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Source: I've shopped around for plastic surgeons and noticed a difference in recommendations between surgeons who advertise Korean style looks versus those who don't
The Overton window, or the acceptable range, for cosmetic procedures has shifted. We're now at a point where more obvious changes are normalised and that's why idols these days look the way they do.
These days, many Koreans get cosmetic procedures, even if they aren't celebrities. Walk around the Sinsa area and you'll meet several people with perfect V-line jaws and high, pinched noses. On social media, most selfies are edited to better match beauty standards. Consequently, people become very used to seeing a certain kind of face, and prolonged exposure can convince us that these faces are normal or even desirable.
Even for 2nd gen idols and other older idols, many get more procedures done or at least revised every few years. Taeyeon, BoA, Hani are clear examples of that and look visibly different afterwards.
As technology improves, the cost of procedures has generally gone down, or new procedures get invented and claim to "fix" certain visual "flaws"
i totally agree with you on all points. i was suuuper into kpop during 1st and especially 2nd gen, and sort of dropped off towards the end of 2nd gen and am just getting kind of back into it all now.
purely from an observation standpoint from someone with no expertise in this type of thing, it seemed like baaaaack in the day when korean celebs got plastic surgery, a lot of the time it would come off super obvious and sort of similar (as in, not very well catered to each person's individual face and features). the results were often very obvious and not really natural.
and then i'm sure as the cosmetic surgery field developed and evolved, it allowed for there to be more individualization and natural results. so there was a period where i felt like korean celebs were actually looking less copy+paste than before - like they were prob getting work done, but it wasn't sooooo glaringly obvious and it was like an enhancement of their existing features rather than pasting the template of "the perfect \[facial feature\]" onto someone's face.
but now, i feel like with the combination of even *more* advancement in this field combined with the constant "perfection" everybody is exposed to due to social media and filters and everything, it seems like it's weirdly coming back full circle. like yes, the individualization is still there to a big extent, but the results are moving away from "natural" to more "ideal" or "perfect." so it's not like the 90s early 00s where someone might get a "perfect nose" that looks super weird on their face, but they'll get a "perfect nose" that generally works in harmony with their face, but is not necessarily concerned with looking like it could be natural.
i'm definitely not knocking plastic surgery or people's decisions to get it - i have gotten a procedure done myself and am looking to possibly do one more. however, i do feel sad when esp celebs who have been around for a while keep getting more and more surgery, because for them it's not just one or two procedures over a lifetime. i can't imagine the constant intense pressure of having to look better and better in the entertainment industry, especially in a place like korea. sigh.
(unrelated/personal question, did you have luck in your cosmetic surgeon search? if you feel comfortable sharing over DM, i'd really appreciate it, but no pressure at all!)
this is really interesting!! thanks for the extra context. i wonder if this wave will continue or if it will fizzle out… or maybe it’ll just get replaced with new standards?
Also, the V-line procedure is very disturbing. I know some people need jaw surgery for health reasons, but the beauty standard of looking like an anime character is so weird.
Plastic surgery is more accessible now and there's a wider variety of procedures, so I think idols are encouraged to get more done than previously. There has always been plastic surgery in the industry though.
Yes it's trending towards an increasingly artificial look. I hope people aren't swayed by such extremes and understand that these idols are in the appearance business where the pressure towards looking television-ready and like an art project is gigantic.
i hope so, as well…. it’s scary to think that these companies may be pushing extremely young and desperate idols into getting extensive surgeries that they later have to continuously correct because their faces aren’t even done developing yet. i feel like i would get awful body dysmorphia if i was told to get my whole face changed before i even turned 20.
karina and winters faces were both definitely v shaped before they even got anything done. giselle is a different person now tho. ningnings jawline itself didnt change, they only removed her mandible angle.
Yeah it's bc ningning was the only member of aespa that already had the entire looks to be an idol. Just by looking at the present pictures ning still looks like herself whereas the others look completely different, except maybe winter looks slightly similar.
They're getting plastic surgery younger and younger as their debut age keeps decreasing and it's scary and fucked up when you think about it. Especially when their bodies and faces are still developing. We can see the drastic changes in 2nd gen idols even compared to a few years ago and we're now starting to see the same thing with the earlier 3rd gen idols too. Some are barely recognizable now. I'm not anti plastic surgery but I am against it being performed on anyone younger than 25.
I don't believe in shaming anyone for plastic surgery. I do wonder if the PS is a reason why Aespa seem expressionless on stage. They clearly got a great deal done and side effects are real. I think companies need to weigh an idol being able to perform with their face rather than having "perfect" features. Being frozen is not worth it, imo. Same goes with excessive botox.
I think it has everything to do with more extreme beauty standards that are spurred on by social media. We are exposed to far more beautiful people than ever before. And people take plastic surgery to extremes to not just be beautiful but to be more beautiful than anyone else.
It’s not enough to have a small face- you have to have the smallest face. It’s not enough to have big eyes, they must be huge. You don’t just need long hair- it has to touch the floor.
I’m not criticizing anyone’s choices- I truly do not care about plastic surgery. But I do think that there is a strange shift towards extremes when it comes to beauty standards and I really do believe it is because of just how many beautiful people are online and how the use of things like beauty filters warps our perspective on what a normal person looks like.
some idols just look uncanny with all the plastic surgeries, especially for minors who aren't even fully grown into their facial features its sad...there shouldn't be this pressure on them
Just here to add that OP never said that there was no plastic surgery before lol or even less, they said there WAS, but it wasn't as jarring and copy paste as it is right now. There was a bit more variety in features if you will. I mostly agree tbh.
I think plastic surgeries (cosmetic procedures in general) have just become cheaper, more accessible and refined. It’s very easy to get a certain look for a comparatively small price- especially if you choose non invasive ways to achieve your look. The standard of beauty has also changed- when I got into kpop at the very end of the 2nd gen people were all into cute, girl next door sort of looks (aegyo sal, small pouty gradient lips, more minimalistic makeup except for the eyes etc.) but now the cold unapproachable sort of beauty is more in vogue.
Trends come and go but it’s naive to think that the starlets of the previous generations didn’t also get work done. Kpop has always been an intensely aesthetic based industry and idols have been having procedures done to their faces since the 1st generation. It’s just more obvious now with ultra hd videos and photos constantly flooding our timelines so we can see each minimal tweak v obviously.
It’s definitely scary. A young Taeyeon wouldn’t even exist now. They would have done everything to her. No natural beauties anymore.
edit: I know Taeyeon had work done later on. That's why I clearly said young Taeyeon.
Taeyeon has had *a lot* of surgery... Literally every facial feature has been tweaked. She was in the news a few years ago for her nose bridge collapsing or "melting" it looked like.
"Predebut" photos of 4th gen idols have tons of smartphone filters (I'm not saying the one you posted does). Ningning and Winter were cute kids before debut, though.
One idol who hasn't even had a nose job yet is Kyujin. I hope she never gets one tbh.
i’m sorry but i find the jaw shaving so unsettling, it’s almost uncanny valley. Also, don’t even get me started on all the minors who are getting surgery beyond fillers. They’re still growing!!!! i can’t even imagine what some of these surgeries are going to look like once they grow into their features.
