Denim Duel: How KATSEYE danced circles around Sydney Sweeney
With KATSEYE and "Milkshake," Gap stitched together a win after Sydney Sweeney's controversial American Eagle ad
L to R: Sophia Laforteza of KATSEYE wearing Gap & Sydney Sweeney wearing American Eagle.
Bjorn Iooss/American Eagle
Words by Daniel Anderson
As an EYEKON, and yes, a boy who does in fact like milkshakes, KATSEYE’s new Gap commercial, which dropped last week, hit like a sucker punch and brought me straight to their yard to witness a title fight: In one corner, KATSEYE delivering style and progress; in the other, Sydney Sweeney’s July 23 American Eagle campaign, spiraling into outrage and mockery. Denim ads have always been about more than just clothing—they’re cultural mirrors, telling us who gets to look cool, sexy, or radical at a given moment.
American Eagle’s europhia
At first glance, both campaigns aim for the same goal: jeans as timeless, sexy, youthful. Yet the outcomes could not be more different. American Eagle’s ad centers on a monotone Sweeney, whispering a pseudo-scientific monologue about genetics: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue."
The pun was meant to be cheeky. Instead, it ignited echoes of eugenics at a moment when U.S. politics is already roiled by debates over diversity and nationalism. What should have been lighthearted wordplay suddenly invoked centuries of pseudo-science and racial hierarchies. The problem was not just the script. It was the messenger.
Sweeney has built her Hollywood persona around the “blonde bombshell” archetype, an image with a long American history, including Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s. That figure embodies contradictions: hypersexual yet innocent, empowered yet naïve, alluring yet racially exclusive. Blonde became more than just a hair color, it was a proxy for who counted as desirable—a neon sign for whiteness masquerading as glamour.
In 2025, when the political right openly campaigns against diversity programs, the visual of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress delivering lines about “great genes” was bound to strike nerves.
Sweeney herself brings baggage that magnifies this unease. She’s been criticized of overexposure during her Anyone But You press run with co-star Glen Powell, was swept up in the memed movie Madame Web, lampooned for selling her bathwater as merchandise, and caught in controversy over a MAGA-themed birthday party for her mother in 2022. Reports that she registered as a Republican in 2024 and is linked to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in a business deal, only deepened the perception that she represents not just an aesthetic archetype, but a political one.
In this context, American Eagle’s campaign doesn’t read as playful. It reads as regressively grifty and tone deaf. The fallout has proven this point. Instead of selling jeans, the ad has sold outrage. Some critics denounced it as Nazi propaganda, while others mocked liberals for “overreacting.” Right-wing commentator Megyn Kelly remarked on The Megyn Kelly Show that “lunatics on the left think she’s advertising white supremacy. This is obviously a reference to her body and not to her skin color, but the lunatic left is going to do what the lunatic left is going to do.”
American Eagle has doubled down with their statement, insisting via Instagram post on Aug. 1 that, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story.” The company notes that all proceeds from the “Sydney” jeans will be donated to Crisis Text Line and support domestic violence awareness, a cause Sweeney has championed.
Yet the execution undermines the message. When your charity campaign centers on lingering shots of cleavage and a pun invoking eugenics, no amount of corporate statement can realign the optics.
KATSEYE’s Gap debut
Now consider Gap’s “Better in Denim” campaign with KATSEYE. Here, the message is almost disarmingly simple: jeans as a vehicle for individuality, confidence, and movement. Yet its execution brims with cultural intelligence. The ad is set to Kelis’s 2003 anthem “Milkshake,” a song that once scandalized and empowered in equal measure, celebrating female sexuality with unapologetic confidence. Its choice here is no accident. By reviving “Milkshake,” Gap situates its campaign in Y2K nostalgia, but retools it for a global, 2025 audience. The line, “it’s better than yours,” certainly doesn’t hurt as a clapback either.
The members of KATSEYE themselves are the embodiment of this remix. Formed under HYBE’s reality series, The Debut: Dream Academy, the group broke the mold of the K-pop system by assembling members of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. Daniela Avanzini is Cuban American; Lara Raj is Indian American; Manon Bannerman is Ghanaian and Swiss Italian from Switzerland; Sophia Laforteza is Filipina American; Megan Skiendiel is Chinese Singaporean and Swedish from Hawaii; and Yoonchae Jeung is South Korean. Multiculturalism is the group’s groundbreaking thesis statement. Pop or K-pop adjacent can be plural, hybrid, global. That ethos translates seamlessly into Gap’s ad.
