With her penchant for corsets, tulle skirts, lace, ruffles and, of course, bows, Blackpink’s Jennie has been the reigning queen of the coquette fashion trend for a while now. But now that the hyper-feminine aesthetic is pretty much everywhere (thanks, TikTok), how can the K-pop star stand out?
By going goth, it turns out. Jennie unveiled her dark twist to the coquette aesthetic at Paris Fashion Week, when she attended Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2024 fashion show. The Chanel ambassador—better known as “Human Chanel” by her fans—wore a little black dress from the fashion brand’s ballet-inspired Spring/Summer 2024 haute couture collection, which was just presented last month. Although it didn’t come in pink, Jennie’s LBD had all the trappings of a coquette-core outfit: it comprised a satin top and silk tulle tutu covered in romantic lace layers, pearl embroidery and silk tulle gathered details.
On the runway, the dress was paired with a ballerina’s snow-white tights, softening the look enough to match with the rest of the airy, pastel-hued looks in the collection. But Jennie made the look entirely her own with her edgy accessories. Instead of pearls, she wore layers of chain necklaces, a statement gold choker with Chanel’s double C logo and stacks of silver bangles, all from Chanel. For shoes, she chose a pair of over-the-knee suede boots from the French fashion brand.
The most striking detail of Jennie’s outfit was her single black leather fingerless glove—an obvious nod to Chanel’s famous, former designer, Karl Lagerfeld. The Blackpink star embellished her glove with even more Chanel bracelets, adding a metallic accent to her all-black outfit that’s also seen in her Chanel fringe earrings, chrome nails, silver eyeshadow.
Jennie’s latest look is a departure from the sweet, girly styles of “coquette-core” that she has favoured in the past year. For much of Blackpink’s Born Pink World Tour, the K-pop star wore ribbons in her hair and sported corset tops with floral details and ruffled tulle mini skirts, many of which came in delicate colours like pink, white and baby blue. Jennie’s custom Chanel tour outfits designed by Virginie Viard were also on the lighter side: one standout look was her white lace minidress with a ruffled bustier top cinched with a black satin ribbon and a camellia flower buckle. The look resembled the romantic Chanel minidress that Jennie wore to the 2023 Met Gala.
The Blackpink singer’s tour wardrobe, which comprised styles from Simone Rocha, Miss Sohee and Sandy Liang (arguably TikTok’s favourite coquette-core fashion brand), also came with a ballet-inspired flair, mirroring the outfits of her music video, You & Me. Taking cues from the “ballet-core” aesthetic, the star styled her looks with leg warmers and ballet flats.
But just as Blackpink’s name represents how the girl group has much more to offer than femininity and beauty, Jennie has also been giving her coquette-inspired style an unexpected edge—see the gothic Simone Rocha dress she wore on tour, or the black tutu look she wore in her music video.
With her latest Chanel ensemble, Jennie’s message to coquette-loving fashion fans is clear: it’s time to ditch pink and embrace black. And she’s not the only celebrity to pick up on the shift: in 2024, both Lana Del Rey and Selena Gomez made headlines for their outfits that combined romantic and gothic elements. Jennie’s bandmate Jisoo, known for her lady-like outfits, also hinted at the trend early last year, when she visited Dior’s flagship in Paris wearing a black lace dress with a ruffled skirt and a leather belt. Wednesday Addams would approve.
