Hailey breaks down 13 looks, from WNDR to Go Off | Life in Looks | Vogue
Hi Vogue. This is Hailey and I'm going take you through my life in looks. I lived a lot in a short period of time so let's found out what is in here.
Oh, so we’re gonna start like that? Okay… That was my 20th birthday party. I want you guys to keep in mind that it was the first time I had money. I was still a silly teenager inside, so I just wore everything I thought was cool, all at once! That’s why I was so loaded with necklaces and bracelets.
This fringed Fendi bag was the cutest thing I had and I remember that I bought online in a vintage instagram account. Réalisation par still makes the simplest and prettiest dresses to this day, I loved that dress so much! It was so comfortable to wear, and I remember just wanting a cute, short dress that I could dance comfortably.
I LOST THIS JACKET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARTY, thank god, because this is a ugly jacket... Besides that, I have such good memories from that day because it was actually the first time I ever threw a birthday party, which was something I had in my whish list since I was a trainee.
Actually, Seulgi’s outfit at this party was way more iconic than mine. She made a statement with that little boat Chanel hat.
2. 2040 Ong World Concert
This was the time that I would personally call our "breakthrough" moment on a worldwide scale. We were very lucky to be well received by the korean public since our debut, which allowed us to become a very successful and stable K-pop girl group. Then we released the Kill Bill mini album, and we just exploded everywhere. I mean, it was insane!
Everything needed to be sexy and kinky for us, and I lived for it! I had the idea to wear this corset backwards because I thought the knots covering my chest would look cool and would match the details of my Moschino boots. The stylists were worried because I kept asking them to make it cinched, and they were like, "Can you even breathe in this?" But to me, the tighter, the better. I loved every leather-inspired look we wore. I felt like I was in my element wearing those types of outfits, and I felt really sexy performing React.
You know something funny? I wore a corset in almost every outfit when I was working with the group, and fans started saying that I was being mistreated because my outfits always looked the same. But in reality, I was the one who personally asked if I could wear a corset because I loved wearing them! They looked so chic to me, and every chance I had to wear one, I took it.
So, I don't know if you know or remember, but I used to be a global ambassador for this amazing brand called Moschino. This picture was taken when I attended one of their fashion shows during Milan Fashion Week.
Overall, this is outfit is very simple. The jacket fit me perfectly, it was slightly oversized at the shoulders and pockets, but it reached my waist so well. Those derby shoes made me look so cute, and the bag was a vintage piece from their '90s collection, which I took home because, look at it, it's so pretty. The glasses I'm wearing are a silly homage to Adrian Appiolaza, the creative director of the brand. He is such a sweetheart, and I'm grateful to have him as a friend til this day.
I loved working with them! Everybody was so kind and welcoming. Moschino was all about being playful and witty, their fashion runways always were different from each other and so we matched really well and I felt honored that they chose me as someone who could represent the image of the brand.
4. Get Stupid EP Release Party in Los Angeles
Usually, in K-pop, when you release an album, you hold a press conference or a showcase livestream to talk about the songs and the single. But since I no longer have a contract, I can say it: I hated doing those. It was so boring, I died a little inside every time. Like, nooooo! If I was about to drop something that significant, I want to celebrate by partying with everybody I worked with, my friends, and my fans! This was the first thing I planned while working on my solo debut, and it blended really well because all three/four songs were about partying.
Everything in this came from my personal closet. As you may notice, I love wearing jackets, it doesn’t matter if it’s a coat, denim, leather, or fur, like this Dries Van Noten you see me wearing. I actually I gave this jacket to charity because I don’t really have reasons to wear fur when I go out anymore. I also gave this prada mini skirt away. I mean, it’s gorgeous, but it's been ten years since this picture. My favorite part of this look is the fact that I’m wearing different earrings. I put them together like this because I lost the other pair of both earrings, so they just become a new pair. You know, couples that are different from each other can work sometimes.
