While it’s literally a certainty that as long as one steps into the idol industry,
they will get a glow up regardless of how far behind they used to be from the strict
South Korean beauty standard, there are still rare cases where idols will sadly get a glow-down
since the stylist team fails to enhance the good features and sometimes, the features
of the idols themselves also undergo a drastic changes after puberty hits.
Hyein (NewJeans)
Debuting as the most contentious members of NewJeans as never once have netizens seen
such a young idol like Hyein debut in the industry, many said there is actually another
reason making Hyein a hot topic of all bad reasons: her questionable visual and the noticeable
glow-down after ADOR got involved in styling her.
Since Min Hee Jin didn’t reveal the members’ background when NewJeans made their very first
public appearance and at the same time, it was also said that the act had one member
whose nationality was Vietnam, which ticked Knetz off a lot because they had been holding
a deep-rooted grudge against South-East Asian idols, people were literally rummaging the
Internet to find out who that member was.
However, due to the lack of information and many Knetz also liked to jump to conclusions
when seeing something of a thorn in their eyes, they immediately assumed Hyein was that
Vietnamese idol because of one sole reason: she looked too bad to be Korean.
That was also the reason shaking people to the core as eventually, they found out that
Hanni, who was praised for the cute yet cool visual, was Vietnamese and Hyein simply looked
like that because ADOR got her a glow-down rather than a glow-up.
Looking at old snippets of Hyein, netizens couldn’t believe there was one Hyein whose
visual was as refreshing as the Spring, super-duper bubbly and reminded them a lot of the doll-like
visual of Oh My Girl’s YooA.
In fact, she was even recognized to effortlessly check-off many strict criteria in the South
Korean beauty standard list thanks to the extremely small face shape, prominent big
round eyes, a nose as small and high as carved from a mold and the plump lips highly sought
after in beauty clinics.
Seemingly because Hyein also got a styling team well understanding her inherent bubbly,
refreshing beauty, and an image that would best suit her style as well as compliment
her unique features, she also gave off a strong superstar glow despite just being a primary-school
girl.
Yet somehow, after the debut with NewJeans and going through the magical, professional
hands of ADOR’s stylists, Hyein suddenly became a hot topic online for her alleged
questionable visual.
Now, when talking of Hyein, people even refer to her as the least attractive member visual-wise
in NewJeans and question the decision of Min Hee Jin to not only put her in the line-up
but also made her the center in the group’s very first two MVs.
According to them, the excessively plump lips of Hyein was the feature putting them off
when assessing her visual and because Hyein’s face also seemed to grow longer as she matured
yet the buccal fat was yet to be slimmed down, her overall features looked rather heavy and
unpleasing.
Basically, the current visual of Hyein was said to be a total miss compared to her younger
self and since the rest of NewJeans are frequently trending for their appearance yet it has never
been the case for Hyein, she is often criticized for bringing down the visual average score
of the act.
However, fans are defending Hyein, saying the fact that Hyein still looked as gorgeous
as always and the proof was how she still shone brightly in versatile stylings.
Rather blaming Hyein, they believed netizens should look at the odd way ADOR has been doing
her makeup and putting together her outfits.
For example, while she clearly shines best without the fringe, ADOR literally always
makes her appear with that hairstyle.
In fact, they even forced on her the extremely experimental choppy above-eyebrow bangs.
Talking of makeup, probably out of the effort to harmonize her prominent features, ADOR’s
stylists usually opt for extremely light lips color and not too strong eye-makeup.
However, according to fans, ADOR only made things worse and they always created a sense
that they didn’t know what to do with Hyein’s face and had no idea of which parts of her
face should be accentuated to highlight her unique look.
The experimental mindset of ADOR was also forced on Hyein in the way she dressed and
fans were totally put off by it because her model-like figure was always hidden behind
those baggy, ill-shaped and excessively colorful items.
KEP1ER’s Chaehyun
Once making lots of headlines as some found Chaehyun’s have a striking visual similarity
to Red Velvet’s Irene, compared to her younger self, many believed Chaehyun actually had
a glow-down and it had a lot to do with how Swing Entertainment and Wake One Entertainment
determined her style as well as the noticeable weight gain.
Looking at Chaehyun’s childhood photos, many said she had an innocent and first-love
beauty, aka the uniqueness also shared among iconic visuals of SM Entertainment.
In this specific one, some said she even looked like Taeyeon and talking of Taeyeon, everyone
knows that we are talking about the real definition of an ageless vampire beauty in Kpop.
