11 posts tagged “costumes”

No. I'm not talking about PVs. I'm not talking about the number of members. I'm most definately not talking about sales.

Yes, I'm talking about costumes.

The eggs always seem to be the best dressed at concerts and such. Why? They don't get a big budget. If Momusu didn't have such a big budget, we might not have drunk costume designers getting away with putting tons of fluffy crap all over costumes. They might actually get yelled at for the excessive use of materials, so they wouldn't use as much. Now the eggs, on the other hand, barely have a budget, meaning that they don't have to deal with the drunk costume designer dilemma. Recent examples:

 

Now I can handle big sparkles, and I can handle big poofy dresses and sleeves. What I can't handle is how somehow a huge flower was sewn onto it.

Why Money Mattered: If they didn't have such a large budget, maybe we'd get a cool looking spakley mini-dress of the sort in Ayumi Hamasaki's "Dont leave me Alone" PV. Or just something without the poof in the skirt and the rediculous giant flower, which makes it a whole lot worse than it should've been.

I like this dress. I mean, the colors could've been more muted, but crazy prints like this are coming back into fashion, along with the high belt, so who am I to complain? Also, the other fabrics for this set look pretty muted compared to this. The main complaint I have is the HUGE red fluffy thing hanging down from her shoulder. Now what's that supposed to be, exactly?

Why Money Mattered: The drunk costume designers wouldn't have been allowed to have gone on a fluff-loving rampage again.

I like the design for these, so I can't really complain about that, but the fabric is all wrong. Why cow print, WHY? I love cows, but I'd rather see cow print on cows, since that isn't tacky.

Why money mattered: You really think that they could get these girls to wear these costumes if they weren't paying them some huge amount of money?

This dress is just awesome. The chains and the belt, along with the black fabric is just great. I loved this at first sight, but then, I saw it. I saw that heinous jacket. Either Risa's trying to get a new job as a bullfighter, or she's paying tribute to Micheal Jackson in a sad, sad way. In any case, It kinda ruins the outfit for me.

Why money mattered: Well, if they didn't have the extra money to spend on that elaborate jacket, it wouldn't be there, now would it?

I sorta liked these... until someone pointed out that it looks like they're wearing their underwear on top of their pants. And what the heck is up with that big fluffy black thing above her pants? The number 1 rule for making pants look like chaps without having to wear pants and chaps: Make them the right colors, and at least don't make the pants white.

Why Money Mattered: Maybe if they didn't have such a large budget, they would've had to wear their PV outfits, which are actually decent. The only problem with them is that if they're going to put flesh-colored fabric inserts in, it looks really good if the pants are tight, but terrible if the pants are loose.

These are just too poofy. These dresses would've looked so cool without the pink fluff, and if they were tighter mini-dresses. Sparkley black and purple mini-dresses look great on stage. I'm sorry, but they really did this the wrong way with the materials they got.

Why Money mattered: If they didn't have such a costume budget, they wouldn't have so much extra poofy stuff and fluff all over these, and the simpler they were the better they would've looked.

Now to the eggs:

These outfits are cute, simple, and they seem uniform, but not too much so. They work with all their bodies, big and small, and yet they're not too crazy. They seem like something that these girls might wear without being payed to do so.

These dresses are a little fancier, but they're still cute. They're have just the right amount of extra fabric, to where it compliments the outfit without making it look trashy. The colors are also all good for the girls who are wearing them, and they compliment their skin nicely. While they may be a little too cutesy for some of the older eggs, they really work here because the eggs they look best on are right in the first two rows to show them off, and the ones that they look slightly awkward on are further back.

Now, I may not be a fan of S/mileage's songs, but their costumes are so cute! They're age appropriate, not too little kid-ish, but not too sexy, and they all seem like things tweens might wear. I know quite a few of my friend's little sisters about their ages who would wear these outfits for fun, and to school if the skirts were longer. They're not overdone, but they still look really nice in their own way.

While these have gotten a little fancier, they still look good. the shirts are a little tighter, and the skirts are more punk rocker tweenish. While the skirt on the far right is up a little far, these outfits are really cute, and while most tweens wouldn't wear this out, some would, and they wouldn't look too costumey if they had the right accessories. If they were worn right, these costumes might look like a mix between a punk-rock fan and a prep tween, which is a look that's coming more into the mainstream. Even if the majority of tweens wouldn't wear them normally, no tweens AT ALL would wear any of the Momusu costumes mentioned above, except maybe on halloween if they could find some sort of costume to make out of them.

