Become a Star

However, filmmakers were not the only ones enjoying the festival.

Viewers who loved movies and fans of the actors starring in the films also gathered there. Thus, the people preparing the film festival had to go all-out in consideration of all these different people.

Workers of various professions worked extremely hard together for many days just for this day.

But it wasn’t difficult just for the organizers. The month of November was like a war for the actors’ beauty stylists and fashion coordinators because of the Great Eastern and Golden Dragon Film Festivals.

Since the two film festivals were held a week apart, the stylists were competing with one another with bloodshot eyes like there was no tomorrow.

The short time their actors stood on the red carpet, and the podium was a timeframe that determined victory or defeat for the entire war for the stylists and coordinators.

But no one was more desperate than the actors who had to be armed and stand at the very frontlines of this war.

“Please! Can’t you give us Louis D.L.’s suit you recently procured?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t have it anymore. I only got to see it for a day as well before sending it to the recipient.”

“Who else in Korea could be more worthy of wearing Louis D.L.’s suit than our Park Min?”

Park Min’s fashion coordinator made a small protest to stylist Park Si-Yeon. They had come all the way to see the stylist after having heard that the work of the designer Louis D.L. had arrived in Korea. However, Park Si-Yeon had a rather regretful expression and explained that the suit was no longer in her hands.

Although Louis D.L. wasn’t well known in Korea, he was a world-famous designer for men’s wear.

He was not famous in Korea because his works weren’t publicly available since they were expensive, hand-crafted masterpieces only available in very small quantities. Nevertheless, Louis D.L. was praised worldwide as a designer who expressed the male body in the most elegant yet sensual way.

Thus, men who knew of his prominence all wanted to wear one of his clothes at least once in their lifetimes, even if they had to wait for years just to get their hands on one outfit.

However, each piece of clothing was so expensive that the general public could never afford it. In fact, that was also the case for celebrities.

Although it wouldn’t be too hard for celebrities who earned billions or tens of billions of won per year to pay the price, even they would hesitate to pay 10 million won for a single outfit. Of course, it would be a different story if they got a sponsorship and didn’t have to pay for the clothes, but that was a hopeless wish.

Instead, there were rare cases where famous stylists made a direct order to the designer and purchased custom clothes.

Louis D.L. was one such designer. He strictly followed the principle of customizing his creations according to the client and did not produce clothes for an unspecified client, let alone the general public.

Although he usually did not accept requests from stylists, he could not cut off and sever the connection with specific people working in fashion. He occasionally accepted requests from stylists he was close with and received one order at a time.

There were also cases where Louis D.L. provided new designs to world-famous stylists as a sample. It usually happened on a whim when he wanted to experiment and challenge himself using people with good physiques like models and celebrities as a basis.

And a few days ago, the news spread that Park Si-Yeon had acquired a new, masterful outfit made by Louis D.L.

Whatever the case was, everyone assumed that Park Si-Yeon was considering sponsoring someone and giving it to them as she had a Louis D.L. suit.

“Are you aware that our Park Min will be presenting an award at this year’s Golden Dragon Film Festival? We will be sure to promote you a lot to make the sponsorship worthwhile. You definitely won’t regret it.”

“Let me correct you. Louis D.L. isn’t at a level where he needs publicity, and neither do I.”

Park Min’s fashion coordinator flinched at Park Si-Yeon’s displeased response and immediately apologized.

“I’m sorry. I said something strange because of my agitation. Nevertheless, our Park Min is a model who won’t sully the honor of his designers and stylists. He will assimilate the clothes better than anyone else and delight you with a beautiful appearance.”

Seeing the sincere apology, Park Si-Yeon responded with a slightly softer tone.

“I think you have misunderstood something. I was merely a delivery woman this time around.”

“What?”

“Louis D.L. wanted to gift the clothes to someone and asked me to be the middleman between the two, and I accepted his request.”

Louis D.L.’s work this time was a suit he designed after being inspired by an actor in a film he saw that deeply touched him.

But for the actor in question to wear the suit Louis D.L. designed, he had to know the actor’s measurements. However, as a sentimental and romantic person, Louis D.L. couldn’t send a calculated message to the person and say, ‘I want to gift my work to you, so please send me your measurements.’

Presents were supposed to be prepared in secret and brought out as a surprise while going ‘Ta-dah!’ Moreover, it was weird to inform the person in advance about the gift when it would take him several months to handcraft it all.

So when Louis D.L. was having a hard time deciding his next course of action, he miraculously remembered Park Si-Yeon, who he had met through an acquaintance some time ago.

He assumed that as a stylist for a famous Korean celebrity, she would be familiar with his muse.

