Fashion and K-Dramas: Navigating Between Cultural Pride and Global Appeal

A conversation with stylist, producer, model, and ex-Peter Do PR Director Jessica Wu

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The Underrated Fashion Professional Talks is resuming with this new instalment in which I explore the world of K-dramas and fashion with stylist, producer, model, and ex-Peter Do PR Director Jessica Wu who recently started a not-so-fashion newsletter called

BFFR

. I read about her in The Cut, Into The Gloss, and Vogue, before being kindly introduced to her by

S A R H

. So shout out to Substack for creating beautiful and meaningful connections!

I have been wanting to talk with someone for a while about the relationship between K-dramas and fashion. Now more than ever, I find it fascinating how K-dramas became mainstream, and the fashion in it. You might not be interested in the latter, but it has become so ubiquitous that it is impossible not to notice it. So I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation - that I hope won’t be just one as I hope to find more people to expand on the topic from different angles - about my obsession with K-dramas and Korean culture.

Here is the breakdown of our conversation:

• K-dramas started to get global around 2009, with Jessica we discussed how fashion, and especially Western brands, started to be more and more present.

• We talked about some specificities of Korean fashion vs. American/European fashion

• Jessica talked about her work experience

• Jessica made observations about styling for K-dramas that I will need to explore more, so if anyone knows a Korean stylist working on K-dramas sets, hit me up!

Going forward, I plan to paywall one in two issues of The Underrated Fashion Professional Talks so upgrade not to miss any!

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I wanted to talk to you about how K-drama and fashion intertwine. I've been watching K-dramas since 2009 and noticed that, at the beginning, it was a lot about Korean brands. Yet, as the Korean wave grew, though you still have Korean brands, there are more and more brands like Prada. I find it weird because you would expect that when a country becomes influential, it shares its culture, not vice versa.

So, I would like to know a little bit about what you thought about that.

I agree with your statement to some extent, but not fully. I've been watching Korean dramas probably since high school, which was, like 2009 as well. And it's been a long time seeing the progression in fashion within it. And I definitely agree that at first, it was kind of not brand visible, the average person wouldn't be able to tell where the clothes came from. But I guess if you're working in the industry and into Korean fashion, you'd be able to know that it was a Korean fashion brand. Fast forward to even less than a decade later, there are more European and Western designer brands being focused with more visible iconic branding. It was definitely less about logos before. There's a thing about the Korean entertainment industry and logos: they tape anything that shows branding. So, I guess it's more about the iconic look on the runway or the collection being represented.

But I disagree with you because I think unfortunately in terms of K-wave and global Korean culture being promoted and highlighted today, especially through K-pop and Korean dramas and Korean entertainment, with the way the industry is structured, people do seek Western and European validation. And the Pradas of this world are the hottest brands that are driving luxury right now in terms of consumer awareness.

There are so many small Korean brands, that I don't think even the average Korean consumer would, unless they were really into fashion and they're paying attention to, wouldn't even be able to identify them in Korean dramas. There are so many social media pages that track what actors are wearing and tag all the different brands, but that takes work and research. But I think even the average Korean viewer doesn't know that either. Certain things are more iconic, so people can easily identify them.

To go back to what I was saying about European fashion, I think the reason why that's happening is that, for the industry, at least from my involvement and understanding of it, there definitely needs to be a kind of approval from the old guard. The LVMH and Kering houses, those are the ones that generate the most revenue globally.

They are household names. I don't know a person unless they're not connected to the internet and to the modern world, who doesn't know what Louis Vuitton is? Just as an example, it makes sense that BTS did their first partnership with Louis Vuitton. So, I do agree that in terms of Korean global culture to really make an even exchange, it would make sense for Korean designers to be promoted.

In the fashion retail industry, at least I'm seeing way more Korean fashion designers focusing on small accessories and clothing being shown on pretty big platforms like SSENSE. So, I think Korean fashion is represented in that way.

But in terms of the evenness of exchange, I definitely think that the hurdle of partnering with European and Western brands is the first thing that those K-pop groups have to overcome to be able to be recognized on a bigger stage. And that's just kind of the exchange I think currently exists for visibility. I think it's the same for Western celebrities as well.

I understand the visibility point to an extent. For an American or European celebrity, it has become part of the culture.

I’ve been to Korea twice – though it was a long time ago - but I felt like people there have their own fashion, right? Korean brands are very noticeable. For example, when I used to go to Camden market when I was living in London, there were plenty of Korean brands and even though you didn’t see the brand, you could tell it was a Korean brand because there was a distinctive cut and style. For that reason, I have difficulty understanding the disconnect between, how distinctive Korean fashion is and the fact that they look for validation with European brands that are actually very homogeneous, especially in this period.

