Missing Your Winter Wardrobe

This week we headed home for thanksgiving and the weather turned absolutely frigid. Last week we saw the cuddly, fuzzy side of winter wear but this week we'll really dip into the amazingness of winter fashion with (one of our favorite female trend setters)

Missing You by 2ne1

The video came out on November 20th 2013, and as of November 26th had 5,024,801 views. 

Don't miss the details!

Ruby: I’m just so happy. I’m home on break, I’m eating mac and cheese and winter fashion is back! (Okay so the only relevant part was that last one). 2ne1 fashion tends to be wild, crazy and all over the place (spiked bralette anyone?) but this video was rather reserved for them. It played up voluminous cuts, block-usually dark-colors and sparkle. It was warm and fuzzy, but with a hard edge. The result were outfits that looked expensive and luxurious. Recently I think kpop has strayed away from the luxury concept, (it looks costumey when done wrong) but this is just so spot on fashion wise.

Dara in an adorable color block dress.

Leather studded, dark and punk but still classy.

Em: I really liked this. A lot. The nice thing about winter clothing is that you can only reveal so much skin, so sexiness because a lot less in-your-face and a lot more subtle and classy. The stylists have to focus more on color and material than on skin exposure, so they end up playing up the mystery with a dark hat, sunglasses, and a black coat rather than just throwing lace and eight inch heels all over the places. I mean, it wasn’t that everyone was completely covered *cough* CL was nakey *cough* but overall it’s a classier sexy.  The makeup helped a lot too. The video also had some decidedly weird moments, but they were well-integrated so that the outfits seemed fashionable rather than out-of-place.

This picture is totally NSFW, if you work with shoe-a-holics  

Bom looking pretty and classy and warm

CL takes a dark approach to winter chic

URGENT MEMO

TO: SUZY

DEPT: STYLING

Suzy. I know you were planning a concept for 2ne1’s video shoot today including cute dresses and flirty heels, but looks like that’s going to be a no go. The heating in the filming location’s heating is totally broken. Sorry we didn’t get this to you sooner. Please send a new concept idea back ASAP. I have high expectations.

.... WHAT.

THESE ARE NOT WINTER SHOES, I REPEAT NOT FOR COLD.

RE: URGENT MEMO

TO: PAPAYG

Alright. Well we can’t scrap the entire outfit set, so we’ll have to work with the dresses…. But we can add, uh, JACKETS! YEAH! We have left over jackets from some earlier scrapped concept ideas. Sure they were meant for guys, but they’ll work. I think we have a few super hipster sweaters lying around as well. I’ll throw those in the box too.

Idk why we have this jacket, but doesn't bom look awesome!?

And well, I guess we can use tights? Lots of tights? We are running a little low, but we have a pair with rhinestones, and studded leggings? Skinny leather pants? Whatever they’ll work! We might even use one of the ripped hairs, super edgy right?

We got them on, that means they're still technically clothing.

We even have some accessories left over from that trot video we never aired. Sparkly jackets can be a thing right?

The jacket is weirdly old fashioned, but Minzy can pull it off.

Thank god we already did Cl’s scenes…

And now, in case you’re getting a haircut soon, (Like Em!) here are some possible hairstyles for you to choose from!

Whacked out Rockstar

Cropped red hair, pretty short (easy to care for!) You’ll look like an angsty rocker, which is always nice. Choppy layers and inconsistent color add to your charm.

Romantic Female Lead #342

Long, simple, straight brown hair in a half pony. You might end up romantically staring off into the distance or posing dramatically in really tall heels. Take notes from every kdrama ever made.

Arsty Indie Film Star

Long, smooth, black hair. You might end up watching artsy films that don’t make a lot of sense, like she is. It’ll make you a cooler person at hipster colleges, and a more confused person. But we all make sacrifices.

Rebel Barbie

White-blonde hair in a high, messy bun. Could you be more prim and proper? You might develop a penchant for chess and then... putting your shoes on a chair? (rebellious)

Queen of Contrasts

Perfectly straight, white-blonde. You may develop a liking for oversized sweaters and lying in giant vats of purple fur. Basically you like fuzzy things. Which is odd cause your hair is now the opposite of fuzzy. Also buy a hair straightener. You’ll need it.

Dying to be a Zookeeper

Black and white stripes. You might be a penguin, or maybe a zebra. Possible skunk. You’ll get endless questions, and might even have to cage a few rowdy boys! *winkwink* Woohoo a trip to the zoo!

