You Are What You Eat

This week we decided to review a strange but fun video with lots of VERY interesting outfits...Orange Caramel's Catallena! It was posted on March 11, 2014 and had 1,376,885 views by the 23rd. Let's get to it!

Em:
If you're looking for an imaginative video about anthropomorphic food, this is your video. Orange Caramel starts out dressed as mermaids, with shiny and slightly scaly floor-length dresses that turn into tails at the end. Why not. Then the video takes an unexpected turn--the mermaids end up flopping around in the kind of styrofoam and plastic packaging usually used to package fish in a grocery store. Meanwhile, the dancing parts of the video were performed in eye-catching polka dot ensembles. The whole video used vivid colors and bold details to really make an impression.

Sure we're totally at a beach

THEM EYELASHES

CUTE

Ruby: This video is completely crazy, and as per usual when that's the case, there's some really good crazy and some really bad crazy. Personally I love the concept of the sushi costumes. I thought they were super original, identifiable and really fun. The dance outfits were a little on the weirder side with too much going on most of the time. But even so it seemed to add to the playful chaos concept they were going for so all in all it worked out pretty well. As someone who eats quite a bit of sushi, I thought the anthropomorphized sushi were absolutely hilarious.

Another version of the adorable polka dots

At least the colors are well composed

R: Holy Headwear, Batman!
B: What is it, Robin?
R: Those girls over there...what's on their heads?
B: Robin, do not look at them. Keep very, very quiet and try not to attract attention.
R: *whispers* Who are they?
B: Those are the Sushi Sisters, also known as Orange Caramel. Villains, the lot of them.
R: What did they do?
B: They've murdered sushi chefs across the nation. Their fourth sister, Floe, was killed by bad sushi at an unknown restaurant, so they've made it their mission to avenge her death.
R: That's horrible! So...the headgear?
B: Trophies from past murders.
R: Are...are you going to try to stop them?
B: That, Robin, is why we're here this evening.

THE VICTIM

Blast from the past:
Orange Caramel is a subunit of After School, brining out the quirky, odd side of the band. After School is known for classy, sexy concepts, so this subunit has always been an out of the box group for them. When they debuted in 2010, they called this whacky style Candy Culture. So lets take a walk back through candy land, shall we?

They debuted in 2010with a video called Magic Girl, the originator of this candy style. This video features cute, fluffy dresses in pastel colors, polka dots and teeny tiny accessories. It was ultra feminine and played up their charm and cuteness.

Later in 2010, they moved onto Aing which took a turn for the weird. It's this dream like, fairy tail fantasy concept, complete with costumes like little red riding hood, alice in wonderland, snow white.... all made out of latex.

They came back with two mv's in 2011, Bangkok City and Shanghai Romance. These mvs continued to explore the ways in which things could get weird fashion wise in kpop videos. Bangkok City featured, voluminous blonde wigs and a roller disco theme. It was a lot sexier in concept than some other videos they've done. Among the truly odd, there were a few great moments.

Shanghai Romance was actually the first video I ever saw from Orange Caramel and it definitely left an impression. Shanghai Romance has pieces that really feel more mainstream kpop and some really cool pieces but all that is counterbalanced by some of the weirdest clothing/accessories I have ever seen in a kpop mv to date.

In 2012 they released Lipstick, the pingpong battle royale video. This moved back towards the candy culture look in some ways, but I think this is really when they took off towards Candy Couture. The styling was sexy and flirty while being crazy and weird. It felt like it was less cliche and really defined what I love about Orange Caramel; its pop colors, weird dances and an undeniable charm.

This mv really continues down that path of exploring a weird concept in an innovative and fashionable way. I'd definitely go back for seconds.

#lacemeup
#shinyasSHINee
#hat-titude

#lacemeup because once again, lace makes an appearance! We talked about it in Ladies Code's So Wonderful, and we'll keep talking about it, since it just keeps showing up! Lacy details seem to fit into any outfit set, adding a dash of femininity and elegance to anything. We also saw it in quite a bit in Rumble Fish's Virulent Song--for some reason that video keeps coming back.

