Olympic sharpshooter Kim Ye-ji brings her ‘aura’ to Balenciaga campaign
By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN
(CNN) — South Korean sharpshooter Kim Ye-ji, whose seemingly effortless shooting style and “aura” enthralled the internet this summer, is one of the stars of the latest Balenciaga campaign.
The 32-year-old Olympic silver medalist joins Romeo Beckham and singer Kim Petras in a series of photographs taken around Paris, in which the models splay out or pose with couches and chairs that look as if they’ve been left outside on moving day (though they are actually from Balenciaga creative director Demna’s personal furniture collection, per the press release).
“This is a Balenciaga Campaign” was shot by Juergen Teller, whose famed — and sometimes controversial — deadpan style is a fitting match for Kim’s own inscrutable sense of cool. As Olympic viewers reacted to Kim’s nonchalant shooting stance and futuristic eyewear in Paris this summer, an earlier video of her casually breaking a world record in Azerbaijan racked up millions of views.
Since then, Kim has landed several fashion and acting gigs, with a shoot for Louis Vuitton that ran in W Korea magazine and a role as an assassin in a TV series called “Crush.”
In the Balenciaga campaign, which highlights the label’s new handbags, she trades her famed black Fila outerwear for a denim bomber jacket paired with thigh-high cut-off jeans in one look, and a black mini dress in another.
Kim told CNN in October that she considers herself a “simple dresser,” wearing crop tops and jeans in her personal time and her team uniform for training or event days.
“I dress super plain, simple. But people tell me I look good,” she said.
The campaign was a collaboration between Teller and his wife and creative partner, Dovile Drizyte. It also features Beckham on a white sectional in front of the Eiffel Tower, and Petras on blue floral upholstery on a Paris side street; they’re joined by other models Sua Lee, Khadim Sock and Akolde Meen. In September, Beckham, the second son of David and Victoria Beckham, made a surprise runway debut for the fashion house in the French capital.
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