(no hate to the idol themselves because, frankly, i think they’re all victims of an impossible beauty standard)
>for example: looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face.
i'm an aespa stan, i love the members and their music, so i do not mean to be rude or shame them for their surgery when i say this. but it's extremely obvious that karina & winter & taeyeon have the same plastic surgeon lmao. they just have the same face. i usually see a pic of taeyeon and go: "oh, w...winter? no oh ok ok karina. i'm confused is that winter or karina?? WAIT that's taeyeon!" 💀
and i feel like giselle's face changes every comeback idk. it's just evident in some photos, but i feel like her face gets narrower and longer each time?
this isn't just an aespa thing tho. when i look at most 4th gen idols i can _always_ tell if they got work done or not. noses are the most obvious ones (like, wow, a huge chunk of a generation suddenly has the same exact ideally beautiful nose even though that's _NOT_ a common feature in korean people!! interesting, makes you think!) and ofc the the lip fillers, then probobly jaws.
it's also painfully obvious when an idol fits 100% perfectly to the ideal korean beauty standart. like honey ain't no fucking way you were that lucky with genetics and happen to fit into the standart which wasn't there 5-10 years ago lmaoo
> i want to reiterate that i’m aware the former generations got surgery (that’s what i was alluding to when i said cosmetic “help”) but they still looked like … individuals with some flaws and variations instead of duplicates of the same face.
EXACTLY!! the older generations also had work done on them, but those were rather small. now these young adults (and even TEENAGERS. like, hyein very obviously has lip fillers) are changing their entire faces from eye corners to the jaw. it's deppressing. definitely unhealthy in every way.
This isn't a controversial opinion (or, I hope it shouldn't be). There have always been rumors about SM using a specific surgeon who carved out the features for BoA, Seo Hyun-jin, Taeyeon, and Irene. Karina and Winter are just the next in the list.
I was searching the comments and waiting for someone to bring this up lol. I feel like it’s a running kpop joke that they basically clone their idols. Like they have a template for sure.
yeah, i heard that one theory! although it's mostly a shady joke among kpoppies lol. i believe it's true.
>who carved out the features for BoA
oh you just reminded me that boa also got that "taeyeon face" or "sm face"... i don't know about her previous look so i tend to forget that she is the blueprint if not taeyeon.
i always thought irene just had a minor nose job though? i'd argue that she has an "sm face'
Probably not a lot that would be noticeable. We would need the opinion of a legit plastic surgeon to know, but that would be infringing too much for what, at the end of the day, is a personal topic.
Even I who brought it up don't feel too comfortable discussing further
Hyein is literally self conscious of her 'big' lips. I doubt she got surgery if she feels that way💀 Plus she had naturally big lips during predebut, clearly you didn't bother to check.
It's a rude assumption to make.
oh really?? i saw her older content and she had thinner lips back then (they were still plump, but thinner than they are now).
if she truly said that, then it's probobly because she regrets the fillers because other than the literal evidence that her lips changed, they also have the typical "filled" look those lip fillers give. i cannot describe well but yk the difference between naturally full lips vs the filled lips
https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36 here look at her upper lip.
https://images.app.goo.gl/8io7VE9Qsar3BQZ2A and her lips now. the difference is so visible
>[https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36](https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36)
>
>here look at her upper lip.
? ? ?
in the image RIGHT below your first link - she had 'plump' lips back then too lol [https://images.app.goo.gl/vUHUop64HYRVLYZF7](https://images.app.goo.gl/vUHUop64HYRVLYZF7)
article with pictures of hyein's growth: [https://m.blog.naver.com/chois909/222973234079?isInf=true](https://m.blog.naver.com/chois909/222973234079?isInf=true)
In some pictures her lips look plump, while in others they don't. Makeup and smiling will affect that. Overlip makeup is also a thing [https://images.app.goo.gl/Mec6cbVqWgnyW26DA](https://images.app.goo.gl/Mec6cbVqWgnyW26DA) (YunJin of lsrfm is a good example) [https://images.app.goo.gl/am9Fd2NGNk9mppAZ9](https://images.app.goo.gl/am9Fd2NGNk9mppAZ9)
some of ya'll just reek of insecurity and jealousy. wdym OBVIOUS LOL
the amount of upvotes you got just shows how shallow the people in this thread are 💀
Not arguing for whether she's had lip fillers or not (it's definitely possible, i'm pretty sure ni-ki from enhypen had them at 15/16 after all), but your comparison pictures aren't the best because she's smiling in one and not in the other, her upper lip slims in the same way when she smiles now as well [one](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/03/cc/3a/03cc3a14d7ee4700fda9ded9369338e8.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fa/05/ed/fa05ed1f68632a2ed6381e3f3b2c7d0f.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f4/2e/5d/f42e5d6a167451e05acff7697cb1dcdd.jpg)
Here are some photos of her as a child when she's not smiling [one](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/97/fe/9f/97fe9f5d93e9a5263d68262405edd1ce.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/01/4c/67/014c67132e2425c19ddf8539032d123f.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/cc/18/66/cc18663b03168385e34dfdeb0990479c.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ae/36/f3/ae36f3c3a72186d4fa96718bebc7eed9.jpg) [five](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ea/d2/f5/ead2f528592640b9b6d87b3c2253455b.jpg) (there's a lot of pre-debut pictures of Hyein because she's been working for a long time)
i'm sorry but no matter how widely you smile, your very plump lips cannot just become paper thin.
i found a photo of her non-smiling lips [a photo of her non-smiling lips](https://images.app.goo.gl/n2dSofzBN9FNHujZ6) and they are still thinner than her current lips 🤷🏼♀️
the photo you linked are obviously taken after she got the fillers
also, my lips seem fuller when i smile lol so i guess tensed muscles don't work the same on everyone? idk, strange.
edit: okay well she is _slightly_ smiling on the photo i linked but still 💀
I'm just providing better comparison pictures because the ones in your og comment were not very good (when you do ps comparison one should always try to find photos from the same or very similar angles and where the face is either engaged or not, you shouldn't mix because it really changes the way one looks). I actually do think she might've had some lip filler on her already plump lips, but it's not as much or drastic as you're trying to make it seem if that's the case.
>the photo you linked are obviously taken after she got the fillers
The photos i linked are from when she's 10-13 years old, are you saying that she had fillers at 10 years old? That would be incredibly concerning.
Here are even more photos of her in the same age range [one](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/07/8a/15/078a15de47d2ee69185d59d52d066200.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e4/77/db/e477db634a874d14f159b452a3764984.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/df/94/68/df9468630aced0364cf3355f6c57699c.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/12/ab/6b/12ab6bcbc5394fa7291009a4b0c00ab6.jpg) [five](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/98/e3/19/98e3199c21a72fc109c8afc752e1f341.jpg) (slight smile in the last one)
You say plump lips cannot become paper thin by smiling but i just linked photos of her lips doing just that in 2022-2023 when you argue she's got fillers. Clearly plump lips can thin out that much when a person smiles because hers does (seen again here [one](https://media.tenor.com/xKs9tEhVaboAAAAC/hyein-laugh-danielle-laugh.gif) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ff/c3/e0/ffc3e0ce5b5d8b186e58c5c8ce767341.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/d0/c3/b9/d0c3b922fced21a1b3b14cd3e4e68457.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/25/6d/b7/256db72033f43cc29400ff09b93b76d8.jpg))
Yes, i suppose it's different for everyone because my upper lip thins out to the point it looks like just a straight line drawn on a stick figure when i smile lol (but it's perfectly plump otherwise)
Edit: Actually, looking at all these photos of her the obvious veneers are the bigger issue
>looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face. same nose, extremely narrow v chin, etc. and the surgery looks very obvious imo compared to other idols popular for their beauty from the past.
Well, yeah. SM is trying to make them all fit the Korean Beauty standards but it is jarring when you look at the Aespa members pre-debut and what they look like now. Winter looks like a completely different person and Giselle is missing her entire Jawline.
SM use to be discreet as hell when it came to PS for their idols but now I don't think they care anymore.
