On December 18, fashion magazine Vogue Korea announced the cover faces for its inaugural issue (January) 2025, which are 5 female Kpop idols Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein (members of the girl group NewJeans).
However, in an Instagram post, Vogue Korea wrote: “The five girls we love. Minji, Hani, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein, hello new generation,” but did not mention the group name NewJeans.
The company ADOR and the group name NewJeans were also not added to the hashtags of the posts, only the names of the 5 female idols stood alone.
Notably, the director who directed this photo series is former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin - "the mother of NewJeans" - who announced her resignation from ADOR on November 20 this year.
Vogue Korea's move to not mention the name "NewJeans" has attracted attention in the context that NewJeans members are having a contract dispute with ADOR Company (part of HYBE Group).
Five female idols Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein announced the termination of their contracts with ADOR on November 29, citing the company's violation of the terms and failure to promptly correct them, leading to a complete breakdown of trust between the artists and the company.
ADOR filed a lawsuit to verify that the exclusive contract between the company and NewJeans is still valid until July 31, 2029. ADOR emphasized that NewJeans cannot pursue entertainment activities outside the scope of the contract with ADOR.
In response, the members announced that they would “operate independently, no longer related to HYBE and ADOR”, but still committed to fully fulfilling their obligations in the contracts that ADOR signed with partners before the time they announced the termination of the contract.
The five girls have created a new Instagram account called jeanzforfree, leading to speculation that they will name their new group Jeanz when they can no longer use the name NewJeans.
The jeanzforfree account reached 3 million followers after 4 days and started posting personal photos of 5 female idols.
Recently, this account also updated information that Danielle was chosen as the global ambassador of the Omega brand, and shared a series of pictorial photos on Vogue Korea directed by former CEO Min Hee Jin.
The cover and pictorial of the 5 NewJeans members this time are sponsored by luxury brands that they are still ambassadors for, including Gucci (Hanni), Chanel (Minji), Dior (Haerin), Louis Vuitton (Hyein) and Omega (Danielle).
Despite announcing the termination of the contract with ADOR, NewJeans is still quite active in the fashion and advertising fields with previous contracts.