And as a matter of fact, she did meet his expectations. Park Si-Yeon happened to be working as the stylist of Louis D.L.’s muse. The news delighted the designer, and he took on the job of designing a suit for his muse.

“I simply gave Louis the measurements and delivered the finished product. So please just leave me alone now. Do you think you’re the only person who came running to me begging for the suit?” Park Si-Yeon asked.

Opportunities to see Louis D.L.’s artworks were not common. So when Park Si-Yeon showed the finished suit to some close people working in the fashion industry, a rumor spread around.

When people started begging for the suit with their big mouths, she was disappointed in their behavior and got angry at the annoying people who wouldn’t stop bothering her during such busy times.

“Then who was the one to receive the gift?”

Park Min’s fashion coordinator asked one last question as they didn’t want to go back with empty hands and deal with the actor’s outburst.

“What will you even do with that info? Don’t be too obsessed with things that belong to others. After all, it’s Park Min we’re talking about. I’m sure many people want to sponsor him.”

Park Si-Yeon responded indifferently. From companies for luxury goods to fashion designers, plenty of people were standing in line to sponsor Park Min.

She already had her hands full, having to choose the clothes and accessories of the actors she was in charge of so that their styles didn’t overlap with other actors. As a stylist, it wasn’t easy to deal with designers on behalf of the actors, so the arrangement with Louis D.L. this time was time-consuming.

And above all else, if she didn’t hurry up and acquire the shoes she wanted, she would be unable to get the right sizes.

In the case of famous stars, they each prepared and monopolized at least three to four outfits in advance, even if they didn’t wear most of them on the day of the film festival.

Naturally, the shoes had to be prepared according to each outfit. But because one person took several shoes, the most common sizes quickly went out of stock.

Smaller shoes would hurt the actor’s feet, but they could potentially trip and fall over on the red carpet if they wore a larger pair. Thus, it was a pain in the butt to quickly find shoes of the right size that matched the outfits.

This was the time period when stylists had to be faster than ever on their feet. However, too many people had their eyes stuck on a moving bus that wasn’t even their ride.

Park Si-Yeon waved her hands and shooed Park Min’s fashion coordinator away, saying she didn’t want to be bothered anymore. The coordinator couldn’t say anything in response and silently left the shop with no results.

Their vision got blurry as they worried about how to explain the situation to Park Min.

The coordinator would’ve actually preferred it if someone else had gotten the suit first because they were one step faster. If so, Park Min would get annoyed but blame his bad luck.

But if he learned that Louis D.L. had personally made the suit as a gift for someone, Park Min would become furious and order them to find out who it was.

“Should I lie to him…?”

That was a terrible idea. If Park Min found out later that he had been lied to, all kinds of objects would be thrown at the fashion coordinator.

In the end, they simply sighed and shook their head as though they were very familiar with this kind of situation. Compared to other actors, Park Min received sponsorship offers from a lot more brands, so the fashion coordinator didn’t have to run around as much trying to secure outfits and shoes for the actor. However, their work-life was still very laborious, as the most difficult task was to satisfy Park Min.

***

When attending a film festival, accessories were as important as the clothes the actors wore. The actors had to utilize personal collections or receive sponsorships to stand out more than others.

In the case of famous celebrities, companies and designers would compete against each other to sponsor them. On the other hand, actors who did not have such fame would spend the weeks before the festival anxiously as their confidence took a nosedive.

But interestingly, it was the same situation for companies and designers.

The more famous the company or designer was, the more stars chose their products. But if no one chose a certain brand, the company couldn’t sponsor anyone even if they wanted to. In these cases, the companies had to follow the celebrities around, begging them to wear their products and pay for advertising fees as well.

Thus, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. That was a law of human society that applied to every country around the world.

“Did you say that Kwon Eun-Mi prepared two sets of clothes?”

“Yes, but both outfits are yellow and have similar designs, so I think we can just match them with the same accessory. Also, it seems Oh Ha-Na is going to wear a sheer dress[1] with black lace.”

The designer team at ‘Gaon’ was also working tirelessly in preparation for the film festival. Since the company was relatively new, there was no other event better than this to promote the brand.

Therefore, the teams began working a month before, designing and crafting several accessories matching the styles of the actors they were assigned to. All they had to do now was select the accessories that matched the actors’ outfits the best.

The design team led by Park Eun-Soo was in charge of Chae Woo-Jin, Kwon Eun-Mi, and Oh Ha-Na, who had all starred in Red Enemy.

“Should we go with the diamonds and yellow sapphires to match Kwon Eun-Mi’s outfit? The Rivière necklace[2] should be a good fit since it’s an off-the-shoulder dress.”