That's a good question and a good conundrum to pose because I guess the conversation is largely surrounded by the entertainment industry, perhaps, and more of the constraints within that, and the standards of how business is done. I feel like maybe that's the larger conversation, as opposed to, like, “oh, we don't want, we'd rather promote European fashion than Korean fashion.”

As you also mentioned, there are still Korean brands being promoted on celebrities in these dramas and music videos. Clearly, you can tell on those pages, when they credit, there's obviously, a great mix of brands up left and right. But when it comes to exporting their celebrities and that part of the industry, maybe it is just, strategic in terms of the business.

I don't know what else I could think of that would justify why they would do that. Korea is still a really small country. I don't know the specific logistics of their economy or their ranking worldwide, but K-pop and the K-wave culture as an export are obviously doing really well. It feels like almost everyone in the world knows about K-pop now. So, I think that they're in a position of power, but they're still needing to cater to Western and European fashion standards.

Someone told me that some Korean designers don’t want to expand internationally. So, sponsoring their brand through a very huge K-drama could break their business model because they're too small for that. So, I guess they're also very business savvy in that sense, which is interesting to hear.

I never heard of it, but that makes total sense in terms of scaling. I have experience with trying to manage the popularity and the demand that goes with it. I can imagine that if you're having a really strong response within your country, and that's what you can manage, and you understand that, it makes sense to just keep it within the country until you can at least scale to do it internationally.

I also think there is a question of cost and sizing because Korean sizing is completely different from American or European sizing. In Europe, I am a size small or medium, but when I was shopping in Korea, I couldn't even put my leg into some pants.

I think it's like that across East Asia, for at least where I've travelled. I'm what you call sample size, like a French 36 or US small, and I'm still considered big.

I should be fitting anything when I'm in Korea or in Taiwan – my family is from there - and my sister's a little bit bigger than me, and she would always complain because she couldn't buy anything in Taiwan. So yes, I totally get that, the sizing is definitely an issue.

Also, another funny thing that's sort of related to that is I get gifted a lot from Korean brands, and I have a few pairs of denim that I really love, and in America, at least, we dry everything in the washer-dryer, and I realized that my jeans were getting narrower and narrower. Then I realized that they don't account for shrinkage because they always line-dry their items in Korea.

Jessica Wu, image Into The Gloss

That's so funny. When Sahr gave me your contact I thought “I know that name.” And when I first saw your face, I thought “I know that face, I've seen it somewhere”, and I realized that I have read your profiles on Vogue and The Cut. Can you introduce yourself and your relationship with Peter Do and what you're doing at the moment?

Yeah, so my name is Jessica Wu. I'm 29 turning 30 this year.

I'm originally from Newport Beach, a small town in Southern California, but I moved to NYC when I was 17 to attend FIT. I studied advertising, marketing and fashion merchandising. I met Peter Do in college, and we always collaborated in informal ways when we were both students, then he left to go to Celine in Europe, and I was here freelancing, trying to be a stylist after college. It really was not financially viable, so I ended up starting to take other jobs.

We started Peter Do because we were not content with what we were doing in our respective fields within fashion. The brand started officially in 2018, and I was doing PR and creative production. I have a lot of interests, but I also have been pretty tired out from building a brand for the last seven years. So, I left the company last year, in April 2023.

Then, I took a job right after I quit to then realise, I needed a real break. I went to Korea in December for a freelance job, which was really a fun way to experience the country for the first time. Since then, I have been freelancing in the fashion industry.

I can imagine. So, I understand better what you were saying when you said you related to Korean designers worried about growing too fast and then explode, because I guess that Peter Doe was in that stage.

It's interesting that you can make that observation without me saying anything.

You said you had that freelancing experience in Korea. Can you talk more about it?

I freelanced for OHT, it's a jewellery brand created by my college friend. We worked together in college on it. He collaborated with Nerdy, a big streetwear brand in Korea, and we did an influencer event at their flagship in Hongdae. There was catering, people were dressed in the clothes. It was a nice little fun promotional event for the clothes.

That's nice. When you went to Seoul, what did you notice about the fashion scene there that is maybe different or similar from the New York scene?

Yeah, I was there in December. The weather was weird.

It was freezing, and then it was warm, and then it was freezing the day that I left. I think people always comment about the weather, but at least when it's really cold, everyone's wearing a long black puffer jacket.

There's no difference. Guys and girls are all wearing it since it's freezing, but aside from that I don't know if I can make any generalizations about it, but I will say that I didn't see people have as much idiosyncratic style as I do on the daily in New York.

You go to any neighbourhood in New York on any given day, and you'll see so many different aesthetics, personal style, but in Seoul, it seemed pretty, formulaic. A lot of girls were wearing miniskirts with boots and cute little jackets, like matching sets. It was very Korean. It's hard to explain, but I hope you understand.

No, I see what you mean. They have a sense of style. When you see it outside of the Korean context, it looks different because you may not be used to that. It looks very neat, and very put together. You can tell they take their time; I can even imagine someone ironing their clothes because everything looks so perfect.

I think I understand when you say the style in Seoul seemed formulaic. One of my close friends is Korean, and he was such a good case study when I was working at Matches Fashion. I had a 50% discount, and I let my friend use it. Each week we had a meeting to see what each market had bought the most and it was so funny because what S. bought through my discount matched exactly the top brands and best sellers for the Korean market at Matches. At the time, it was a lot of Lemaire, Gucci by Alessandro Michele, Prada, Common Projects, etc. There was a great mix between storied and newer brands, and Korean customers seemed to follow trends more than American or French customers. There is definitely a formula.

To come back to Korean dramas, I also feel there is a formula. When you see an actor dressed in a certain way, you can guess which type of character they’ll be, and it's something I don't see when I watch American series. Of course, the styling defines the characters to some extent, but in Korean drama, it really drives the whole character, you know?

Yeah, I definitely agree.

That's why I also think there is that big wave of Korean dramas around rich people, because it matches all the sponsorships.

Yes, absolutely. Like, really nice, luxury, coordinated sets, which they love. They love a Chanel tweed jacket, a tweed miniskirt, and a handbag.

Since 2009, there has been an evolution in Korean dramas. Before, you always had those stories about the rich guy and the poor girl, that was the pattern, but now it's a lot of rich kids and rich families’ stories. And it feels like they choose the big brands according to the type of rich people they are.

I don't know how to phrase it better. I mean, I'm thinking about Kim Soo Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun in My Love from the Star, and how they had so much runway Celine in that show, it was out of control. And it made sense because her character was a little wonky and crazy.

And they pulled looks straight off the runway. I'm sure some of it was like production. So, it was altered a little bit. But you could tell that it wasn't like what a person in the Celine store is buying for ready-to-wear. It was definitely quirky.

And then, I just watched Queen of Tears as everyone in the world did. And [Kim Ji-Won] is wearing Valentino looks that are like matching sets.

It must have to do with what each character portrays for sure.

My Love From The Star.

I don't see that in American entertainment. In the USA, it feels like fashion is focused on the red carpet with each celebrity working with a stylist. I guess in Korea, too, it happens. But I would be so interested to talk with a stylist who does the styling for the Korean series because it must be hectic.

I don't know any drama stylists, but I feel like in a few Korean dramas, it seems like they have their own stylist set. And it's not really a stylist from the production. That's something for you to research a little bit more because now that I think about it in My Love from the Star, they each had their own wardrobe stylist.

That's what I realised when I watched it. It seems they had their managers, but they also had their hair and beauty teams. On an American set, you would have a wardrobe department that's handling that, but on that specific drama, it didn’t seem like that.

It seemed like they brought their own stylist and that got their outfits by the art direction and filming teams. So, I don't know if that's different now, but that was an interesting thing I noticed, at least in that drama.

I think it's not far-fetched to hypothesise this. When Korean actors do promotions, they obviously have brand deals, but they still exude a certain vibe because they are associated with certain brands and work with certain stylists, I guess. I'm thinking of someone like Ahn Bo Huyn. He always has this very simple, yet very sophisticated style with these large trousers and t-shirts or shirts. It seems it is a style he has maintained all along the dramas he has done. His fit changes a little when he does a suit, but the whole general mood is always that kind of silhouette. So, I guess there is a stylist he has been working with and with whom he has been building his style over the years.

I forgot to mention, did you watch It's Okay to Not Be Okay?

Yes, I was going to mention it!

[Seo Ye Ji] wore Peter Do in one of the episodes, and that was incredible. We found out while I was watching the drama. And I was like, “Oh my god, she's wearing Peter Do.” It was the craziest moment. And we don't know how it happened.

Also, another side comment that's kind of related is when we had Korean PRs dressing a celebrity in Peter Do, most of the time it wasn't through us or our PR agencies. It was largely through retailers. According to one of my friends who has a store in Korea, many stylists have relationships with retailers and come by the stores to pull clothing.

That's part of the culture there. Retail pulls are a thing in America, and I think globally in the major fashion cities, but it seems a lot stronger in Korea.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

That's so interesting because you would think that they would build some personal relationships directly with the brands. That says a lot about their retail and shopping culture.

When some K-pop star or celebrity ended up wearing Peter Do, I did not email their stylist.

I don't know what happened, but it was such a pleasant surprise. And then the natural conclusion was that it had to be PR, especially because it was a little bit late:  some of the pieces that would show up were already one or two years old. So, it means that they were buying it at retail or holding on to it for the right occasion, building their closet.

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What are the K-dramas that have marked you fashion-wise? Here is my non-exhaustive list:

• Eve

• Tomorrow

• It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

• Hotel Del Luna