Blackpink’s Lisa attends public event for first time after striptease controversy

Sporting a distinctive look with short curly hair and a cheetah-patterned outfit, Lisa attended a promotional event for the luxury fashion house Celine at a Bangkok shopping center on Tuesday.

Lisa, of the K-pop girl group Blackpink, attends a promotional event for the fashion house Celine in Bangkok on Dec. 19, 2023. Photo from Lisa's fanpage's Instagram

Her presence elicited cheers from fans, and she took time to engage with them and to stop for photographs.

Her appearance at the event swiftly captured netizens' attention, with keywords relating to her activity trending on X, formerly Twitter, in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. "Curly-haired Lisa" also made it to the list of most-searched keywords on social media platform Weibo in China.

This marks Lisa's first public engagement since her involvement in a controversy following a performance at the Crazy Horse Paris, where she was criticized for partial stripping. The incident allegedly led to the deactivation of her personal Weibo account and prompted luxury brands Bulgari and Celine to remove her photos from their Weibo accounts since Nov. In China, stripping is categorized as a "sexually related activity" and is prohibited by law.

The performance also drew criticism for potentially setting a negative example for her young fanbase.

Lisa, 26, made her debut with the South Korean girl group Blackpink in 2016. She launched a simultaneous solo career in 2021.

Her music career has been marked by numerous notable achievements, including the first solo K-pop artist to have a work that reached 1 billion streams on Spotify with her song "Money."

The star also established her name in the fashion industry as a global ambassador for various luxury brands, including Bulgari and Celine.