Jisoo, a member of BLACKPINK, posing. Yonhap News
A foreign designer issued strong criticism, saying they had not received outfits back from the camp of Jisoo of BLACKPINK, asserting, “She stole my belongings.”
Benjamin Bortmans, the designer who leads the Antwerp, Belgium-based fashion brand JUDASIM, claimed in a video recently posted on his social media that he sent outfits to South Korea for an album cover shoot related to Jisoo, but some had not been returned for a long time.
After the JUDASIM account tagged the social media account of Jisoo and posted, “Return my belongings,” the controversy widened. He said, “Jisoo stole my belongings,” and, “It has already been six months since I sent various items to her and her Korea-based team for the album cover work.”
Also “Six months ago they kept postponing the work date and said they did not know what was happening. I said, ‘Understood. Just postpone it. But let me know when the items come back,’” and, “No one has responded as of today.”
He continued, “These are three very important pieces from the last collection, and they were quite expensive. So I sent the invoice and the contract to pursue legal action, but nobody replied,” and, “I wish someone would get a grip and return my things. I no longer even want to do the shoot. Just give the items back. I do not care whether that kid (Jisoo) shoots that damn album cover or not.”
Bortmans alleging that Jisoo borrowed his garments and did not return them. JUDASIM Instagram account
In a follow-up video posted later, Bortmans said, “I want to clarify everything about the Jisoo situation. I have never actually attacked Jisoo,” and, “I used the name of Jisoo to get a reply from anyone on the team. The name of Jisoo was in the emails related to the shoot.”
Along with this, he asked that the online criticism and comments stop, saying, “I only wanted to get my things back.”
However, he did not withdraw the complaint. He said, “As young designers, we put a lot of time into our work,” and, “It is terrible to go six months without a response and without being treated with respect. I will not apologize. The entire team should treat people better next time and let them know if there is a problem.”
Jisoo and her agency have not issued a separate statement regarding the controversy.
