Kim Yoo-jung Turns Heads in Paris as Messika's Ambassador With a Tube-Top Dress

Kim Yoo-jung posted photos from Paris ahead of a Messika event, wearing a strapless tube-top dress that left her shoulders and collarbone fully visible, paired with jewellery from the French high-end brand she now represents as ambassador. The silhouette was close-fitting and unadorned, and the effect was a noticeably more mature register than the fresh-faced roles most audiences associate with her.

The styling did most of the work quietly. Her medium-length hair framing a clean shoulder line, the collarbone sitting sharp against the neckline, the dress falling with no excess fabric anywhere. Fans responding online noted the difference in her presence immediately, with comments gravitating toward words like "elegant" and "actress aura" rather than the sweetness usually attached to her public image. That shift did not happen by accident: the Messika partnership, a Parisian event, and a deliberate wardrobe choice together signal that she and her team are actively repositioning her visual identity.

The routine behind the look

In an appearance on the YouTube channel Yojeongjaeheong last November, Kim Yoo-jung was candid about the work involved. She described herself as someone who naturally eats a lot, and recalled hiding snacks in her wardrobe during middle and high school to eat all at once, adding that being told to restrict food as a young actress genuinely confused her. "Food was everything to me," she said, "so I kept wondering why I wasn't allowed to eat."

Now, she said, the approach has shifted toward overall health rather than restriction. She described mixing personal training, Pilates, and yoga, with yoga being the practice she has maintained longest. "You need to be healthy to really enjoy anything," she said, which reads less like a PR answer than a position she has arrived at over time.

There is some research behind the yoga claim. A 2016 study from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany followed 60 women with abdominal obesity through a 12-week yoga programme. Those who practised showed an average reduction in waist circumference of 3.8 centimetres more than the control group, along with meaningful differences in body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and muscle ratio. The researchers described the effect as a "moderate positive impact." A separate analysis from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which reviewed ten existing studies on overweight and obese adults, found that yoga practitioners tended to eat less and move more, suggesting the practice may influence behaviour as much as it does the body directly.

Kim Yoo-jung's next appearance in front of an audience will be on screen rather than a runway: she stars in the new tvN weekend drama 100 Days of Lies, which premieres on the 10th.