Paris Hilton shows South Korea why she is the original influencer – and that she never turns down a selfie request

While most of us are fixated on taking the perfect selfie, Paris Hilton is selfless with hers.

In Seoul last weekend for the South Korean release of her luxury skincare line ProD.N.A., which includes a rose water named Unicorn Mist, the hotel heiress turned singer, actress and business mogul proved she’ll never turn down a request for a fan photo.

Wearing a revealing black gown, Hilton lingered on stage for hours on Friday night after the launch party for her skincare line, as several hundred influencers and guests took turns to come forward for a selfie and a moment of her time.

She kept her sunglasses on despite the late hour, maybe hoping to hide the effects of a 16-hour time difference and two days packed with meetings, media and television spots, or maybe to protect her eyes from the barrage of flashing lights.

But her attention to each and every fan was undeniable. Hilton handed out compliments, flattered each fan, and offered numerous angles for a multitude of well-lit selfies.

In between photos Hilton danced and made song requests to the DJ to keep the mood up, never betraying her jet-lag, or the chaotic schedule that led up to the evening’s event. All for a line of fans that never seemed to end.

“I would never say no to someone if they ask for a photo,” Hilton tells the Post. “I’ve been doing this for so long. I have such a close relationship with my fans.”

So long in fact that Hilton, now 38, is widely regarded as the original influencer, creating the blueprint for a new breed of celebrity who uses the internet and social media to gain attention, and then turn that attention into their own brand.

And with 25 perfumes, 19 product lines and now a skincare line in South Korea all under her name, Hilton knows plenty about turning attention into a business empire.

“I’m definitely the OG [original] influencer,” Hilton says. “I think it’s exciting to have created something like this because it basically created a whole new genre of celebrity.”

A 2018 Netflix documentary, The American Meme, placed Hilton’s career centre stage as it explored the changing nature of fame and society’s complicated relationship with social media. Fellow influencer Josh Ostrovsky, known online as The Fat Jewish, also appears in the film and calls Hilton the inspiration for everything he does.

Hilton’s 10-million-strong Instagram following proves she’s felt the perks of social media, but she laments that back in her early days the platforms were far more limited when it came to creating a public image. (Her one-time stylist, Kim Kardashian, today has far more followers.) Social media, Hilton says, has created huge opportunities for those who can use the tools properly.

“It was a totally different time because when I first came onto the scene there was no social media,” Hilton says. “People have it very easy nowadays having these platforms. Anyone with a phone can literally make their own brand.”

Over a three-day whirlwind tour of Seoul, Hilton was non-stop. Her hotel suite served as the set for a Korean television show featuring K-pop stars.

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A room down the hall was double booked for a product shoot and meet-up with Hilton’s silver-haired Korean distributors, who glowed as they snapped phone pictures while cheering Hilton on as she did voice-overs in Korean: “sarang-hae-yo” – meaning “I love you”.

A long line of business moguls in her family, including her great-grandfather, creator of the Hilton Hotels chain, taught her the importance of working with the right people.

“Anything I put my name on, I want to make sure I’m working with the top people in the business who are trustworthy. My father taught me that: how to read people and see how they are,” she says.

Many of Hilton’s guests on Friday – invited to the ProD.N.A. launch party for their sizeable Instagram followings or ties to Seoul’s fashion world – are hard at work following in her footsteps. They converged at the Seoul venue as competitors for attention in an online space where personal branding means a night out is no longer about cocktails and socialising – it means work.

Around the venue, guests commissioned their friends as photographers, seeking that perfect shot to post the next morning alongside a selfie with Hilton.

She will face competition of her own as she enters South Korea’s bullish beauty market. K-beauty’s popularity has rocketed since 2013, and come to be regarded as a new standard for quality and innovation.

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Unusual ingredients, including snail slime and bee venom, helped K-beauty spark the imaginations of millennials, who want their lotions and cleansers to be natural.

Fun products, such as animal pattern beauty masks, have attracted attention to Korean skincare not just for its effectiveness but also its shareability on social media – fuel for YouTubers who tout beauty tutorials to a customer base that craves online reviews.

In 2017, South Korea’s beauty exports totalled US$4.96 billion, a fourfold increase from 2013, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Hilton’s partners at ProD.N.A. say the spotlight on K-beauty is exactly why its products need a South Korea release.

“If you can get an American product in K-beauty selling on store shelves, it validates the product globally. It takes the brand to another level,” says Adam Xavier, CEO of ProD. N. A. and the brand’s co-founder.

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Xavier says stiff regulations make the Korean market among the toughest to enter. But a win here will boost the brand’s credibility, establishing it as a no-joke skincare line and helping them sell in any other markets, including back in the US.

“It’s like getting a legitimate celebrity to wear your brand,” he says.

Putting ProD.N.A. onto Korean shelves required not only top-quality ingredients, but regional partners who can traverse a market that sometimes mystifies outsiders.

Part of that meant putting Hilton on set with Korean celebrities, including actor Hong Seok-cheon, for a live home shopping broadcast at a state-of-the-art studio in southern Seoul. Xavier considers this the crown jewel on the tour through the city; the spearhead of their attack on the Korean market.

Inside the studio on Saturday night, video cameras float across the floor at the slightest touch. A chandelier dangles overhead to add a dash of class. A man in a suit representing the studio wanders over to inform Xavier that each light overhead is worth close to US$10,000.

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“They make your skin look great, but don’t hurt your eyes,” he explains, pointing at the ceiling.

There are more than 20 of them, making each second of the live home broadcast more expensive than I care to calculate.

The investment seems to pay off, though. Hilton’s own flawless skin may be why two of her products – the eminent Unicorn Mist and a facial cleanser, which her hosts present by pouring seductively into a martini glass – sell out before the extravaganza is over.

Backstage after the broadcast, she waits until it’s time to depart for her flight. More fans and photographers would be waiting at Incheon International Airport.

In her sky-blue floral dress and white peekaboo gloves, platinum blond hair slung over one shoulder, it’s still not possible to tell whether the jet lag or the schedule is getting to her. But with the circus over, Hilton seems happy to open up about it.

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“I haven’t gone on a vacation in I don’t know how many years, because every trip I go on is always work, no matter what,” Hilton says. “I travel so much I don’t even know what time zone I’m in. I’m always in a different country all the time. I’m on my own time.”

Paris time, naturally.

Seeing the effort she exerts just to stay composed, it almost hurts to ask for a selfie of my own. But I’d heard the stories of her dedication. Plus, I have my own online presence to consider, and who couldn’t benefit from a backstage selfie with Paris Hilton herself? In the end, there is no way around it.

“Can I also get a selfie?” I ask sheepishly.

“Yeah, I was just gonna ask you,” she says, reaching for my phone.