Tell Me Why It's Delicious Fashion

So a little while ago, a new collab started. Oh yes, we're talking about Toheart. Unfortunately, we never got to review their first single, Delicious. Ah, tragedy. But this week we got a new opportunity! Key and Woohyun just came out with their second single, Tell Me Why, so we're going to talk about both!

Delicious was posted on March 10th, 2014 and had 1,644,654 views by April 6th, and Tell Me Why was posted on April 6th, 2014 and had 150,034 views the next day.

Em: I'm in love with this collab! Key and Woohyun can both rock really unique looks, which are always fun to talk about. Their first foray into style came in the form of some really creative suits, but they didn't stop there...the pair also wore everything from cute sweaters to pajamas! Everything was bold and playful, and the whole video was full of energy.

sweater weather!

cute and casual t-shirt and jacket combo

Ruby: Tell Me Why is not at all similar to Delicious. There are some common threads in the type of styling, street clothes with a high fashion twist for instance. But at the end of the day these videos are super different. Tell Me Why is soft fabrics in pale colors, loose cuts and understated accessories. The whole video took on a very ethereal feel, even in the scenes where he was awake. There was something so sweet about the gentle, tender quality of the styling in this video.

ethereal couple

soft and sleepy sweater

Partners in Crime
Do you have a roommate or a really close friend that you just do EVERYTHING with? I mean EVERYTHING? Maybe at this point you might as well be twins. In that case, its about time to get matching outfits. You heard me. Just watch the new collab from SM Town demonstrate how to look good together!

A Night on the Town - if they're going to be your wingman/wingwoman, you guys might as well match! Be bold though...so you can always find each other even in a crowd.

All Business - If you happen to be at a formal function together, make sure you look equally fanciful! A dapper duo packs twice the punch.

Just casual - Jeans and a white t-shirt works with anyone's wardrobe...you might even end up wearing them at the same time by accident!

Loud and Lively - if you guys are competing for the same girl, you might want to try to outdo each other in bright patterns. Be careful, though...the right accessories can make or break a look.

Now Key and Woohyun both belong to other groups with super distinct characters, but what will the future of their subunit look like? Lets throw these two videos into the concept blender and find out.

what are the ingredients in these two videos from ToHeart?

1) Innocence and sincerity

Both videos feature an innocent approach. The pajamas and bathrobes seem very child-like while the soft colors and textures feel very true to life and not pretentious at all.

2) Pop colors and vibrant pieces

These videos aren't boring and milquetoast. They mix in bright colors and pop accessories which breathe some life and sassiness into their subunit.

3) Clean lines and sleek styling

Both videos feature clothing that looks sleek, current and on trend. They look like they walked out of a magazine shoot and into everyday life. There is something very clean and professional about their concepts.

BLEND IT UP GRAPHIC

The end result: ToHeart are flower-boy fashionistas with honest hearts of gold.

#sprinkleofglitter

#meninsuits

#lacemeup

#sprinkleofglitter since both boys sported earrings, it seems fair to mention the lovely jewelry we've seen this year. SNSD's Mr. Mr. was a particularly good example of extravagent earrings. We see it less in men's fashion, but there's still enough to talk about. There are also a lot of example of mismatched, which is cool.

hi I'm Key and I'm unfairly gorgeous

coral-like earring...I mean, why not?

#meninsuits it feels like we can't get a video WITHOUT guys in suits at this point. You would've thought they had come up with everything, but apparently not. Last week's Super Junior M's Swing was full of them (though much more professional). MBLAQ also had a recent suit-heavy video called Be a Man.

bowties for added pizazz

back off ladies, SJM is here

manly man man men in Be a Man

#lacemeup is a tag often seen on this blog. Ladies this year have been loving the lace and we've seen it all over the place. This dress actually looked eerily similar to one from Ladie's Code mv for So Wonderful. And there are many more examples.

Em: The fact that its only a pair means that the stylists can be a lot more creative with their work. While large groups are difficult to handle with loud patterns, two is just enough to work. I especially liked the hairstyles they both had...I'm impressed that they managed to dye Key's hair to literally match his outfit. There was also a lot of variety. The pajamas were funny...unlike Nu'est's Sleeptalking, they didn't try to make them super fashionable, which I was a little surprised about. All in all, fun video, and I can't wait to see more from them.

just t-shirts and shorts to sleep in! unheard of!

the sass is overwhelming

my name is woohyun and I like loud suits

Ruby: Both videos were awesome, but there was just something so intoxicatingly sweet about Tell me Why. The color palette was beautiful and really contributed to the theme of the overall video. There was a light hand with accessories which kept the light, dream-like atmosphere alive. That being said the pieces in the video are on trend from Spring. They manage to look comforting and soft and like they just walked off the pages of a magazine.

delicate, timeless shoes

simple, clean, beautiful details

dreamy suits

sleepy idols are adorable idols

there were boats and fluffy clouds and why don't my dreams look like that.

So which one was your favorite? Are you happy with the collab too? Which aesthetic do you prefer with the duo? Let us know!

<3 Ruby & Em

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.