in continuation of my complaints regarding stray kids' creative direction downfall, here are my personal rebrands that i would've done if i was the designer behind 'ate' and 'hop'.
1: 'ate'
first thing, and this may be controversial, but 'jjam' is going to be the title track instead of 'chk chk boom'. yes, the original is a good song, but i don't feel like it conveys skz's unique image and sound as well as 'jjam' does. 'jjam' also offers a MUCH more quirky approach and allows for a much more memorable, unique creative vision for the group in my opinion! here is my moodboard below for what i would envision for this comeback.
details:
primary colour: bright purple. this works well with the image of the song 'jjam' and is also a colour unique to skz's discography, making it clearly distinguishable and recognisable.
style: since the mv has a horror theme, i think they should stick with this throughout their branding bc it's unique and fun! i really loved red velvet's tour poster and the typography they used for it, and i think those would be similar visuals to what i would do for the physical album cover. for the digital album cover, maybe something like the nct 127 cherry bomb illustrations (the hot pink) but in the bright purple. i think including neon green elements would also tie everything together!
2: 'hop'
keeping 'walkin on water' as the title track bc i have SO many ideas for how it could've been executed differently! first of all, the genre is reminiscent of the 90s, so i feel like we could've gotten a retro, streetwear inspired style for this song. i was particularly inspired by the music videos for 'walk' by nct 127 and 'how sweet' by newjeans!
details:
primary colour: bright orange. again, unique for their discography and i think would really suit the styling of this comeback.
style: as this is a 'special album' and wasn't promoted the same way, i thought it would be REALLY cool if skz had done a collaboration with a shoe brand. i've put examples of adidas below, but it could've been nike or puma, any footwear brand. since the song is 'walkin on water', having unique shoes to represent this would've been so cool and such a fun connection! even if it wasn't a collab and just a sponsorship, they could've worn retro-style athletic streetwear and shoes in the mv and the concept photos, and as a result, fans would be able to participate in their fashion. in terms of design, this would once again make this comeback much more memorable if a fan has a physical piece of paraphernalia that they can wear daily that relates to the album! in terms of visuals, i really went all in on the bright colours of athletic wear in the 90s and took from that retro branding style. skz have never done an aesthetic like this and i think it would've been a really unique and fun move for them. they've recently done a collab with bape and i think those kinds of tracksuits would've been really fun for this comeback.
lmk your thoughts and if you want more of this series!
Let's talk about Taemin and Key of SHINee wearing the Scottish fashion house Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, an openly queer unisex brand. There’s a lot of talk about whether idols know who they are wearing and, when relevant, do they understand the meaning of what they are wearing. We know there are clear examples of artists not understanding what they’re wearing. Indeed, 23-year-old, non-English-speaking Taemin admitted in 2021 that he had no idea the fly of his pants read “Open Here” during View era. Yet, a lot has changed this 2015/16. Taemin’s English is quite proficient. And what about Key, who has studied English since he was a child? I think we can consider understanding the words and understanding the context or broader meaning behind words or, as the case may be, symbols, which can be universal.
Taemin in the Advice album photobook, 2021.
The Charles Jeffrey Loverboy brand is no ordinary brand. It’s a spunky, fun and edgy unisex brand with genuine British flavour. From London Fashion Week's write up:
"Looking back to look forward, the collections re-render historical references as intrinsically modern while paying respect to an ancestral line-up of costumiers, performance artists and queer icons. Jeffrey’s nightlife-influenced thirst for experimentation, and belief in the validity of mistakes, result in a colourful tension between control and chaos.
"LOVERBOY’s roots are fixed in London’s queer nightlife scene, having been born in 2014 as both a fashion label and a cult club night. The LOVERBOY parties, first staged while Jeffrey was studying for his Masters in fashion design at Central St Martins in London, were attended by the city’s up-and-coming artists, performers, musicians, drag queens and poets, many of whom became Jeffrey’s future muses and creative collaborators."
Live performance of Advice, 2021.
The tartan in these looks is known as the loverboy tartan. In the current collection, they have an “odorable” loverboy tartan raincoat with giant floppy bunny ears. I’m too lazy to link it, but do look it up and peruse the punk-meets-whimsy items on the website.