Most people responded positively when Park Eun-Soo asked her team members their opinions. They had researched Kwon Eun-Mi’s tastes in advance and had prepared a necklace made with the jewels the actress liked.

Fortunately, the design of Kwon Eun-Mi’s outfit and the necklace matched perfectly.

Additionally, people raised the opinion that they should focus more on earrings and hair ornaments rather than a necklace for Oh Ha-Na since she would be wearing an outfit with a Sabrina neckline.[3]

Oh Ha-Na was short, and her outfit was going to be a mini dress[4], so there was a high possibility that she would go for an updo hairstyle.

They then decided to go with pearls for the main jewelry to highlight the actress’s elegance and grace instead of going for a glamorous, showy look.

“What if Chae Woo-Jin puts a boutonnière[5] on his suit’s lapel[6] since it’s been the trend recently?”

Once they had sorted out their thoughts on Kwon Eun-Mi and Oh Ha-Ha’s accessories, Ryu Na-Ye brought up the topic of Chae Woo-Jin with sparkling eyes.

Unlike the actresses, Chae Woo-Jin had not given the design team information about his outfit. However, since men’s suits all somewhat followed the same basic design, they were almost done deciding what accessories to prepare for the actor.

“Hmm… The fabric is far too good for that.”

At Park Eun-Soo’s response, the other team members turned to her with twinkling eyes. They had long known that the team leader was the CEO’s wife, but it was recently revealed that she was Chae Woo-Jin’s mother, which caused a huge sensation in the company.

In particular, Ryu Na-Ye, who had been very open about being a big fan of Chae Woo-Jin, was shocked for several days afterward.

She was ecstatic but also shy and so embarrassed that she couldn’t even look Park Eun-Soo in the eyes properly.

If she thought back, she had basically been squealing ‘I love your son so much!’ every single day to her team leader.

But one day, Chae Woo-Jin suddenly appeared at the design team’s office.

Park Eun-Soo had left behind some important documents and had asked Chae Woo-Jin, who happened to be at home, to bring them to her as an errand.

‘It’s nice and convenient to be able to send you on errands like this. I didn’t dare do it before because I was afraid we’d get discovered.’

As she received the documents from her son, Park Eun-Soo looked refreshed and spoke joyfully. Chae Woo-Jin then greeted the designers in the office and went out for lunch with everyone as well.

Ryu Na-Ye had obviously met Chae Woo-Jin before when filming commercials and doing photoshoots.

However, she always had to be cautious about her behavior since they had met as business partners where she was a designer who represented the company. Her superiors and bosses were present on set as well, so she couldn’t openly express her feelings and had to maintain a professional and calm attitude.

However, when Chae Woo-Jin visited the office, he was like a cheerful and curious child who had come to play at his mother’s company. Now that they weren’t meeting as business partners, they were definitely more casual and comfortable with one another.

In fact, it was possible that the documents were simply an excuse and Park Eun-Soo wanted to provide an opportunity for the team members who were fans of Chae Woo-Jin to see her son.

Now that Ryu Na-Ye thought about it, every time the company was filming a commercial with Chae Woo-Jin, Park Eun-Soo had always sent Ryu Na-Ye instead of the others to the film set. Ryu Na-Ye could feel the thoughtfulness and generosity in her team leader’s actions and words.

‘So this is what it’s like to be a successful idol geek!’

Ryu Na-Ye had become a celebrity on Wish Baragi after she accomplished something that all geeks and fans of celebrities dreamt of doing but was virtually impossible to achieve.

Though, needless to say, her fame couldn’t beat that of the one and only ‘Jin-Hee\'s Mom.’

1. A dress made with sheer fabric, see-through fabric, often used for summer clothes, underwear, and lingerie. ☜

2. A Rivière necklace is a necklace fully made of gemstones of the same variety that are usually the same size and shape. It looks like a chain of jewels around the neck. ☜

3. A Sabrina neckline is a wide neckline that goes horizontally across the collarbone, so there’s not much space to wear and show a necklace. Also called a bateau/boat neckline. ☜

4. If you search up mini dress in Korean, the dresses are not the typical short skintight western mini dresses. They’re closer to a short aline dress you might wear to a prom, wedding, or party. ☜

5. A boutonnière is a floral decoration, typically a single flower or bud, worn on the lapel (the front, folded flap of cloth) of a suit/tuxedo, usually for special occasions like proms, funerals, and weddings. Nowadays, a pin is worn more often than flowers on business suits. ☜

6. See reference for Boutonnière. ☜