Former Idol Reveals The Gross Reality Of Sharing Clothes With Other K-Pop Stars
When fans see different idols wearing the same outfits, they often assume it’s down to coincidence, sharing between friends, or even possible dating rumors. However, sometimes idols are forced to share clothes by their agencies—and former K-Pop star Blady‘s Tina (now known as Christine Park or Soobin) revealed the reality of it on her YouTube channel, soobeanie_.
Christine Park says one of the most frequent questions she’s been asked is whether idols get to keep the clothes they wear on music shows—and the former star reveals it’s all down to how they get them. If the clothes were given to the company by a brand in exchange for sponsorship (typically a social media photo advertising the outfits), Christine says idols are often allowed to keep them afterwards.
However, when the clothes are purchased with the company’s budget, the case is usually different according to Christine Park. In these scenarios, the former idol explained that companies will often keep the clothes so they can use them for other idols or groups in the future. “Sometimes the company might just be like, ‘Just let the idols wear whatever you guys already have,'” she explained.
And this isn’t just the case for clothing. Christine revealed that it also applies to pieces that are considered more unhygienic to share—including shoes and even jewelry. Understandably, the former idol says she hated when her stylist would make her wear hand-me-downs.
Worse, these hand-me-downs were often given to idols unwashed. “Most of the time, they don’t clean the jewelry beforehand,” she shockingly confessed, explaining that the stylists just take the jewelry from the first idol, put it straight back in its bag, then store it until the next idol needed it.
You don’t really know who had the jewelry on [first], and especially if you have sensitive skin… you might not know like who wore it before, if they cleaned the jewelry before…
— Christine Park
As such, Christine Park says she’d always bring a wet paper towel with her to fittings so she could clean the jewelry herself before wearing it. Unfortunately, the same went for clothes. Christine revealed that reused outfits sometimes “stink a little bit” because the previous idols’ sweat isn’t washed out of them.
While many could argue that using clothes for multiple groups is more environmentally friendly and socially conscious than buying new looks every time, there’s no denying that idols shouldn’t be put through the ordeal of wearing unwashed and unhygienic outfits and accessories.
Besides hand-me-downs, Christine Parked explained some other ways idols get their outfits:
