Meet Felix Lee, Kpop Star and Muse of Louis Vuitton’s Inventive Director

• Australian-born Ok-Pop singer Felix Lee walked the Louis Vuitton runway in Paris on Monday evening.
• Lee is a muse hand-picked by Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s inventive director.
• Lee’s second activate the catwalk comes as LVMH bets huge on East Asia, shopping for into endorsements from Ok-Pop.

Wherever Felix Lee goes, the lights — and Louis Vuitton — appear to observe.

On Monday, the 24-year-old Australian-born Ok-Pop singer confirmed up at LV’s March Fall-Winter 2025 present in Paris for his second time on the catwalk.

He walked the runway carrying items designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, LV’s inventive director for womenswear.

The look: Unfastened gingham-print pants with a black and beige knit sweater paired with a teal duffel bag with orange straps. Lee’s hair — freshly bleached blonde — was straight and slicked again, paying homage to his first go to on the LV catwalk in 2023.

Lee — who is predicated in South Korea and a part of the eight-member band Stray Children — is certainly one of Ghesquière’s newest muses. And whereas it is now widespread to see not less than one South Korean pop star sitting front-row at vogue exhibits in New York, London, and Paris, it is nonetheless uncommon for certainly one of them to stroll the runway for a significant model.

Earlier than Monday’s present, Lee posted tales on Instagram with Ghesquière, the place the designer stated it was a “huge honor” to have Lee at his present.

In a number of of the model’s movies, Lee has spoken extensively about his friendship with Ghesquière.

In a March video from LV, Lee stated he first met Ghesquière in 2023 in Seoul.

“It is such an enormous pleasure to fulfill him up entrance, and from there on, we turned good mates,” he stated within the video.

He stated Ghesquière personally invited him to stroll within the LV Fall-Winter 2024 present in Paris.

“The truth that I acquired to attend and do my first runway for Nicolas’ Tenth-anniversary runway — actually, it simply blew my thoughts,” Lee stated in a Could interview with Vogue.

Lee’s Instagram web page, which had 26.2 million followers as of press time, is stuffed with photos of him carrying LV items.

In a September publish, he wore a black tee with the phrases “Vuitton Louis icons” emblazoned on it.

One other October publish confirmed him carrying the model’s Neverfull bag.

LV bets huge on East Asia

Lee’s meteoric rise in LV’s corridor of muses comes as LV bets huge on Asian endorsements.

Lisa from the Ok-Pop lady group Blackpink, who was beforehand the face of Celine, joined LV as a model ambassador in July.

And again in 2021, LV tapped BTS as home ambassadors.

The bigger LVMH enterprise, too, has added Ok-Pop idols to its roster of ambassadors.

In 2023, Dior and Tiffany & Co. made Jimin — one of many seven members of BTS — their model ambassador. V, additionally from BTS, turned the face of Celine and Cartier the identical yr.

In 2021, Tiffany & Co. signed Blackpink singer Rosé to be the face of the model. Her bandmate, Jisoo, was chosen as Dior’s international ambassador in 2021.

To make certain, the connections between Korean popular culture and Western excessive vogue have been over a decade within the making.

G-Dragon — the chief of BIGBANG, the highest band in South Korea’s pop scene within the 2000s — was certainly one of Chanel’s hottest faces in Asia. The rapper was mates with the late Karl Lagerfeld and, in 2015, walked in Chanel’s high fashion present in Paris.

A broader East Asia advertising push from LV

Jacob Cooke, the CEO of the China-based advertising agency WPIC Advertising + Applied sciences, stated that LV’s technique of that includes Ok-Pop stars like Lee is a “continuation of its broader East Asia strategy, the place luxurious manufacturers use celeb endorsements to domesticate deep emotional connections with customers.”

“South Korea has lengthy been a cultural powerhouse for luxurious, driving traits throughout Asia and past, significantly by means of Ok-Pop and Ok-drama fandoms, so LV’s funding in stars like Felix Lee is sensible when it comes to market positioning for your entire area,” Cooke stated.

Nevertheless, Cooke stated celeb endorsements might not all the time be efficient for sustained model development, because the model dangers showing “too mass market” and fewer “aspirational.”

Representatives for Lee at JYP Leisure and Louis Vuitton didn’t reply to requests for remark from Enterprise Insider.