South Korean designer auctions BTS Jimin’s unwashed hanbok outfit; faces the wrath of ARMYs

BTS wore the designer’s outfits for their performance and he now wants to auction Jimin’s outfit, but ‘unwashed’, stating ‘the clothes will have Jimin’s sweat and fragrance’, has left ARMYs naturally upset.

By Afreen Khan

Updated on Apr 20, 2021 | 10:39 PM IST | 2.4M

BTS Jimin at a Music Bank rehearsal in 2019

South Korean designer auctions BTS Jimin’s unwashed hanbok outfit; faces the wrath of ARMYs

For their incredible performance at ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ BTS wore the hanbok-styled suits outfits designed by the South Korean designer Kim Rieul. While fans would generally be praising his fashion sense, he is under fire by the fandom. Kim Rieul, along with an auction company, is planning to sell off the clothes worn by Jimin. While this is nowhere weird, what is weird is his choice of how he is going to auction, which is unwashed.

Both the designer and the auction company have been facing fire for it. According to initial announcements, BTS had wanted to buy the costumes, but Kim Rieul chose to lend those over instead, citing that he usually did not sell to artists. The sale is meant to go live on April 22, and the bidding for the ‘unwashed’ outfit is supposed to start at 5 million won (USD 4,480). Certainly not helping matters, Kim Rieul had previously said that the outfit was ‘as is’ since Jimin wore it, still containing his sweat and perfume. It had not been washed and there weren’t any plans to do so.

It does not take complex reasoning to figure out why the ARMY and everyone else is furious about this. Many fans are terming this ‘creepy’ and something that only toxic fans would want, keeping aside the fact that it isn’t lovely, but actually unhygienic. ARMYs also find the selling position - ‘Jimin’s body odor’ - very odd, citing that sasaengs (obsessive, toxic fans) are the only ones who’d love this.