For a K-Pop group, visuals — be it through graphic and production design or styling and makeup — are equally as important as the music. Entertainment agencies place a lot of thought into nailing down a group’s EP or album release theme, commonly referred to as a ‘concept’. Every minute detail, from the album packaging to the color of a member’s nail polish, is the product of months of careful planning. In some cases, it is the concept that dictates how an upcoming release is going to sound and feel.
In the teaser for girl group Red Velvet’s last comeback for “The ReVe Festival: The Finale”, the members don long white veils over ghostly white (and in Wendy’s case, black) dresses, standing against what seems to be a dark forest while gazing eerily at the camera. While the poster didn’t explicitly give any details, the image alone was enough to communicate that this would most likely be a ‘Velvet’ concept.
Red Velvet was dubbed by Billboard as “the standard-bearer for girl groups’ conceptual versatility” due to their tendency to blur the lines between the cute and sexy concepts common to K-Pop girl groups. When the group debuted, it was revealed that they wouldn’t be boxed into a cute or sexy label, instead hinging on an overarching concept of duality. The ‘Red’ concept is meant to show their bright, bold, and abstract side, and the ‘Velvet’ concept is supposed to show their more elegant and mature side.
Gissella Ramirez-Valle, editor of Seoul-based fashion & culture magazine Mutzine, observes that K-Pop music video styling has become much more sophisticated over the years. “Korean society’s fashion taste has matured and mellowed out in a way, and they now value quality much more,” she says, pointing to how the music video looks tend to take on a more editorial feel these days.
A Red Velvet comeback music video typically introduces an average of three to four looks per member, with each look meant to reflect their unique personalities. These outfits also feature heavily in their album photoshoots (normally laid out just like a fashion editorial) and music stage performances.
“It's not an RV come back if they don't mix high fashion with fast,” says Rose, a fan who runs the @stylebyredvelvet style archive account on Instagram and Twitter. While they favor big names like Balenciaga, Prada, Gucci, Miu Miu, and other prominent Korean brands like YCH and SJYP, some of their looks incorporate fast fashion pieces from Forever 21, Zara, Dolls Kill, and H&M. Rose has been taking note of every single one of their outfits -- onstage and offstage — since the Summer Magic era, and one thing she’s noticed is that the group’s stylists introduce new brands every comeback.
Gissella sees the reason for the investment in designer brands as deliberate. “The fashion conveys the personality of the song they are promoting. At the very least, you can see how much money was invested into the project by how the group is styled,” she says.
Similarly, while the styles that they showcase each time are consistently ahead of the trend and feature a couple of recurring motifs, like lace, gingham, school uniforms/tennis skirts, and cheerleader/sports uniforms, the group’s styling is just as unpredictable as their concepts. “You can’t put RV's style in one box because they're always full of surprises!” adds Rose.
Ahead of the release of Irene and Seulgi’s “Monster” mini-album, we go through some of Red Velvet’s most notable comeback style moments, from 2014’s “Happiness” to 2019’s “Psycho”.
2019
In 2019, Red Velvet released the ReVe Festival series, a trilogy consisting of two EPs and a repackaged album. To reflect the summer season, bright colors and crazy prints were all over the first two music videos.
“Zimzalabim” was by far their most experimental era both music and fashion-wise, with the outfits reflecting the music video’s kooky amusement park concept. They wore a lot of repurposed pieces, like Wendy’s infamous N°21 tote bag blouse, or Seulgi’s Calvin Klein Stephen Sprouse fringe shirt-turned-skirt.
“Umpah Umpah” kept things more street style-friendly save for one all-pink ensemble look (peep that cowgirl energy).
“Psycho” marked the end of the series, and they went out with a bang in luxe lace numbers accentuated with high fashion accessories. Headpieces from Dolce & Gabbana, Alessandra Rich, and RED Valentino, thrown in with other accessories from Dolls Kill and H&M all contributed to making this one of their most elegant and sophisticated comeback to date.
2018
Following up from the all-out direction they had for “Bad Boy”, the standouts for their releases this year were the accessories. Most notably, mismatched earrings and hair clips. In the “Power Up” music video, the girls donned girl scout uniforms and gingham mini-dresses. For the ‘Velvet’ side, the post-Halloween werewolf concept of “Really Bad Boy” had them picking out streetwear pieces from Off-White, Balenciaga, and Balmain.
2017
With a total of four comebacks, 2017 was a year that showed just how versatile the group could be. They started off bright: first as puppets dressed in sweet doll dresses in “Rookie” (which are heavily reminiscent of the “Dumb Dumb” era), then as the hosts of a backyard summer bash in the viral hit “Red Flavor”.
They transform completely for the latter two comebacks, starting with “Peek-A-Boo”. Two looks stand out from this music video: the rainbow sequined pieces from the collection by luxury brand Ashish and the matching red outfits and fabric crowns from brands like Commes Des Garcon GIRL, Balenciaga, and Vetements.
In “Bad Boy”, they displayed looks that were a little less refined and yet still very chic. With the fish nets, big hoop earrings, silver chains, black boots, and leather pants, there was some punk inspiration involved here. If you pay enough attention, you’ll notice that school uniforms also made a cameo.
2016
The overlapping of ‘Red’ and ‘Velvet’ concepts continues well into the “Russian Roulette” era, which has themes similar to “Rookie”. In it, the members are dressed in gym clothes and tennis skirts over bubblegum colored backdrops, all while they try to kill each other in a game of, well, russian roulette. Their only other comeback that year, “One of These Nights”, showcased more of the group’s capability to pull off more sophisticated looks.
2015
Yeri was introduced as Red Velvet’s fifth member in 2015 with another Velvet comeback. In the music video for “Automatic”, we spotted a lot of ‘70s influences including houndstooth prints and big earrings. Jeremy Scott’s Moschino Barbie collection also makes an appearance.
The outfits in the “Ice Cream Cake” music video recalled the casual sporty vibes from their debut single, as the members went on a road trip in pastel tennis skirts, baseball tees paired with shorts, cozy sweaters. “Dumb Dumb” was the first time we saw the lines between ‘Red’ and ‘Velvet’ blurred — visually, we saw a lot of bright colors and costumes (one-sided colored tights with white sandals, Pippi Longstocking pigtail braids — but some fans speculate that there are messages exposing some secrets of the idol industry hidden in the frames and lyrics.
2014
Red Velvet debuted in August 2014 with “Happiness”, a track meant to represent the group’s happy-go-lucky demeanor. The music video conveyed this with Irene, Seulgi, Joy, and Wendy in preppy style — who can forget their iconic cheerleader uniforms and dip-dye hair?
Later that year they introduced the ‘Velvet’ side with the R&B hip-hop remake of S.E.S’ “Be Natural”. Dressed in black and white suit sets and heels, the four played off the fierce look effortlessly.
