How SHINHWA’s “Perfect Man” Remains Timeless
SM Entertainment is known as a pioneer of the Korean entertainment industry and is credited with shaping “Idol Culture” the way it is today within the K-Pop industry. SHINHWA debuted under SM Entertainment in 1998, and this year commemorates the twentieth anniversary of their famous track “Perfect Man.” The song was released on March 29, 2002, and last month SM Entertainment released a remastered version of the music video, allowing fans to enjoy the song with visuals to go with it.
One thing that stood out when watching the video was just how timeless the outfits were and how there are styling parallels from 2002 to now with SM artists.
SHINHWA x Remastering Project
SM Entertainment first introduced their Remastering Project in November 2021, describing it as a collaborative digital music video restoration project where they’ll join forces with YouTube to create higher resolution versions of previously released videos.
As part of this project, SHINHWA’s “Perfect Man” was rereleased on February 3, 2022 to many fans’ excitement, as it’s the second video to be released through this project—following “Only One,” which was rereleased November 18, 2021.
The music video follows the members taking on different roles but ultimately coming together at the end to deliver yellow roses to their fans. Here are some of the prominent looks seen throughout the music video.
A double denim outfit styled with a plain white t-shirt—a classic outfit that defines the early ‘00s.
This outfit in particular showed that a simple office look can be styled up with the help of accessories, with the sunglasses giving a cooler image.
Another type of outfit that never seems to go out of style is the matching tracksuit tops and bottoms. One outfit detail that stands out is the extra long cross necklace.
The styling of their all-black outfits were very of their time, with each member showing individuality through the accessories or the style of outfit they were wearing.
SHINHWA x NCT Dream Styling
When analyzing SHINHWA’s outfits from their rereleased video, one scene in particular showed outfits that were familiar. Between 2:36 and 2:54, when all the members are standing in a row with racetrack-inspired outfits, NCT Dream’s 2021 release “맛 (Hot Sauce)” comes to mind—more specifically their NCT DREAM COMEBACK SHOW [7DREAM RETURN! 7+맛=SHOW] poster. The biker jackets, hot red pants, and sleeveless tops bring Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno’s outfits to mind from that era.
Lee Dongyeon is credited as NCT Dream’s stylist for the Hot Sauce album. He is also responsible for many other artists’ stylings as well as being well-accredited within editorial work. Alongside him were Jeonhun, NCT Dream’s hairstylist, and Kang Yunjin, who was their makeup artist for the album. Throughout the Hot Sauce era, the members showed three different styling options: Crazy Jalapeño, Boring Jalapeño, and Chillin’ Jalapeño. The comeback show outfits, as well as the Boring Jalepeño, are my personal favorites.
Despite being 20-years-old this year, SHINHWA's “Perfect Man” styling still remains relevant. Especially now that Y2K fashion is trendy again, it shows that the fashion cycle is still in rotation.
SMTOWN Remakes
Towards the end of 2021, as part of the Remastering Project, aespa released a remake of S.E.S’s “Dreams Come True,” giving the song a 2021 sound. This remake allowed for the original song to make a comeback while still allowing aespa’s colors to show throughout the song and within the music video. aespa’s concept lets them explore various styling options that are futuristic/tech-y, however, I think it would’ve been fun to see them recreate the matching tracksuit looks from S.E.S’s music video! Even with that, it shows that SM Entertainment takes into account each group’s colors and their own personal styles.
SM Entertainment have been taking us on a trip throughout KWANGYA, and each artist's role in this new world has slowly been introduced to fans. The company’s styling team never fails to bring something new to the table, and from 2002 to now and onward, we can expect to see high quality work from them as usual.
Edited by Omani