Katseye is the blueprint for a modern girl group. Humberto Leon is the mastermind behind their image

By Kati Chitrakorn, CNN

(CNN) — Two years ago, six young women — Sophia, Lara, Manon, Daniela, Megan and Yoonchae — went from relative obscurity to internet fame when the Netflix reality show, “Pop Star Academy,” turned them into the now-Grammy-nominated girl group Katseye.

As their names were called out in the finale, the newly appointed members — who beat 120,000 other contestants vying for a spot — hugged and congratulated each other through sobs, each in matching gray blazer-skirt suits, styled with white shirts, knee-high socks and black shoes — mimicking the kind of attire worn by South Korean secondary students.

The group is backed by Hybe Corporation, which brought K-pop to a global audience through mega artists like BTS, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company and owner of Geffen Records. Together they sought to create the world’s first mainstream multiracial girl group modeled on the traditional K-pop framework, which includes catchy melodies, synchronized dance moves and a strong emphasis on aesthetic appeal.

Katseye’s members have since stepped out in many head-turning looks, from the revealing red leather stage outfits worn in August for their Lollapalooza music festival performance, which drew record-breaking crowds, to the glitzy Dolce & Gabbana dresses worn for their MTV VMAs red carpet debut a month later. Earlier in the summer, they fronted a viral campaign for Gap while dancing in low-rise denim to the 2003 Kelis song “Milkshake.” On other occasions, they’ve dipped into luxury brand archives and worn pieces from the likes of Prada, Hussein Chalayan and early 2000s Balenciaga designed by Nicolas Ghesquière. And as they embark on their first solo tour across North America — the tickets for which sold out in minutes — more eye-catching ensembles are sure to feature.

The creative mastermind behind the band’s image is Humberto Leon, a former fashion entrepreneur and designer. Today, as Katseye’s creative director, Leon styles the members from head to toe, weighing in on every detail from the accessories to hair and makeup. In short, anything to do with their visual image falls under Leon’s purview.

“There was this kind of feeling of tomboy meets rebellion,” Leon told CNN over a video call from Los Angeles, as he reflected on Katseye’s first appearance as a group. “The uniforms added a fun storytelling aspect.”

School uniforms are a popular and recurring trope in pop culture (see a 16-year-old Britney Spears in schoolgirl attire in the music video for “Baby One More Time”). Several K-pop girl groups, including Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet and 2NE1, have also previously worn them, as they convey a youthful and fresh image. But Katseye’s look had subtle touches that pushed the common visual motif forward, according to Leon, whose subversive approach to fashion over a decades-long career has often appealed to hip audiences. “We wanted to differentiate,” he explained, “so all the jackets were actually boys’ blazers.”

Bringing cultures together

K-pop has gained significant mainstream traction over the years, but Katseye (which was trained using the K-pop methodology) is unlike many of the genre’s other bands. The group comprises multiple ethnicities: Sophia is from the Philippines; Yoonchae was born in South Korea; Manon was raised in Switzerland to Swiss-Italian and Ghanian parents; Daniela is Venezuelan-Cuban and Lara is of Indian descent, though both were born and raised in the US; and Megan is from Hawaii, born to a Singaporean-Chinese mother and Swedish-American father. Their songs are also sung almost entirely in English.

Since Katseye’s official debut in 2024 with the EP “SIS (Soft is Strong)” and the viral breakthrough single “Touch,” which quickly landed on Spotify’s Top Hits playlist, the group has grown into one of pop’s most watched newcomers, adored for its diverse appeal.

Leon shares a similarly multicultural upbringing. He currently resides in Eagle Rock, the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood where he was born and raised by a Peruvian father and Chinese mother, to whom he attributes his love of fashion. “My mom worked in a cafeteria by day, but in the evening, she would work on all these fun things, like selling cowboy hats to people, or in the ’80s she would sell fur coats at home, almost like the way people sell Tupperware,” he said.

“She always encouraged me to be yourself and to clash, to not need things to be so perfect,” Leon added. “I took to heart a lot of that.”

