Rainbow Fashion in K-Pop
In Korea’s conservative society, it is still rare to see K-Pop idols or other public figures openly talk about their own sexuality. But it is getting more and more common for them to be vocal about their support of the LGBTQ+ community, be it just a hidden comment on live streams, fan meetings, proudly raising the pride flag during concerts, or actually building same sex storylines into their concepts. Physical touch between same sex group members is also becoming a usual form of fanservice. In a different article, we can argue what counts as queerbaiting and what counts as actual openly supporting, but an undeniable pro besides the cons is the visibility and welcome these can provide to the LGBTQ+ minority—hopefully slowly easing the conservative views of Korean society.
Despite these views, Korea always challenges and looks at gender norms differently than Western pop culture, which turned them into one of the representatives of Asian queer aesthetics. In Korean society, androgyny and cross-dressing are not read as anything queer or as a loss of masculinity. Gender-fluid, unconventional, and androgynous fashion is nothing new for them. Men dressing in skirts, wearing crop tops or other items and accessories that are generally labeled for women is just as unusual as normalizing wearing makeup regardless of gender or sexuality. Fashion is simply looked at as fashion and not a gender-defined uniform, but going more in depth in this topic once again would require a completely different article that we might dive into in the near future.
Until then, we collected some of our favorite rainbow-infused fashion moments from K-Pop to bring the flag’s aesthetics into our June wardrobe for Pride Month.
Red Velvet
For the “Peek-A-Boo” music video and performances, every member of Red Velvet wrapped themselves in ASHISH’s luxurious rainbow outfits. Joy, who recently made her solo debut, wore a sequin dress during these promotions that turned into an iconic look, but our favorite piece has to be Yeri’s sequin-embellished silk top with the text “LOVE SEES NO COLOUR.”
(G)I-DLE
Soojin, member of Cube Entertainment’s girl group (G)I-DLE, wore a very cute mesh-like knitted top during the “LATATA” era in spring 2018. This look also popped up both in the music video and on music shows stages like M!COUNTDOWN. This isn’t just a fresh summer look, but also perfect for a warm June Pride.
Girls’ Generation’s Sooyoung & LOONA’s Kim Lip
This cute “LOVE WILL WIN” sequin shirt is also from the Indian-born designer behind the brand ASHISH. We saw both Girls’ Generation’s Sooyoung and LOONA’s Kim Lip wearing this top, and although sequin might not be everyone’s cup of tea, we are all here for these iconic ladies rocking it.
G-DRAGON
We love the style of the king of gender-fluidity. G-DRAGON really doesn’t like to play by the conventional rules that are set for men and women in fashion. And yes, he might prefer darker colors in his wardrobe, but he did have his rainbow moments. This post is from summer 2017 where he was wearing art piece-like slippers covered in rainbow colors, with matching nail colors standing in front of a “POWER” engraving. Iconic.
MAMAMOO’s Solar
The girl group that recently made a comeback with the mini-album WAW is notorious for being vocal about their opinions, so it’s not a surprise that you will find them openly supporting the LGBTQ+ community too. There are many MAMAMOO moments we could bring up in honor of Pride Month, but following the rainbow theme, we have to mention Solar’s Pride transparent platform shoes from the brand Queerks.
And although it is not directly rainbow, we can’t finish this article without mentioning BLACKPINK Jisoo’s Sandra Brant—a well-known figure of the LGBTQ+ community—shirt she wore in the “DDU-DU DDU-DU” music video.
Although we are quick to celebrate the smallest queer representation in K-Pop, we shouldn’t forget that the society and the actual cultural acceptance in Korea still has a long way to go—but they seem to be on the right track. Happy Pride Month!