Belgian designer accuses Blackpink Jisoo’s team of delayed outfit return
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Jisoo attends the 2026 Met Gala on May 4, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL – A Belgian fashion designer has publicly accused the team of Blackpink’s Jisoo of failing to return clothing loaned to her for an album photo shoot, later clarifying that the matter is in the process of being resolved.
Benjamin Bortmans, founder of Belgian fashion label Judassime, initially claimed through a series of videos on social media platform Instagram that several garments sent to South Korea for Jisoo’s album cover shoot had not been returned for over six months.
The controversy began after he alleged that some pieces from his collection – which he described as “important archive items” – remained unreturned despite repeated attempts to contact those involved.
“Six months ago, I sent multiple pieces for Jisoo’s album cover project,” Bortmans said in one of the earlier videos that has since been deleted. “Some of them were very important archive pieces and extremely expensive.”
The brand’s official social media account also tagged K-pop musician Jisoo’s account in posts demanding the return of the garments. In a video, Bortmans claimed he had sent invoices and contracts related to the items in preparation for possible legal action, but had received no response.
In a follow-up video posted on May 6, he said he had received news “that everything is being solved”, adding that he was informed that arrangements would be made to retrieve the items.
After posting the follow-up video, Bortmans began receiving criticism online from people who argued he was unfairly calling out Jisoo over an issue that may not have been directly her responsibility.
“I never attacked Jisoo... I put her name in the title of the video to have a response from her team,” he said. “I used her name because it was a part of the shoot and her name was everywhere in all the e-mails and documents.”
He added that he harboured no negative feelings towards the singer and loves “everything she does and what she stands for”.
Bortmans nevertheless criticised the lack of communication surrounding the issue, saying it was “terrible” to go months without receiving any response regarding the missing items.
As at press time, Jisoo’s agency was not available for comment on the matter. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