Taemin’s stylist for Advice was Kim Wook. You can read an interview with Kim Wook in translation here. Wook talks about he and Taemin wanting to do something impactful before Taemin entered the military, and they settled on working with silhouettes that are usually seen on female dancers. I could do a whole post on Taemin’s styling for Advice (maybe I will!), but to connect things back to the brand at hand, the flamboyantly unisex Loverboy brand seems to be at home with the goal of Advice’s styling. Advice was Taemin’s way of saying “I will go my own way and trust myself over others,” and I don’t think the androgynous or even gender-fluid looks he presented are a coincidence; Wook’s interview shows that it isn’t. These looks feel like a push forward for Taemin, and he’s been clear in saying Advice was a breakaway from his past. Act I and Act II were leading to this moment.
Taemin has been wearing Charles Jeffery Loverboy upon in return in 2023. I think the most significant choice is the non-binary shirt he wore a fan meeting during Hard era. The t-shirt is a jab at conservatives’ obsession with the love lives and indeed, bathroom usage, of LGBT+, saying, “They’re happy and satisfied. Are you?” There is a also a good-sized, unmistakable non-binary symbol on the shirt. I hadn’t seen this symbol before but it was still easy for me to comprehend. As an artist who is increasingly wearing gender-fluid outfits, it is likely a conscious choice to wear a shirt that supports non-binary rights.
Now, we can’t forget fashion-forward, English king Key in all of this. Key has always had a love and fascination with fashion; we saw in One Fine Day his interaction with a local London fashion brands. He’s a man who knows his fashion houses, so it seems unlikely he wouldn’t know about the Loverboy brand or its ethos as a unisex brand.
Key primarily wore Charles Jeffrey Loverboy accessories for his Gasoline promotions in 2022. The adorable hat with ears is statement wrapped in cuteness, that speaks to the camp motif present in both Key’s body of work and the Loverboy label’s. It’s cute, but not too cute. It’s loud but soft, and the Loverboy stamp is there for all to see. I think that Key embodies what LSF wrote about the Lovery label as “a colourful tension between control and chaos.” Key is never afraid to experiment, and he can go from creating iconic androgynous silhouettes reminiscent of ancient gods and Beyoncé to the retro-camp shown below that almost looks like it could be at home in a Ghostbusters film. Almost.
There are contexts where, like the above, it is more than reasonable to assume that the artists understand what they are wearing and that the choices made are conscious and in some cases made with the goal of the comeback in mind. And there are situations where it’s possible or even confirmed by the artist that they didn’t know what they were wearing or what it meant. I think it can become an obsession for some to want the styling to be conveying a secret code. With the case of Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, there’s no code and it’s not secret. It’s simply known and recognised by those who know, which is enough.
omg can we all pay our respects to sujung jung please for the gda styling that was incredible
the jeweled details are just so beautiful!!!
I found out she was also in charge for the concept and visual directing of the temptation albums aka SHE GAVE US DAYDREAM CONCEPT PICS and the fucking lullaby glitter stuff and omg so so much more
ok nana unsubtly kicked me in the ass about this and i realized they were mostly done anyways so here we go! only four months late!
best stylings 2023 - first half
runners' up
rising - triples
there are two good stages with funky athletic wear, but it wasn't enough to bump it up to the overall category. mcountdown 230216, the show 230221
abyss - woodz
didn't promote it which is a shame, but the variety in the costuming for the different versions of himself is well done and it's a beautifully shot bottle mv.
moody - superkind
you got a fake member you gotta make it spooky!!! he's not real that's inherently spooky!!! anyways this is what i wanted them to do right off the bat some i'm glad they finally got my psychic memo.
golden hour - mark
absolutely fucking crazy. fantastic imagery. i think i talked about it earlier in the year but it's such a stupid and hilarious idea to make a whole diss track mv about a several year old meme and then actually make it strange and weird art. obsessed with it still.
sos - kang daniel
i'm also including the wasteland music sequence here because holy shit when this dropped i lost my mind. i'm always surprised by what kang daniel does bc i can never predict it, which over the last few years i'm coming to enjoy. and i absolutely did not expect him to produce basically an entire wild west mad max movie with equal the production value???? literally how did he do this. how. and then everyone paid it dirt??? it's an amazing mv and one of my faves of the year, the only reason it's not bumped up categories is bc although the styling was actually one of the only times tactical gear has been thematically relevant to a cb, its been so overused that it has no punch anymore, which makes me sad bc the tactical gear was good! and a good choice! and i feel bad saying it has no punch bc it should have!
