If Lee Jae-wook is speaking to you, you can tell that he’s really listening. His dark brown eyes lock on you, unwavering and he doesn’t rush to spit out the first thought that comes to mind or speak just to fill a silence. he’s happy to pause and consider, always thoughtful in a genuine way about what’s just been said to him and how he’ll respond. It’s exactly this quality that helped catapult the 24 years South Korea actor to fame from the moment he first stepped into Korean drama debut in the sci-fi series Memories of the Alhambra, where K-Drama A-listers Hyun Bin, Park Shin-Hye, and EXO’s Chanyeol were the lead stars.
Masculinity is something Jae-Wook is interested in exploring in his work, and he plays with it in the Louis Vuitton campaign as well. The tag line is “LV The Truth,” which—surprise, surprise—the star has contemplated rather than just reading it as a clever slogan. “Masculinity should continuously self-examine and evolve,” he says. “Codes are meant to help you function, but they need to be constantly updated—just like the [operating system] on a laptop needs to be. Otherwise, an outdated code will break and not facilitate the function it is meant to serve. Masculinity needs to be in flux; it needs to change. People think of masculinity and they think of strength, but we need to redefine what strength means. Is it an unwillingness to bend, or is there strength in vulnerability, in being able to listen and adapt?” Flexibility and evolution are at the centre of Jae-Wook’s career choices and despite the show’s success.