K-Con LA is happening this weekend. NCT 127 (bless their hearts) is there, like the up-and-coming soon-to-take-over-the-world group that they are.
via iheartradio
And while I’m not in love with their styling like I was during the Limitless era (something about slapping a sloppy tie on an outfit rubs me the wrong way), they still look great. K-pop group styling is in a league of its own, because it has to feature individuals within a group, while also distinguishing the group from all the other K-pop groups. Wheels within wheels, my friend.
For this round of promotions, SM Entertainment’s stylists have been styling the boys with relatively standard tops–ties over athletic wear–but varying the pant length and sock ratio for each member. Jaehyun and Yuta both get long pants, usually flowy or loose. They are the cool guys. Mark and Haechan, the maknae line, and Taeil (the mat-nae; he’s the oldest member with a nickname as the youngest) get shorts and tall socks. The rest of the members get various combinations of shoe vamp height, sock, and rolled pants.
Usually when you look across a K-pop group, there’s variation among the height of the members. In the photo above, there’s very little variation of height, but there’s much more focus on the variation in pant length.
Being the nerd that I am, I decided to make an infographic. I also calculated what percentage of each member’s outfit is made up of pants (not counting headbands or hats, since not all members are wearing one). I should also specify that this is visible pants; some members clearly have shirts layered over their pants but I’m not going to speculate where the pants end and/or how long each members’ legs are.
Yuta comes in at the most, with 64%.
Haechan comes in at the least, with 8%.
Average is 39%.
Johnny and WinWin both have the same percentage of visible pant, but their outfits (and pant styles) are quite distinct. Johnny has that lab coat, and WinWin has pops of red in his graphic tee and socks. Johnny is a mad scientist and WinWin is a baseball player.
Looking at the infographic compared to the outfits, I see an interesting way to keep visual interest within the group. If the baseline (their feet) and the headline are relatively similar, changing the midline of each outfit introduces some variation that makes your eye work a little harder. Some members have belts, some have long shirts layered over pants or shorts, some have longer jackets. With a very simple color story, the variation in silhouette carries more weight.
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