small talk - kim sungkyu
we love when sungkyu acknowledges that he's annoying and a loser. all these outfits were so losercore. i loved this deviation from form for him; he's normally king wailer supreme, but he does smooth upbeat rock very well and it's a nice contrast with the capital y yearning that's in the bsides. it's only here bc he didn't promote much and i'm mad at him for putting dancing in the mv and then not dancing in any of the stages. mcountdown 230629, music core 230708, inkigayo 230709
ay-yo - nct 127
this is just here for taeyong's urchin outfit. well i'm a bit of liar it is actually a really fun early 00s inspired mv, but we all know the urchin outfit stole the show.
stamp on it - got the beat
i will hear NO slander against got the beat in this house, this was a great mv i love hot women planning a heist.
tricky house - xikers
FANTASTIC debut. does a really great job of establishing a character for them as a group and it's got such unique flavour. kq has made great use of their ateez money and also the lessons that they learned with ateez. i'm excited to see where xikers goes in the future, and since i'm writing this section from the future i can say that i do like where they've gone with full confidence. the only reason it didn't make the top list is bc the styling is kinda average for this era of kpop.
best overall
rose blossom - h1 key
i was aware of h1key before this but they hadn't really grabbed me, but damn this cb was so good. the mv is a nice mix of story and dance sections. plus a surreal section in the middle! and by virtue of being like the first cb of the year, they got the jump on this alt girl look that would be the dominating look for ggs this year. and i do think first did it best in this case, all the looks are smart with good group synergy and and a lot of creativity; when you do this type of alt-y punky style it's important that there's a diy element to it, which a lot of groups fail to grasp bc stylists are obsessed with luxury branding. h1key manages to avoid that mostly by being flops, but i'd like to believe its also bc their creative team cared about capturing the true spirit of the style.
stages: music bank 230106, mcountdown 230202, music bank 230203, mcountdown 230119, inkigayo 230108
tic tac - 8turn
honestly i was kinda ready to not like these guys since mnh shat the bed with chungha, but then i remembered that the mnh creative team is very good at their jobs, so here we are. this is one of the few debuts/cbs this year where every single stage was a hit and it was very hard to narrow down to just a few for here; lots of good emphasis on shape and colour and accent pieces with repeated motifs, which was a big part of the fashion in the 00s that they are remixing here. very strong debut especially for so early in the year and i'm looking forward to more.
stages: show champion 230208, mcountdown 230202, music bank 230203, show champion 230222, music core 230211, mcountdown 230223, music core 230225, inkigayo 230226
bonus: this absolutely hysterical 4minute cover (they even got the name bucket hats! not in the stage, but they had them in photos)
sweet juice - purple kiss
i'm not normally a fan of wes anderson or wes anderson inspired aesthetics because i find them too twee and perfect, but this wasn't too direct in it's inspirations and definitely had the spooky purki flavour. i really liked the uniformity of the costuming, both literally using uniform motifs and using the same fabrics; i really do miss the days when kpop costumes were design to actually be costumes with the group image in mind.
stages: mcountdown 230216, inkigayo 230219, music core 230225, music bank 230224, inkigayo 230226, music core 230304, inkigayo 230305
sour & sweet - bambam
bambam again proving that he's one of the few idols that knows his shit in terms of interesting styling. also if anyone knows where he filmed the mv/performance vid please tell me i need to know bc its so beautiful.
stages: mcountdown 230330, music bank 230331, inkigayo 230402, music bank 230407, music core 230408, inkigayo 230409,
bsides: music bank 230331, inkigayo 230409,
macarena - blitzers
i'm so so so glad blitzers got a bit more attention this year bc they deserve it and macarena was so good. perfect culmination of their goofy ass talents and the unusual creativity of their performance + creative directors. i'm even linking the mv teaser here bc its so goofy and offbeat and different. honestly i'd recommend watching as many of the stages as you can find bc they do different intros every time and it's very funny, but unfortunately tumblr has a link limit so i can't link them all.