If you compare this to the first look in this book, I think you can see a growth. My style didn’t change, I just learned how to present myself better, you know? I mean, I had to get my stylist’s approval before I went out but that's still improvement! For me, it was all about smoky eyes, messy hair and being slutty. What else can I say? I was twenty-two, blonde, and ready to get stupid.
5. 20th Years of ONG Entertaiment Special Party
You know when you're a little kid, dreaming about being a famous singer or actor? You imagine yourself dressed in a glamorous, unique gown at a prestigious event, winning a Grammy or a Oscar? Well, I reached a point in my career where I thought I was successful enough to make that dream happen. I wanted to see if I could get into Hollywood’s archival fashion department and borrow a dress for my label’s anniversary party. AND THEY LET ME!
So, this is a costume dress from a movie that I’ve never watched it, I have no idea what it’s about, but I know there was a princess in it and I took her dress for the night. And let me tell you, I have a LOT to say about that day. First of all, I walked barefoot on the carpet because nobody could see my feet under the dress, so I was like, "why bother wearing shoes?" I only put them on after I entered the venue. Basically, you can walk in this dress, but you cannot sit in a normal chair. So, I sat on the floor, on this huge red gown, and everything felt totally normal to me. But then I had to pee. Luckily, my bodyguard, who has been with me for years and knows me better than anyone, brought a winter coat for me to wear at the party. So, I took off the dress, went to the bathroom, and ended up spending the rest of the party in nothing but a black coat, underwear, and my Versace heels.
Could I have worn a sophisticated high fashion gown that was a normal size and actually comfortable? Yes! I would have looked gorgeous in it. But don’t you think doing something as insane as this feels more like me? I’m not an elegant or graceful person, I could never do classy without feeling like a total impostor. And honestly? I looked camp right in the eye, honey.
6. 1night Club Launch Event
This was when one of my dearest friends, Kayn from Arkam, launched his own club, and I would never have missed it for the world. It was also mandatory because he was dating our make-up artist.
Everything I’m wearing here is thrifted. I used to be a huge thrifter! I still am, but not as addicted as this girl here was! Nowadays, I'm more into exploring pieces in my closet that I thrifted a long time ago and never wore or remember i had it. I bought this jaguar-printed red coat at a vintage store in New York called What Comes Around Goes Around, and it's the piece that made this outfit screams Hailey.
I used to be obsessed with this skirt! I look so good on it, and you know the most important detail? It wasn’t a zippered skirt. It just had buttons in the front, and I could easily take them off. Normally, I’m not a plain-shirt-with-a-mini-skirt kind of girl, but if you look closely, this shirt didn’t have any buttons, it was just a knot holding everything together. And I don't wear bras, so I could have easily flashed someone with my tits. That's very me!
Yeah, it was a really fun night. I was one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave, and you know a party was good when that happens. That, and when you leave to have sex.
7. Purple Sun Teaser and Music Video
That was the first time I appeared with my natural black hair, and it was the result of a bet that I lost while playing mini-golf with the girls. We had agreed that the person who ranked last would have to dye her hair for our next comeback in a color chosen by the other three. I lost and they made me dye my hair black because the only time they had seen me with my natural hair was in my childhood pictures, that I only showed them because of some documentary we had to shoot and Kyungri still thought it was A.I.
You know those flashbacks of the dead wife you see in movies? That was plot of the music video. I invited some friends to go with me to Thailand, 'cause in my opinion they have the most beautiful sunsets and made my friend Jeremy film us with a digital camera. We to Koh Samui island and just have fun and make memories, and create a music video.
All the outfits, except this one, weren't planned, they were just my usual clothes. I wanted to have a shoot of me on the beach just during sunset or in when the night is ending when the sky turns purple. So, Jeremy and I spent the entire day at the beach, filming me swimming and playing around, just waiting for the perfect purple sky moment.