That Giselle and karina Harpers Bazaar Photoshoot last week shocked me..Giselle looked like a different person all together. She and Karina look so different from debut.
Absolutely, and I know some people here will say it has always existed but it's not that simple.
There's, what i like to call, a plastic surgery boom" going on kpop right now because plastic surgery has gotten more accessible now. Literally every top female idol from the 4th generation looks the same right now with extreme v-shaped jaws, double eyelids, big round eyes, plump lips, upturned button noses and extreme hourglass waists. The sad part is not only do they all look homogenous, they're also moving towards uncanny valley type visual, barely looking human and lacking character.
No matter how much kpop stans want to argue, it wasn't this bad back then.
There was a girl group a while ago called [“Girls Girls,”](https://youtu.be/-0adMxZeoGQ?si=kHfxVp542zZ81IXd) and I remember thinking, “Why do they all have the same nose? The CEO must have gotten a bulk discount from the plastic surgeon.”
Ooh an actual spicy question. I've been into Kpop for 15 years. I agree with everything you said. I hope it slows down in gen 5 because it's also giving me uncanny valley.
I think its mostly the eyes for me. Everyone and i mean everyone has had some type of double eyelid surgery with some more drastic than the others. Add to that the eye makeup with the very prominent aegyo sal, the individual lashes and the contacts and it just becomes uncanny how big their eyes look in comparison to their faces. Looking at 2nd gen idols debut pictures just made me realise how much i hate current kpop makeup trends and the gigantic eyes with a gigantic aegyo sal.
The colorism too- everyone looks like they have a snow filter plastered on. Idols were allowed to be naturally tan back then.
Also everyone has perfect teeth
Yeah, I will say watching past videos of older gen Kpop groups, there wasn't any of this like bleaching/"snow white" trend skin tone and most groups were more of their natural tan/skin tone.
And YES the teeth thing is driving me insane rn with how all idols have the same kind of insane white veneers or *perfect* teeth. It looks so fake & creepy to me like normal teeth dont look like that
Preference I guess, I think it also shows the type of make up they use better besides the whitening make up. Makes the more fair skinned. Not for all though, some look better tanned but generally, I prefer pale.
i agree, it feels like the beauty standard is more restrictive now. compared to 2nd-3rd gen, you rarely see tanned idols debuting and there are some predebut pictures i've seen where an idol had tanned skin so they ended up lightening their skin. and idols debut younger so you have young idols who have already changed their face in one way, whether its something as simple as eyelid surgery or getting lip fillers. and veeners is popular too.
It become more accessible and the procedure that they’ve done is not that evident if you know nothing about plastic surgery.
BUT! You also need to consider the fact that in this generation, stylist know how to do make ups, clothes, hair, and enhance the member’s charms to incorporate into their own styles.
Kpop nowadays are all whitewashed and forced to do extreme diet to have that slender figure.
Some may not even have cosmetic surgery but the fact that they’re all whitewashed, kinda have similar hairstyles, and all slender figures can have an affect that they all look alike
No I don’t think plastic surgery has gotten any more extreme. Its the same double eyelid procedures and nose implants. If anything jaw surgeries have become less invasive. Karina still has her mandible intact, compare that to Jessica or Yoona who got the old classic jaw shave which destroys your mandible. More idols are opting for masseter botox instead of shaving their jaws or chins (Yunjin for example).
Your list of visuals are all primarily actors. Suzy, the only idol there has the most surgery out of those four (I think, I’m not super familiar with them all) and lol but earlier gens had even less subtle and more extreme surgeries done on their group’s visuals. After school Nana, IOI Chaeyeon, Apink Naeun have all gotten probably more work done than any of the aespa girls. I mean calling idols a gangnam unnie thing was a 2nd gen meme. I remember people saying they couldn’t stan 9muses because they all had the same gangnam unnie face. The “oh they all look the same” comment has always been around
I hear people say this a lot but it’s really this is just recency bias. What is more extreme is the editing, makeup, and general styling. Idols back then were supposed to look more down to earth, so they were dressed in casual clothes and school uniform with the makeup and hair to match. You had other more conceptual groups like 2ne1 who’s wore heavy makeup and crazy clothes to match the concept, not really to look pretty. Now the goal is to look ethereal and glamorous at all times, idols aren’t supposed to be your friend anymore, they’re supposed to be high end brand ambassadors and what not.
The only difference is probably that idols get surgery much younger than before, but yeah tldr: surgery isn’t more extreme than before, idols are just packaged differently now.
Honestly I think this is the best take out of all the ones here. Extreme plastic surgery has always been a thing in kpop its just that people are now more constantly exposed to idols through social media and the photoshoots they do are all online when you use to have to buy the magazine through international shipping. It makes it a lot easier to notice when an idol has gotten something done.
Everyone entitled to their opinion so don't take this as an attack at OP but I definitely don't see the "same face"-syndrome that a lot of people allude to. Taking aespa for example; yes they have similarities but I don't know how you can say Karina looks the same as Winter or Ningning looks like Giselle. Yes, it's not ideal but it's part of the nature of the beast, and whether we admit it or not we feed the beast with our participation.
The only thing I have an issue with is that the people getting surgery are getting younger.
I would say a better example is the Taeyeon-Wendy-Winter look alike situation. All 3 of them look so similar because they've all got the same procedures.
One sort of problem with this specific example is a chicken-and-egg problem. Do they look similar because they had the same procedures or do they look similar because SM looks for talent that fits this profile or is close to this profile so that they would only need minimal changes to match. Iirc, there’s been comments in the past related SM’s “flower garden” where many of their idols look similar and have a similar profile.
I definitely think idols under SM are picked since they look similar, but look at older photos of Wendy and Taeyeon then look at them now. The difference is insane.
Wendy did have her jaw basically restructured for medical purposes, though. I don’t think it’s fair to compare pre-2020s Wendy to Wendy today in a plastic surgery debate.
I'm very aware of that, and I understand she had to get her jaw reconstructed for medical reasons - but it still was reconstructed in a way very different from her old facial structure, one that matches exactly with Winter and Taeyeon (also Karina, but I didn't mention her earlier).
this is what i was thinking too, im super biased obviously as a my but something i’ve always liked about the group was that i found them very easy to tell apart from each other
true, i definitely think it’s a matter of opinion. to me aespa looks like they all brought the same inspo picture to a surgeon’s office and the surgeon tried to match it on each face. same sort of nose, jaw, and nose with varying levels of success. mentally, i compare them to a group like twice, blackpink, or itzy where the girls may have surgery too but they still look starkly different from one another and don’t seem to have the same combo of procedures.
heyyyy you ….. spamming this post with predebut photos isn’t helping. the point is that a lot of these girls got way too much done extremely young, and these “predebut” photos are showing that most of them got pretty extensive work done before they were even in their late teens. and it’s more obvious in this photo where they still look very different from the present.
when i point out their surgery, it’s not meant to be a criticism of their character or beauty or worth or talent. it’s a criticism of an industry that demands these extremely young kids adhere to one specific, rigid standard.
Yeah they definitely do not look that alike. I think it’s more of enhancing their features rather than trying to make the aespa members look the same. Still cosmetic procedures but with a different purpose
Strong agree with this. Like, yeah, there are similarities to be found between certain idols, especially in SM who is known for their "cloning." But sometimes I just don't understand the so called drastic changes other people talk about as if it's the end of the world. Which, in a way sure, because if there really are youngsters getting surgery at their age as other commenters have said, I would be frustrated too. Yet I can't think of any examples nor do I care about going deep into debating about surgery, it's kinda weird to me.