stages: show champion 230426, music bank 230428, music core 230429, inkigayo 230430, inkigayo 230514, music core 230527
bouncy - ateez
yea yea yea nobody is surprised so sue me. this was a crazy followup to halazia and proved that ateez can deftly switch between serious dramatic performance and comedic but no less dramatic. i'm very happy to see how much work has been going into the main ateez mvs in the last year because it has very clear and striking direction that fits both their performance style and their creative ambition, as well as their growth as a group. also yea i'm not immune to neon cowboy shit.
stages: inkigayo 230618, music bank 230616, the show 230620, mcountdown 230622, music bank 230623, mcountdown 230629, music core 230701, inkigayo 230702
kick it 4 now - tnx
tnx had an absolutely banging 2023 and although kick it 4 now is has superior and more comprehensive production, love or die is also a very good cb, and both of them together have shown that they have a really good grasp on the genre of teen listlessness, from two different directions. kick it 4 now has been i think the most successful cb to actually capture the feel of first gen, and the creative team did a lot of extra work in order to pull that off. from all the graphic design to the goofy lil 90s style music show promos, to the styling, they had a clear goal and achieved it. i think it will be quite difficult for any other group to pull it off this thoroughly.
stages: music bank 230609 (the giant lyrics!!!), music core 230610, show champion 230614 (more giant lyrics!!), music core 230617, mcountdown 230622
shooting star + left right - xg
we all already know that left right was my most listened song this year, but the fact that the mv was b movie sci fi star trek themed? it's like simon made everything about this specifically for me thank you. xg blew everyone out of the water this year on every front; music, styling, choreography, you name it. i said i wanted groups to commit to their bits and i got it. they were completely unafraid to actually commit to the y2k nostalgia AND to harajuku styling; a lot of groups have weakly pawed at it but always back away due to the fact that harajuku and y2k are not actually 'pretty' fashion trends, which leaves their attempts half assed with no real understanding of why and how those trends happened. xg came saw and conquered the current trend in a way that only a japanese gg can do. my only annoyance is that they tone down the stylings when they promote on music shows, and i know why they do it, so it's not an annoyance at them, it's an annoyance at everyone else.
stages: shooting star - mcountdown 230202, con-tour 230217, the show 230221, inkigayo 230212, inkigayo 230205, con-tour 230224
left right - the show 230228, show champion 230222
circle - onew
absolute masterpiece. album of the year in every way. it's a profoundly beautiful unpacking of grief and the sadness that comes with acknowledging that things change, and the way that in that change life and humanity and story is eternal. a circle. the theatre imagery combined with the 60s style children's tv show use their similar but contrasting forms to illustrate the same point: something can be eternal and fleeting at the same time, and that heightens its value rather than diminishing it. the promo campaign was so thought out as well, i love the integration of the theatre imagery into the highlight medley and i highly recommend you watch it if you haven't. one of the best cbs from a solo artist in years.
stages: mcountdown 230309, music core 230311, music bank 230317, inkigayo 230319
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ignore the fact this was almost five months late even though i started writing in like. november. i'm busy ok. it's planting season and i have to send so much post. the choreos post is the next most finished so that will probably be out before the styling second half one.
the starting point was a smokey 1920s ish paris jazz club, with hazy warm lighting... i also feel like he'd rock a song that was part-jazzy, part-r&b, part... something a bit edgier with some bite to it?? idk how to describe but yeah. OH and with some lush orchestral instrumentation! slightly lana del rey 'off to the races'...
anyways. and then i was thinking about knights and armour and royalty and found these photos on pinterest and i loved the softness of the royal side and the ferocity of the armoured side. and then i was thinking about how being a knight is one part vulnerable and one part noble, and that the royalty photos are kind of the same-- they have this fragility but also honor and pride... and how that could be a metaphor for love. also i just think haechan would look INCREDIBLE in a metallic armour-esque outfit, like the Jean Paul Gaultier one i put at the top (with the armoured sleeve and silky bodice). and I also like the fluidity of masculine and feminine in these costumes, and i think haechan has a bit of that energy in himself too.
