Fashion/Style
20111130_seoulbeats_boa

It’s Balmain-ia!

30
Written by On December 3, 2011

BoA caused quite stir this week when she stepped out for a press conference wearing a dress from French designer Balmain, which reportedly retails for $34,000.  K-pop stars have been wearing the brand, known for its hefty price tags as much as its distinctive designs, for years now.  Seo In-young actually wore the exact same striped mini-dress just over a month ago at the “Love Your W” event, and no one seemed to take notice.  Hopefully that means people just expect Elly to wear ridiculously expensive clothes, not that she is irrelevant in the industry.  She actually wears the dress really well, with a belt for added shape and killer Christian Louboutin pumps.  Since it is nearing the end of the season, this dress can actually be had for the bargain-basement price of $19,935.  What a steal!  Don’t all rush off and buy them… From events and performances, to music videos and airport fashion, Balmain is popping up everywhere.  Let’s have a look at some of the styles the stars are wearing.

The ladies of 2NE1 are seen in Balmain almost as much as Jeremy Scott.  All four of them wore the designer for the “Lonely” MV, as well as other promotional photos.  They wore items from the current Fall/Winter Collection on the red carpet for the MAMAs this week; Minzy, CL and Dara wore Balmain to last year’s MAMAs too.  In the above picture, 2NE1 is seen at a Balmain store opening in Ginza, Japan, once again decked out in the upscale brand.  CL is wearing a leather jacket with raccoon fur neckline, a distressed sequin tee and distressed skinny jeans that retails for $12,530, $1,210 and $1,011, respectively.  Bom is wearing a metallic blouse with a matching scarf knotted at the waist.  The blouse is no longer available online, but the scarf is for a cool $1,255.  Minzy’s gold nappa leather blazer is sold out as well, but an alternative style is available for $3,265, in a softer shade of gold, that is less offensive on the eyes.  Dara is wearing a metallic and silver leather bomber jacket which features sleeves covered in Swarovski crystals.  This jacket sells for $8,970.  Overall, CL and Dara are stellar, Bom is working her legs as always but needs to ditch the red earrings for something more shiny and Minzy needs to ditch the garish gold for something in a cool hue to go with her hair.  All of their items are from the current Fall/Winter 2011 collection.

Keeping it in the family, so to speak, we have G-Dragon and T.O.P.  The Big Bang sub-unit both wore the label at a performance in August.  G-Dragon sports their cotton canvas military jacket while T.O.P. shows the more casual side of Balmain in his red striped jersey tee which is priced to sell at $500.  G-Dragon’s jacket carries a $3,585 price tag.  Se7en wore a simple tee from last year’s line with jeans and a black blazer at an event.  This shirt would set you back $290.  Finally, the man himself, Yang Hyun-suk wore a pea coat from the designer to a press conference.  This coat still sells for $1,605, even though it is from last year’s collection as well.

Other K-pop stars seen in this brand include Ga-in, 2AM’s Seulong, Lee Hyori and Hyun-seung of Beast.  Hyun-seung is actually a repeat offender, often being caught in a variety of pieces from this brand.  In this photo, he is seen in the same shirt that T.O.P. wore above and a pair of Balmain biker jeans.  He can frequently be spotted in a printed scarf as well, which sells for $280.  Seulong is also wearing the biker jeans which are from a few years back, and no longer available.  Ga-in’s blazer is also from an older collection, so it’s no longer available, but Hyori’s black tapestry dress with gold chains sells for $10,400.  Hyun-seung also wore Balmain for the performance below with its monkey print jersey tee hiding under his white jacket.

Do you think Balmain is worth the cost?  Who wears this brand the best?

(Newsen, BNTnews, Eiffel in Seoul, Sports Korea, SSTV, Twitter, Star News)

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  • jhg

    Balmain is so damn overpriced it’s not even funny. Last year they sold a white shirt which was a bit ripped off for over $1000. Shameless.

    I think all the 2ne1 girls look horrible in that photo to be honest! Their looks for the Lonely video were beautiful, especially CL’s jacket which I am still lusting after.

    • Anonymous

      omg… then I rather buy a pair of Christian Louboutin then a shirt… I think my heart die a little when I saw all those zeros XD

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ORSXPERTNAEPCKZBGEZMP7A3NU Bianca

    LOL.
    Balmain is for a different cultural aesthetic. I honestly can’t say any of them do justice to the fashion house.

    That said, props to Teddy. LOL

    “Balmain to KTZ
    Many style from A to Z
    Jeremy Scott Givenchy
    Bitch You ain’t got shit on me
    Chrome hearts
    Fendi furs
    Dripped in shits you never heard
    Louboutin Hermes”
    - “Can’t Nobody”, 2NE1

  • tegami

    Looking at these over-priced clothes just disgusts me….who in their right mind would be willing to pay 20 K for a dress covered in metallic embellishments??? I understand how stars would wear them, after all, it fits in with the our expectations of their rich and fabulous lifestyles but for the average person, these clothes mean nothing to us.  My university tuition for one year is 3/10ths the cost of that damn dress. 