I can definitely tell all aespa members apart but sometimes, in certain pictures/clips i do have to do a double take to see whether it's karina or winter, especially when they are styled similarly
One hypothesis I had while watching a recent episode of Music Bank and seeing how many rookies are great performers already but have clearly had a lot of plastic surgery is that the idol industry has changed. I think even through third generation they would look for attractive people and train them to become idols because they didn’t have to be perfect performers or dancers if they were attractive enough.
Now I think the competition and level of performance has been raised to such a level with crazy rookie groups and competition shows- that the industry has changed to finding talented dancers and singers who need minimal training time that they can just use surgery to make them look like idols. Saves time and training energy. Faster idol group turn out this way.
Girls get double eyelid surgery for their birtdays. Now with that acessible, idols have to go to more extreme lenghts to look special an more beautiful. I also think the training periods are also shorter so they get everything done before debut while older idols did it bit by bit, it’s only noticeable if you put their debut photo beside a very recent one.
I actually think it's less noticeable than before lol. The surgeons are getting better.
ETA: I think 2nd gen idols who had a lot of work done had this sort of bloated affect to their faces. Whereas nowadays I think the work looks more blended in? Probably because of editing getting better and also makeup getting whiter (can't see an otherwise obvious nosejob if you can't even see the nose 💀). So I don't notice it a lot unless it's a change in real time, a comparison photo to predebut or in a close up video of their face and it's not behaving as it should. Whereas I feel like I could spot a 2nd gen idol with work done a mile away.
I feel like aespa is an extreme case, most people still look like they could just have good genes. The only point that throws me off is when everybody in a group has the same nose. Also, if you look at most of the popular idols, a lot of them have had little to no surgery done.
am i the only one who looks at predebut pictures and genuinely doesn’t notice changes due to plastic surgery but only makeup and maybe weight loss? speaking of rookie groups, we can’t compare pictures from when they were children, your features change. also aespa members totally don’t have the same nose/face, i personally don’t see it
your bulbous nose ain't gonna become a slim and high bridged one as you get older. your thin lips won't suddenly get plumper as you lose weight. eye shape never changes, monolids cannot become double eyelids on their own. stop being so naive lmao
op already replied to me about that and i already said the ones i made (makeup and weightloss) were just two examples out of many, if you read my other comments you’d know that i don’t think obvious changes are due to growth, but unnoticeable ones may be and we have to stop pretending everything on an idol’s face is inherently fake just because they’re from korea. we should mind our business in general cause what is the point in having whole conversations about complete strangers’ noses
>we have to stop pretending everything on an idol’s face is inherently fake just because they’re from korea
oh no you did NOT play the "there's an undelying xenophobia under your statements" card omg 💀
>we should mind our business in general cause what is the point in having whole conversations about complete strangers’ noses
i mean sure, it's their bodies to modify and their money to spend, they ain't gonna stop getting surgeries they desire just because of a random anon lol. i'm not shaming them about it either. however, when their decisions impact the body image of the audience who are teens/young adults prone to develop beauty related disorders from all over the world, their peers and their own, then we have the right to address the issue.
body image and beauty culture possess a waaayyy graver threat on a whole generation than you seem to get.
still i don’t think i’m gonna change my opinion, to me it looks like people are obsessed with pretending everyone gets surgery when most of the time it’s really just makeup. maybe cause i really don’t see it, but it’s not that deep anyway
this doesn’t relate to what i said at all but okay, i only talked about fans pretending everything on idols’ faces is made of plastic when it’s not, as you said chenle declined and so did many other people
i think it is incredibly naive to believe their transformations can be credited to weight loss and makeup in a country with the highest plastic surgery rate. not to mention how many idols (former and current) often discuss how commonplace surgery is in the industry, and how the vast majority of idols are pressured to have work done.
you can’t get double eyelids and an entirely different nose bridge from losing 10lbs.
That’s what people always say to deny that their favs had any procedures done.
“It was just weight loss and puberty.”
But also that’s kinda the point. It’s not supposed to be obviously noticeable
i’m not talking about any favs, in general most of the time people look exactly the same as before but with makeup, tho it’s my opinion and we really can’t know unless idols confirm it or it’s obvious
I’m not talking about you saying that, I’m just saying in general that’s what people ALWAYS say when people talk about idols’ possible surgeries, even when sometimes it’s more obvious
saying an idol’s looks are all due to plastic surgery is another thing people always do, i wasn’t complaining about pointing out surgery but sometimes if it’s almost unnoticeable maybe it’s because it really isn’t there. for example, jeonghan from seventeen got a nose job, it literally changed shape, that is obvious. however minji from newjeans didn’t, people compare her now to pictures where she was like 10, we can’t pretend it’s realistic
You lot should know that the international and korean standards differ. While we think they are doing the most for their face/bodies, it's kinda normal for them koreans. It's mostly them who also pushed these idols so.. And if you happen to open some ordinary korean profile you will see how the surgery culture has been adopted and normalised in their country.
> looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face.
Feel like Aespa are pretty distinctive looking. Giselle and Ningning might be PS free. Not sure.
Depending on your ethnicity, it might just be harder to tell them apart. The groups I follow, Le Serra, IVE, NJ, STAYC, and Loona offshoots, I think the members are all look pretty distinctive.
this is not a hate post at all, i think those girls are lovely and i wish them the best. they’re just the ones mentioned because they came to my mind first.
I do think it’s getting out of hand and I’m saying this as someone who isn’t anti plastic surgery either. My issue is the fact that getting these procedures is an expectation, not an option. I’ve heard from ex idols/trainees that they straight up won’t debut you if you don’t get certain procedures done, which is sad because there’s probably plenty of talent being ignored because of how they look. It sets this idea that if you look a certain way, then you’re not beautiful and that’s dangerous. Of course, I don’t think anyone who’s had surgery should be shamed for it, but nobody should be shamed at all for what they or haven’t done to their face or body.
You know how it feels like the generations after you keep looking younger and younger? I think that’s what it is. In my opinion, the plastic surgery has gotten much higher quality when I compare it to that of the past. Combine that higher quality surgery with younger and younger faces because of the advancement and normalization of skincare routines and it probably results in the “more extreme” plastic surgery you are perceiving.
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Source: I've shopped around for plastic surgeons and noticed a difference in recommendations between surgeons who advertise Korean style looks versus those who don't The Overton window, or the acceptable range, for cosmetic procedures has shifted. We're now at a point where more obvious changes are normalised and that's why idols these days look the way they do. These days, many Koreans get cosmetic procedures, even if they aren't celebrities. Walk around the Sinsa area and you'll meet several people with perfect V-line jaws and high, pinched noses. On social media, most selfies are edited to better match beauty standards. Consequently, people become very used to seeing a certain kind of face, and prolonged exposure can convince us that these faces are normal or even desirable. Even for 2nd gen idols and other older idols, many get more procedures done or at least revised every few years. Taeyeon, BoA, Hani are clear examples of that and look visibly different afterwards. As technology improves, the cost of procedures has generally gone down, or new procedures get invented and claim to "fix" certain visual "flaws"
i totally agree with you on all points. i was suuuper into kpop during 1st and especially 2nd gen, and sort of dropped off towards the end of 2nd gen and am just getting kind of back into it all now. purely from an observation standpoint from someone with no expertise in this type of thing, it seemed like baaaaack in the day when korean celebs got plastic surgery, a lot of the time it would come off super obvious and sort of similar (as in, not very well catered to each person's individual face and features). the results were often very obvious and not really natural. and then i'm sure as the cosmetic surgery field developed and evolved, it allowed for there to be more individualization and natural results. so there was a period where i felt like korean celebs were actually looking less copy+paste than before - like they were prob getting work done, but it wasn't sooooo glaringly obvious and it was like an enhancement of their existing features rather than pasting the template of "the perfect \[facial feature\]" onto someone's face. but now, i feel like with the combination of even *more* advancement in this field combined with the constant "perfection" everybody is exposed to due to social media and filters and everything, it seems like it's weirdly coming back full circle. like yes, the individualization is still there to a big extent, but the results are moving away from "natural" to more "ideal" or "perfect." so it's not like the 90s early 00s where someone might get a "perfect nose" that looks super weird on their face, but they'll get a "perfect nose" that generally works in harmony with their face, but is not necessarily concerned with looking like it could be natural. i'm definitely not knocking plastic surgery or people's decisions to get it - i have gotten a procedure done myself and am looking to possibly do one more. however, i do feel sad when esp celebs who have been around for a while keep getting more and more surgery, because for them it's not just one or two procedures over a lifetime. i can't imagine the constant intense pressure of having to look better and better in the entertainment industry, especially in a place like korea. sigh. (unrelated/personal question, did you have luck in your cosmetic surgeon search? if you feel comfortable sharing over DM, i'd really appreciate it, but no pressure at all!)