In this picture, she even looked like the exact carbon copy of Irene as not only the
almond eyes are similar but also the extremely small, high nose accompanied by the plump
petite lips and perfect V-line face.
However, as time passed and Chaehyun got the ticket to debut with KEP1ER, some noticed
that she seemingly got an unfortunate glow-down when having the professional team get involved
in her styling.
Instead of sticking with the first-love and rabbit-like image, Chaehyun is now often seen
with the heavy make-up, extremely bright hair color and outfits that don’t really compliment
her figure.
In fact, some even found the new image of Chaehyun outdated because she appears in babydoll
dresses and uses too many childlike hair accessories, from big bows to colorful hair pins to the
rather outdated flower hairclips.
Especially with the unexpected weight gain, the glow-down of Chaehyun stood out even more.
She even made headlines for looking so bloated and bunny and everything happened so out of
the blue that netizens had to question whether she was struggling with some kind of health
problems.
In certain angles, her signature bunny eyes even disappeared and looked as puffy as she
had just balled her eyes out before the performance.
Looking at Chaehyun, some said they felt like looking at the old Wendy when she was on the
yo-yo phase as not only Chaehyun’s face but her whole body also seemed to be heavier.
With the sudden weight gain, seemingly the stylists were also confused as to how to bring
the best out of Chaehyun and make her shine as in this performance, all they did was to
let her long hair cover up the weight gain shown on her face and body.
Since Chaehyun’s face was inherently and heavily asymmetrical, this sudden change made
it stand out even more and as netizens believed, she really needed a stricter plan to manage
the body had she still wanted to shine brighter in the idol career.
In fact, had she not changed, her future was said to be just as vague as IVE’s Liz since
after the noticeable puff-up, she not only lost all the fans but also the support of
Starship Entertainment.
Still, fans said it wasn’t that Chaehyun was having a glow-down but it was more likely
that she was going through a hard time mentally considering how she put on a considerable
weight in such a short time.
Instead of criticizing her, some said netizens should have shown some understanding and minded
their own business rather than always hiding behind the screen to attack every single idol.
Chaeyeon
Having the chance to be in the Kpop industry at an extremely young age and even managing
to train for a long period of time under JYP Entertainment, Chaeyeon was expected to only
look better as time passed.
However, netizens said they only saw disappointment when looking at the maturing process of Chaeyeon
because instead of having a glow up, she had a visible glow-down that not only made her
ten years older but also made her features more stiff and plastic.
Despite being ITZY’s Chaeryeong’s older sister twin, Chaeyeon’s visual still had
distinguished features and according to netizens, she used to look soft and sharp-witted.
While her younger version wasn’t the type that would fit perfectly with the strict South
Korean beauty standard, many said she still looked extremely fine as all the features
harmoniously complimented each other.
Rather than looking heavy with the eyelids liner and almond-shaped eyes, her small face,
high nose and petite lips harmonize everything and give her a cute, hamster-like appearance.
As Chaeyeon grew up a bit more and made another public appearance in SIXTEEN, she got people
hooked again for the familiar lively visual accentuated by the femininity of a teenage
girl.
However, such a signature visual suddenly became a thing of the past after Chaeyeon
debuted in IZ*ONE and seemingly got involved with plastic surgery.
As some noticed, she has gotten so much botox that her face has become stiff and unnecessarily
sharp.
In the BLOOM*IZ era, her face even got noticeably asymmetrical though it looked perfectly fine
when she was a kid.
Besides the change in visual, Chaeyeon’s fashion sense is also said to be a big minus
point since she has always dressed unnecessarily tacky and this was seen most clearly through
the way WM Entertainment presented Chaeyeon in her solo debut.
While Y2K is still a huge relevant trend in the fashion realm and her wardrobe also revolved
around this theme, netizens only found her image outdated and cheesy for the excessive
incorporation of puffy items, tacky accessories and a heavy gothic aesthetic running throughout
the promotion.
However, there are still people taking Chaeyeon’s side, defending that her face didn’t look
stiff due to botox but rather the result of a strict diet.
Plus, as she matures, certain features would also change and people should have accepted
her for who she is rather than clinging onto the past and bashing her like that.
About her fashion, because she has just done one promotion, fans believed WM Entertainment
would soon figure out her suitable style and do better in styling her for the next comebacks.
So, do you think these idols actually went through a glow-down or are netizens pushing
the beauty standards too harshly on them?