#fabulousfur

#nailedthenails

#brimmingwithjoy

#fabulousfur is great, though fake fur please! It seems like these have been quite  a few fur coats floating around this season. There’s the constantly relevant coat from Cooked, GDragon, Everybody (SHINee), and Very Good (Block B)… But those are all boy bands… Don’t worry ladies, you look great in them too.

Cl rolling around on a marble floor in her fur trench

GD from his MV Crooked, showing off his own fur trench.

#nailedthenails as always! Fashion nails are really trending in South Korea right now. There was even a drama featuring a Nail Salon (full of cute boys). As for styling nails, the bigger, the fancier and the flashier the better! These nails are somewhat toned down, but the feeling is still there. Recently Love Options also featured some pretty epic nail art.

Dara casually flicks a chess piece with her glitter manicure. 

bestie's Love Options nail styles. 

#brimming with joy would definitely be an over exaggeration of the way we feel about the broad brimmed hats that seem to have cropped up recently. Now we have nothing against hats, we quite like them, but in this instance, it feels a little bit overwhelming to have that large of a brim. This trend definitely is still on the rise and maybe it’ll stop before it really becomes widespread, but we’re gonna keep watching for them...

Dara shields herself from the snow

Jonghyun shields himself from fangirl tears in the
teasers for SHINee's everybody

Just to make sure we didn't miss anything...

Ruby: The video had its weird moments, my diamond encrusted bondage hood, for example. However, the overall effect was really stunning, So far this year, we’ve really stayed in autumn videos and sort of happy fluffy winter styling. This video was a real departure. I mean I have no idea what was happening at all, but they looked classy while doing it. I loved the emphasis placed on sparkles (they didn’t need to be on people’s faces) but Bom’s liquid silver dress and head piece or Dara’s gold detailed fur coat just really exemplified what was so awesome about this video. Lux and classic are trends I’d love to see continue.

Bom looks like a frosty winter princess. 

The emo tear drop feels... angsty and unnecessary. 

BUT i do love the fake eyelashes CL dons. 

Em: The scenes were set up like a moving photoshoot, with every detail taken care of, and the attention to detail showed. Their poses were very photographic and deliberate, even more than usual in a music video, and the clothes complemented that idea with powerful, eye-catching pieces. It was beautifully done and the whole video seemed like an art piece in itself. Very cool.  

Bom looking thoughtfully into the distance 

CL glancing at the camera while taking a bath. At least it's warm.

Dara has a purple feather Mohawk. JUST ACCEPT IT, OKAY? Okay.

Bedazzled Bondage is classy bondage.

Are you guys looking forward to winter as much as we are?

Let us know! And leave us some love in the comments!

See you next week! 

Ruby and Em <3

Going Crazy for Michigo

Happy Tuesday internet! Starting now (dramatic fanfare) we will be updating on TUESDAYS. Maybe making the worst day of the week a little more fashionable will make it more bearable. ;)

SO ON THIS GLORIOUS TUESDAY, we are talking about one of the most well known artists in kpop and his recent eclectic, crazy, off-his-rocker comeback. 

MICHIGO- GDRAGON

The MV for Michigo came out April 19th, 2013 and the video had 4,478,853 views as of April 30th. 

If you haven't seen this insanity yet, please experience the wonder here: 

TO THE CREEPY SUBWAY( click )

Overall impression:

Em: As always, GD has a sassy, weird style that is totally and completely his own. It was reminiscent of the insanity of Crayon, but with elements of One of a Kind thrown in. Initially he started in a relatively innocuous ‘street-clothes’ type outfit, then quickly moved dark leathery outfits as part of his alter-ego. Lots of tight pants or weird shorts, jackets, and wigs EVERYWHERE for him. The other people in the video ranged from fairly simple punk-y outfits to the super badass girl with green lipstick and leather and spikes everywhere. Oh and one more thing—most of them had masks. Creepy anime girl masks.

Don't worry, dancer girl is just high off life.

What a luscious wig. (Because he's worth it...)

On my way to school. Riding the scariest subway ever.

Ruby: Animegao. Yeah. They were a…. surprise. It definitely held the hallmarks of  GD. There were A LOT of exaggerated hairstyles and heavy (though really well done) makeup in this video. Some really interesting individual pieces got lost in the wonderland-esuqe muddled confusion. That being said the shapes and styling was very intricate, creating a complex and unique atmosphere. Gotta love skinny jeans and a loose, cropped jacket. There was a very clear distinction between the dancers and GD, as they stayed mostly in street clothes and added masks.

my face scarf is super cool! too bad it was in the video for all of 3 seconds.

One of the many animegao....