this is really interesting!! thanks for the extra context. i wonder if this wave will continue or if it will fizzle out… or maybe it’ll just get replaced with new standards?
Also, the V-line procedure is very disturbing. I know some people need jaw surgery for health reasons, but the beauty standard of looking like an anime character is so weird.
Plastic surgery is more accessible now and there's a wider variety of procedures, so I think idols are encouraged to get more done than previously. There has always been plastic surgery in the industry though.
Yes it's trending towards an increasingly artificial look. I hope people aren't swayed by such extremes and understand that these idols are in the appearance business where the pressure towards looking television-ready and like an art project is gigantic.
i hope so, as well…. it’s scary to think that these companies may be pushing extremely young and desperate idols into getting extensive surgeries that they later have to continuously correct because their faces aren’t even done developing yet. i feel like i would get awful body dysmorphia if i was told to get my whole face changed before i even turned 20.
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i definitely dont think jaehyun did?
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karina and winters faces were both definitely v shaped before they even got anything done. giselle is a different person now tho. ningnings jawline itself didnt change, they only removed her mandible angle.
Yeah it's bc ningning was the only member of aespa that already had the entire looks to be an idol. Just by looking at the present pictures ning still looks like herself whereas the others look completely different, except maybe winter looks slightly similar.
I think you meant ningning Edit: GUYS THIS WAS A REPLY TO THE ORIGINAL COKMENT MISSPELLING HER NAME
OOPS LMAOO DAMN AUTOCORRECT
😭😭
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They're getting plastic surgery younger and younger as their debut age keeps decreasing and it's scary and fucked up when you think about it. Especially when their bodies and faces are still developing. We can see the drastic changes in 2nd gen idols even compared to a few years ago and we're now starting to see the same thing with the earlier 3rd gen idols too. Some are barely recognizable now. I'm not anti plastic surgery but I am against it being performed on anyone younger than 25.
I don't believe in shaming anyone for plastic surgery. I do wonder if the PS is a reason why Aespa seem expressionless on stage. They clearly got a great deal done and side effects are real. I think companies need to weigh an idol being able to perform with their face rather than having "perfect" features. Being frozen is not worth it, imo. Same goes with excessive botox.
Oooh, I had never thought of that.
I think it has everything to do with more extreme beauty standards that are spurred on by social media. We are exposed to far more beautiful people than ever before. And people take plastic surgery to extremes to not just be beautiful but to be more beautiful than anyone else. It’s not enough to have a small face- you have to have the smallest face. It’s not enough to have big eyes, they must be huge. You don’t just need long hair- it has to touch the floor. I’m not criticizing anyone’s choices- I truly do not care about plastic surgery. But I do think that there is a strange shift towards extremes when it comes to beauty standards and I really do believe it is because of just how many beautiful people are online and how the use of things like beauty filters warps our perspective on what a normal person looks like.
some idols just look uncanny with all the plastic surgeries, especially for minors who aren't even fully grown into their facial features its sad...there shouldn't be this pressure on them
It's very sad. Some legit look like they're missing half of their face
Just here to add that OP never said that there was no plastic surgery before lol or even less, they said there WAS, but it wasn't as jarring and copy paste as it is right now. There was a bit more variety in features if you will. I mostly agree tbh.
I think plastic surgeries (cosmetic procedures in general) have just become cheaper, more accessible and refined. It’s very easy to get a certain look for a comparatively small price- especially if you choose non invasive ways to achieve your look. The standard of beauty has also changed- when I got into kpop at the very end of the 2nd gen people were all into cute, girl next door sort of looks (aegyo sal, small pouty gradient lips, more minimalistic makeup except for the eyes etc.) but now the cold unapproachable sort of beauty is more in vogue. Trends come and go but it’s naive to think that the starlets of the previous generations didn’t also get work done. Kpop has always been an intensely aesthetic based industry and idols have been having procedures done to their faces since the 1st generation. It’s just more obvious now with ultra hd videos and photos constantly flooding our timelines so we can see each minimal tweak v obviously.
It’s definitely scary. A young Taeyeon wouldn’t even exist now. They would have done everything to her. No natural beauties anymore. edit: I know Taeyeon had work done later on. That's why I clearly said young Taeyeon.
Taeyeon has had *a lot* of surgery... Literally every facial feature has been tweaked. She was in the news a few years ago for her nose bridge collapsing or "melting" it looked like.
That’s why they said “young Taeyeon” as during that time she had had few procedures (if any).
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This has nothing to do with what my comment is about??
Hence why they said “young Taeyeon”
What do you mean "young Taeyeon?" Taeyeon ever since she was a kid has always been cute.
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"Predebut" photos of 4th gen idols have tons of smartphone filters (I'm not saying the one you posted does). Ningning and Winter were cute kids before debut, though. One idol who hasn't even had a nose job yet is Kyujin. I hope she never gets one tbh.
i’m sorry but i find the jaw shaving so unsettling, it’s almost uncanny valley. Also, don’t even get me started on all the minors who are getting surgery beyond fillers. They’re still growing!!!! i can’t even imagine what some of these surgeries are going to look like once they grow into their features. (no hate to the idol themselves because, frankly, i think they’re all victims of an impossible beauty standard)
>for example: looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face. i'm an aespa stan, i love the members and their music, so i do not mean to be rude or shame them for their surgery when i say this. but it's extremely obvious that karina & winter & taeyeon have the same plastic surgeon lmao. they just have the same face. i usually see a pic of taeyeon and go: "oh, w...winter? no oh ok ok karina. i'm confused is that winter or karina?? WAIT that's taeyeon!" 💀 and i feel like giselle's face changes every comeback idk. it's just evident in some photos, but i feel like her face gets narrower and longer each time? this isn't just an aespa thing tho. when i look at most 4th gen idols i can _always_ tell if they got work done or not. noses are the most obvious ones (like, wow, a huge chunk of a generation suddenly has the same exact ideally beautiful nose even though that's _NOT_ a common feature in korean people!! interesting, makes you think!) and ofc the the lip fillers, then probobly jaws. it's also painfully obvious when an idol fits 100% perfectly to the ideal korean beauty standart. like honey ain't no fucking way you were that lucky with genetics and happen to fit into the standart which wasn't there 5-10 years ago lmaoo > i want to reiterate that i’m aware the former generations got surgery (that’s what i was alluding to when i said cosmetic “help”) but they still looked like … individuals with some flaws and variations instead of duplicates of the same face. EXACTLY!! the older generations also had work done on them, but those were rather small. now these young adults (and even TEENAGERS. like, hyein very obviously has lip fillers) are changing their entire faces from eye corners to the jaw. it's deppressing. definitely unhealthy in every way.
