Jennie of Okay-pop lady group BLACKPINK performs on the Melon Music Awards 2025 on the Gocheok Sky Dome in southwestern Seoul, Saturday. Her veil options passages from “Cheonggu Yeongeon,” a Joseon-era assortment of music lyrics. Captured from LEJE’s Instagram
As her international profile expands, Jennie of Okay-pop juggernaut BLACKPINK is more and more weaving Korean language and heritage into her solo work — not as ornamental references, however as core components of her modern, signature aesthetic.
That inventive imaginative and prescient was absolutely realized final week on the 2025 Melon Music Awards (MMA), the place she gained three honors together with Report of the Yr. However past the trophies, it was her solo efficiency constructed round Korean imagery and visible motifs that captured probably the most consideration.
On the ceremony, Jennie carried out rearranged variations of “Seoul Metropolis,” “ZEN” and “like JENNIE,” all from her March album “Ruby,” her first full-length studio launch. Costume and stage design performed a central function in shaping the efficiency’s thematic arc.
The efficiency opened with “Seoul Metropolis,” by which she appeared beneath a 15-meter veil inscribed with Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, set in opposition to stage visuals drawn from the deep blue of the Korean nationwide flag.
To deliver this imaginative and prescient to life, Jennie collaborated as soon as once more with Korean style label LEJE, which beforehand created customized items for her “ZEN” music video. After the awards present, the model revealed through social media that the MMA costumes mirrored “Jennie’s long-standing curiosity in Korean tradition and language.”
In keeping with LEJE, the veil was adorned with passages from “Cheonggu Yeongeon,” an 18th-century anthology which is broadly thought to be Korea’s earliest identified assortment of music lyrics. The silk gown robe drew inspiration from the flowing clothes of Korea’s iconic Pensive Bodhisattva statues, that includes a structured shoulder line and adorned with conventional knot ornaments.
Jennie of Okay-pop lady group BLACKPINK wears a customized gown for the Melon Music Awards 2025 on the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul’s Guro District, Saturday. The hand-draped cutout particulars of the outfit reference the geometric symmetry of the Seokgatap Pagoda from the Silla period. Captured from LEJE’s Instagram
The next “ZEN” stage shifted focus inward, emphasizing stability and focus, whereas the ultimate “like JENNIE” stage concluded with a direct articulation of self.
For “ZEN,” LEJE crafted appears that mixed sheer silk drawn from conventional Korean apparel with the construction of a Western corset. On the ultimate stage, Jennie wore a customized jacket engraved with over 2,000 iterations of her title — a bit that took greater than 200 hours to finish.
A key reference for the award-stage gown was the geometric stability of the Seokgatap Pagoda, a Silla-era stone pagoda, offered by hand-draped cutout particulars.
The model defined the designs aimed to “reinterpret conventional Korean aesthetics by a recent visible language,” formed by a shared inventive course of between the artist and the model.
“Hangeul is just not an emblem or decoration, however a deeply private energy that carries her into the world… It isn’t ornament, however a document of time and self-definition,” the model wrote.
Her company, Odd Atelier, added that the efficiency expressed Jennie’s “ongoing effort to deal with Korean id as a part of a broader inventive framework.”
BLACKPINK’s Jennie poses with a Stanley Quencher tumbler launched as a part of her collaboration with the model with a design impressed by Korean ornamental motifs. Captured from Stanley’s Instahram
The BLACKPINK singer has moreover prolonged this method past the stage, incorporating Korean id into model collaborations and impartial tasks, together with the discharge of a free Hangeul typeface.
In September, she partnered with Stanley to launch a collaborative tumbler that integrated design components referencing conventional Korean mother-of-pearl inlay, making use of Korean ornamental motifs to an on a regular basis client product.
She adopted that effort in October with the discharge of a Korean typeface titled “ZEN SERIF,” timed to coincide with Hangeul Day, a nationwide vacation marking the creation of the Korean alphabet. Developed in collaboration with Meta Platforms, the typeface combines Hangeul with components of Western Blackletter typography and was made obtainable without cost.
From topping main native and worldwide charts with “Ruby” to appearances on the Met Gala and Coachella, Jennie continues to increase her affect — not solely as a world style and music icon, but in addition as an artist deliberately amplifying Korean tradition by a refined, modern voice.
