MAMAMOO's singer/rapper Hwasa has topped the brand reputation ranking among K-pop girl group members this month. She is followed by Girls Generation member Taeyeon and Red Velvet member Irene.
The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed the September 2019 ranking for the individual members of girl groups in South Korea. The brand ranking is decided based on the result of the analysis of the consumer participation, communication, media coverage, and public awareness indexes of over 450 K-pop girl group members. For this month's chart, the data that were analyzed were collected from August 13 to September 14.
Hwasa, whose real name is Ahn Hye-Jin, returned to the top spot after garnering a total brand reputation index of over five million for September. Hwasa took the No. 1 spot in July but was bumped into third place in August.
The K-pop singer grabbed the headlines in July because of her no-brassiere fashion style. Hwasa was photographed at the Incheon International Airport at the time sporting a short-sleeved white t-shirt but not wearing her upper undergarment. Her airport fashion sparked controversy but also earned support from some netizens.
Earlier this month, she grabbed the attention of the media once again because of her airport fashion. The MAMAMOO members showed up at the airport to fly to Indonesia for an event. Each member showed off their different style, but it was Hwasa who took much of the attention.
Hwasa is seen wearing low-waist ripped jeans with zippers unzipped to show her undergarment underneath. The style is known as the "hip-slung look" and the underwear Hwasa was wearing was later revealed to be new bike shorts from American fashion designer Alexander Wang.
According to Korean Business Research, Hwasa has been on top of the ranking because people are talking about her and the MAMAMOO's singer highest-ranking related terms included "sexy," "stage," and "airport fashion." Additionally, about 80 percent of comments about Hwasa are positive.
Hwasa has been known for sexy and daring outfits, both on or off the stage. It can be recalled that she also sparked controversy at the 2018 MAMA Fans' Choice in Japan where she wore a sexy bright-red one-piece outfit. The 24-year-old K-pop singer garnered mixed reactions on her outfit at that event.
Meanwhile, Girl's Generation member Taeyeon took the second place in the brand reputation ranking with 4.4 million indexes while Red Velvet leader Irene is on No. 3 with 2.61 million. Completing the top five are Taeyeon's bandmate YoonA and Apink's Hayoung at fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
