By Honorary Reporter Preeti Rawat from India

Photos = BPM Entertainment, Hwang Leesle

The K-pop girl group Viviz on April 27 took to the virtual stage as the first act featured on the Grammy Awards digital series "Global Spin." The series features acts from around the world and highlights them and their countries.

In addition to Viviz's performance, the audience also seemed impressed by the modern Hanbok outfits worn by the three members. The dresses were designed by Hwang Leesle, a noted designer of modern Hanbok and CEO and designer of her Hanbok brand Leesle.  

Viviz's prerecorded performance took place on April 27 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. 

Throughout her 16-year career based in Seoul, Hwang has sought to innovate elegant yet comfortable contemporary Hanbok, producing outfits for K-pop acts like Jimin of BTS, Mamamoo, Kard, Twice and Loona. She displayed her designs at the "K-pop X Hanbok" exhibition hosted by Seoul's Dongdaemun Design Plaza. 

In an email interview on May 3, Hwang said she received a request through Instagram to make Hanbok outfits for Viviz's "Global Spin" performance. "I considered this an opportunity for Hanbok to be introduced by the well-known media Grammys and strengthen the promotion of Korean music and performance," she added.

The designer said she designed three outfits in five days for the K-pop girl group Viviz. (Hwang Leesle)

The designer said she usually needs a few days to sketch or devise an idea but because of lack of time, the designs for Viviz took just four hours. "For Viviz, a color symbolized each member. Umji was red, SinB blue and Eunha purple. Based on their concepts and style preferences, I drew sketches to show them first, and the members told me what they wanted after looking at the picture."

"Umji wanted a long hanging back, SinB a black see-through shirt with wide sleeves and fluttering outerwear, and Eunha a tank top design. I made the clothes reflecting what they wanted."

To ensure comfort while performing on stage, Hwang said she begins the process by understanding the overall visual concept with a look at the stage. "If the song or choreography has waves or grooves, I use a material that flutters," she said. "If there's a lot of stretching or splitting movements, I make sure that the sleeves aren't too wide to avoid interference. One must also consider the appearance and body shape of each member."

Hwang Leesle is busy behind the scenes at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

Her Hanbok designs have received positive responses from not just Viviz fans but listeners of "Global Spin." "Watching the released video, I received support in languages such as English, Portuguese and Spanish. I was happiest when I heard that Viviz's costumes really stood out."

The designer said she will continue expanding Hanbok's boundaries and making outfits for K-pop artists. She is now designing Hanbok for the famous music-and-dance game Audition Online, saying, "I want to make Hanbok into digital fashion such as the metaverse, NFT and virtual fashion so that one can wear or enjoy it online."

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.