In lieu of the “final form ultimate æspacore” outfit that was on display at the recent K-Link festival, we once again have Anna Park to thank. She was truly looking at the Twitter University moodboards and took suggestions from the fans, aespa’s established (but before her time — buried) group style, and inspiration from some the biggest and latest styling trends, to create one of the girls’ top 5 looks.

But who is Anna Park? Anna park is aespa’s new residential stylist who was first seen and praised for her stylings aespa’s American debut, Better Things.

No stranger to the styling world, Anna Park is better known for her sensibility and work with famous K-HipHop artists such as Sik-K. 

Arguably one of Park’s most high profile client outside of KPOP, Anna and Minsik are always right on the pulse when it comes to pulling of the latest and best trends and securing the most iconic pulls. She even mentions him in her SSENSE interview, talking about what’s trending and sharing sources of inspiration to curate these iconic looks. 

Sik-K himself has made waves in the K-Fashion scene and can always be seen at events such as the Diesel pop up or the KENZO Paris Fashion Week show earlier this year. Together, the duo has turned the genre to something that is synonymous with big fashion. 

Rapper Sik-K joins Kanye West, Pharrell, Tyler the Creator, J. Balvin and more at Kenzo’s Paris Fashion Week show

Anna has also worked with other lauded KHip-Hop artists such as Moon Sujin, CL of 2NE1 fame, Loco, and even Jay Park on H1GHR’s music’s Red and Blue Tapes. Park cites that in working with hip hop artist, understanding the culture is essential. 

Her sensibility can be identified in the KPOP realm as well, too. Besides aespa, Anna Park was known for taking over the styling of Red Velvet and fans knew she did not disappoint. A personal and fan favorite is her work that she did to create the aura of 28 Reasons for Seulgi’s solo debut. She also notably did some styling work for IVE as well. 

According to Park herself, her breakthrough with aespa came through her partnership with Karina and Courrèges for Vogue Korea earlier this year.

“After I took over as aespa’s dedicated stylist, ‘Anna Park Stylist’ trended on Twitter. It happened maybe after the photo shoot with Karina and Courrèges, and it motivated me to work even harder”. 

SSENSE, December 2023

She fully got the Mo stamp of approval though, with her styling for the Peaches. One Universe. festival in October. 

Wanting to go for a “stronger, more powerful look instead of the typical pretty girl image”, I would say she dressed those girls to impress and it left fashion enthusiasts and MYs wanting to see more from her and the girls. 

Then, came the DRAMA era. 

Oh, the DRAMA era.. the era that will arguably go down as one of the best from top to bottom when it came to the music, the budget, the makeup looks, chores, and of course the FREAKING STYLING. Anna Park did her BIG BIGGGG one with this one. 

I can only describe the looks as a stylist’s playground. Taking a stab at using aespa’s cyberpunk concept paired with some of the most popular brands of today, she created a universe within the era that rivals any other lauded KPOP styling feats. 

One of the craziest things that she did was actually CUT (!!!) the űber popular JPG x KNWLS collar Shearling Jacket as armwarmers to support the now iconic Karina look. 

Paired with a Kim Shui top, and supported with a KNWLS mini skirt, this is arguably one of my favorite looks period from the era. 

Park definitely kept a theme going throughout the styling era that showed cohesiveness that I really appreciated. You can see that with Ningning for the same teaser photos, she actually cut ANOTHER KNWLS sweater, this time the Purple Yeti Sweater, for the same look.

Paired with another KNWLS piece, a corset, the Otttolinger mesh tab jumpsuit, and Paris Texas slouchy boots, we can see a complimentary fit that’s meant for the queens of Drama. 

The Paris Texas Slouchy boots were also seen again Winter’s Giant teaser photos, which I thought was interesting. You can still see the cohesiveness blend through even with different concepts of the album. She wore it with her one of my faves, the Mugler Spiral Paneled pants.

Another one of my favorites was adorned by beautiful Giselle. Her brown KNWLS printed lace up chiffon top and match scallop miniskirt set, paired with the DSQUARED2 FW23 fur jacket was not something to play with. In the teasers, I feel like I didn’t get to appreciate the look as much but it ATEEEEEE on the live stage. 

Her Mugler look in the Drama music video was also a personal fave of mine. The paneled corset denim shorts was an absolute slay.  

You can tell that Anna Park puts a lot of value into jewelry as a styling enhancer by the work she did for this era. For Karina alone, you can see the top notch jewelry that was adorned throughout the concept. 

Lets do a role call check of all the brands that were used just for this era. mugler? check! dion lee? check! blumarine? check! freaking Rick Owens??? check!!! KNWLS? triple check! DSQUARED? yup! Like that literally could just be a list of my favorite brands and that’s not all that she used. She utilized other uber popular brands such as Kim Shui, ShuShu Tong, and Ottolinger. Can you say slay. 

Anna Park has definitely rose on my list super quick as one of my favorite KPOP and KHipHop stylists, and I will definitely be looking for name everytime I see Aespa or Sik-K slaying another editorial, or even see if her influence will permeate to other groups as her popularity rises. 

Anna Park gives this advice when talking about developing a trained eye towards leading in trend cycles: 

“You should also surround yourself with people from various fields, such as designers and producers. Whenever a new album is released by an international artist, I make sure to check both their music and music videos. Understanding the culture, especially in the case of styling hip-hop musicians, is essential. Of course, I also spend a lot of time on Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration”. 

SSENSE, December 2023

Since starting this blog, and really just in general while listening to kpop, I feel like I have been attention more and more attention to what is being offered aside from music. Looking to the work that goes into the visuals of both the music video and connecting for the album, as well as the styling the goes along with it, I feel like I have grown as one that insures in fashion and style. I will continue to take her advice and see where it takes me! 🙂

Before I wrap up, I want to mention some other favorite styling moments throughout this era. 

Winter’s look with the Dion Lee FW22 corset and the Blumarine Belt Boot was one of my absolute FAVORITES of this era and I couldn’t end this without giving it the shoutout it deserved.

It was a close second to her Blumarine-heavy look seen in the first teasers, where the low rise cargo jeans were paired with the blue logo denim belt, which I have been in love with since I saw it on Latto at Coachella this summer.

Ningning also had some looks that I loved. Her Giant concept photo with the Rick Owens heavy attire was definitely a scene stealer. The maxi skirt ties with the platform boots and the RUi Asymmetric Unitard, girl I was in love with this look man. 

My last favorite is the one everyone will remember. Ningning’s simple yet flashy motorcycle fit she had on for the concept video. Versace on the top and Versace on the bottom; it doesn’t get any better than this. 

Answering the question I posted at the beginning of this piece, I rate Anna Park heavily. I am excited at what she is doing to bring out aespa’s personal style to the forefront. From the very beginning, aespa was recognized for ushering in this new style for the girl groups that was seemingly thrown away as the years went by. I am all for this revitalization and I hope SM sees that the styling is very synonymous with aespa’s success and continue to value its importance. 

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if you’re particularly interested in aespa’s fashion and styling, i urge you to follow aespaclosett on twitter! that account helped me a lottt in researching the pieces i highlighted for this article!