Dispatch has released a new report detailing how the rich lead stylists are feasting with their day rates while their assistants get paid peanuts.
Kim Woo Bin recently appeared in an ad campaign for the language learning app Speak. He wore a total of 2.5 outfits; outfit one was dress trousers and a dress shirt, outfit two was a denim shirt and chinos, and the remaining 0.5 counted for a suede jacket, which is calculated as half an outfit when a jacket is put on and taken off. So how much did Kim Woobin’s “one-day” styling cost?
Stylist Kim Se Jun earned ₩25.0 million KRW (about $16,400 USD) that day. He was paid ₩20.0 million KRW (about $13,100 USD) for dressing Kim Woo Bin in two outfits, plus an additional ₩5.00 million KRW (about $3,270 USD) for the print shoot.
Hair was handled by designer Lim Cheol Woo. His day rate for the shoot was ₩15.0 million KRW (about $9,810 USD). ₩12.0 million KRW (about $7,850 USD) for two video shoots, plus an additional ₩3.00 million KRW (about $1,960 USD) for the print component. He earned that much money to adjust Kim Woo Bin’s hair parting.
Speak spent approximately ₩48.0 million KRW (about $31,400 USD) on Kim Woobin’s hair, makeup, and styling (hair 15 million + makeup ₩8.00 million KRW (about $5,230 USD) + styling 25 million), a figure approaching 20% of the average TV commercial production budget.
What the stylist earned from that single shoot is roughly equivalent to a first-year manager’s annual salary at an entertainment agency. The saying that managers do the work while the styling team takes the money is no joke. How did this imbalance come about? Dispatch investigated the advertising shoot day rates charged by prominent hair designers, makeup artists, and stylists working in Korea.
20 million won per day
Is there any actual principle behind hair, makeup, and styling pricing? No. It is entirely up to the individual. They decide everything, from the standards to the going rates. If there is any one rule, it is simple. Start high. Dispatch obtained pricing options from leading Korean hair, makeup, and styling professionals.
Day rates for stylists including Yoon Mee, Ji Eun, Kim Se Jun, Lee Hye Young, and Nam Ju Hee; hair designers including Kim Kkotbi, Lim Cheol Woo, Lim Jung Ho, Kim Tae Hyun, and Baek Heung Kwon; and makeup artists including Seo Ok, Jo Eun Jeong, and Lim Hye Kyung ranged from ₩10.0 million KRW (about $6,540 USD) and ₩30.0 million KRW (about $19,600 USD) per day.
Their pricing structure is as follows:
- Rates are based on one day. A Half Pay surcharge applies for linked shoots (shoots where video and print are done on the same day).
- Video advertisement rates apply to one day, one video, one outfit, domestic use.
- Print advertisement rates apply to one day, one shoot, two outfits, domestic use.
- An Extra Charge (Half Pay) may apply after 12 hours from the start of shooting.
- For overseas shoots, travel days are charged at Half Pay; if departure or arrival is before noon, the rate is negotiated as a full Day Pay.
- If an edited video is broadcast two or more times, each broadcast is counted as a separate video.
- Video and print content is limited to one country of distribution.
- For a single designer, an additional ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,310 USD) for 2 to 4 countries, and ₩3.00 million KRW (about $1,960 USD) for 5 or more countries.
- The above figures are labor costs only; clothing costs and alterations are billed separately.
So name your price
A hair, makeup, and styling quote is comparable to the base model of a car. The starting price says ₩6.00 million KRW (about $3,920 USD) to ₩8.00 million KRW (about $5,230 USD). But once option after option is added, prices can triple.
Nam Ju Hee handled styling for actor Lee Dong Wook in an SK Enmove advertisement. She prepared two outfits and took home ₩17.0 million KRW (about $11,100 USD), applying multi-pay (for two video shoots) plus linked pay (video shoots and print shoot), with clothing costs billed separately.
Also consider Jang Wonyoung’s Dyson advertisement. Video (two shoots) and print were shot simultaneously. Stylist Yoon Mee dressed Jang Wonyoung in three outfits total and billed ₩27.0 million KRW (about $17,700 USD) for the day. How was that day rate calculated? Yoon Mee charged double the base rate for two videos (multi-pay), added half the base rate for the simultaneous print shoot (linked pay), and then added a global fee on top.
Copyright fees?
Hair, makeup, and styling professionals claim global fees (as mentioned above) on the basis of copyright. But once Dispatch’s investigation began, the term was quietly changed to a “usage fee.” Their argument is that hair, makeup, and styling constitute their own original creative works.
G-Dragon was the model for AI company Wrtn and quick-service coffee shop The Venti. The hair, makeup, and styling fee for Wrtn came to ₩61.5 million KRW (about $40,200 USD) and for The Venti, it was ₩78.5 million KRW (about $51,300 USD). Both advertisements were handled by the same team comprising of Kim Tae Hyun for hair, Lim Hye Kyung for makeup, and Ji Eun for styling.
Hair: Kim Tae Hyun (The Venti) ₩28.0 million KRW (about $18,300 USD) + (Wrtn) ₩20.0 million KRW (about $13,100 USD)
Makeup: Lim Hye Kyung (The Venti) ₩28.0 million KRW (about $18,300 USD) + (Wrtn) ₩20.0 million KRW (about $13,100 USD)
Styling: Ji Eun (The Venti) ₩18.0 million KRW (about $11,800 USD) + (Wrtn) ₩17.5 million KRW (about $11,400 USD)
Kim Tae Hyun and Lim Hye Kyung raised their day rates by 40% for The Venti advertisement.
Even the hair and makeup styling across the two advertisements is similar.
