CORTIS Turns Loose Vintage Style Into a Signature for 'GREENGREEN'

CORTIS's loose vintage style has emerged as another visual highlight alongside the promotions for their 2nd mini album 'GREENGREEN'. At first glance, they appear to be comfortably wearing jackets, soccer jerseys, and worn-out t-shirts that look as if they were picked from the Dongmyo secondhand market, but this style is more closely aligned with the album's direction than simple 'effortless chic.'

As the five-member rookie group under BigHit Music relaxed their stage outfits, the sense of freedom the team aims to convey became even clearer.

Stage Energy Created Through Loose Vintage Looks

A term frequently attached to CORTIS's style these days is 'slacker core.' While 'slacker' implies a loose and lazy attitude, in fashion, it refers to a method of intentionally emphasizing the comfort of looking like you just stepped out of your house. CORTIS has mixed this with a vintage sensibility known as the 'Dongmyo look.'

With oversized tops, lived-in colors, and sporty items appearing on screen together, they create a texture different from the polished perfection typically seen on idol stages. The key is that this looseness is a choice, not neglect.

Looking at the official music video and promotional stages for 'REDRED,' the members move playfully over raw guitar riffs and heavy beats, and their outfits are tailored to not restrict that energy. In choreography that involves large body movements, loose clothing brings out facial expressions and movements better than tight-fitting suits. Thus, CORTIS's Dongmyo look is not just a trendy buzzword, but rather the clothing demanded by their performance.

'GREENGREEN' Album Photos Capturing Sinsa 2 Overpass

The 'GREENGREEN' album photos made this style even more persuasive. The five members faced the camera with unadorned faces and poses in front of Seoul streets, under overpasses, and in front of lived-in walls.

The locations in the photos included paths the members actually traveled during their trainee days. Regarding the Sinsa 2 Overpass, Sung-hyun noted, "It is a place full of memories because I always passed under this bridge during my trainee days."

This single sentence explains the starting point of CORTIS's vintage look. The worn-looking clothes and street backgrounds are not intentional reductions in decoration, but a choice to bring the time the team has passed into their current activities. Rather than putting forward a perfectly constructed universe from their debut, CORTIS first shows the textures of clothes the members would actually wear and the places they have personally passed through. From a fan's perspective, rather than the burden of memorizing a concept, there is a greater sense of following the members' starting points.

'REDRED' Pre-release and 2,313,291 First-Week Sales

The reason CORTIS's style stands out is that it was shown alongside their musical achievements. 'GREENGREEN' was officially released on May 4, and the title track 'REDRED' was released first on April 20. The album's first-week sales are known to be 2,313,291 copies, a significant increase from their previous work.

Before the release, they surpassed 500,000 Spotify pre-saves, and following the release, stages for 'REDRED' and the B-side track 'TNT' followed.

For a rookie group's attire to be talked about for a long time, pretty photos alone are not enough. The songs, stages, album photos, and a sense of reality that fans can emulate must all align at once. CORTIS's Dongmyo look relatively clearly meets those conditions. If this loose style continues in follow-up songs and festival stages, CORTIS's fashion could remain a signature that identifies the team beyond a one-time concept.