The Baddest (and Most Fashionable) Female

This week’s review is CL’s first solo single, The Baddest Female. It released on May 27^th, 2013, and currently has 3,245,122 views. Damn. If you have not yet seen the most badass warrior-princess-gangster-basketball-player-child-pirate-idol in action, check it out here: WHAT WILL I BE FOR HALLOWEEN

Overall impression:

Em: This week’s music video was CL’s Baddest Female, which was, well, badass. The outfits were in-your-face, overdone, and kinda spectacular. There were tons of cool details and quirky pieces that together basically said the same thing as the song—I am CL, look at me because I am AWESOME. Most of it was intended to be sexy…not much aegyo here. In fact, they put her in pigtails and she still looked pretty badass (the shoes and motorcycle gang helped). Even the backup dancers had the same bold colors and powerful image. Let’s just say the clothing lives up to the title of the song.

Badass

What could be more childlike and innocent than pigtails and a swingset. There was even a lollipop!

Ruby: CL definitely played up the gangster style here with elements like grills and heavy chains. Her outfits ranged from red carpet ready, to quirky but wearable, to straight up warrior princess. The link between them was this idea of hip-hop style that integrated into each piece. Aegyo was kept at bay with details, such as dark, bold makeup. She kept the clothing fairly traditional and very recognizable within the gangster style, so even if it is a different style for kpop, she wouldn’t be perceived as being completely incomprehensible. CL likes to be the bad girl, and I think that's reflected in the video.

Gangster...or vampire. You decide!

Other promotional Materials:

Em: Her stage took the hip hop style from the MV, using the white clothing with heavy gold jewelry like in the first part of the video. This was probably the most basic of the outfits, which makes sense for a stage show...warrior princess would be cool but a little impractical. Teaser photos were basically directly from the MV.

STOP. I'm too cool for this.

Still too cool for this, even in live stages.

Ruby: YG took an odd route. They did a lot with graphics, including a really cool thing on the side of their building. It added to the suspense, but I think seeing the artist really excited me more. Personally. The graphics did allude to the lux and very rich feeling of the video. It was super detailed and really cool actually.

And the only legitimate video promo YG actually did: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utf7hJZlD3U&list=PL40A02D1E4F573E12&index=2

Continuity:

Em: The continuity was a LITTLE jumpy just because the style was intended to have an element of craziness to it and they had so many different outfits. However, the intensity was the same throughout and the aesthetic didn’t actually stray too far. There didn’t seem to be much of a storyline behind the outfit changes though…it was more of just AND HERE’S ANOTHER WAY SHE CAN LOOK BADASS. The variety did make it more interesting though.

Ruby: I think solo artists get cut a lot of slack for continuity. I’ll admit, it doesn’t matter as much when its only one person because its not as disorienting. I actually thought it was really well tied together. There were really two main styles, the put together super rich, super high maintenance pop star look and then her baggy pants, sweats and heavy accessories looks. The makeup remained pretty consistent and the hair was simple (by kpop standards…). It worked for me.

eyepatch, leather, death spike heels...scary CL 

neon heels, white fur, detailed nail polish...diva CL

Band’s Overall Image:

Em: This was right in keeping with other 2NE1 styles…they’ve always maintained a powerful image, even in acoustic songs like Lonely. There was also some references to I Love You, with the same organic gold details and exotic feel, just even more CL-ified. The new set of outfits fit right into her already-established image, and the teasers even made a point to connect previous work from 2NE1 with the new MV.

Maybe lonely...but still punk. That's a skill, ladies and gentlemen.

Ruby: CL hits somewhere between 2ne1 and GD in a way. She takes from crazy and lux fashion here. It is very much in keeping with her image. It’s her first solo so this really sets a precedent for the future as well.  There are pieces that would have done GD proud here, her alien golfing hat or her eye patch. However she also keeps it really high end. Sometimes she even manages to shoot a gap, like with her warrior princess look, where its clearly not wearable clothing but it still feels expensive and luxurious. She wears it well, so it works.

Alien Golfer Hat. Not even kidding.

fashionable warrior princess, WHAT NOW

Trends in K-POP:

Em: A lot of really popular trends showed up here, from neon colors to the bondage-y leather and spikes. I saw a few REALLY cool face-covering pieces, including CL’s chains and a backup dancer’s mask. Baseball caps made an appearance (something we’ve been seeing a lot of lately) as well as crazy hair and shoes. There were also references to other YG group’s stuff, especially GD’s One of a Kind.