Other promotional Materials:

Em: There appears to be almost no promotional materials for Michigo. Guess GD just didn’t need them…the video spoke for itself.

Ruby: He has dropped a hint for the performance of this song during his concert series. He wears a very long, red leather car-racing suit with appliques. It’s interesting. Really not connected to the video at all. I bet it looks cool from afar, but from close up the coat is overwhelming since GD is so skinny.

GD live stage outfit for Michigo. 

Continuity:

Em: Though it had the usual insanity of a G-Dragon mv, there was also consistency in the level of craziness. There was a different wig for every outfit, each one crazier than the last one (afro, Mohawk, etc) but they each went with the outfit. The color scheme for GD himself was almost all black and white, with some smaller exceptions. The masks also remained throughout the video, tying the scenes together.

My my what a wig collection you have.

Ruby: The scenes were continuous in their weirdness, I guess. I mean the theme for the video was insanity, so good work everyone, you worked hard today. Mission accomplished? A lot of it strayed into ground that was a little fetishy, with the harness for example. But hey, the slightly sketchy, very odd quality in this video really is consistent.

GD's shiny new harness.

Band’s Overall Image:

Em: Like I said, this is VERY GD. Though it has different themes than previous videos, you can still tell pretty easily that it’s him. His style is distinctive in its craziness and testing of boundaries. Also he seems to have a thing for weird shorts. He has a well-established image of a unique, out-there artist using playful concepts with…twists. Such as the kink in this video. O.o

you know what they say about men with big feet.....

Ruby: Interestingly, GD’s solo work takes on a very different style than his hand, BIGBANG, does. G-Dragon recently has been going increasingly crazier in his wardrobe choices. Although heartbreaker era was slightly less out-there, he has always opted for weirdness and off trend fashion to set himself apart. Its one of his selling points; you’ll never be bored.

This is from Heartbreaker.... hey that mask looks familiar....

Heartbreaker makeup. A little bit wacky, a lot of a bit cool.

Trends in K-POP:

Em: GD sets the goddamn trend. However, this is consistent with themes of having fun and partying that we see from a lot of bands (his just might win craziest). Though the video wasn’t specifically about a party, it had the same ideas of letting loose, going nuts, and having fun.

 

PARTY IN THE LIBRARRRRRYYYYYYY..... study party. duh.

Ruby: AND THEN THERE ARE THE FETISHES. This video, from the bathroom voyeur to the super phallic gun to GD’s enormous feet, was filled to the brim with pseudo-sexual innuendo and imagery. Kpop recently is RIFE with fetish-related fashion! It’s not a new idea, going back to much older ukiss and tvxq songs, but there does seem to be an increase in it recently. Jaejoong’s Mine and Jo Kwon's Animal both make different references to the idea. Other examples are pictured below.

Voyeur GD approves.

Spanking. Apparently GD thinks this "feels good"....

Bom in 2ne1's I am the Best ft. Poodle and Spiky Boobs

Jaejoong's Mine, he sure does like his chains....

Dongho in Ukiss's Man Man Ha Ni. At the time he was 15.

NOTHING SEXUAL GOING ON HERE T-ARA. NOPE.

Can't even defend Brown Eyed Girls- Abracadabra....

Conclusion:

Em: I think the song and video worked very well with the image he had cultivated, and I suspect he had a lot of fun filming it. He certainly enjoyed riding the giant pink elephant. GD appears to be testing the limits of how weird (and sexual) he can get in an mv before he’s forced to leave the country, and it’s certainly entertaining. As usual, another successful single.

He sure enjoys waving around his.... elephant trunk.

Ruby: I always enjoy a little bit of weirdness and originality in videos. Typically I adore GD’s complete disregard for other’s opinions or social acceptability. While I loved most of this video I found it a little underwhelming following That XX and Crayon. I mean, That XX had this grungy elegance, which GD pulled off so well, despite the obvious contradiction in that statement. Beyond that Crayon managed to go insane (oh that wonder-woman cape) without being confusing or disorienting. While I loved the feistiness and snarkiness of the video, I wish it had been a tad bit more focused. Honestly.

 

From Crayon- GD and his favorite jammies.

From That XX- CLASSY AND SASSY.

Daily Dose of Daebak:

LIP RINGGGGGGGGSSSSS

EXCUSE ME WHILE I WHIP YOU WITH MY RIDING CROP FLY SWATTER. 

Leave us some good vibes or suggestions here or on tumblr! 

You can answer this, if you like: Which is your favorite GD comeback from this year? 

I know what mine is >.<

Lots of love,

Ruby & Em