By Kati Chitrakorn, NCS
(NCS) — Two years in the past, six younger girls — Sophia, Lara, Manon, Daniela, Megan and Yoonchae — went from relative obscurity to web fame when the Netflix actuality present, “Pop Star Academy,” turned them into the now-Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye.
As their names have been known as out in the finale, the newly appointed members — who beat 120,000 different contestants vying for a spot — hugged and congratulated one another via sobs, every in matching grey blazer-skirt fits, styled with white shirts, knee-high socks and black sneakers — mimicking the type of apparel worn by South Korean secondary college students.
The group is backed by Hybe Corporation, which introduced Okay-pop to a international viewers via mega artists like BTS, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest file firm and proprietor of Geffen Records. Together they sought to create the world’s first mainstream multiracial girl group modeled on the traditional K-pop framework, which incorporates catchy melodies, synchronized dance strikes and a robust emphasis on aesthetic attraction.
Katseye’s members have since stepped out in lots of head-turning seems to be, from the revealing crimson leather-based stage outfits worn in August for their Lollapalooza music competition efficiency, which drew record-breaking crowds, to the glitzy Dolce & Gabbana attire worn for their MTV VMAs red carpet debut a month later. Earlier in the summer time, they fronted a viral campaign for Gap whereas dancing in low-rise denim to the 2003 Kelis music “Milkshake.” On different events, they’ve dipped into luxurious model archives and worn items from the likes of Prada, Hussein Chalayan and early 2000s Balenciaga designed by Nicolas Ghesquière. And as they embark on their first solo tour throughout North America — the tickets for which bought out in minutes — extra eye-catching ensembles are certain to characteristic.
The inventive mastermind behind the band’s image is Humberto Leon, a former vogue entrepreneur and designer. Today, as Katseye’s inventive director, Leon kinds the members from head to toe, weighing in on each element from the equipment to hair and make-up. In brief, something to do with their visible image falls underneath Leon’s purview.
“There was this kind of feeling of tomboy meets rebellion,” Leon informed NCS over a video name from Los Angeles, as he mirrored on Katseye’s first look as a group. “The uniforms added a fun storytelling aspect.”
School uniforms are a well-liked and recurring trope in popular culture (see a 16-year-old Britney Spears in schoolgirl attire in the music video for “Baby One More Time”). Several Okay-pop girl teams, together with Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet and 2NE1, have additionally beforehand worn them, as they convey a youthful and contemporary image. But Katseye’s look had refined touches that pushed the frequent visible motif ahead, in accordance with Leon, whose subversive method to vogue over a decades-long profession has typically appealed to hip audiences. “We wanted to differentiate,” he defined, “so all the jackets were actually boys’ blazers.”
Bringing cultures collectively
Okay-pop has gained vital mainstream traction over the years, however Katseye (which was skilled utilizing the Okay-pop methodology) is in contrast to lots of the style’s different bands. The group includes a number of ethnicities: Sophia is from the Philippines; Yoonchae was born in South Korea; Manon was raised in Switzerland to Swiss-Italian and Ghanian mother and father; Daniela is Venezuelan-Cuban and Lara is of Indian descent, although each have been born and raised in the US; and Megan is from Hawaii, born to a Singaporean-Chinese mom and Swedish-American father. Their songs are additionally sung virtually solely in English.
Since Katseye’s official debut in 2024 with the EP “SIS (Soft is Strong)” and the viral breakthrough single “Touch,” which shortly landed on Spotify’s Top Hits playlist, the group has grown into considered one of pop’s most watched newcomers, adored for its various attraction.
Leon shares a equally multicultural upbringing. He at present resides in Eagle Rock, the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood the place he was born and raised by a Peruvian father and Chinese mom, to whom he attributes his love of vogue. “My mom worked in a cafeteria by day, but in the evening, she would work on all these fun things, like selling cowboy hats to people, or in the ’80s she would sell fur coats at home, almost like the way people sell Tupperware,” he mentioned.
“She always encouraged me to be yourself and to clash, to not need things to be so perfect,” Leon added. “I took to heart a lot of that.”