Each member of KATSEYE styles denim in a way that reflects their individuality. Skiendiel pairs a cropped shell tank with a micro mini pleated skirt. Avanzini sports a sleek bodysuit with a pair of men’s baggy jeans. Raj rocks a custom denim bralette with low-rise Long & Lean jeans. Jeung layers a denim racing jacket over low-rise Long & Lean jeans. Laforteza mixes a long-sleeve shirt with a pleated skirt. And Bannerman rounds out the group with a custom denim bralette and baggy jeans.
Together, they perform a routine crafted by Robbie Blue, who has choreographed for the likes of Tinashe, Tate McRae, and Doechii. Their movements are dynamic and supported by an impressive dance troupe. The fact that they can spin, kick, and drop in these pieces proves the denim isn’t only aesthetic, the pieces are genuinely flexible and comfortable enough to move with the body. Where Sweeney’s delivery is flat, almost drained of charisma, KATSEYE’s energy radiates.
“I had the space to blend styles that wouldn’t normally sit next to each other—Fosse technique, ballet, hip-hop, and jazz funk,” Blue said in a statement from Gap. “It became a dance through decades, just like denim. The clothes moved with the choreography, never against it and that freedom of movement allowed me and the dancers to tap into something bigger.”
Beautiful chaos
The symbolism runs even deeper. Early-2000s Gap commercials were basically mini music videos, featuring multiethnic casts dancing in khakis and jeans—projecting an aspirational diversity at a time when few brands dared. “Better in Denim” revives that visual language while updating it with authentic, structural diversity: a girl group whose very existence embodies cross-cultural belonging.
In nearly every media appearance, the members openly celebrate their distinct cultural identities. Laforteza proudly showcases her Filipino heritage, which has led to the group’s recent collaboration with Jollibee. Raj, who came out as queer earlier this year, has spoken about embracing traditional adornments like the bindi. Skiendiel, who identifies as bisexual, teaches Cantonese to her followers and has shared candidly about navigating dyslexia and anxiety with Lexapro. Avanzini lends her Spanish-speaking skills to the group’s hit Telenova-inspired track “Gabriela.” Bannerman honors her Ghanaian roots by wearing waist beads and Jeung is the most fluent in Korean.
The political subtext makes the divide unmistakable. Sweeney’s ad invokes nostalgia for midcentury whiteness and all its exclusions, while KATSEYE’s campaign channels Y2K nostalgia as a gateway to inclusivity. American Eagle stumbles into uncomfortable eugenics associations, but Gap harnesses the liberatory energy of “Milkshake,” reclaiming sexuality as confidence rather than voyeurism. Personal controversies also work differently. Sweeney’s history overshadows her ad, whereas KATSEYE’s narrative amplifies Gap’s message.
Both Sweeney and KATSEYE are brand ambassadors, but an ambassador is never just a face. They bring their histories, their baggage, their politics. Sweeney’s baggage makes her jeans look like a punchline. American Eagle miscalculated, assuming Sweeney’s bombshell appeal would carry the day. Gap, by contrast, recognized that KATSEYE represents not just musical talent but a cultural shift—a generation moving fluidly across borders, identities, and genres.
Never out of style, never out of “Touch”
And notice what’s telling. There’s no outrage about the KATSEYE ad. Conservative commentators aren’t heralding it as a triumph, even though, by their own logic, it features six beautiful women confidently showing off their bodies—the same reason they proclaimed to fixate on Sweeney.
The silence reveals the truth. The Sweeney campaign was never just about jeans, beauty, or sex appeal. It was about a specific demographic and archetype. In MAGA circles, Sweeney has become an Aryan “dream wife,” with even President Donald Trump himself applauding the ad. He wrote on Truth Social, “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there. Go get 'em Sydney!" KATSEYE, by contrast, transcends such narrow projections, embodying inclusion and joy for a comfortable fit.
In the end, both campaigns prove that jeans are never just jeans. They are canvases onto which we project fantasies of sex, race, nation, and identity. The question is, whose fantasies and whose futures do they serve? Sweeney’s ad clung to an outdated archetype and collapsed under its weight. While she prepares to portray boxer Christy Martin in the upcoming biopic Christy, KATSEYE’s ad dances free, clotheslining her American Eagle spot for a knockout.
KATSEYE’s spot and spotlight prove that denim looks f*cking Gnarly when it belongs to everyone. God bless the Gap girls.
Published on August 25, 2025
Words by Daniel Anderson
Daniel Anderson is a disabled Chinese American adoptee based in Seattle. His freelance writing specialties include K-pop, entertainment, and food. He believes that any restaurant can be a buffet, and the key to success is to take a nap each day. Follow his adventures on Instagram @danzstan.