Recently, the three public broadcast stations changed their viewer age limit to 15 years or older on their music programs. One of the reasons pointed out by commissioners was the suggestive outfits of the performers. Which make us wonder, how serious is this issue?
Lately, the fashion of the idols is the talk of the town. When they come out with new material, what is first presented to the public is their new visual concept. When the idols step on stage instead of criticizing the music, the first object of everyone’s attention is what they are wearing. And with this, controversy follows.
One of the most talked about outfit dilemmas comes with what female idols wear. The media says their outfits are becoming an issue as they seem to wear less and less clothing each time; wearing miniskirts, hot pants, swimsuits and other clothing that looks like undergarments.
The recent females under the light for “showing too much skin” are Brown Eyed Girls’ Narsha, 4 Minute’s Hyunah and rookie girl group miss A.
For her performance on the episode of the 22nd on Mnet’s M! Countdown, Narsha wore an all fishnet outfit which not only exposed her curves blatantly, but apparently also showed her skin. She explained that she actually wore a skin color tight inside but still was attacked for being too “racy”.
Next up is Hyunah, who has been in the center of this controversy over and over again. Last year, she was criticized for wearing clothing so short that her underwear was visible, while this year an outfit she wore to a World Cup performance made it seemed like she was showing it on purpose.
Then comes miss A, apparently their earlier stage outfits received criticism as they wore swimsuit like tight bodysuits and using see through lace fabrics, to the point where their outfits had to be redesigned, currently being more tame.
The other outfit dilemma comes with the cursing and suggestive images on the clothes which could be taken care of if the idols paid more attention to what they are wearing.
At the center of this issue are KARA, Big Bang’s G-Dragon and 2NE1.
An issue recently arouse with KARA when the youngest members, Goo Hara and Kang JiYoung, were seen modeling a shirt for their online shop, karaya.co.kr, which had a curse phrase. Even though their management said it just meant “greatness”, the issue was blown up.
The fashionista of Big Bang, G-Dragon, becomes part of this issue for his R-Rated shirts. Not only did he wear a shirt which said “I love sex”, but also wore a shirt with the body of a woman. His management later apologized by saying, “this happened because we did not look over the words and images properly”.
Big Bang’s sister group, 2NE1, came under scrutiny when the maknae of the group, Minzy, wore pajama pants with suggestive prints on it. YG Entertainment apologized once again by saying they were “sorry and will be more careful”.
But are these happenings enough to say the idols’ fashion is too problematic?
Idols these days are not just good looking boys and girls that dance and sing on stage, they have become cultural icons, followed by thousands. Not only are their fans underage most of the time, but the idols themselves tend to be under the age of 20, some still being middle school students. That’s where the problem starts.
A staff of one of the music programs stated, “You can’t deny that idol singers’ stage outfits don’t play a role on influencing underage fans. I think singers need to purify themselves. If they don’t help with that, we have no choice but to direct their outfits.”
Meanwhile, the companies defend them saying, “Singers must constantly match the various concepts that follow their albums. This is one of the reasons that their outfits become more daring. Also, there are a variety of outfits brought for each member, so finding these problematic prints is kind of difficult.”
In the end, the companies are not really the ones being criticized but the artists… Do you think what the idols wear is sometimes too inappropriate and something should be done about it or is the media over reacting? Furthermore, if it has gone too far, is it the artists who should be blamed, or the companies they are managed by?
Source: Lee HyunKyung@sportsseoul.com
Translation: ch0ssi@kpoplive.com
Video Credit: espiritu30@youtube.com