Batman's First Love (Nanananananananana AFTER SCHOOL)

Nana and the rest of After School sang nanana (etc.) even better than the batman theme song in First Love. As of June 17th, 2013, the video had 577,166 views (which I don't think does it justice). If you haven't yet watched After School seducing everyone and everything, you can watch the video HERE 

Overall impression:

Em: The main concept for this was essentially stripper outfits (I mean, they had poles and everything) but there was quite a bit more to it than that. There was a series of outfits that were British inspired (which were awesome), some bondage-y punk ones (lots of leather), some basic dance ones (fairly simple white with black leather heels), and finally some variations on the white (but barefoot) for the dramatic solo dances. The outfits were clearly intended to be sexy, with slim-fitting, revealing pieces that had the added bonus of allowing them to dance successfully with a pole (this wouldn’t really work in skirts…). The band looked very unified, yet each member had completely unique details that really added interest to the video.

Leather and heels and poles oh my

Simple, intense color scheme

Swoopy solo outfits

Ruby: Yeah, I think it’s important to note that by using the poles so prominently, they really sold the idea of strippers, which made revealing clothing expected. So I will be a lot less harsh on this than on other sexy concepts that didn’t reference strippers as blatantly. They kept it really simple in content with big wavy hair, dark eye makeup and lace up leather boots. A few locations and no plot force the fashion and styling to do most of the talking for this video, which makes it less overwhelming I think. Plus they really do a great job with the pole dancing, so more power to them.

Wavy hair and eyeliner

Lace up boots that kept showing up
(though not always with the nifty socks)

Other promotional Materials:

Em: Their video teasers were just clips from the MV itself. One of the teaser photos was actually pretty cool, with Nana wearing heavy accessories and a hat but shirtless. It tied into the scenes with the members of the group clearly not wearing shirts at all, but at the same time it was interesting fashion-wise again because of the details. I liked the accessories themselves a lot, specifically whatever was on her hands. Certainly an image that would make people curious about the MV. The comeback stage used the black and white punk outfits pretty much exactly as they were in the MV. 

Comeback stage with same outfits as MV

Chains and metal jewelry are more obvious
when you aren't wearing clothes

Ruby: Comeback stages were super consistent, I love the inclusion of the harness, which I guess could be controversial (though I could have done without the head sock. Why. It's a head sock. I mean, I don't even know anymore.) They released a few group teaser photos. These featured a lot of leather and heavy metals. I thought it felt cohesive with the album concept without giving away too much of the mv, though the video teasers certainly did enough of that.

This is the cool part, and then.... 

Socks don't go on heads

Leather and heavy metals and legs everywhere too

Continuity:

Em: The continuity was surprisingly good, considering the variety in outfits they chose. Each set of outfits was extremely distinctive and the group stayed together without being all the same. The white dance outfits had the most continuity with each other, but others did well too, like the one where everyone had a British flag or colors incorporated into their clothing and were all wearing the same shoes. In fact, the shoes stayed pretty much the same throughout the video, which I thought worked REALLY well to bring it all together. The punky ones were a LITTLE far off from the white ones, but the British ones were a decent crossover and the shoes helped.

All different, yet still cohesive...yay!

Ruby: Honestly I thought that they were so consistent it almost got boring. I like sets of outfits to be cohesive, if you’re going to do sets, make them identifiably similar. That was great, but I could have used one more set of outfits, something metallic maybe? Or like really girly. One more element to spice it up. The white outfits were by far the most conservative of the bunch, but it did add some variety. I also appreciate the effort to keep them all equally as sexy, despite needing some of them in pants versus something sexier like shorts or skirts.

Borrrrinngggg (at least in comparison)...too uniform

Band’s Overall Image:

Em: After School has had a number of ‘sexy’ concepts (see Flashback), but this seems like its on a new level for them. Maybe it’s because they’ve done a lot of songs promoting their sexiness that they were able to pull off this one. The outfits were a little more varied than in some other of their videos, which was nice.

 

promoting with sexy in Flashback

Ruby: Flashback was really sexy, and even shampoo was a sexier concept, but within them I think they have always included some cute. Not to mention they put lots of girly, cut and quirky into their subgroups. Take orange caramel for instance. Their Magic Girl promotions featured pink, poofy and poka dots. Rather than an evolution of styles, After School really seems to just vary between projects. It’s cool and keeps it fresh.

promoting with sexy in Shampoo

SO MUCH HAPPY

Trends in K-POP:

Em: After School jumped on the tattoo train that we’ve already talked about in some of our other reviews, with prominent fake tattoos throughout the MV. Kpop also seems to be getting more and more daring in terms of what they put their artists in, from revealing clothing to obscenities on baseball caps. I like that they’re taking some risks in how far they can push things, though the more stripper concepts made the trashier they’re going to get. Another major trend is the British-inspired, punk outfits, which I adore.  

You can't ban me, I'm too cute (Sunny from SNSD)

Minho also wearing a Union Jack in a teaser for Sherlock

Ruby: There was a bit of bondage around, in this video, though I think that was more related to the stripper concept than anything else. Recently, I’ve been enjoying the pairing of innocent and suggestive. In Ga In’s Bloom (the video I credit with the stripper pole origin) its brief, but she also wears like, white and fairly conservative clothes while pole dancing. That whole video actually really pairs suggestive and sweet. I like it. I also love that the tattoos in the video are in the old pin up style. A great nod to a female sex archetype.

Ga In, starting it all in Bloom

Cool tattoos

Conclusion:

Em: As you can probably tell, I liked these outfits. I think the styling was really well done and creative, with lots of cool pieces. Some were even wearable, like that one red jacket that I would totally get for myself. The clothing really grew on me—the more details I noticed the more I liked it. Overall, I think it was a great comeback for After School and I hope their future MVs show them same level of quality and attention to detail.

Jacket jealousy

Ruby: Much like hipster-kawaii, I think classy stripper can be really tempting for companies, even if its almost impossible to do right. But wow! After School, I applaud your stylists because this is just done so right. I’m not saying I want to see endless stripper poles in the future of kpop, but this worked really really well. Plus it gives them a chance to explore some of the fashion that is harder to integrate into other videos. I mean if some guy fell in love with a girl while she was working in a café wearing union jack mini shorts and a one-shouldered top, I would have a lot more questions…..

Idk what kind of cafe that would be...

Daily Dose of Daebak:

The solo dances were kind of a how the $#*@ did you do that. Like that is not as easy as you just made it look.

That casually-thrown-in-there eyebrow ring. You rock.

So what did you think? Did you love it? Hate it? Did it remind you more of Ga In's Bloom or of Hyuna's Ice Cream? Leave us some comments!
Love,
-Ruby & Em <3