The purple bikini set is from Gimaguas and that it was my personal. The knit polo shirt isn’t from a brand but from an artist called Patrick Carroll, who creates art pieces through knitting. Occasionally, he knits clothing as artwork, and sells each piece as one-of-a-kind. My stylish dm’d him, asking if it was available for purchase because we thought "And I love so deep we can not measure!" perfectly captured the meaning of the song, which is inspired by the people I love the most in this world. It’s also felt incredibly cozy to wear it, and to this day, I wear it whenever I feel cold at home.
This was my first and only time performing a show by myself. I was working with Ludovic De Saint Sernin to design a custom-made outfit for the performance. They were showing me their archives to get my team inspired, and they showed this two-piece set. I fell in love with it!
I had a lot of hair extensions on. We had to glue my nipples to the top, not because I wasn't afraid to have a nip slip, 'cause hello, this top is made for it, but the fabric was so thin that we got scared there might be a wardrobe malfunction during the show. And it turned out great! This is one of my favorite stage outfits, it's just sickening. I was one of the first people in the lineup, so I went on stage during daylight. I was sweating a lot, nobody could even tell that i was actually feeling hot due to the weather 'cause this fit made even more sexy if my body was glowing with sweat. The crowd that day was insane, I swear it felt like the whole world was there and it was electrifying interacting with that many people.
I remember not feeling nervous at all that day, but something felt weird. Then I realized, I didn’t see Haneul praying for a moment backstage. That threw me off guard a bit, the fact that I would be doing this all by myself. Don't get me wrong, as I said, it was amazing have the opportunity to do a show like this, a lot of people praised my performance and i was very grateful, but I did realize that I wouldn’t be as happy in this industry as a solo artist compare to when I was in the group. So when the infamous day came, I found myself in a very privileged position where I could choose my well-being over a job.
9. Interview on the Tonight Show
This was me in New York, arriving at The Tonight Show. Dressing here for those types of schedules seems to be a big deal. I knew that people were already expecting me to wear something slutty, something revealing, so I decided to do the opposite of that.
This tie is from an independent brand based in London called Ella Boucht, they makes clothes for the queer and transmasculine community. They created a tie collection with words and phrases on it, and one of them had "dyke" written on it. The tailoring of this Alex Perry suit is amazing, the white shirt is from Moschino and the derby shoes are from nontitle.ml, which were so comfortable that I took them home even though I'm not someone who wears this type of shoe daily.
I just wanted to wear a look that was comfortable yet very memorable. Yeah, lesbians had a field day! I got more thirsty comments over this look than any bikinis photos on instagram, and I get it, I also would do anything for a woman in a suit.
10. Raye's Talk Show Interview
It's fun to noticed the difference between interviews in South Korea and the States. In Korea, you can show up to work for these schedules in a more casual look. Everything here feels more personal. Out of all my looks so far, this is the one that still represents who I am as a person and what I wear in my everyday life. I will never get tired of a jacket-and-jeans combo.
I'm very serious about my jeans collection, by the way. The key point is that my ass needs to look great in them, but they also need to be looser in the leg. I don’t like skinny jeans, but I don’t often wear baggy ones either. I'm not even joking when I say I can spend thirty minutes just looking for a pair to wear, I keep checking myself in front of a mirror, even do squats to make sure they’re comfortable. It’s a whole ritual with my jeans, and these Nili Lotan denims went through it as well.
This baby tee is one of those things I thrifted and then randomly found in my closet. When I saw it, I thought, "Wow, this is so pretty! I should wear it more!" And so I did! I still wear it to this day, it's my go-to whenever I leave the house to exercise. It’s become one of those tees that you wear so much that eventually will turn into your pajama, you know?
11. Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet
I feel like people expect me to explain this look in a deeper way than how I actually wore it. I was working with Ludovic de Saint Sernin team again, and they had this runway collection with this sheer dress on it. The model wore it with her breasts exposed, so I decided to do the same. In my opinion, if you want to wear something see-through, you should go all the way in, because sometimes if you try to cover it with a bra, it can look cheap. Oh my god, not me of all people, saying something is cheap. Anyways, I’m really comfortable with my body, always have been, so it wasn’t a problem for me at all.