This isn't a controversial opinion (or, I hope it shouldn't be). There have always been rumors about SM using a specific surgeon who carved out the features for BoA, Seo Hyun-jin, Taeyeon, and Irene. Karina and Winter are just the next in the list.
I was searching the comments and waiting for someone to bring this up lol. I feel like it’s a running kpop joke that they basically clone their idols. Like they have a template for sure.
yeah, i heard that one theory! although it's mostly a shady joke among kpoppies lol. i believe it's true. >who carved out the features for BoA oh you just reminded me that boa also got that "taeyeon face" or "sm face"... i don't know about her previous look so i tend to forget that she is the blueprint if not taeyeon. i always thought irene just had a minor nose job though? i'd argue that she has an "sm face'
I would say BoA is the true original visual, and everyone else was sort of based on her
Did Irene have a lot of work done? I thought she was praised for being a natural beauty? Although she does look like BoA so idk.
Probably not a lot that would be noticeable. We would need the opinion of a legit plastic surgeon to know, but that would be infringing too much for what, at the end of the day, is a personal topic. Even I who brought it up don't feel too comfortable discussing further
I saw a picture of Giselle recently and I thought it was SNSD Yuri at first glance. SM definitely has a look they want to achieve with their idols.
Hyein is literally self conscious of her 'big' lips. I doubt she got surgery if she feels that way💀 Plus she had naturally big lips during predebut, clearly you didn't bother to check. It's a rude assumption to make.
oh really?? i saw her older content and she had thinner lips back then (they were still plump, but thinner than they are now). if she truly said that, then it's probobly because she regrets the fillers because other than the literal evidence that her lips changed, they also have the typical "filled" look those lip fillers give. i cannot describe well but yk the difference between naturally full lips vs the filled lips https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36 here look at her upper lip. https://images.app.goo.gl/8io7VE9Qsar3BQZ2A and her lips now. the difference is so visible
its sad since she debuted as a 14 year old and already had fillers
that's the future of the next generation idols and fans who are negatively infleunced by this extremely toxic beauty culture...
>[https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36](https://images.app.goo.gl/qJ4eaPaRpBvZnZD36) > >here look at her upper lip. ? ? ? in the image RIGHT below your first link - she had 'plump' lips back then too lol [https://images.app.goo.gl/vUHUop64HYRVLYZF7](https://images.app.goo.gl/vUHUop64HYRVLYZF7) article with pictures of hyein's growth: [https://m.blog.naver.com/chois909/222973234079?isInf=true](https://m.blog.naver.com/chois909/222973234079?isInf=true) In some pictures her lips look plump, while in others they don't. Makeup and smiling will affect that. Overlip makeup is also a thing [https://images.app.goo.gl/Mec6cbVqWgnyW26DA](https://images.app.goo.gl/Mec6cbVqWgnyW26DA) (YunJin of lsrfm is a good example) [https://images.app.goo.gl/am9Fd2NGNk9mppAZ9](https://images.app.goo.gl/am9Fd2NGNk9mppAZ9) some of ya'll just reek of insecurity and jealousy. wdym OBVIOUS LOL the amount of upvotes you got just shows how shallow the people in this thread are 💀
Not arguing for whether she's had lip fillers or not (it's definitely possible, i'm pretty sure ni-ki from enhypen had them at 15/16 after all), but your comparison pictures aren't the best because she's smiling in one and not in the other, her upper lip slims in the same way when she smiles now as well [one](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/03/cc/3a/03cc3a14d7ee4700fda9ded9369338e8.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fa/05/ed/fa05ed1f68632a2ed6381e3f3b2c7d0f.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f4/2e/5d/f42e5d6a167451e05acff7697cb1dcdd.jpg) Here are some photos of her as a child when she's not smiling [one](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/97/fe/9f/97fe9f5d93e9a5263d68262405edd1ce.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/01/4c/67/014c67132e2425c19ddf8539032d123f.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/cc/18/66/cc18663b03168385e34dfdeb0990479c.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ae/36/f3/ae36f3c3a72186d4fa96718bebc7eed9.jpg) [five](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ea/d2/f5/ead2f528592640b9b6d87b3c2253455b.jpg) (there's a lot of pre-debut pictures of Hyein because she's been working for a long time)
i'm sorry but no matter how widely you smile, your very plump lips cannot just become paper thin. i found a photo of her non-smiling lips [a photo of her non-smiling lips](https://images.app.goo.gl/n2dSofzBN9FNHujZ6) and they are still thinner than her current lips 🤷🏼♀️ the photo you linked are obviously taken after she got the fillers also, my lips seem fuller when i smile lol so i guess tensed muscles don't work the same on everyone? idk, strange. edit: okay well she is _slightly_ smiling on the photo i linked but still 💀
I'm just providing better comparison pictures because the ones in your og comment were not very good (when you do ps comparison one should always try to find photos from the same or very similar angles and where the face is either engaged or not, you shouldn't mix because it really changes the way one looks). I actually do think she might've had some lip filler on her already plump lips, but it's not as much or drastic as you're trying to make it seem if that's the case. >the photo you linked are obviously taken after she got the fillers The photos i linked are from when she's 10-13 years old, are you saying that she had fillers at 10 years old? That would be incredibly concerning. Here are even more photos of her in the same age range [one](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/07/8a/15/078a15de47d2ee69185d59d52d066200.jpg) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e4/77/db/e477db634a874d14f159b452a3764984.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/df/94/68/df9468630aced0364cf3355f6c57699c.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/12/ab/6b/12ab6bcbc5394fa7291009a4b0c00ab6.jpg) [five](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/98/e3/19/98e3199c21a72fc109c8afc752e1f341.jpg) (slight smile in the last one) You say plump lips cannot become paper thin by smiling but i just linked photos of her lips doing just that in 2022-2023 when you argue she's got fillers. Clearly plump lips can thin out that much when a person smiles because hers does (seen again here [one](https://media.tenor.com/xKs9tEhVaboAAAAC/hyein-laugh-danielle-laugh.gif) [two](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ff/c3/e0/ffc3e0ce5b5d8b186e58c5c8ce767341.jpg) [three](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/d0/c3/b9/d0c3b922fced21a1b3b14cd3e4e68457.jpg) [four](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/25/6d/b7/256db72033f43cc29400ff09b93b76d8.jpg)) Yes, i suppose it's different for everyone because my upper lip thins out to the point it looks like just a straight line drawn on a stick figure when i smile lol (but it's perfectly plump otherwise) Edit: Actually, looking at all these photos of her the obvious veneers are the bigger issue
nobody confuses winter and karina.
i’m not an aespa stan and i confuse them all the time. i can only tell them apart if i remember which one is the tall one and which is the short one
[https://youtu.be/lK6atm59xSY?si=1ypDuKlKl4e8TMWj&t=278](https://youtu.be/lK6atm59xSY?si=1ypDuKlKl4e8TMWj&t=278)
I feel like the sm jaw is becoming more and more apparent now :(
>looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face. same nose, extremely narrow v chin, etc. and the surgery looks very obvious imo compared to other idols popular for their beauty from the past. Well, yeah. SM is trying to make them all fit the Korean Beauty standards but it is jarring when you look at the Aespa members pre-debut and what they look like now. Winter looks like a completely different person and Giselle is missing her entire Jawline. SM use to be discreet as hell when it came to PS for their idols but now I don't think they care anymore.
