PAPER Kicks Off Fashion Week with aespa and Amazon Music

This past Wednesday, New York City’s most fashionable gathered at celebrity hotspot Temple Bar for the season’s premiere PAPER Fashion Week Kickoff Party, presented by our friends at Amazon Music.

The festivities doubled as a celebration of aespa, one of the world’s biggest K-pop groups and 2023 PAPER cover stars, fresh off the heels of the release of their sixth mini album, Rich Man.

aespa members — KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE, and NINGNING — all attended the kickoff and gave guests an exclusive first listen to the alternative version of their lead single “Rich Man” featuring Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza (out now streaming on Amazon Music here). Prior to the special preview, PAPER president Jason Ve introduced the group, and welcomed party attendees into another busy fashion week season.

Notably, the PAPER Kickoff was the first New York event this year with all aespa members together, as well as their first PAPER event appearance since their 2023 cover.

The guest list included some of pop culture’s most notable names, with appearances from mgk, who recently released his pop punk opus lost americana, rapper Lil Tjay, pop star Rhea Raj, actor Sam Li, singers Madison Rose and Zach Gordon, DJ Griffin Maxwell Brooks, Ramisha Sattar, Evan Lazarus and DJ SONI withanEYE who provided good vibes throughout the night.

The evening was a quintessential PAPER moment and an exciting start to what will surely be yet another busy and inspiring New York Fashion Week. Want to keep the whiplash and buzz going? Check out Amazon Music’s exclusive merch collections with aespa here, and the K-POP NOW playlist below for the perfect soundtrack to get you through this year’s most fashionable week.

Photography: Anneliese Horowitz
Producer: Sloan Abihaidar
President: Jason Ve
CCO & CEO: Brian Calle