One thing that was planned last minute was those David Koma gloves. In all my seven years working as a singer, I always tried my best to listen to the staff and work with them. However, our nail artist always got pissed with me because I would eventually cut my nails. So, they came up with the idea of using press-on nails, but I kept losing them. To save them from stress, I mostly wore gloves, especially on stage. Since this was an important event, and our last, I promised them I would get my nails done properly. But the night before, they didn’t last long... I felt bad, so I just told them to give me some gloves. They handed me the David Koma ones, look at head to toe and said it: "Whatever! If someone can pull this off, it’s you!"
I didn't understand why it had such huge reaction from people when this red carpet moment happened, as if they had never seen someone's nipples before. Which isn’t true, many other celebrities have worn revealing outfits on the carpet before i even existed. Charli XCX did it, Emma Corrin, Bella Hadid, Rihanna, as many others... But because I was a k-pop idol, they made it a big deal, like i'm the first k-pop artist to do that. It was life changing for them, South Korea discovered a woman body that day. My boobs are not even huge to made this commotion.
12. Spotted in Incheon Airport
That was a funny story, nobody was supposed to see me that day. When asian celebrities have schedules overseas, the airport gets crowded with reporters and fans carrying professional cameras. I'm not part of that culture anymore, so nobody knows when I travel. But a couple months ago, I was coming back from some errands I had to run in Thailand, and it happened to be the same day some group was returning from their own schedule. Someone recognized me, and soon articles started popping up with titles like "Hailey Honkrut Returns to South Korea After Years".
There’s not much to talk about. That’s just me on a regular day and the most recent you guys could find since I don’t do fit checks on instagram anymore, sorry. Again, I will forever be jeans and jacket type of girl, those Gucci blue jeans are my favorite right now, and those Puma sneakers are so cute, they’re my favorite too. Oh yeah, I recently started using watches, but only from this Thai jewelry brand called Patcharavipa cause I think they are cool. This is my travel bag from Chloé that I use for short trip. I mostly go back and forth between Bangkok and Seoul, and once a year, I take a vacation somewhere I’ve never visited before. And that’s about it.
After seven years and a lot of soju in our system, wndr decided to have a reunion! And as I said before, I would only work as a singer as long as I was a wndr member as well!
I wanted the music video to have the kind of comedy often seen in chick flicks. I got really inspired by old Mariah Carey music videos. Basically, I played two characters: myself in a blonde wig I use it in Kill This Love, yes that bitch was back and she was wearing glasses and started working as the assistant of a powerful boss lady at a company, who was also played by me, and she would follow her everywhere while singing the lyrics.
For one of the scenarios, we were looking for an elite type of sport to be her hobbie, and I immediately thought of those Wilson tennis rackets with the huge "W" on the strings. W for WNDR, simple math! this Casablanca two pieces is originally a tennis dress that we cut it in half because I wanted to show my waist, and of course, every shoe in the music video had to be Louboutins.
By the way, I spent two weeks straight learning how to play tennis because I wanted the shots to look like I knew what I was doing. I asked Seulgi to come with me, she’s one of those people who are good at everything on the first try. She’s also very competitive, so I knew this would motivated me to improve in a short period of time.
While I as learning tennis, I had another idea. I didn’t want the company to announce my comeback or anything like that, I would have more effect if was a surprise. So, i came up with the idea of a youtube ad that would serve as both my comeback announcement and a teaser for the single, it was a clip of me on a tennis court teaching people how to "serve" cunt. It was a wordplay because in tennis, you start the game with a movement called a "serve." We actually got the ad to be played before people watch any youtube videos, I hope everyone learned a thing or two about serving!
And that was my life in looks.