By Andrea Sacal
Most K-pop groups spend their first year proving they can survive. CORTIS have spent theirs redefining what it looks like to thrive. One year into their formation, the five-piece have racked up two tracks past 200 million streams, a debut album that has sold over two million copies, a second EP that broke records before anyone had fully processed the first, and a Paris Fashion Week split across two of the most storied luxury houses on the planet. Fittingly, their song "FaSHioN" just crossed 200 million Spotify plays and sounds like a manifesto for a K-pop group that stands out in style. As one of the best-dressed K-pop groups of 2026, CORTIS has made it clear that fashion is always on their minds.
Before CORTIS secured their front row seats, they were just five young men from Seoul with strong opinions about how they wanted to present themselves to the world. CORTIS's self-directed visual identity sits in a specific and deliberately occupied territory: the overlap between vintage Seoul street culture, Y2K-era sportswear references, and the kind of thrown-together-but-intentional personal styling that flourishes in Hongdae and Dongmyo. From layered graphics and workwear-influenced silhouettes to the occasional vintage find styled against something sharper, the group’s chaotically polished style reads as studied nonchalance. Martin leans toward architectural simplicity, while James occupies a more fluid, draped register with European references and Keonho carries an almost wilful casualness that makes everything look twice as intentional.
Jay Lim
CORTIS's "urbancore" aesthetic shaped by motorcycle graphic tees, faded grays and blacks, vintage layering, and edgy-but-casual silhouettes give their growing community something unusually rich to work with. The group is providing a specific visual personality with enough texture and individual variation across five members to cause an international uproar during every outing. Seoul's fashion pipeline made it concrete: in 2026, an idol outfit photographed at Incheon on a Monday can be listed on MUSINSA by the weekend. CORTIS's looks, rooted in accessible streetwear codes rather than unattainable luxury, are exactly the kind of reference that pipeline runs fastest on. Fans weren't just admiring their style, they were wearing it. One year in with 200 million streams on a song about wearing what you want and not spending more than you have signals that their style was never a side effect of the success, it was one of its engines.
"FaSHioN" isn't CORTIS's biggest hit by the numbers – that's "GO!," which crossed 200 million streams a month earlier in the same record-breaking timeframe. But it might be their most important one, because it told fans who they were before the fashion industry had time to work it out for itself. The track is Southern hip-hop built on trap architecture, while lines referencing Dongmyo and Hongdae – Seoul's vintage market district and its indie creative hub – place the song firmly in the specific geography of young creative Seoul. “My tee, five bucks, my pants, 10,000 won” is a lyric that explicitly refuses the idea that style requires money. Written by Martin, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, and Keonho, “FaSHioN” sees four of five members putting their names on a song that argues fashion is a form of self-determination rather than a uniform. For a b-side track on a debut album by a group that had existed for less than two months at the time of release, accumulating 200 million streams in ten months positions them as the next generation of K-pop success.
Paris Fashion Week Men’s in June 2026 saw K-pop command the front row at every luxury house. BTS members cemented their ambassadorships at Dior, Louis Vuitton, Celine, and Gucci, while CORTIS arrived remarkably confident as new members of the fashion-sphere. James and Martin attended the Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2027 menswear show, the latter dressed in a full-length black trench coat and dark glasses – projecting himself as someone akin to an effortless movie-star authority. James wore look 14 from the Saint Laurent Men's Fall 2026 collection and let the tailoring speak for itself.
Saint Laurent
Across the city and one day later, Seonghyeon, Juhoon, and Keonho made their Dior Homme debut at the Musée Nissim de Camondo. The three members wore pieces from Jonathan Anderson's latest ready-to-wear collection accented with Dior sunglasses and loafers, adding their individual touches to house pieces in a way that demonstrated their innate instinct for leveling up even the most familiar pieces. With five members spread across two houses at their first Paris Fashion Week appearance, CORTIS proved that they’re exactly where they need to be.
Before Paris, CORTIS landed in Seoul and ignited their fashion movement, with Martin and Keonho both attending the Chanel Métiers d'Art 2026 presentation at Centre Pompidou Hanwha in May, only nine months into their steady rise. The Métiers d'Art shows are Chanel's annual celebration of its specialist artisan ateliers, and two members were amongst the rare and intimate crowd there to witness Matthieu Blazy’s enchanting creations. Their invitation proved that the fashion world's most established institutions were not treating CORTIS as a novelty or a streaming anomaly, but as a group worth investing attention in early on. By portraying themselves with an authentic visual identity, the K-pop group has been blurring the lines between music, fashion, and celebrity since day one.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images
CORTIS were described by BigHit Music as a "young creators crew" from the beginning – a group that wrote, produced, choreographed, and creative-directed their own material across the two years before their debut, working through approximately 300 demos to arrive at the five tracks that became their first album. "FaSHioN" was one of those five, and it’s not a coincidence – it showcased that dressing-up and doing it well was central to their core visuals as a group ready to dominate photocalls and front rows as well as global music charts.
As their first anniversary approaches this August, CORTIS are the clearest proof yet that in 2026, fashion and music walk side-by-side for K-pop's most ambitious acts. CORTIS have been speaking both languages since launching their first single, “What You Want” in 2025. Now, the world is listening, 200 million streams and two Paris Fashion Week shows later.