Baseball cap, crazy hair, face covers, neon color, spikes, fantastic shoes, etc, etc.

These shoes needed to appear somewhere.

Ruby: I agree on the hats. A lot. I mean this year we've seen a lot of girl groups rocking the caps, new groups, like GI in “Beatles” and old standbys like Girls Generation in “ I Got a Boy”. Facemasks were really big last year, from normal to some weird uses of face covers. This year they seem to be more on the outs. I think the idea of integrating aegyo into other styles has become really big recently. Trying with Lee Hi and the jazz sound and BAP with “Stop It”. Even Hyuna in “Ice Cream”. Everyone is trying to get in on it. Which is cool. I have a thing for pigtails.

Baseball cap and neon hair  in GI's Beatles

MORE baseball caps and some more neon in SNSD's I Got A Boy (same cap too)

Integrating aegyo with subtlety and finesse, from BAP's Stop It 

Conclusion:

Em: In terms of fashion, Baddest Female was awesome. It was full of statement clothing that matched CL’s image and fit the song. It was powerful and cool and generally, well, badass. A few things were questionable (the basketball outfit wasn’t exactly my favorite) but other outfits made up for them. If there’s anything that gets me to like animal prints, it would be those shoes. As she says, it was bad but not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good, you know? (OKAY THAT WAS A BAD JOKE AND NOT BAD MEANING GOOD BUT BAD MEANING BAD BUT WE WARNED YOU ABOUT BAD JOKES)

The shoes in question

And this outfit, just because it deserves mention.

Ruby: I love CL’s image. Always have. This for me was her in a nutshell, so I loved the outfits. I completely adored the swing clothing, and personally, loved the jersey. It provided some cheek to a very fashion heavy video. I guess I wish that she had done something a little more out of the ordinary for her. I adored what she wore in “I love You”. A black cat suit was totally unexpected but in context, it worked so well. For me those are the breakout moments, when she takes clothing and makes it badass. I didn’t get as much of that as I wanted. Oh well. I still fangirled pretty hardcore over this whole video.

The catsuit from 2NE1's I Love You

Daily Dose of Daebak:

Find GDragon. Now find GDragon’s pants. You can’t, can you. Nope.

REVERSE HAREM. Seriously though. I probably don’t recognize everyone she has in her manly-collection but here are some: G-Dragon (BIGBANG), Taeyang (BIGBANG), Teddy (1TYM, they were popular once, okay? He’s a bigwig in yg now) and Yang Seungho (2ne1 stylist, member of nuthang, all around bad boy)

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, statements, monologues, prologues, or anything else you want! What did you think?

See ya next week!

Ruby & Em <3

Why we are serious about SHINee's fashion

Why so serious? Finals got ya down? (OH OH OH ME ME ME! hence why we're late.... ) Summer not coming fast enough? Well then let's cheer you up!
With Why so Serious? - SHINee
The video was released on April 25th 2013 and has 2,705,361 views as of Tuesday May 7th.

You can find the video (and i recommend you do) here! ITS NOT BATMAN I SWEAR.

Overall impression:

Ruby: I’m actually super excited to talk about this video. We’ve been really focused on crazy and really out there fashion. BUT THIS VIDEO IS SO WONDERFUL. There are four main outfit sets: black and white suits, gray tone suits with overcoats, funky leather jackets and the black and red punk-inspired set. The four sets draw heavily from British fashion and present a very modern aesthetic over all.  SHINee looks fantastic in all of the outfits and each outfit really is composed of usable, real pieces. The styling in this video really brought out a very mature and subtly sexy side of the band, which I for one VERY MUCH enjoyed.  

subtle and sexy, our flaming charisma

Em: The four main outfits sets were different enough from each other to be interesting, yet the sets themselves were very cohesive in terms of general aesthetic. Being a big fan of British punk fashion, I was especially a fan of those. Lots of glorious details that were clearly well-considered and made everything that much better.  Some crazy patterns, but they were well-integrated so the viewer wasn’t completely overwhelmed, and the neutrals were well-balanced so they weren’t boring.  It was all just generally REALLY well done.

