Red Velvet accused of copying designer's clothing

Teaser image of K-pop group Red Velvet's new album “The ReVe Festival Day 2,” left, and the outfit designed by Paris Starn, the designer of New York-based brand Paris 99. Courtesy of SM Entertainment and screen capture from Instagram

By Lee Gyu-lee

K-pop female quintet Red Velvet's summer return has encountered a problem even before its new album hit the shelves.

The group released a new mini-album “The ReVe Festival Day 2,” Tuesday, with the lead track “Umpah Umpah.” However, their outfits from the teaser photo have drawn more attention than the song as a designer claimed the clothes were copies of outfits from her brand.

The accusation rose when the teaser image and the music video of their album were revealed, Monday, showing the five members wearing gingham check-patterned outfits in different colors.

The dresses with bold cutouts and wavy straps seemed to resemble the signature style of garments made by New York-based brand Paris 99 and led people to question whether SM Entertainment, the Korean entertainment giant which manages Red Velvet, stole the design.

After the allegation surfaced, it drew the attention of the brand's designer Paris Starn, leading her to speak out through social media on the group's outfits that bear a striking similarity to her creations.

The designer posted pictures of her clothing along with pictures of the group in the outfits, Tuesday, adding that they are “wearing garments that take heavy 'inspiration' from my work.” She further accused SM Entertainment of taking the imagery that the brand created for its look.

She also firmly denied any relationship or collaboration with the agency regarding the dresses, although she said she would have been willing to take part in the project if asked. “It deeply hurts to see large groups that could have helped out a small designer, instead take from our hard work and brand it as their own,” Starn wrote.

This is not the first time that Red Velvet's costumes have been called into question.

In 2015, the outfits the group wore for their debut album showcase looked very similar to those from the Spring-Summer collection of French clothing brand Olympia Le-Tan that year. People started to question the similarity and claimed they were copies as the clothes were only slightly different.

SM was quick to respond then and clarified that they purchased them from the brand. It also explained that they had tailored the outfits to suit the concept of the album as the reason for their not exactly matching ones from the collection.

However, even after the designer of Paris 99 herself pointed out the plagiarized design this time, SM has yet to release any statement to clarify its position regarding the issue as of Wednesday.

Red Velvet debuted in 2014 with the album "Happiness." Comprised of five members ― Wendy, Seulgi,?Joy, Irene, and Yeri ―, the group ended its promotion for "The ReVe Festival Day 1" with its main track "Zimzalabim" in June and came back with the second of the mini-album series, "The ReVe Festival Day 2."