After working as a visible merchandiser for Gap and Burberry early in his profession, Leon made his identify in New York in the 2000s — he co-founded the now-shuttered Opening Ceremony (a once-cult purchasing vacation spot with shops in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo) and was previously co-designer at Kenzo, a position he collectively held with Carol Lim, with whom he revitalized the label by injecting a youthful, streetwise sensibility that appealed to consumers.
“Opening Ceremony was the antithesis of everything I had ever done,” mentioned Leon. “It was about celebrating young designers and going around the world and finding these gems and bringing them to one place and creating almost this town square where people can discover stuff. Some people would buy, some didn’t — but for us, it didn’t matter. It was about creating a community where people can come together.”
Leon is amongst a wave of vogue insiders who in recent times have made the shift to music and leisure. Cynthia Oh, for occasion, labored in high-end retail for greater than 20 years earlier than changing into the visible inventive director at Hybe and, now, The Black Label — Okay-pop super-producer Teddy Park’s firm, which represents Blackpink’s Rosé amongst others.
“I’ve always celebrated this idea of bringing culture together,” Leon continued. “And so, in many ways, Katseye is just a different version of that.”
A brand new type of girl energy
Leon’s return to Eagle Rock and subsequent determination to launch the Peruvian-Chinese restaurant Chifa, in 2022, was spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it additionally led to his music business crossover. “One day, this great punk rock girl group called The Linda Lindas came in. I was really inspired by them and said, ‘I would love to make a music video for you. Let’s do something fun.’” So, Leon labored with the band to create music movies for its 2022 album, “Growing Up,” which subsequently caught the eye of Hybe chairman Bang Si-hyuk and Interscope Geffen A&M chairman and CEO John Janick.
“They approached me and asked if I would be interested in working on a global girl group,” mentioned Leon. “The one thing I realized in all my other ventures I had done before is that there was this connection to storytelling and authenticity. When I was able to sum this up for myself, I felt like I could bring that same energy to other things,” he mentioned. “The restaurant was the first thing that I started outside of fashion — yet a lot of people tell me it has a similar vibe to Opening Ceremony. It made me realize I was doing the right thing, and that I could bring this feeling to other cultures and artistic work.”
Leon’s first interactions with Katseye concerned “really getting to know them.” There have been “countless” girl teams, he mentioned, rattling off a checklist of acts previous them, similar to the Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child, so it was essential to determine “the ideologies and virtues that these girls bring” and what made them totally different. “The first thing I said to them was, ‘I want to hear about your background, how you grew up. I know you can dance, you can sing, but let’s hear about what you truly love and are inspired by,’ and with that, we were able to create a story that was genuine,” he mentioned.
“We talk a lot about silhouettes, we talk about designers, but it goes beyond that. We make sure that their culture is around and that each girl, as a whole, is represented,” Leon continued, noting the bindi worn by Lara for instance. (The bindi — a ornamental mark or sticker worn on the brow, mostly by girls in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions — is typically sported by Lara, who has not disclosed her faith however has spoken publicly about utilizing it to reclaim and signify the South Asian identification she was teased for as a little one.)
That emphasis on illustration additionally extends to Katseye’s music. The band’s newest EP, “Beautiful Chaos,” launched in June, marks a bolder chapter, with tracks like “Gnarly” and “M.I.A” highlighting every member’s vocal vary and more and more outlined private identities. “Gabriela,” the second single in the EP, is “very different to most of the other songs in that it has a femininity to it,” defined Leon. “Daniela sings the Spanish part of the song. It has this Latin vibe that we wanted to make sure that we capture.” What stays essential, throughout each their songs and magnificence, is “that there is synergy amongst each other,” Leon mentioned.
As Katseye’s tour begins, simply weeks after the band’s first Grammy nomination, Leon is remaining tightlipped about his stage outfits. “We like to keep things as a surprise,” he teased, however famous that sustaining a sense of relatability and individuality have remained prime priorities.
For Leon, Katseye is the residing embodiment of girl energy for a Gen Z viewers that is “hungry for authenticity and genuine brands that stand for something, or a voice that they can relate to,” he mentioned. But the group, Leon hopes, isn’t simply for younger ladies, however followers of all genders and ages. “I want people to see themselves in Katseye,” he mentioned. “I want them to be excited that a group like Katseye exists.”
The-NCS-Wire
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