Minho in checkered pants, but still fitting in with the theme

Other promotional Materials:

Ruby: The teasers for why so serious were very similar to the teasers from dream girl, honestly. They used more of the crazy patterns and odd accessories that dream girl featured. But they were cute and informal and worked well enough. Since this album followed so close on the heels of the previous, the teasers were kind of irrelevant, though there were some fun shots.

Teaser for Why so Serious. Still a little nutty.

Em: Comeback stages had similar sexy British aesthetic (YAY) that kept the usual cohesion of SHINee outfits. They dispersed the four main styles between their comeback songs, using the music video outfits for Why So Serious. And they continued their awesome hats, especially in the Medusa stages.

Medusa stage with hats. OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN.

Continuity:

Ruby: As I mentioned, the video has four main outfit sets. They stylistic tone in the video matches well across the board. Interestingly, the four reference British fashion heavily, taking on a very European feel in this video. The black and white suits were the most graphic representation, following in early development in the punk scene. Minho’s shirt is a direct reference to Malcom McLaren and his shop ‘Sex’. The overcoats were brilliant, taking a very normal set of suits and changing the shape with layering. The Burberry aesthetic definitely came through for me. It looked modern and clean and innovative. I think the weird leather jackets were kind of inspired. I mean, they were super cute and a nice playful distraction from an overall very serious video in terms of the clothing.  Then there were the punk inspired outfits with tartan and the anarchy lable on Taemin’s legs. These outfits were closer to previous styles worn by SHINee. The whole video really carried themes well and appeared a continuous whole.

Minho's shirt that reads: Be Reasonable Demand the Impossible

A photograph from Malcom Mclaren's shop, Sex. 

Burberry-esque coats. 

Em: They did indeed go very European-inspired for this, with a different flavor for every set of outfits. Within this overarching theme, they played a lot with the color and intensity of the aesthetics. There was one very light one—black and white, though mostly white—that referenced dream girl but with less hypnotism. There was a neutral set with a lot of gray-green and just gray that was super cool, then a super colorful one in contrast to it. My favorite was the darkest one: red, black, and white, harkening back to Ring Ding Dong era (but sexier).

Punk inspired clothing items 

SHINee Ring Ding Dong era. (THEY'RE SO LITTLE AND ADORABLE.)

Band’s Overall Image:

Ruby: Each outfit was very simple for SHINee. Coming from Dream Girl with its extreme patterns and bright, acid-trip colors, this video was refreshingly simple and clean. SHINee are fit and beautiful and I think this image really accentuates how much they have all grown and the handsome young men they have become.

Oh don't act so surprised. 

Em: There were references to past albums while still having something a little bit different. Each new album develops their image further, just like this one, and refines the style a bit further. Props to the stylists for staying with the band’s image while still giving us something to talk about.

Key, will always be Key. That is true.

FLAMING CHARISMA FLAME ON.

Trends in K-POP:

Ruby: Recently as videos have been getting crazier and crazier, I have started to assume that the fashion in a video will be overstated, overdone and overblown. I thought this video was really tasteful and stunning even without the craziness I’ve become accustomed to.

But still some craziness

Em: It definitely wasn’t the visual overload that some recent videos have been (see I Got a Boy (Ruby: MY EYES)), which can be a nice change. It had some of the softness of a much slower song, but it was more like the energy was contained rather than gone. Somehow it worked!

I Got a Boy (Girl's Generation) Promotion. There's just so much going on.

Conclusion:

Ruby: Great. Fantastic. Brilliant. I see clothing in here that I want to catch on. Its not just cool because its weird, its cool because its doable. I love applicable fashion. This whole video was just wonderful. The styling was perfect. Lots of eyeliner and clean faces. Key’s blonde hair. The whole video felt clean, put together and well conceived. Seriously. It just felt mature and forward thinking in its simplicity. I am in love.

And I quote "mature and forward thinking"

Em: Agreed. Grabby hands for all of it. I could imagine seeing someone walking down the street wearing this and loving it, which doesn’t always happen, even in good music videos. I love that they explore European fashion, and I hope they continue to bring in outside influences to keep things interesting.

walking down the street, with the dogs, looking fab

Daily Dose of Daebak:

Taemin. That's a bunny. Not a microphone. Taeminnnnnnnn.

Key’s hats. I mean, just look at them. Thos are some sexy hats. And his earrings. Damn. Key in general IS the daily dose of daebak.

thanks for visiting with us!!!! we are quite fond of this music video clothing wise.
but what to review next?
hmmmmm?
let us know please!

Ruby and Em