KOREA HAS A PROBLEM
I mean they have several problems like every country I guess but they have a very specific issue with the haircuts, what the fuck is going on? I don't remember the last time I saw a male idol and I thought, "yes this is a 10/10 styling, I wouldn't change a thing", I mean, for example, I do love taemin's natural hair right now but the last time I saw him on a schedule (I think at KCON?) his hairdo made him look like he was lost in the lights and not in a good way. Worst thing is that taeyong and ten had the exact same hairstyle AND NONE OF THEM LOOK GOOD. NONE. Do every single one of them have to hop on the ugliest trend possible? Is it illegal not to do so? Do the stylist get punished backstage if they try something that's not trendy at the moment?
Jimin has been carrying that haircut for months now, boy do you really like it that much? And I don't even know what's that JK has going on at this point.
And speaking of jimin... I don't know what to say anymore, whoever styles him for dior and tiffany... what are they even doing? Do they see how cunty the man is and then proceed to give him the blandest outfit possible? Maybe pjms should hire a private investigator to see if there's someone from tedros' team behind all of this trying to sabotage jimin and make tedros look like he's outcunting jimin
Careful anon, you don't want to spread unfounded rumos about Tedros and some possible evil scheme.
Unfortunately, we are living in the era of mullets again and we just have to power through. I'm all here for recycling trends from the past, intertextuality, but some things need to disappear completely or become a distant, painful memory. Like the mullet.
Why is it back? Why? 😭 Taemin's hairstyle wasn't even that bad at KCon. I'd say it was among the "best", if such a term would apply in this context. I just need it to be over. I had hopes of the Dora haircut at least to become a trend, particularly how JK looked for the CK ads, but no, they want fucking mullets. I do hate them with a passion, in case it wasn't obvious already.
As for Jimin, I'm not gonna complain too much about how he's styled for Tiffany because it's not half bad. And the Dior suit he wore in April at the store opening may have been a simple look, but he looked good (the lack of shirt helped).
I think we need to understand/accept that as an ambassador, his job is to represent the brand and show off the clothes. It doesn't matter that it doesn't represent him. Just look at Tedros and what he's dressed like with Celine items. It's the same. What I don't understand, and perhaps it's my lack of knowledge, it's why the stylists don't get more creative? Jimin's outfit today was the exact one from the runway. From head to toe (I think). Is that how it's supposed to be? They can't take items from the entire latest collection and see what item goes with another to create an new outfit, all made out of Dior pieces?
first of all is it just me or does j always wear stars? its rlly cute. i love her set. them making up for isa's basic ass (still cute) beautiful monster outfit by giving her this? yessssss. i love all the pieces on it. that skirt especially is adorable. miss yoon.... was there. no im kidding. i like the shoes and i understand the color block for the color scheme but it still bothers me. also sumin's and seeun's are kinda nothing new. i mean they all wore plaid in stereotype i think it was. still really cute tho. id rank them this way:
what's the most interesting fashion element you've been seeing lately in kpop styling/fashion in 2023 in general? least interesting?
hmm. least interesting is definitely Jeans and Tshirt but that is a universal constant. if i were to pick something specifically from this year, it wouldn't be one single element, but instead a very prominent trend of stylists not being able to accessorize and/or being unable to pick garments that have the innate interest to carry a look without accessories. accessorizing and understanding cut are one of the most important aspects of styling and design so it's a bit baffling to me that half the stylists in the industry can't do the basics of their job description, but that's very much the thing i've noticed about all the meh styling this year. for examples, itzy's cake was probably the most egregious, especially when compared to their earlier styling for cbs like wannabe and not shy.
for most interesting? specific element would be the mschf boots! i am obsessed with statement shoes and these honkers are some of the most statement to statement, plus i love the fact that they are extremely polarizing. when they dropped a couple years ago a lot of people HATED them, so i really admire the two stylists that have decided to use them, bc they are very effective in communicating silhouettes. they first appeared for nine.i's turn it off, which is video game themed so it absolutely makes sense to use elements that pare down silhouette lines to something more cartoonish:
and the second is in key's! they're used as part of his boksillie outfit, which again, they're aiming to achieve a cartoonish silhouette. i'm pretty sure that boksillie doesn't even have foot definition, so using the mschf boots its a great way to interpret that onto a human form:
