Soo Joo Park is the Korean model to beat. She is the first Asian-American to serve as the face of L’Oréal, she made her first walk with Wes Gordon in 2012 and she has appeared at nearly 200 runway shows since. She also appeared as a character named Sutra in Netflix’s Sense8. On top of that, she has appeared a whopping 50 times on magazine covers, including editions of Harper’s Bazaar in Russia and India, The Sunday Times Style and Nylon Mexico. Though born and raised in Seoul, at the age of 10 her family moved to Anaheim, California. She was discovered by talent scouts while shopping in a vintage store in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Yoon Young Bae

Bae has amassed 247 runway walks since she started modelling in 2016 for Prada, and she is only 22 years old. She has graced the pages of Vogue three times – in the UK, South Korea and Japan – and is a Chanel Beauty favourite. Yet Bae’s Korean roots appear intact – she loves to eat spicy braised short ribs and to shop and hang out in Hongdae. She comes home to her adorable pet dog, Milk (which naturally has its own Instagram handle, @miilllkkkk_luv).

HoYeon Jung

HoYeon Jung’s big break came when she placed second for season four of Korea’s Next Top Model. She then made her American runway debut in 2016 for Opening Ceremony, the same year she did Fendi, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. You can find her shopping in Garosu-gil during her downtime, buying locally made streetwear.

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Sora Choi

Sora’s androgynous look has earned her 412 runway walks so far, with PPQ starting it all in 2013. She’s walked for many of the major luxury houses, with Louis Vuitton hosting both her second show in Monaco in 2014, and her latest in March 2020. Her claim to fame was when she won the third season of Korea’s Next Top Model and she now she has 25 magazine covers in her clippings file, including big hitters Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire. Her favourite things to do are reading manga and playing League of Legends.

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