Pretty lace gloves on Orange Caramel

Ladies Code

Lace absolutely EVERYWHERE is The Virulent Song

#shinyasSHINee for the blindingly reflective outfits we've been seeing a lot of this year. From the mermaids in this MV to the extras in Royal Pirate's Drawing the Line, metallics are definitely in. While it sometimes works in a kpop mv, be careful with this one in real life...its hard to have a conversation with someone who has been blinded by your outfit.

Super reflective dress...luckily the design is kept fairly simple otherwise

a classy addition from Drawing the Line

#hat-titude you gotta have it these days. There have been a lot of head covering's recently in kpop, although most have been more traditional hats. Although hats are more commonly found in boybands fashion choices, we're seeing them more and more for women too. There was a beret in SPICA's You Don't Love Me and Girls Generation all wore fedoras in their dance scene in Mr. Mr..

is it a magic mushroom? will we ever know?

Spica looking sassy

Fedora Generation?

Em: I think I speak for both of us when I say AWESOME. They really tried to do something different here, and the effort paid off, with an eye catching set of outfits that played an integral part in the story of the MV. Talk about making the outfits the focus! Very clever, and I'm glad they went all the way with it. I love polka dots too, so seeing them as a theme made me happy, and it also brought the outfit sets together. The dance outfits made a lot more sense with the repeated pattern. Orange Caramel has done it again!

ALL the polka dots

Yum yum?

Ruby: I thought this video rode the line between crazy and fashion in a really unique way. We see a lot of girl groups these days who use the same concepts over and over again but with Orange Caramel you know that you're gonna get something really unique. The best part about it is that other than one poor choice of dance outfits, everything is flattering and sexy. These three women look amazing while breaking all the traditional guidelines for how kpop girl groups are dressed in mvs. They're also a great example of how to do the cutesy, candy girl style without looking like they were dressed like little kids, which can get creepy.

This is INDEED unique

 minnie mouse!

The set--a table as a stage? Yes please!

Swimming in my soy sauce. nbd.

Mr. Style Mr. Fashion

Heyyyy so this week we're reviewing something that only JUST came out and that a whole lot of people are talking about...SNSD's Mr. Mr.! It was published on February 28th, 2014 and had 2,057,554 views by the next day. Wow!

Time to make an appointment...
Em: There was a lot going on in this video, and a lot of it was quite cool when you break it down. The main idea was surgeon-inspired outfits in hot pink paired with striking black and white dance outfits. Its nice to see a change from the usual red/black/white combination we see so often, and it was VERY Girl's Generation. The pink outfits ranged from sparkly formal dresses to sleek suits, and the black and white outfits ended up being in both dresses and suits as well. While at times there was a bit too much going on, there were a lot of lovely pieces!

Lots of pink!

But paired with black and white

Ruby: Girls Generation has had more concepts than I can count. Some of them have been great, some have been awful. I will admit, when I first saw these teasers I was super worried that this mv was going to be weird and  uncomfortable. But I was so so wrong. I honestly think that the styling (hair, makeup) for this music video is the best era for SNSD I have ever seen. The pink doctor scrubs are avant garde, unique and stylish. I could have done without the first dance outfit, but I loved the take on mens wear. And I mean, those little black dresses, so old school SNSD, so wonderful.

The cute dance costumes

The less cute dance costumes

Pretty in Pink
Do you love pink? I mean REALLY love pink? Like you go into the girl's section of the toy aisle at Target and just sigh with happiness kind of love pink? If so, then you might be experiencing something called Soshi Syndrome, the uncontrollable desire to have everything you wear be--you guessed it--PINK. But how can you pull it off? Is it appropriate? Well I'm here to tell you that it is ALWAYS appropriate, and SNSD can show you how!