They applied the global fee simply because one additional country, Vietnam, was included.
— Insider
But there is no copyright to claim
Do hair, makeup, and styling professionals actually have the right to claim copyright? All ten attorneys contacted by Dispatch answered with a definite no. Hair, makeup, and styling constitute technical skill, not the independent expression of original ideas. Multiple attorneys explained why.
Copyright cannot realistically be recognized as independent works for three reasons. First, the human body is a non-fixed medium. Second, the expression is subordinate to the client’s brief. Third, it cannot be separated from the celebrity’s own appearance.
— Kang Woo Kyung (lawfirm Goodplan)
Hair, makeup, and styling professionals provide a one-time service and receive payment for it. They have the right to demand that payment, and nothing more. Converting content to video, print, or short-form is an editorial and print act on the part of the advertiser.
— Attorney Bang Jung Hyun
The use of filmed content is a matter of usage scope between the advertiser, production company, and model. If no new service has been provided, the basis for billing additional fees is weak.
— Attorney Lim Hyungju (lawfirm Yulchon)
A piece of the production fee pie
Advertising production budgets typically run between ₩150 million KRW (about $98,100 USD) and ₩300 million KRW (about $196,000 USD). Within that price, costs are spread across the director, photography, location rental, equipment rental, set construction, CG, editing, wardrobe, the shooting team, lighting team, audio team, and art team.
Dispatch’s research found hair, makeup, and styling fees running between ₩30.0 million KRW (about $19,600 USD) and ₩50.0 million KRW (about $32,700 USD), accounting for 15 to 20% of production budgets. They noted a distorted structure in which a significant portion of a commercial’s budget goes to touching up the model’s hair, applying makeup, and coordinating outfits.
To afford the hair, makeup, and styling costs, you have to cut elsewhere. You give up on good equipment, you save on the set. The quality of the ad inevitably suffers.
— Advertisement insider “A”
Exorbitant costs become a boomerang for the model. If the guaranteed fees are similar, it makes more sense to work with a celebrity whose styling team charges reasonable rates.
— Advertisement insider “B”
The industry is a private monopoly
Market prices are shaped by the logic of supply and demand. High prices drive customers away except in the hair, makeup, and styling market, where high costs are accepted as unavoidable. The reason is a package structure in which certain models come bundled with specific stylists and teams.
Stylist Lee Hye Young dressed a model (Kim Woo Bin) in a single polo shirt and white trousers for a Shabu All Day advertisement and took home close to ₩10.0 million KRW (about $6,540 USD). She also understood charged a travel allowance, given that the shoot was held outside Seoul.
In clothing advertisements, the brand selects the clothes but that does not reduce costs, because of “dressing fees.” Stylists charge ₩1.00 million KRW (about $654 USD) to ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,310 USD) per outfit simply for putting clothes on and taking them off.
For example, Xexymix paid Yoon Mee ₩15.0 million KRW (about $9,810 USD) for eight outfits, and Mardi Mercredi paid her ₩14.0 million KRW (about $9,160 USD) for fourteen outfits. Yoon Mee is the exclusive stylist for Go Youn Jung, who models for Xexymix and Kim Go Eun, who models for Mardi Mercredi.
Not even trying to hide their brazenness
Chef Yoo Yong Wook of Culinary Class Wars fame appeared as the model for a Burger King new menu campaign. The outfit he wore for the advertisement was, as always, a black cotton t-shirt. His face, as always, had his trademark light mustache. On his head, as always, was his signature hat.
Yoo Yong Wook’s styling was handled by stylist Kim Hyup. For dressing him in a black cotton tee, black pants, and a black apron, with the “detail” of rolling up the sleeves of the shirt, Kim Hyup received approximately ₩10.0 million KRW (about $6,540 USD).
Dispatch recently reviewed a job listing posted in a “stylist assistant group chat.” Kim Hyup’s hiring terms for an assistant were a monthly salary of ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,310 USD), with meal allowances, transportation, and incidentals listed as separate payments.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. A top-tier hair, makeup, and styling professional’s single-day rate is comparable to the annual salary of an on-site manager or crew member. What has driven their valuations to these heights?
Dispatch also contacted Hollywood agencies and was told that their day rates are all-inclusive.
Hollywood operates on a day rate basis. A day rate is payment for one day’s work. Everything is included in that.
Additional videos or simultaneous print shoots do not generate additional charges. Concepts like multi-pay, linked pay, or global fees as seen in Korea barely exist here.
The advertiser sets a budget guideline. After that, it’s the model’s choice: add money out of your own pocket, negotiate the styling costs down, or bring in different staff
— Hollywood agency
For example, Ayumi is the stylist for Rei Ami. Her past day rate was around $1,000. As Rei Ami’s profile rose with K-Pop Demon Hunters, Ayumi’s rate rose sharply too, and now stands at around $5,000.
Concluding the cartel
The moment a star insists on a specific styling team, that team gains pricing power. In other words, it becomes “me or no one.” The advertiser’s options are limited to either drop the model, or absorb the styling costs.
Tell the advertiser to bring in whoever they can afford and give it a try. They’ll never get the fit right. If they’re confident nothing will go wrong, go ahead.
— Anonymous famous stylist
If I can be replaced, replace me. If the price doesn’t work, don’t use me. It’s a matter of trust and chemistry. How do you hand the fit to someone who doesn’t even know the artist’s body measurements? Try it yourself.
— Senior designer K
On film sets, the costume department dresses the talent and there is no issue with the fit whatsoever. Ultimately, the exorbitant valuations of Korea’s hair, makeup, and styling professionals stem from an implicit cartel between stars and their teams. Within this closed structure, advertisers have lost the power of choice.