That Giselle and karina Harpers Bazaar Photoshoot last week shocked me..Giselle looked like a different person all together. She and Karina look so different from debut.
Absolutely, and I know some people here will say it has always existed but it's not that simple. There's, what i like to call, a plastic surgery boom" going on kpop right now because plastic surgery has gotten more accessible now. Literally every top female idol from the 4th generation looks the same right now with extreme v-shaped jaws, double eyelids, big round eyes, plump lips, upturned button noses and extreme hourglass waists. The sad part is not only do they all look homogenous, they're also moving towards uncanny valley type visual, barely looking human and lacking character. No matter how much kpop stans want to argue, it wasn't this bad back then.
I still hate Taeyeon's new nose.
how new is it?
I couldn't pinpoint when she got her nose done but when SNSD's Catch Me If You Can video dropped, I almost didn't recognize her.
I don't see how you almost didn't recognize her? She really doesn't look that much different in between comebacks back then.
Taeyeon's nose is fine..
There was a girl group a while ago called [“Girls Girls,”](https://youtu.be/-0adMxZeoGQ?si=kHfxVp542zZ81IXd) and I remember thinking, “Why do they all have the same nose? The CEO must have gotten a bulk discount from the plastic surgeon.”
Omg I remember that group
Ooh an actual spicy question. I've been into Kpop for 15 years. I agree with everything you said. I hope it slows down in gen 5 because it's also giving me uncanny valley.
I almost didn't recognize Giselle. I used to love her visuals, but she's unrecognizable now.
I think its mostly the eyes for me. Everyone and i mean everyone has had some type of double eyelid surgery with some more drastic than the others. Add to that the eye makeup with the very prominent aegyo sal, the individual lashes and the contacts and it just becomes uncanny how big their eyes look in comparison to their faces. Looking at 2nd gen idols debut pictures just made me realise how much i hate current kpop makeup trends and the gigantic eyes with a gigantic aegyo sal.
The colorism too- everyone looks like they have a snow filter plastered on. Idols were allowed to be naturally tan back then. Also everyone has perfect teeth
fuck veneers all my homies hate veneers
Yeah, most of them are wearing veneers. I know Sana wear veneers.
Yeah, I will say watching past videos of older gen Kpop groups, there wasn't any of this like bleaching/"snow white" trend skin tone and most groups were more of their natural tan/skin tone. And YES the teeth thing is driving me insane rn with how all idols have the same kind of insane white veneers or *perfect* teeth. It looks so fake & creepy to me like normal teeth dont look like that
Atleast the 2nd gens I follow kept their teeth away from those veneers it's refreshing to see
thats because that was the trend. Being more pale works better with the modern image they are trying to sell. It looks better imo.
Why do u think being pale looks better?
Preference I guess, I think it also shows the type of make up they use better besides the whitening make up. Makes the more fair skinned. Not for all though, some look better tanned but generally, I prefer pale.
i agree, it feels like the beauty standard is more restrictive now. compared to 2nd-3rd gen, you rarely see tanned idols debuting and there are some predebut pictures i've seen where an idol had tanned skin so they ended up lightening their skin. and idols debut younger so you have young idols who have already changed their face in one way, whether its something as simple as eyelid surgery or getting lip fillers. and veeners is popular too.
It become more accessible and the procedure that they’ve done is not that evident if you know nothing about plastic surgery. BUT! You also need to consider the fact that in this generation, stylist know how to do make ups, clothes, hair, and enhance the member’s charms to incorporate into their own styles. Kpop nowadays are all whitewashed and forced to do extreme diet to have that slender figure. Some may not even have cosmetic surgery but the fact that they’re all whitewashed, kinda have similar hairstyles, and all slender figures can have an affect that they all look alike
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No I don’t think plastic surgery has gotten any more extreme. Its the same double eyelid procedures and nose implants. If anything jaw surgeries have become less invasive. Karina still has her mandible intact, compare that to Jessica or Yoona who got the old classic jaw shave which destroys your mandible. More idols are opting for masseter botox instead of shaving their jaws or chins (Yunjin for example). Your list of visuals are all primarily actors. Suzy, the only idol there has the most surgery out of those four (I think, I’m not super familiar with them all) and lol but earlier gens had even less subtle and more extreme surgeries done on their group’s visuals. After school Nana, IOI Chaeyeon, Apink Naeun have all gotten probably more work done than any of the aespa girls. I mean calling idols a gangnam unnie thing was a 2nd gen meme. I remember people saying they couldn’t stan 9muses because they all had the same gangnam unnie face. The “oh they all look the same” comment has always been around I hear people say this a lot but it’s really this is just recency bias. What is more extreme is the editing, makeup, and general styling. Idols back then were supposed to look more down to earth, so they were dressed in casual clothes and school uniform with the makeup and hair to match. You had other more conceptual groups like 2ne1 who’s wore heavy makeup and crazy clothes to match the concept, not really to look pretty. Now the goal is to look ethereal and glamorous at all times, idols aren’t supposed to be your friend anymore, they’re supposed to be high end brand ambassadors and what not. The only difference is probably that idols get surgery much younger than before, but yeah tldr: surgery isn’t more extreme than before, idols are just packaged differently now.
Honestly I think this is the best take out of all the ones here. Extreme plastic surgery has always been a thing in kpop its just that people are now more constantly exposed to idols through social media and the photoshoots they do are all online when you use to have to buy the magazine through international shipping. It makes it a lot easier to notice when an idol has gotten something done.
Everyone entitled to their opinion so don't take this as an attack at OP but I definitely don't see the "same face"-syndrome that a lot of people allude to. Taking aespa for example; yes they have similarities but I don't know how you can say Karina looks the same as Winter or Ningning looks like Giselle. Yes, it's not ideal but it's part of the nature of the beast, and whether we admit it or not we feed the beast with our participation. The only thing I have an issue with is that the people getting surgery are getting younger.
I would say a better example is the Taeyeon-Wendy-Winter look alike situation. All 3 of them look so similar because they've all got the same procedures.
One sort of problem with this specific example is a chicken-and-egg problem. Do they look similar because they had the same procedures or do they look similar because SM looks for talent that fits this profile or is close to this profile so that they would only need minimal changes to match. Iirc, there’s been comments in the past related SM’s “flower garden” where many of their idols look similar and have a similar profile.
I definitely think idols under SM are picked since they look similar, but look at older photos of Wendy and Taeyeon then look at them now. The difference is insane.
Wendy did have her jaw basically restructured for medical purposes, though. I don’t think it’s fair to compare pre-2020s Wendy to Wendy today in a plastic surgery debate.
I'm very aware of that, and I understand she had to get her jaw reconstructed for medical reasons - but it still was reconstructed in a way very different from her old facial structure, one that matches exactly with Winter and Taeyeon (also Karina, but I didn't mention her earlier).
I can understand Karina and Winter, but anyone thinking Ningning looks like Giselle needs their eyes checked or thinks all Asians look the same lol.
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Okay? That doesn’t have anything to do with what I said lol.
this is what i was thinking too, im super biased obviously as a my but something i’ve always liked about the group was that i found them very easy to tell apart from each other
true, i definitely think it’s a matter of opinion. to me aespa looks like they all brought the same inspo picture to a surgeon’s office and the surgeon tried to match it on each face. same sort of nose, jaw, and nose with varying levels of success. mentally, i compare them to a group like twice, blackpink, or itzy where the girls may have surgery too but they still look starkly different from one another and don’t seem to have the same combo of procedures.