Got an important meeting at work? Pair a bright pink polka dot blazer with a red turtleneck, eye-catching red earrings, and a super sparkly necklace. Your fabulousness will blind everyone and they won't even be able to think straight, let along contradict you.

 Got a date and want to make a big impression? Own it with a short sequined that shows off your legs and makes you just as eye-catching as a particularly fancy chandelier.

 Got a job as a surgeon? Don't let that stop you from letting your fabulousness show through! Simply throw your surgeon's garb into the wash with a red shirt and it'll have just the right amount of personality. If you've got a date later, throw on some gorgeous makeup too. If your hair ends up getting frizzy while you're working away, tie it back for a more elegant look.

Soshi Sochi

Olympics in the Soshi world don't involve luge, skiing or even figure skating. No. The Soshi Olympics award their highest honor, the pink medal, for super amazing hair. What else?

Let's break it down by sport:

Curvaceous Curls
This pink medal definitely goes out to Taeyeon for her bouncy big 80s hair. We love the big, textured hair and it certainly leaves an impression.

Bangin' Bangs
Tiffany takes this one with her edgy straight bangs, but Sooyoung is a close runner up with her divided bangs and modern pumped up half-pony.

Princess Pony Tail
Tied for this honor are Yoona and Sunny. Both so voluminous. Both so edgy. Both so fabulous.

Blonde Bombshell
Hyoyeon is the ultimate blonde beauty in this video with a great example of a soft feminine blond hair-do.

Close runner up for the pink metal is Seohyun with her ombre half pony. Soft and feminine made edgy by the color change, very nice.

Sexy Waves
Yuri totally takes this medal with her ultra sexy, ultra soft pin up waves.

Jessica also sported some luscious, bold waves.

#houndstooth
#sprinkleofglitter
#girlslikeboys

#houndstooth again actually; the pattern keeps recurring this season, from nails to shirts, and we talked about it in our review a couple weeks ago of BAP's 1004(Angel). It continue the trend from Spica's You Don't Love Me.

houndstooth in Mr. Mr.

BAP 1004(Angel)

Spica's You Don't Love Me

#sprinkleof glitter for the profusion of prominent pretties (read: jewelry) that everyone seems to be having these days. We've seen a lot of elaborate earrings and statement necklaces, from Rumble Fish's The Virulent Song to Rainbow Blaxx's Cha Cha (both of which we recently reviewed).

Pretty organic earrings

From Rainbow Blaxx's Cha Cha

#girlslikeboys can be a real cool look. 2ne1 uses dance outfits that are both straight up men's wear and also dresses with men's wear collars. Recently we've seen this in Pika-Burnjuck by GPBasic, which featured military uniforms, and So Wonderful by Ladies' Code which featured the men's collar dresses.

Interesting that menswear is often in black and white

Pika-Burnjuck by GP Basic

Their test results...
Em: I really like the combination of the suits and the pink...I like a nice mix of feminine and masculine, and I think SNSD has a very feminine image, so the all-pink ensembles worked well with that, and the contrast tied together well with it too since a lot of the pink was in the form of blazers or other business-related clothes. The surgeon theme was fun. I do think there was too much going on at times, and that I wish I had seen some of the good outfits more rather than that quantity.

Does that qualify for a surgeon's outfit?

Oh yeah

Ruby: As is so often the case, the things I really love are the details in this video. The shoes for the dance scene with the dresses were elegant and classy, featuring metal accents. Even the makeup, winged eyeliner and red lips, added so much to the visuals in this music video. It really put the girls in their best light. And I loved how different it was. The bare midriff dress was super cute, as were the dresses that featured more draping. I wish there were less outfit sets at the end of the day, but there were some really great features in this video.

not quite all business

ALL the dapper

Casual murderous surgery resulting in a pink sparkly heart? Someone get the Hannibal fans over here.

The perfect surgical companion. Mr. Teddy.

Would you go to snsd for medical treatment? What were your thoughts on the great girl group smackdown of 2014? 

Let us know or leave us some love!!!!!

See ya, 

Em and Ruby <3