    I know I may be taking this out of proportion but I can’t help but feel like I’ve been slapped in the face when I see the price tags of these clothes.  It just sorta brings reality knocking at the door:  there’s an economic divide between the upper class and the middle class and it’s the largest it’s ever been in world history.  

    K-pop might fuel that fantasy that fans can be closer to our favourite stars through their music, performances, and various other gigs but at the end of the day, seeing them wear a dress that would pay for 3 years of your university education kinda dispels any of those notions in an instant. 

    :(

    • thunderandsmoke

      Do these stars, well their companies, actually buy these items, or do they just rent them or something?!  I can never condone spending that much money on an item of clothing. Thats how much some people’s houses cost…those prices remind me of how much I pay for college each semester as well. As beautiful as stars look some time, I can never really take fashion/fashion enthusiast/fashion houses/people who pay ridiculous amounts of money to wear one thing once seriously sometimes. It just speaks to excess and ignorance of  the current state of the world around you. 

      • jhg

        They probably just rent them for events and music videos, although I do think they buy some of them. 

        • nhoki

          It depends, for redcarpet event, they are usually sponsored. Some celebrities are even paid to wear those items (for exposure)

          • Anonymous

            Sponsoring of clothing is popular in the West, but I have a feeling that Balmain isn’t too keen on sponsoring Korean performers. Unlike in the US, where a celebrity mentions what they’re wearing constantly on a red carpet, I rarely here Korean stars mention what they’re wearing. It just doesn’t seem like a good investment. I do think they either purchase the items or rent them. I think that’s why you see Korean performers actually wear their items more than once.

          • http://www.kfashionista.com Jessie

            I have to agree with you, I’m sure for some events they are rented, and like the ones above they are for an opening of a Balmain store, so I’m sure all stars that may have attended wore Balmain loaners (there was a recent Dolce & Gabbana event in Seoul where everyone attending wore D&G as well).  But I did read while researching this article that Balmain isn’t really keen on sponsoring ANYONE to be honest.  So most likely the REALLY expensive dresses and stuff worn at events are rented or loaners that are immediately given back, but anything they are wearing in the course of their daily lives are mostly likely bought.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3MAXA4XUBRTP3H3WOOKIK3RNMY khady

    I think YG family looks good wearing Balmain! whatever weird outfits they wear i end up liking! LOL

  • Skye

    Oh, I really like Bom’s outfit and Minzy’s jacket, lol. But I think it would kill me to pay that much for clothes, even if I had the money. You got really nice things way cheaper, too. Ofc, being a star is something different and it’s expected from them, but… yeah :| The things I could pay with that money.

    I also love BoA’s dress // shallow.

  • http://twitter.com/Dragonzsissi Sara

    Balmain is known to be totally overhyped and overpriced…They were cool a couple years ago but now every collection looks the same. I see in Kpop’s love of Balmain only the need to show off the pricetag. Their interest isn’t in the style or the luxury per se, it’s just how much money you can put in an item you’ll end wearing once cos let’s face it; Balmain clothes if worn twice loose all their value ^^
    The thing that amuses me the most in Balmain’s case is that no one wears it in France despite it being a French designer..only American and Asian stars wear it constantly..maybe they think that Balmain is part of French chic (Balmain is the antinomy of French chic, it was when Pierre Balmain founded it, but now it’s so over the top).
    I like 2NE1 a lot but I have to say that all kpop celebrities look totally ridiculous wearing a Balmain total look (so “nouveau riche” that I pity them), I want to tell them wearing Balmain doesn’t make you stylish at all !! In small very discrete touches maybe, and since when being filthy rich is perceived as cool? (Balmain doesn’t loan nor sponsors its clothes not to western celebrities and the same goes for Asian ones so everyone wearing a Balmain item has bought it) 
    This sounds like a rant but I’ve been feeling uneasy about this since I discovered Kpop^^

  • https://me.yahoo.com/a/zs7ITR93moWQEekTSwzTHR9j1u.Z2xEl0w--#542b8 LoL

    2ne1′s always decked out head to toe in Balmain, i thought their clothes were rented at first, but they keep on wearing them on 2ne1tv and on several different occasions and it’s impossible to rent clothes for a whole year, so my question is…….

    how the hell can they afford their clothes!? and it’s not just balmain, all their clothes are so damn overpriced, it’s ridiculous.

    • http://www.kfashionista.com Jessie

      haha, I wondered the same thing.  I thought YG must just buy like both the mens and women’s collections every season for them all to wear or something, lol.