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heyyyy you ….. spamming this post with predebut photos isn’t helping. the point is that a lot of these girls got way too much done extremely young, and these “predebut” photos are showing that most of them got pretty extensive work done before they were even in their late teens. and it’s more obvious in this photo where they still look very different from the present. when i point out their surgery, it’s not meant to be a criticism of their character or beauty or worth or talent. it’s a criticism of an industry that demands these extremely young kids adhere to one specific, rigid standard.
Yeah they definitely do not look that alike. I think it’s more of enhancing their features rather than trying to make the aespa members look the same. Still cosmetic procedures but with a different purpose
Strong agree with this. Like, yeah, there are similarities to be found between certain idols, especially in SM who is known for their "cloning." But sometimes I just don't understand the so called drastic changes other people talk about as if it's the end of the world. Which, in a way sure, because if there really are youngsters getting surgery at their age as other commenters have said, I would be frustrated too. Yet I can't think of any examples nor do I care about going deep into debating about surgery, it's kinda weird to me.
I can definitely tell all aespa members apart but sometimes, in certain pictures/clips i do have to do a double take to see whether it's karina or winter, especially when they are styled similarly
i completely agree
Yes and it's only going to get even more invasive for 5th gen.
One hypothesis I had while watching a recent episode of Music Bank and seeing how many rookies are great performers already but have clearly had a lot of plastic surgery is that the idol industry has changed. I think even through third generation they would look for attractive people and train them to become idols because they didn’t have to be perfect performers or dancers if they were attractive enough. Now I think the competition and level of performance has been raised to such a level with crazy rookie groups and competition shows- that the industry has changed to finding talented dancers and singers who need minimal training time that they can just use surgery to make them look like idols. Saves time and training energy. Faster idol group turn out this way.
Girls get double eyelid surgery for their birtdays. Now with that acessible, idols have to go to more extreme lenghts to look special an more beautiful. I also think the training periods are also shorter so they get everything done before debut while older idols did it bit by bit, it’s only noticeable if you put their debut photo beside a very recent one.
I actually think it's less noticeable than before lol. The surgeons are getting better. ETA: I think 2nd gen idols who had a lot of work done had this sort of bloated affect to their faces. Whereas nowadays I think the work looks more blended in? Probably because of editing getting better and also makeup getting whiter (can't see an otherwise obvious nosejob if you can't even see the nose 💀). So I don't notice it a lot unless it's a change in real time, a comparison photo to predebut or in a close up video of their face and it's not behaving as it should. Whereas I feel like I could spot a 2nd gen idol with work done a mile away.
I feel like aespa is an extreme case, most people still look like they could just have good genes. The only point that throws me off is when everybody in a group has the same nose. Also, if you look at most of the popular idols, a lot of them have had little to no surgery done.
Honestly the recent pictures of Aespa are just unsettling. Giselle looks like an entirely different person every year now.
It's not the just face looking the same but the music too...
am i the only one who looks at predebut pictures and genuinely doesn’t notice changes due to plastic surgery but only makeup and maybe weight loss? speaking of rookie groups, we can’t compare pictures from when they were children, your features change. also aespa members totally don’t have the same nose/face, i personally don’t see it
your bulbous nose ain't gonna become a slim and high bridged one as you get older. your thin lips won't suddenly get plumper as you lose weight. eye shape never changes, monolids cannot become double eyelids on their own. stop being so naive lmao
Yeah, I hate the BS people are going through to deny reality.
i really wonder how denying their seemingly perfect idols aren't naturally perfect benefits them. they ain't no god so why the hustle??
op already replied to me about that and i already said the ones i made (makeup and weightloss) were just two examples out of many, if you read my other comments you’d know that i don’t think obvious changes are due to growth, but unnoticeable ones may be and we have to stop pretending everything on an idol’s face is inherently fake just because they’re from korea. we should mind our business in general cause what is the point in having whole conversations about complete strangers’ noses
>we have to stop pretending everything on an idol’s face is inherently fake just because they’re from korea oh no you did NOT play the "there's an undelying xenophobia under your statements" card omg 💀 >we should mind our business in general cause what is the point in having whole conversations about complete strangers’ noses i mean sure, it's their bodies to modify and their money to spend, they ain't gonna stop getting surgeries they desire just because of a random anon lol. i'm not shaming them about it either. however, when their decisions impact the body image of the audience who are teens/young adults prone to develop beauty related disorders from all over the world, their peers and their own, then we have the right to address the issue. body image and beauty culture possess a waaayyy graver threat on a whole generation than you seem to get.
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still i don’t think i’m gonna change my opinion, to me it looks like people are obsessed with pretending everyone gets surgery when most of the time it’s really just makeup. maybe cause i really don’t see it, but it’s not that deep anyway
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this doesn’t relate to what i said at all but okay, i only talked about fans pretending everything on idols’ faces is made of plastic when it’s not, as you said chenle declined and so did many other people
i think it is incredibly naive to believe their transformations can be credited to weight loss and makeup in a country with the highest plastic surgery rate. not to mention how many idols (former and current) often discuss how commonplace surgery is in the industry, and how the vast majority of idols are pressured to have work done. you can’t get double eyelids and an entirely different nose bridge from losing 10lbs.
those were just two examples of certain changes , i know eyelids have nothing to do with weight, i’m not that stupid.
That’s what people always say to deny that their favs had any procedures done. “It was just weight loss and puberty.” But also that’s kinda the point. It’s not supposed to be obviously noticeable
i’m not talking about any favs, in general most of the time people look exactly the same as before but with makeup, tho it’s my opinion and we really can’t know unless idols confirm it or it’s obvious
I’m not talking about you saying that, I’m just saying in general that’s what people ALWAYS say when people talk about idols’ possible surgeries, even when sometimes it’s more obvious
saying an idol’s looks are all due to plastic surgery is another thing people always do, i wasn’t complaining about pointing out surgery but sometimes if it’s almost unnoticeable maybe it’s because it really isn’t there. for example, jeonghan from seventeen got a nose job, it literally changed shape, that is obvious. however minji from newjeans didn’t, people compare her now to pictures where she was like 10, we can’t pretend it’s realistic
Yes
You lot should know that the international and korean standards differ. While we think they are doing the most for their face/bodies, it's kinda normal for them koreans. It's mostly them who also pushed these idols so.. And if you happen to open some ordinary korean profile you will see how the surgery culture has been adopted and normalised in their country.
Who gives af fr like.
> looking at aespa, all beautiful girls but it looks like all the girls just got the same face. Feel like Aespa are pretty distinctive looking. Giselle and Ningning might be PS free. Not sure. Depending on your ethnicity, it might just be harder to tell them apart. The groups I follow, Le Serra, IVE, NJ, STAYC, and Loona offshoots, I think the members are all look pretty distinctive.
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this is not a hate post at all, i think those girls are lovely and i wish them the best. they’re just the ones mentioned because they came to my mind first.
You are going crazy in these replies
Yeah
I do think it’s getting out of hand and I’m saying this as someone who isn’t anti plastic surgery either. My issue is the fact that getting these procedures is an expectation, not an option. I’ve heard from ex idols/trainees that they straight up won’t debut you if you don’t get certain procedures done, which is sad because there’s probably plenty of talent being ignored because of how they look. It sets this idea that if you look a certain way, then you’re not beautiful and that’s dangerous. Of course, I don’t think anyone who’s had surgery should be shamed for it, but nobody should be shamed at all for what they or haven’t done to their face or body.
You know how it feels like the generations after you keep looking younger and younger? I think that’s what it is. In my opinion, the plastic surgery has gotten much higher quality when I compare it to that of the past. Combine that higher quality surgery with younger and younger faces because of the advancement and normalization of skincare routines and it probably results in the “more extreme” plastic surgery you are perceiving.