(Lee) Hi Fashion

Our subject for today has caused quite the stir in the kpop world. I present, 16 year old singing sensation, LEE HI! And her TWO singles this year, It's Over and Rose.

Here are the videos!

It's Over 
At 4,036,805 views as of April 24th 2012.
Rose
At 3,366,324 views as of April 24th 2012.
That's over 7,000,000 views together! Not bad for your first album ;)

Overall impression:

Ruby: Wow! Two extremely different videos from YG’s baby, Lee Hayi. It’s Over went for a super-kawaii-aegyo style using clothing cuts usually saved for kids, bright colors and even toys in the accessories. It’s all fairly wearable clothing, daytime dresses, skirts, and t-shirts. They’re paired with accessories that would be very much at home in harajuku and all together the effect is a high energy and super fun statement. For Rose, Lee Hi goes avant guarde. The Rose is very prominently featured in pattern, color, cut and accessories. The video is super jumpy though, so the clothing often got lost in the transitions. Also, the men in Rose are wearing white pants and body glitter. Not what I usually associate with soldiers. (IT’S A SUPER SECRET MILITARY ATTACK STRATEGY.)

Don't you look adorable in your overall-dress and graphic tee!

LIEUTENANT SPARKLES REPORTING FOR DUTY, ATTEN-HUT.  

Em: The designers were definitely going for extremes here, since they’re still playing around with her image. You would expect such different styles not to work for the same artist, but it seems like both styles matched the songs they were paired with, so it wasn’t too disconcerting. For Rose, the outfits were a range of wearable, from almost street clothes to very strange things, but they all matched the aesthetic of the ‘rose’ in different contexts.

I found roses....

Other promotional Materials:

Ruby: There wasn’t a ton of promotion done for either release, just some simple photos. The stages for both included mostly clothing from the video itself, including that giant fluffy blue bear. The back up dancers for It’s Over are dressed similarly, but being much older, the young styles look out of place on them. The bear makes an appearance, dressed in various outfits, adding to the playful effect of the stage. For Rose, the dancers are covered in white see-through fabric, perfectly in sync with the feel from the video. They even covered her microphone in roses and use the colored contacts from the mv.

I'm very sorry to this poor dancer. But she handled it like a champ. Not even a flinch. Bravery in the line of fashion crisis. Bravo. 

Dancers from Rose Stage.... or next years halloween costume.

Em: They did do teasers, which were fairly typical. What I really liked was the making-of film for Rose, since we got to see details of the clothing and makeup that weren’t that obvious in the film. Much more appreciation for the red rose-patterned shirt now. Actually all of the rose things. YG WHY U NO PUT CLOSE-UPS IN MV THEY WERE FULL OF PRETTY….. :|

Ruffle Roses. 

Continuity:

Ruby: With It’s over, the video incorporates pastels and neons creating a playful, child like mismatched quality. Toys are used in accessories and many of the cuts are reminiscent of young girl’s clothing. Even the bear gets dressed in the latest fashion. I saw you GD-bear and Taeyang-Bear.  Throughout Rose there is a gentle and delicate feel to the clothing and coloring. Her makeup is kept very minimal and her hair is kept back or at least off her face. The entire video takes on a clean and sterile quality that is only interrupted by deep blood reds and soft pinks, very sensual colors. This trace links the entire video together very well….

Hmmmm G-Dragon.... Yeah I can see the similarities. 

Super simple peach makeup. Clean and very pretty.

Though there was the one completely random leopard print top. Why.

I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Em: They do seem to be pretty good about continuity. Even though the themes are different, the same symbols and colors are continued through both videos. Not sure what they were going for with the leopard print, but I’ll forgive it I guess. (Ruby: NO. NOT ALLOWED.) They do very well with keeping the intensity of the color consistent too in each video. All the clothing for each definitely seems like it was made as a set.

Look! We both have oddly shaped lumpy headbands! We should be best friends.

Band’s Overall Image:

Ruby: Interestingly both videos put very different spins on the delicate and girly style they seem to be portraying. I.2.3.4. went for a grungy vibe, harkening to 2ne1 but in her stages her clothing seemed to be a massive mixture of stylistic contrasts. Really these videos are beginning to establish her image. Looks like Lee Hi will be marketed as a sweet, soulful and soft artist. It seems like they’re keeping it age appropriate without limiting her subject matter to “OPPA WHY DON'T YOU LIKE ME.” Thanks YG.

Capture from 1.2.3.4., Lee Hi's first single.

Em: They’re still playing around a bit with her style, and I think they’ll keep messing with it since she’s such a new artist, but they’ve got a lot of good things going with her first three mvs. Hopefully they keep experimenting and don’t just pick one and stick with it, because I like the different takes on one artist. She seems like she can wear a lot of different styles right now, which is good.

So cute and yet so elegant. 

Trends in K-POP:

Ruby: Lee hi is the black horse of Kpop, coming out of a reality program and giving the industry a knock to the back of the knees. She relies entirely on soul and passion in vocal excellence, no flashy gimmicks. She is not marketed based on her physical appearance that makes her somewhat of an oddity. YG has promoted artists like Psy without focus on the physical. She doesn’t fit with current trends, but maybe she could be the start of something new.

Psy and Lee Hi, oddballs from the YG family, together on stage.

Em: In a word, badass.

Oh yes. Badass indeed.

Conclusion:

Ruby: Honestly, for me, these were two really phenomenal choices for Lee Hi. She is quite young and they opted for a cutsey image and then a very avante guarde image rather than leaning too much on the oppa~oppa~ style or sexy, gangster style. She is a very unique artist and deserves a unique concept. Plus super cool fashion and super kawaii-aegyo silliness? It's a good kind of concept. Me gusta.

YES THAT IS A MY LITTLE PONY.

Em: I loved both of these songs, especially Rose. They seem to be capitalizing on the opportunity to experiment with her and avoid the clichés, since she’s so different from most kpop idols. I personally liked the avant guarde image better for her, I thought it was a little more artsy and mysterious and fit her voice better, but I though they did a good job with the cutesy too. Two wins in a row.

Daily Dose of Daebak:

TWO FOR ONE

GD’s wonderfully skanky flight attendant dancers make their reappearance. Thank you YG. Thank you.

these dancers might be my favorite part of kpop. 

CL on stage with Lee Hi. God damn, could she be any more badass? But I mean really now.

I GO BY THE NAME CL OF 2NE1. BADDEST FEMALE SEOUL CITY EVER HAD.

YG managed to sneak cannibalism into a video  and it wasn't banned. How, you ask? Watch the blue bear veryyyyy carefully.

cannibalism noun:1. the eating of the flesh of an animal by another animal of the same kind. 

Blue and violet contact lenses make everything SO MUCH COOLER!

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See ya soon!

Ruby & Em <3