  • Animasaurus

    tacky, tacky imo. It’s not about what you wear, it’s how you wear it that really makes the difference. To be able to pair high end with low end and make your pieces look classy is something that few kpop idols seem capable of. You never want your pieces to scream the price tag, understated elegance is key.

    But the true masters of idol chic is surprisingly the wondergirls, I don’t know if they study fashion in their spare time, but they are very good at being subtle in their taste while at the same time letting the fashion speak for itself and not the brand or the price tag… much more effortless, less try hard. Miss A and Kara are also quite fashionable ladies, although they are much more fans of the casual style which could be why fashion tends to work in their favor.

  • mija

    $500 for a where’s Waldo shirt? Hell no!

  • mija

    $500 for a where’s Waldo shirt? Hell no!

  • mija

    $500 for a where’s Waldo shirt? Hell no!

  • Anonymous

    Balmain is tacky shit, just like Versace. So over it.

  • Anonymous

    Honestly I find most of those outfits simply ugly, unflaterring or “what? they sell the same for $10 in K-Mart”. That gold jacket would be ugly even if I get it for free. Some of designers have really cool stuff but I don´t see (from the pictures) what is so appealing about this one beside the ridiculous prices (and that´s the reason why they actually wear that stuff).

    “Where’s Waldo” shirt is actually cool but I have seen it in K-Mart for $10 …..

  • Aya

    The dress is pretty, if it wasn’t for the ridiculous price (say it around $200-300) i definitely buy it and wear it. Seo in Young wore it better than BoA, she made the dress classy while BoA wore it too simple it almost bored me to death. The dress might looked “what??! it was far from simple dress?!!” but, the fringes weren’t too much or popped out and the colour was too monotone. Added a simple belt to define the shape, voila! it gave a whole new look. Good job.

    But until now, i dont get it why a t shirt and jeans can cost so much. I mean, it’s okay for a dress or a jacket (although i might say $3000 for a casual jacket is too much..seriously…you can get a high quality winter coat for $1000 with good brand)

  • becky

    If Boa can afford that dress, she can wear it, she worked for her money, its her business, whats outrageous to me is how can you spend that amount of money on such an ugly dress, that is a very ugly dress for that price tag, I think she needs to go back to that designer and ask for her money back. These stars need to understand that theres trying to look different and cool and theres a point where you start looking like you’ve been taking styling tips from the homeless man down the road.

  • Anonymous

    How do we know that the dress wasn’t a loaner to BoA to create publicity? Designers do that all the time for high profile events like the Academy Awards.

    I must say, though, even if I had money coming out of my butt, I still couldn’t fathom spending more than $1,000 on any pieces of clothing. Even $1,000 seems excessive. Then again, I’m not one to spend money on jewelry, either, because I think it’s a waste of money. To each of his or her own.

    • Anonymous

      It’s a known fact that Balmain doesn’t loan dresses to Kpop artists. They either rent it or buy it. Unlike American celebrities who advertise who and what they wear on the red carpet, Korean celebrities rarely even acknowledge what designer they are wearing. It’s a “Guess what designer I am wearing…Yeah it’s expensive…You Jelly?” game they play up to the media. 

      Most likely BoA rented this dress. Designers who do loans ( which by the way are free until something catastrophic happens to the dress) only do it for the A-list, Hollywood celebrities. I highly doubt they would give a free loan dress to BoA, an unheard of Kpopstar that not many people know outside of Asia. Designer loans are free unless you lose a button or ripped a seam while you were wearing it at an event. 

  • Katherine

    I think I’ll just stick to buying my clothes from my local shopping mall. TARGET FTW !! lol.

  • Hyekyoclara

    well how much money a middle class family earn in month in Korea?

  • http://twitter.com/ovenfreshhhhh ovenfreshhhhh ☆

    I actually like Balmain. I admire their designs, but I wouldn’t wear most of them. Although, that dress that BoA and Seo In Young wore looks awful on them. It’s meant to be worn by women who are stick thin with long legs. If a woman with an actual body shape wears it, it looks frumpy. Thumbs down.

    As for the price… It’s clothing with the name of a major fashion house attached to it, of course it’s going to cost a lot. Don’t act like you wouldn’t shell out $$$ for a Louis Vuitton Speedy if you could.

  • Music=Love

    I’m sorry, but BoA’s dress is really ugly and totally short, you would think for $34,000 they would put more fabric on that thing.

  • http://tshidi.tumblr.com tshidi

    The look really works for TOP. He gives Waldo a run for his money!

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/2GDX5JQPCQN26RJNOZ7IA2KKZA mayilow

      actually, i think that red top for TOP is ugly. And Waldo doesn’t have money. plus its so expensive eventhough its ugly. As for 2ne1 sporting this clothes, i think they may not even like it.