by Europe and the United States. Taking Blackpink as an example, most of them will adjust and change the version of a single product, or they will not take the usual way in matching combinations. Let each brand with different styles shine with the true nature of Blackpink.

The reason why Asian athletes have become the stars to be chased is more because brands rely on this special group to endorse their images. On the one hand, athletes are blessed with solid game results, and their bright spots such as hard work and self-discipline help strengthen the positive association of the brand. On the other hand, by holding hands with Asian athletes, brands can effectively demonstrate their position on social issues such as racial equality, thus quickly winning the favor of consumers.

Take Naomi Osaka, who is of mixed Asian and African blood as an example. In addition to winning gold medals many times in the arena, she is well known for her attention to racial discrimination and other inequality issues. On the eve of the Cincinnati semifinals last year, Osaka released a statement on social media, expressing her protest against racial inequality in the United States by refusing to participate. Osaka Naomi said in a protest statement that she was first a black person and then a tennis player. She wants everyone to turn their attention to black things, which are more important than tennis.

For Naomi Osaka, David Carter, a professor of sports at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, commented on her that her youth and multicultural attributes make Naomi Osaka resonate with young audiences around the world, which is why she has surpassed the sports arena and is loved by fashion brands.

Seeing that the fashion circle is overwhelmingly chasing Asian faces such as Hallyu idols, what inspiration can domestic stars find from them to unlock the copy of advanced fashion?

Linda Wang, chairman of BICG Fashion Group, which specializes in finding spokespersons for brands, mentioned in an interview before that, “Although many Chinese stars have huge online fans, they are not as fashionable as Korean stars, so luxury brands would rather choose the latter.” . By comparing Chinese and Korean stars, it is not difficult to find that a considerable number of domestic stars start to pay attention to styling after they have gained popularity, and this habit of neglecting fashion design often puts stars in trouble-on famous coffee It is already a qualified spokesperson, but the lack of fashionable DNA has become the biggest obstacle to brand appointments.

In contrast to Korean stars, most of them are good at leveraging fashion to empower themselves at the beginning of their debut. Kyoung Won Choi, who was in charge of Blackpink’s early styling, revealed in an interview with WWD that the agency YG initially planned to use Blackpink to create a new K-Pop paradigm. One of the means to achieve this goal is to use fashion to build this combination and public communication bridge. Hee Sun Choi, a stylist for another Korean girl group Itzy, said, “Fashion is becoming a core element of K-Pop. I have been doing styling for a long time, and I can feel the agency’s role in star imagery in recent years. Investment has risen significantly, which means that the company has realized how important fashion is to an artist’s star career.”

In addition to modeling ability and popularity, if domestic stars want to gain global-level endorsement titles from fashion luxury brands, they may also need to make up for the short board of international influence. When it comes to international influence, in the final analysis, it depends on the accumulation of personal masterpieces. It is like saying that the Chinese actress Yang Ying, who was dubbed “Dior’s daughter” by netizens, was appointed as the brand ambassador in China by the brand as early as 2017. During the five-year cooperation period, whether it is rare or high Even if she decides to lend it, she is still put on the cover of a fashion magazine represented by the American version of “VOGUE”. She enjoys all these top-level treatments, but only the endorsement title has never been removed from the limited prefix of “China”. In contrast, Blackpink’s Jisoo joined the Dior camp later than Yang Ying, but she became famous internationally for her many global hit singles, but she won the title of global brand ambassador in one step.

　　

In addition, some personal moral problems of domestic stars have also made international brands more cautious when playing the marketing card of Chinese star spokespersons. The latest example is Li Yifeng, who was quickly abandoned by the brand due to the prostitution scandal. Panerai and Prada are both in the first. A statement was released for a while to terminate the cooperative relationship with Li Yifeng. Last year, the continuous negative events in the entertainment industry not only brought a lot of losses to the brand, but also produced many subsequent negative effects.

These events once again warn the fashion industry’s marketing promotion: the cooperation model that has been betting the brand on one or one type of spokesperson for a long time is not only a crisis-ridden “bet”, but also increasingly unable to meet the current market. The environment has a differentiated marketing strategy for all product brands, or a precise play based on special series such as festival restrictions and cross-border co-branding. Therefore, in recent years, many brands have launched a “capsule spokesperson” model for the Chinese market with a shorter cooperation period or only for some product categories.

These spokespersons, who are limited to short-term cooperation in specific capsule series, also bring an ingenious traffic idea, which not only reduces the risk of cooperation, but can even control costs to a certain extent.

It should be pointed out that no matter what their own traffic is, in the eyes of luxury brands, the strength of celebrity spokespersons is still the ultimate measure, and only strength can match the tonality and attributes of luxury brands. For example, in addition to the traffic Korean stars represented by Blackpink, luxury brands have also begun to use more Asian stars with both traffic and strength.

South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae, who just won the 74th Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor for “Squid Game”, became the first Asian/Asian actor in history to win the award. As a Gucci brand spokesperson, he not only appeared in the “Gucci March of Love” series of commercials, but also wore Gucci’s custom suit dress at the Emmy Awards.

Lee Jung-jae in a custom Gucci gown becomes the first Asian/Asian actor to win a Primetime Emmy for Best Actor in a Leading Role

In addition, Chinese film star Michelle Yeoh, who starred in the world‘s most popular movie “The Cosmos” in the first half of this year, not only wore a Balenciaga dress to the brand’s Haute Couture show, but also wore the brand’s haute couture on the cover of the October issue of “Vogue” China. . Although Balenciaga has not officially announced any brand ambassadors, Michelle Yeoh’s “brand treatment” is no less than that of a spokesperson.

There are market arguments that the rate of change of Korean stars is high, today’s top trend may be out of breath tomorrow, and dominating the fashion circle may only be a short-term phenomenon. How long the honeymoon period between Korean stars and fashion brands is still unknown. But what is certain is that Korean brokerage companies are so well versed in the method of copying and optimization that even if the popularity of Blackpink diminishes, there is a high probability that there will be more upgraded versions of “Blackpinks” to replace their positions. To be favored by fashion and luxury brands for a long time, perhaps only strength can support the brand marketing needs of the post-traffic era. WWD

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