First K-POP Idol to be Featured on an Indian Fashion Magazine’s Cover
Last month, BLACKPINK’s Jisoo took over the internet as her graceful pictures wearing Dior was spotted on the covers of Elle Singapore, Elle Hongkong, and Elle Thailand cover. Not long after that, news broke out that she will also grace the cover of ELLE India, hence making her the first K-POP idol to do so. Indian fans especially the Blinks (Blackpinks fandom) waited in anticipation for news from Elle India and the cover is finally here!
BLACKPINK Jisoo set to be The 1ST K-POP Idol to Feature on the Cover of an Indian Fashion Magazine
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ELLE India’s inspiration for this months’ magazine issue was all about ‘feeling good.’ One day the world stopped working and everything has been different since. The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, resulting in bad mental health or acute boredom. With this month’s issue, ELLE India hopes to offer some form good feeling for their audience and this was one of the reasons that inspired them to feature Kim Jisoo on their cover.
“Sometime last year in October-November when my deputy editor Sonali Shah and I were discussing K-Dramas and K-Pop (FYI, she knows EVERYTHING about them!) “and” I clearly recall how we thought it would be a good idea for ELLE India to feature one of the Korean superstars. Little did we know that the Universe was listening to us then, and cut to June 2021, we would be able to collaborate with Dior and YG Entertainment to give shape to what one would call India’s first Korean superstar cover collaboration with any magazine. Given the circumstances, this wasn’t an easy thing to pull off but I would like to thank Anurag Tyagi (Dior India) and Lagardère for making this happen. For the uninformed, Jisoo is one of the members of BLACKPINK, a very popular Korean music band and also Dior’s new brand ambassador. With a 41.7 million fan-following on Instagram, I would say she is a superstar with a heart of a very grounded, beautiful girl. This one’s for all the BLINKS (BLACKPINK’s ever-adoring fanbase) in India.”
– Kamna Malik
Read more about ELLE India’s Inspiration here.
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BLACKPINK members have many-a-times appeared in a number of fashion magazines, gracing the magazines with their stunning looks and phenomenal photoshoots and this being the first time for Indian K-POP fans and BLINKs, the fans could not control their excitement! When the news broke out, Jisoo began to trend and after the issue was released as well, the global superstar showed her status as she trended.
The process of Jisoo appearing on magazines would however involve a lot of time and scrutiny seeing how she is a member of one of the biggest K-POP group, BLACKPINK . So when we asked Kamna Malik, Content Director & Editor of ELLE India, about her new experience working with the Korean Entertainment Industry, she shared, “This was certainly a very different experience because we had a lot of permissions and process to look into. Also, it was the first time ELLE India was going to feature a Korean superstar so we had to be very careful on how this was being done.”
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Although the news of Jisoo featuring on Elle India cover broke out in May, the cover was released late as compared to other countries, while some waited patiently, some were very eager. Now that Elle India has made it possible, we hope many fans get the chance to see Jisoo on cover!
“When there are international covers involved, things pan out differently. Each country has its own protocols and calendars to follow. Now that the issue is released, I hope it becomes a super hit edition and every BLINKS or Sooyas fan in India gets a chance to grab their copy. I know this is a very special issue for all the fans and I am hoping they enjoy it as much as the team enjoyed putting it together.” – Kamna Malik
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The Hallyu wave (Korean wave) entered India 20 years back, but only in the recent times, India has been taken over by this wave, especially during the pandemic and currently, India is one of the growing markets for the K-POP and K-DRAMA industry. The audience for the Hallyu scene in India is constantly growing and Jisoo’s appearance on an India magazine is definitely a huge win for the Hallyu fans. Kamna Malik agrees to it as she adds on, “There is a HUGE audience for K-POP and K-Drama in India. While Indian media still doesn’t actively promote or talk about this culture or content, it is very much there and in large numbers. It’s been a revelation for me as well to see this kind of fandom in India. I had always heard about the fans and their loyalty but I have witnessed this for the first time. And I am very happy and proud to say that ELLE India is the first magazine in the country to recognize and promote this content. And we hope to do it a lot more in the coming issues.”
Thank you ELLE India for gifting Indian fans with this issue and for answering our questions. Tap here to read Jisoo’s interview!
With Jisoo gracing the cover of ELLE India and claiming the title of being the First K-POP Idol to do so, we hope that this will pave the way for many more covers/featuring with many other K-POP idols and actors! Getting a K-POP idol like Jisoo and working with YG Entertainment for an Indian Fashion Magazine is an achievement for the Hallyu India community and it also further shows that the Hallyu wave is getting bigger in India and that, Indian fans are slowly getting recognised.
India is one more step closer to BLACKPINK! We cannot wait to see more of the girls on Indian platforms in the form of interviews, contents and hopefully some day, concerts! But until then, we are grabbing Jisoo’s ELLE India cover and looking at all the amazing pictures and content! Have you grabbed your copy yet?
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