After working as a visual merchandiser for Gap and Burberry early in his career, Leon made his name in New York in the 2000s — he co-founded the now-shuttered Opening Ceremony (a once-cult shopping destination with stores in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo) and was formerly co-designer at Kenzo, a role he jointly held with Carol Lim, with whom he revitalized the label by injecting a youthful, streetwise sensibility that appealed to shoppers.

“Opening Ceremony was the antithesis of everything I had ever done,” said Leon. “It was about celebrating young designers and going around the world and finding these gems and bringing them to one place and creating almost this town square where people can discover stuff. Some people would buy, some didn’t — but for us, it didn’t matter. It was about creating a community where people can come together.”

Leon is among a wave of fashion insiders who in recent years have made the shift to music and entertainment. Cynthia Oh, for instance, worked in high-end retail for more than two decades before becoming the visual creative director at Hybe and, now, The Black Label — K-pop super-producer Teddy Park’s company, which represents Blackpink’s Rosé among others.

“I’ve always celebrated this idea of bringing culture together,” Leon continued. “And so, in many ways, Katseye is just a different version of that.”

A new kind of girl power

Leon’s return to Eagle Rock and subsequent decision to launch the Peruvian-Chinese restaurant Chifa, in 2022, was spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it also led to his music industry crossover. “One day, this great punk rock girl group called The Linda Lindas came in. I was really inspired by them and said, ‘I would love to make a music video for you. Let’s do something fun.’” So, Leon worked with the band to create music videos for its 2022 album, “Growing Up,” which subsequently caught the eye of Hybe chairman Bang Si-hyuk and Interscope Geffen A&M chairman and CEO John Janick.

“They approached me and asked if I would be interested in working on a global girl group,” said Leon. “The one thing I realized in all my other ventures I had done before is that there was this connection to storytelling and authenticity. When I was able to sum this up for myself, I felt like I could bring that same energy to other things,” he said. “The restaurant was the first thing that I started outside of fashion — yet a lot of people tell me it has a similar vibe to Opening Ceremony. It made me realize I was doing the right thing, and that I could bring this feeling to other cultures and artistic work.”

Leon’s first interactions with Katseye involved “really getting to know them.” There have been “countless” girl groups, he said, rattling off a list of acts preceding them, such as the Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child, so it was crucial to figure out “the ideologies and virtues that these girls bring” and what made them different. “The first thing I said to them was, ‘I want to hear about your background, how you grew up. I know you can dance, you can sing, but let’s hear about what you truly love and are inspired by,’ and with that, we were able to create a story that was genuine,” he said.

“We talk a lot about silhouettes, we talk about designers, but it goes beyond that. We make sure that their culture is around and that each girl, as a whole, is represented,” Leon continued, noting the bindi worn by Lara as an example. (The bindi — a decorative mark or sticker worn on the forehead, most commonly by women in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions — is often sported by Lara, who has not disclosed her religion but has spoken publicly about using it to reclaim and represent the South Asian identity she was teased for as a child.)

That emphasis on representation also extends to Katseye’s music. The band’s latest EP, “Beautiful Chaos,” released in June, marks a bolder chapter, with tracks like “Gnarly” and “M.I.A” highlighting each member’s vocal range and increasingly defined personal identities. “Gabriela,” the second single in the EP, is “very different to most of the other songs in that it has a femininity to it,” explained Leon. “Daniela sings the Spanish part of the song. It has this Latin vibe that we wanted to make sure that we capture.” What remains crucial, across both their songs and style, is “that there is synergy amongst each other,” Leon said.

As Katseye’s tour begins, just weeks after the band’s first Grammy nomination, Leon is remaining tightlipped about his stage outfits. “We like to keep things as a surprise,” he teased, but noted that maintaining a sense of relatability and individuality have remained top priorities.

For Leon, Katseye is the living embodiment of girl power for a Gen Z audience that is “hungry for authenticity and genuine brands that stand for something, or a voice that they can relate to,” he said. But the group, Leon hopes, isn’t just for young girls, but fans of all genders and ages. “I want people to see themselves in Katseye,” he said. “I want them to be excited that a group like Katseye exists.”

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