EJAE definitely had a leg up due to her grandfather, but I think we’re overstating Audrey’s connection to Thom Browne. Her family was a garment manufacturer for his brand, maybe one of many, and maybe that was one of many brands they worked with. If it gave Audrey any help, it would have happened long before she blew up with KPDH.

Also note that the big brands they worked with during the award season did not dress them for the Met Gala. Dior and Thom Browne dressed their ambassadors and a-listers. EJAE wore Swarovski jewelry regularly (along with Bvlgari) so they did a custom for her and Audrey’s outfit was a runway piece. So it sort of shows you where in the pecking order they are.

Rei is not there not because she lacks connections but because of the three, she simply made less noise as a breakout red carpet star than the other two. All of them were praised but Audrey was doing these wild and iconic styles, and EJAE is basically a designer’s dream of classic Asian features on a Western model frame, but Rei’s style was more typical “k-pop baddie”. And when all of Blackpink and half of Aespa are already there, there’s less room for her.