How Korean Brand Ambassadors Widen the Luxury Industry Market with Their Gen-Z Pull

For the last few months, our social feeds have been circulating constant fashion week content. An influx of influencers from across the globe have been invited to travel into the fashion capitals to attend the many shows that have occurred. This season particularly, there is a rise of Korean influencers that seem to be circulating the luxury fashion industry, solidifying their place at the forefront of fashion week and in global brand ambassador appointments by luxury fashion houses.

The rise of K-pop supergroups – whose influence swept Asia before catching wind in Europe and the Americas has coincided with Korean cultural breakouts in other sectors such as film and the audience for Korean talents, long prized by brands for their follower’s near-fanatical level of social media engagement, has only grown in recent years.

South Korean talents have become the most significant celebrity voices that drive media exposure. During fashion week alone, social media posts by or about them generate around 41% of the celebrity and influencer hype, according to Launchmetrics. Karla Otto and Lefty have estimated shares of lu xury fashion houses to grow to at least 50% after each fashion week season.

The appetite for these Korean stars allows them to create elevated content, and the brand gets access to their image and enormous Gen-Z following.

This unprecedented viral hype is why brands are eager to partner with Korean icons for front-row seats and long-term contracts, such as when Dior signed Jimin as a global brand ambassador in January. Louis Vuitton announced J-Hope as a house ambassador, “It boils down to engagement,” said Bryan Yambao is, also known as Bryanboy. “You have this generational shift of kids obsessed with these Asian celebrities. They worship them as idols. So they will buy whatever they’re wearing, they will buy whatever they’re promoting, and they’ll hype them up on the internet. It’s a different world.”

Chanel brand ambassador Jessie from Blackpink, Louis Vuitton brand ambassador HYEIN, Prada brand ambassadors Enhypen and Loewe brand ambassador Taeyong from NCT are just a few of the K-pop icons that have attended this year’s fashion week shows. Just about the only luxury brand that didn’t have K-pop attendance in the front row was Balenciaga, which opted for a low-key guest list.

There’s no sign that the generational shift that has led to Korean influencers’ global rise is going anywhere anytime soon. According to Yambao, “If they stay relevant, they will stay in fashion. But because it’s fashion, when something is at such a high moment, people will want something else. They will want the contrary.”