These incidents have highlighted how the Kim family – who are treated almost as god-like figures – are often exempt from rules that apply to the rest of society.
“Although jeans are banned in North Korea as a Western fashion item, Kim Jong Un has appeared wearing them,” Prof Lee Woo-young, of the University of North Korean Studies, says.
“No matter how much they ban foreign culture and even enact laws, North Korea is a place where there is nothing the supreme leader is unable to do.”
Still, that has not stopped some North Koreans from wanting to keep up with the Kims and dress as sophisticatedly as Ju Ae.
There have been reports , externalof an uptick in luxury goods such as Chanel cosmetics and perfumes circulating among wealthy North Koreans, while fur coats have become popular in a city bordering China.
Photographs of children at a prestigious kindergarten wearing partially see-through blouses have surfaced. There are also reports of sunglasses and leather trenchcoats similar to those worn by Ju Ae and Kim Jong Un becoming popular among affluent young people.
This is not unusual in North Korea – there have been reports in the past of young men sporting Kim Jong Un’s hairstyle.
Ordinary North Koreans have very restricted access to information from the outside world including fashion trends, making the country’s leader an unlikely fashion icon.
Now, his daughter appears to have become one too.
Additional reporting by Hyunjung Kim.
