Now that all of our other work is behind us, friends, and we’re firmly into 2017, it’s time to bring back the Monday Match Game. This one is … a little different.
Kawaii. It’s the foundation of the idol look, no matter how it manifests; it can be cool, creepy, goth, brutal, adorable and so on. Really, the only limits on how to express kawaii are the limits on the human imagination. And, as something of a culture unto itself, kawaii has its own subcultures, some of which become fashion-forward trends that manifest on the idol stage.
In this corner, the kawaii of illness and addiction, pale and pastel, self-loathing and society rejection; in the other, fantasies that are just a little bit off, like a dreamscape filled with wonders that melt every time you try to touch them. Two definitive trends in idol enter, but only one will survive!
For a season like winter, a time of rest, repose and idly planning for far off futures, I will have to go for yume-kawaii. Yami will be perfect when it’s fall again.
As cute as Yume-kawaii is, I just can’t bring myself to vote for this much pastels.
I hope you’re not using MBG as an example of yami-kawaii! They’re some of the most normal-lookin’… humanoid idols in the game
They were actually the first time I ever saw the term used. Something something “my cut” something something.
I think of that “under the eye” makeup as a cornerstone of the look. So needless to say Zenkimi’s debut video was the first time I was like, “this is a LOOK”
I miss the really washed-out Zenkimi style, when they all looked like they were on heroin. Now it’s just Mashiro.