Fashion/Style
Kim Kyu-Doubtfire

The Men of K-Pop: Attack of The Crazed Stylists Edition

32
Written by On November 15, 2011

Let’s talk about an open secret: the Hallyu Wave owes a lot of its success to the hunks of K-Pop and K-Drama. If not for the Hallyu male eye-candy, what would the legions of female fans worldwide slap on their walls, use as their screen-savers and swoon over in their dreams?

A big part of male idols’ visual assault on their fans are the fashion shoots, MVs and concept photos for new work. As all entertainers around the world, they use stylists to get themselves primed for the events and shoots. And while many of these idol-stylist collaborations are a resounding success, others are…..hmmm, how should I put this nicely….gloriously crossing into the WTF territory. Our monthly bizarre list cannot do justice to all these spectacular clusterbombs, so we decided to devote some ink to the bold, the brave, the …do they not have a mirror??? Tastes differ, you might say: well, in that case, judge for yourselves.

Exhibit A: Jang Geun-Suk

Beatdown or…perm?

Kim Bum-a-va-voom!

Jang Geun-Suk is the Figaro of fashion concepts careening into a ditch. Mr. Jang’s recent album promo cover with Big Brother looks downright confusing: especially when one compares Mr. Jang’s ditzy ajumma-perm-gone-wild look to Big Brother’s “I’m gonna beat the crap out of ya” facial expression. Did Mr. Jang think he looked hot in curlers and sequins, or was it his stylist who convinced him (or failed to dissuade, whichever way you look at it), that this was his winning look? And before someone tells me that Mr. Jang is the quintessential Flower Boy, and Flower boys all look like that: just take a look at all-growed-up baby Kim Bum - still handsome, but in a dude-kinda way.

Exhibit B: Use of Ladies’ Jewelry

Swaths of male idols are guilty of donning necklaces galore. Some of these photo shoot concepts work better than others; some should have never been attempted; and some stylists should be executed/banished to a remote chain of deserted islands after putting these things on guys. When speaking of baubles and men, one rule has passed the test of times: less is more. Otherwise, Marilyn Manson is getting green with envy.

Kim Kyu-Doubtfire

I'm a….Swarowski Beast??

Et tu, JY?

Exhibit C: Hair – Oops!

Hydrogen peroxide and K-Pop seem to be like Lucy and Desi: where there’s one, you’re likely to see the other. Mind you, there are many examples of style done right. However, let’s face it, we are not here to talk about tasteful hairstyles – bring out the freak show!

Apparently, the  Albino monk look is all the rage:

Brother G-Dragon must have puffed the wrong stuff…

Brother Eunhyuk is … well, he's just Eunhyuk

Brother Heechul shares a stylist with Brother Eunhyuk

Another popular choice is a shade lovingly known as “Trophy Wife Special”:

Is that Jaejoong or a younger Dolly Parton?

The Bride of FrankenT.O.P.

U-Kiss' Kevin, a.k.a. the sad Horatio Hornblower

Exhibit D: Batting an Eyeliner

What can we say? You have to admit: some of these liquid pencil masterpieces are damn good – can they give me some makeup lessons?  If it ain’t eyelined to the nines, it ain’t K-Pop…..

MAC – Schmack… one word:MBLAQ!

Gives new meaning to "oogly-eyed"

Dalmatian's Dari only had enough pencil for 1 eye

How about you, our dear readers? Do you have examples of K-Pop stylists gone mad? Please share in the comments section.

(Marie Claire Korea, Nylon Korea, Newsen, MyDaily, Yonhap News)

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  • Anonymous

    Jang Geunsuk has been looking like a hooker for the past 2 years.

    However, I have to disagree about the blond hair – all the guys mentioned were pulling it off with style. Whenever we talk about blond gone wrong, I think of Shinee’s Key and snsd’s Tiffany.

    • Anonymous

      maybe you meant jessica? because i dont recall tiffany as a blonde while i cannot forget jessica and that  hideous blonde they gave her (the girl herself hated it :S )

      • maldita

        Tiffany was a strawberry blonde for the “Hoot” promotions, and it totally did not suit her.

        • Anonymous

          oh..i had completely forgotten that poopy colour :P

    • Anonymous

      I actually don’t like it when most idols go blond. Some look OK but their hair looks overprocessed and obviously fake. That nearly white peroxide blond is the worst.

  • lay

    hmmm … i didn’t find anything hideous about Exhibit C. by the way, i always shudder (mostly in distaste) every time i look at JGS. Kim Bum, even with that long hair, looks good and not effeminate like JGS.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5JWLOENJVT24KU7ZTJZH3XOOXM Alexandra

    I think the guys all pulled off blonde well, especially TOP with his platinum blonde do, thats when I fond him seriously attractive. 
    But Jang Geun-Suk…I’ve been wanting to cut his locks off every since You’re beautiful, wtf are they doing to the pretty boy

  • http://weeatlemon.blogspot.com conanblue

    Wow that picture of Kim Kyu-jong makes him look like he has boobs which is a major yikes moment. Another fashion item I’m not digging is harem pants or what I like to call diaper pants. This is something that I’m against for anyone, not exclusively K-pop. But especially in K-pop, you can see the awkward pant/butt line that makes their butts as low as their knees when they’re strutting their stuff aka dancing. It just looks weird. Other than that I agree with the list. Except for GD and Eunhyuk in platinum blond. I thought they look good, actually.

  • Aya

    Seriously, oh dear management, fire whoever it is that made them wore….

    colourful skinny jeans or any other “way too tight jeans it almost looked like a legging” on boys….esp when they put a whole bunch of colours within a group. When i 1st saw it, i thought they would unite and formed into somewhat bigger and stronger version to destroy the evil force. Or just jumping around and hugging while giggling at some children videos at the tv on their chest with antennas on their head.

    Overused shinny latex material. You know…there’s a different between sexy and skanky.

  • Anonymous

    how could you leave out 2PM’s I’ll Be Back eyeshadows?! but i actually liked those though. i hated seeing them lose that concept in their 2nd week of promotions. ^_^

  • Oh Ji’s Ho

    Most of the time, JGS’s hair and outfits leave me thinking WTF?  The guy is easy on the eyes and then they kill it with over the top hair.  As for the necklaces, what disturbs me more is the fact that Kim Kyu actually appears to be rocking a boob due to the lighting of that picture.  Now onto the guyliner, I adore some guy liner, in theory and on my k-pop artists, but when they start wearing more make-up than I (as a female) would on a night out then it has gone too far.  The blonde hair is rocked by G-Dragon and TOP.  I’ve seen WooYoung of 2PM with it and I like it on him.  Very, very few K-Pop artist’s can pull off blonde hair.  I prefer most of them with gorgeous dark hair because the hair I see on most KPop artists and actors in unreal and it usually makes me speechless when not in a WTF style. 

  • Anonymous

    I don’t have anything against blonde hair, as long as they styled it good (I’m OK with G Dragon’s & Eunhyuk’s cut).But women’s jewelry is a big no for men. O____o
    Eyeliners : 3 pictures of men with eyeliner above, a HUGE no. But I can’t help but loving Yesung with his eyeliner. :D

  • http://twitter.com/TigerHolland Tiger Holland

    On the makeup, I think most of us feel that guyliner=just fine, especially if they’re going with anything remotely like a rock video concept, but bedazzled eyeshadow=not so fine.

    I don’t mind the bleached hair, but I still raise an eyebrow every time I see pastel pants. Peach and lavender jeans, really? Did we have to go there, stylists?

  • NahbyNahby

    I don’t really mind the blonde hair; it actually
    looks good on most of them…if the shade is right of course. Some of them look
    sick with blonde hair. It’s like it drains the color out of their faces, or
    their skin ends up looking too dark, but it’s just in a few of them I’ve seen
    this. As for the jewelry, yeah I don’t like; I would rather wear it than have
    my man wearing it. The makeup, I understand a little bit of it is okay when you
    are a celebrity, but loads of eyeliner, eye shadow, etc. in guy is a no, no for
    me. Jeez, I wouldn’t want my man going out looking better than I do!! Lol.

  • Anon

    there are very, very few idols who don’t look stupid in the ridiculous clothes their stylists put them in and it’s primairly because of the way they carry themselves. gd and top come to mind instantly. skirts, half-skirts, pink ammo belts, bones as hair accessories, snsd socks, lego brooches, trousers with multi-coloured snakes on them, electric blue shoes…you name it, they werq it. in their case, it may also be that they put themselves in these clothes much to the dismay of their stylists.

    on the other end of the spectrum is shinee. not only do their stylists hate them, the boys don’t really have the ability to pull off their bizarre get-ups. they look like fools 90% of the time.

    i don’t mind guyliner, jewellery (within reason), even colourful clothing but i draw the line at plastic pants and bondage shirts.

  • http://twitter.com/kekerri Kelly T

    Loved how Jang Geun Suk looked during his DoReMi and Baby & Me days. I don’t pay as much attention to him nowadays because he’s deviated from that look. Especially his hair. And I think the blonde hair trend is okay. It’s one of the less extreme hair colours out there and most idols can carry it off (if they choose the right stage). It could be worse. CL on 2NE1TV had tried on a green wig at a salon one time. I freaked out thinking about the possibilities of her doing promotions in green hair. Thank goodness she didn’t. lol.

    I think the newer idols have less say about how they’re styled, in comparison to idols like GD and TOP. So I don’t think it’s always the attack of the ‘crazed stylist’, just look at the non-work related outfits the idols wear. Most of them dress normally lol.

  • Serenacullen

    I personally think GD looks really hot as a white-blonde, and who else other than TOP can pull off white/silver hair and still look hot? Also, loved the eye makeup for MBLAQ’s Cry MV, was so dramatic and suited the song/style.

  • Anonymous

    Funny :-))

  • yuka5470

    hey! jaejoong look soooo good in blonde! and i want him in silver blonde again with his new hair style…

    though i have to agree with the article, especially the woman’s jewelry. GOD, those make the handsome men looks weird and laugh-able. about the eyeliner, i think it depends of how the stylist used it. guy-liner for some reason can be so good if applied correctly

  • krazee4kpop

    I’m SO thankful you wrote this article! I had a really good laugh – but on the serious side – I think it needed to be said. Now I just hope that those who really need to read it – are reading it.

  • http://twitter.com/novitoocool Novita Widia

    Oh my oh my….. this is like the least things you want to see on your idols. One thing tho, PERM HAIR HAS TO GO!! That makes any man looks like a hobo ahjumma on crack. If only I could enlist them all on RuPaul’s Drag Race. smh -___-”

  • Anonymous

    No denying here of the hunky eyecandy for me in KPop~
     ^^;;

    I can get over the bowl-cuts and the guy-liner
    but it’s big NO-NO for me and women’s jewelry on MEN!

  • nuburu

    If that can pull it off why not must men can’t it’s hard to look sexy and cute at the same time.

  • Anonymous

    u had me nodding along till we reach the hair discussion, in my personal opinion, gd, heechul, and jaejoong rock that blond hair look, heck i know for a fact that gd gain a lot new fans cause his heartbreaker look. jae and heechul blond hair do are very popular within the fandom so i don’t see how that was a mistake if anything i will give anything to see them rock the blond hair again.

  • Anonymous

    damn how i miss Jaejoong’s silver blonde~ ///<

  • pat

    REALLY hate the lipstick on guys more than anything. always looks creepy/gay

  • Skye

    Uhm, I liked GD and Heechul’s hair. It’s true that it’s not Heechul’s best hairstyle, but he pulls it off very well, I like it. And GD looked amazing with that hair, tbh, I knew him through “Heartbreaker” and inmediately loved his style. And I gotta say, I kinda like that shot of Kim Kyu Jong~

    But yeah, sometimes the risky looks are too much. JGS’ shot… I don’t get it, tbh. Then again, I’ve never gotten the hype about him. And even though I like guys with eyeliner quite a lot – man, not everybody can pull it off and stylists should control their hand when applying it, because there IS a point where a little eyeliner becomes TOO MUCH eyeliner and there’s no sex appeal that can make up for it.

    Something I don’t get either is the love for the hairy clothes. Furry? Sorry, IDK how it’s said, English is not my mother tongue, but… someone in Seoulbeats put a video of 2PM dancing on clothes like that, and Jaejoong has used this kind of thing. I just, lol. Can’t. And the mushroom hair cut. Like, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ANYBODY? D: 

    I am all for risky looks and radical look changes… but sometimes they should think twice before actually doing it.

  • Skye

    Uhm, I liked GD and Heechul’s hair. It’s true that it’s not Heechul’s best hairstyle, but he pulls it off very well, I like it. And GD looked amazing with that hair, tbh, I knew him through “Heartbreaker” and inmediately loved his style. And I gotta say, I kinda like that shot of Kim Kyu Jong~

    But yeah, sometimes the risky looks are too much. JGS’ shot… I don’t get it, tbh. Then again, I’ve never gotten the hype about him. And even though I like guys with eyeliner quite a lot – man, not everybody can pull it off and stylists should control their hand when applying it, because there IS a point where a little eyeliner becomes TOO MUCH eyeliner and there’s no sex appeal that can make up for it.

    Something I don’t get either is the love for the hairy clothes. Furry? Sorry, IDK how it’s said, English is not my mother tongue, but… someone in Seoulbeats put a video of 2PM dancing on clothes like that, and Jaejoong has used this kind of thing. I just, lol. Can’t. And the mushroom hair cut. Like, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ANYBODY? D: 

    I am all for risky looks and radical look changes… but sometimes they should think twice before actually doing it.

  • Elmo

    Sometimes it looks cool. It looks like the techno, emo, goth, punk, or
    goth look. Other times they just look really feminine. Not gay… They
    look like girls. They don’t need boobs, just longer hair and they would
    probably make really pretty girls. Gay guys are known for having a sense
    of fashion and taste. They don’t really flaunt makeup and pretty
    (girly) hair. K-pop guys just look really effeminate sometimes. It’s weird and unattractive.
    I’m shallow… I’m sorry, but if you look like a girl, that defeats the
    purpose of me buying your products and being your fan. I don’t want to
    see a pretty girly type dude dancing and singing passionate lyrics. I
    want to see a guy. Frankly, I don’t care if they are gay, just as long
    as they don’t look like, well… GIRLS. That’s not what I want
    advertised to me. As a teenage girl, I want to see hot guys dancing and
    singing to passionate K-pop music.

  • Blossemcup4

    I actually kind of liked Eunhyuk’s blond hair and I find Kevin looks cuter with lighter hair. I’ve gotten used to eyeliner and eyeshadow on male idols, so I don’t really find it weird anymore.

  • http://twitter.com/lillian23910 Sharon

    For these fashion styles, it all just depends on whether the artist can pull it off. i actually liked the lipstick GD had in Knock out and his eye makeup. In MBLAQ, only joon is allowed to wear glitter and SHINee can not pull anything off. Please stop with their crazy ass clothes.