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-Midori

Hello!

I know I haven't done much of anything lately, blogging-wise, but I'm getting back into the swing of things, so the pace will pick up again soon!

As for this post, well, I can say I love what's going on here with the photo shoot outfits, but as for the other girls...

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!

Seriously, though, what is this? ManoEri looks like she's wearing some type of tribal headdress made out of big bird, while Risako has managed to capture a giant bluebird and turn it into some sort of weird sun bonnet. The fake, shiny flowers that the girls are wearing as belt-type things look terrible, particularly on Risako's, where they make the dress look less flattering then it already was. The tacky fabric doesn't help this look one bit, in fact, in my opinion, the color and pattern of the fabric is the worst part. It just looks bad.

Now onto the good stuff...

The dresses and the acessories look great! They seem to have been chosen to fit each girl well, and to show off the best parts of their bodies, mainly their legs. The color also looks very appropriate with their more mature image, and I must say, they really pull the color off much better than any other. Some of the fluffy bracelets are a little overboard, but they're hard to notice when you're looking at how well the girls look otherwise. The dresses and shoes are also all in fashion, which should draw the attention of people looking for a fashionable idol group, unlike ones that have girls in bikinis or bizarre costumes all over them.

The only problem with this picture is some of the hairstyles. Did Risa really need to put her hair in a hairstyle that contradicts the mature image of the dress? How big can Koharu's poof get? Was Aika attacked by a bear shortly before the shoot? And most importantly, will Junjun's hair get her back to the '80's?

Now, these are some outfits I love. they may be kinda skimpy because they're from a gravure magazine, but they still look amazing on the girls. While Sayu's hair could be less foofy, and her shirt makes her boobs look non-existant, the cute but sexy look is totally Sayu. I could see her wearing this normally because of it's mature yet cute look, something that Sayu seems to fit. She's cute, like the style, but she can pull of the short skirt with the high socks, that so many see as sexy. Ai's garter and high socks draw your attention to her great dancer's legs. The short-shorts along with the long top make the look more of a mature style than Sayu's when paired with the black and white color. The top of the dress works well with her bust, and while it makes her chest look smaller, it still draws attention to that area, which in a gravure magazine is probably a good thing. Her hair also looks very natural, which adds to the mature and sexy look. Junjun's dress may not be fancy or overly-acessorized, but she still rocks the look. The color looks really good on her, and the fit of the outfit and the fishnets really empasizes those legs. The lace on the top is a very good way to add something to the ensemble that makes it sexier. Her hair, like Ai's is casual and natural, which looks great for the image they've gone for with her. With no earrings and natural make-up like the rest of the girls, she looks like she's going for the clothing imitating lengerie look here, which I'd assume is the aim, since it's a gravure magazine.

Since two out of three of these girls aren't yet adults, they seem to have gone for a less lengerie look with them. Koharu looks like she's in the process of getting dressed. She has her hair up, albiet messily, and her nylons aren't completely brought up. Her tie's untied with the vest, which looks great on her. Her green cami along with the purple suspender shorts with the straps not up yet may create a look of her not being fully ready to go out yet. This whole look almost makes it look like she hasn't even decided what to wear yet, but her state of being only sort-of dressed is probably what makes this outfit seem sexy. Reina's red and black dress is already sexy by the colors. Red and black are the colors for most old tango dresses, and tango's considered a very sexy dance. The black belt, lace, and nylons also make it seem like a short little nightgown. The belt and bows around her chest make it look bigger, which is probably a good thing in this type of photo shoot. Aika's little one-piece makes her look a little younger, and not as sexy, but I have no problem with that. She's younger than me, so I think that it's kinda weird to call her sexy. Her nylons draw your eyes straight to her legs, which most wotas would probably drool at. Her tie-shaped necklace and the black ruffled tank-top make this look slightly more dressy, but not too much so. Her messy hair makes this look a lot like they're going for the sexy loungewear look, which makes it work.

This seems like it's going back into the closer to lengerie than clothes area. Linlin's whole ensemble really embodies this look. Her nylons with the lacy tops look like something that would be found in a Victoria's Secret, and those short-shorts barely peaking out under the longer but still short top makes this look like a really itty-bitty nightgown. The way that the polkadot fabric all meets right in the middle of her chest really draws your eyes there, and where it meets with the lacy nylons at the bottoms draws the same effect. The whole look really makes Linlin look great, but I still feel like it's too much like underwear. Risa and Eri's looks are more like clothes. Their nylons make sense with the outfit even as an everyday outfit. The short-shorts and miniskirt look great, and they could be worn as normal clothes. The tops are even more normal, and while they do have lace, the lace is just an add-on, it doesn't make it look like lengerie. Their hair is also put together and done up like they'd have it in a normal photoshoot, so that doesn't even fit the image. They still fit in, just not as well as those who have the almost-lengerie look down, like Linlin or Reina.

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-Midori

HHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

I have too much energy today!

Since life would have me worshiping Linlin at the moment, the costume example photos will be mainly of her, but there will be some others thrown in. Actually, I wasn't able to find too many Linlin pictures, but I used the ones I found.

To start off, there's so many costumes for this concert, that Momusu has certantly stepped up their budget. That's not to say that they're good, but it's to say that they're spending more. I have no idea what songs these costumes are for, but I could hazard a guess on one or two.

I'll be doing the overall and BAC as usual for kicks.

 

Linlin's unique costume!

I actually know a number of girls who would love this outfit and wear it to school if it was more normal, so I can't criticize it too much. It may actually be really cute in browns and without that hideous flower stuck on her head!

I really like how they're at least attempting to dress Momusu more normally. While this style of dress may look like a tent, it actally is in style right now, so I have no complaints.

Overall: 4/5

BAC: 0.02 (For good measure on the color)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black & Silver zipper dresses

These actually aren't bad at all. I really like how they look like Morning Musume in the cut of the dresses, but that they seem to be going more innovative in the giant zippers. While these are really too shiny for me to fully appreciate, and I don't like how the zipper ends at the top instead of on the dress, I definately agree with the direction that these were going. If they zipped down and revealed a blace mini-dress underneath to accent the over-dress and distract from the shiny-ness, these might have been even better.

Overall: 4/5

BAC: 0.04 (Because of how the zipper ends and the uselessness of it's size)

 

 

 

 

 

The Marching Band-style uniforms

I'm really seeing Black and silver as a theme for this concert. Not that I mind it.

These costumes seem to remind me of Micheal Jackson on some perverse level...

These would only be good in the case that they're worn for SONGS. They seem to fit my image of what the costumes for that song would look like: darker, more mysterious colors, and marching band-esque.

If SONGS isn't at least in the set, there's no excuse for these.

Overall: 3/5

BAC: 0.03 (Really, why would you want to make anyone think of Micheal Jackson in anyway other than Jackson 5 or the Thriller dance?)

 

 

The OMGBBQWTF Outfits

I have no idea what drove anyone to create these...

They must have been really drunk. I feel like they just took a bunch of extra fake flowers from a kids show, along with some really retro fabric and glued them into a dress. Along with some random hats, buttons and belts.

Can you really call this a costume?

These are even worse than the fluff-covered nightmares form fall '07! Really, those at least looked sort-of thought-through, and not "a kids show barfed on me".

Look at it and watch your eyes burn. Or play I Spy.

Overall: 0/5

BAC: 0.3 (Or however drunk you can be without passing out or dying)

 

 

 

The "Mexican" costumes

Really, what were they thinking again?

If these didn't have the fake little hats, they might have been at least a little better.

Frankly though. I hate these.

Overall: 1.5/5

BAC: 0.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Take Off Is now dresses

I know what song these are for because of the poses she was in while the photos were taken. All of them are straight out of this dance.

By the way, did she sneak into Nono's closet and steal all of her bows, belts, and necklaces possible to?

This whole ensemble would have been perfect for her without either of the giant bows or the collar. The gloves also look really bad because they're way too big for her.

Make them classy, but don't try too hard at it!

Overall: 3/5

BAC: 0.15 (Or however drunk you'd need to be to break into the Sugiura residence and steal some stuff)

 

 

 

 

The Frilly Schoolgirl Dresses

I would've LOVED these if the skirts weren't so poofy. And covered in random crap.

These costumes look rather HUGE on the girls up top, and they'd look a lot bettrer if they were tighter, less foofy, and dare I say it... shorter.

The one thing that really bugs me about these is how many little adornments they put on the skirt. Really, all they needed was the one little one on top. Did the designers not go on a drunken fluff rampage, but a drunk adornment rampage?

Overall: 2.5/5

BAC: 0.1

 

 

 

 

The Sexy Cat Outfits

These could've been better without the fake tails.

These costumes look kinda like ones that american singers would wear: they look like snazzed-up and sexy sweat-suits with the lace-up boots. While the fabric's pattern and the excessive bows/frills are slightly off that track, it's certantly closer to american singers than most stuff they have worn in the past and continue to wear. I think Koharu's from this set looks closest, but I just had to post the picture of Reina for some reason.

Overall: 4/5

BAC: 0.06 (When accounting for the frills and bows)

 

 

 

 

 

The Sexy Princess Costumes

I LOVE THESE!

When I first saw them, I was really hated them. Of course, it was in all the cell phone photos, so I couldn't see all the details of them.

Once you see the length with the bows and the lace, they seem like sexy, mature costumes to wear. I really like this set. It seems to fit the current Momusu: It's still poofy, and pink to represent their idol image, but the more sexy and mature image of the whole thing put together is what makes these costumes work, and work well.

They also look like something more mainstream for J-pop. If there was one Momusu costume in recent memory that I could see Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, or some other famous J-pop diva wear in a concert, these would be them: Sexy, mature, and cute, rolled into one!

Overall: 5/5

BAC: 0.06 (They'd need to be slightly drunk at least to consider putting Morning Musume in these because of how contrary they are to the rest of the set.)

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Avg Overall Score: 3/5

Overall, the designers must have had a beer party for this concert, did they ever!

-Midori

Hello!

The first two concerts of this year's wonderful hearts winter has come and gone, and the first pictures have come up! That means that I'll start my costume reviews here!

By the way, since SCE wore there single costumes on stage, and I think I've already expressed how cute they look to an adequite level, I will skip them.

 

Berryz's costumes for Madayade

Key points:

• These look exactly the same as the ones from the PV, except with added rhinestones.
• Miyabi's new haircut is channeling Ai's.
• These costumes have those annoying, hideous collars that just bug me.
• The company didn't even bother to remake these. It seems rather cheap.

Overall rating: 3/5; A cheap, easy concert costume, but it doesn't look too good.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00, but they may have been having bad hangovers, and decided to be lazy about designing and making the costumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berryz Koubou Opening costumes

Key Points:

• These actually look nice if you don't look at the leg warmers.
• That poof of fluff on head is actually a semi-reasonable size. But, I'd prefer a simple green headband.
• I like the "B" for Berryz, so those who are new to the fandom, or who only know Morning Musume can know the difference between the kids groups.
• If the dress was less shiny, and there wasn't those weird see-through leg warmers, and maybe boots instead, I might like these a lot better.
• It appears that there was another drunk tyrade around the fluff/boa store.

Overall Rating: 4/5; It's the fluff and the leg-warmers' fault.

Blood Alcohol Level: When designing the dress: 0.00;

When putting the fluff on: 0.08

 

 

Morning Musume Opening Outfits:

Key Points:

• Good design shape-wise, but the stripes make these horrid.
• Too... Many... Feathers... (Why costume department, why?)
• They also have fluff. Fluff and feathers together = automatic annoyance.

Overall Rating: 4/5; The stripes and the feathers/fluff just... umm...

Blood Alcohol Level: When desiging: 0.04, accounting for the stripes

When adding fluff: 0.09; fluff and feathers anyone?

 

Buono

Key Points:

• Again, reused PV costumes.
• They're cute, but they're not on a level of awesomeness or coolness that I'm used to seeing from Buono.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5; Too cute for Buono

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00

 

 

 

 

C-ute

Key Points:

• What is it with these reused PV costumes?
• I like these so much!
• They may not be the best costumes to wear on stage though.

Overall Rating: 4.9/5; The pants, jackets boots, and ties all blend into the background, which isn't a good thing on a stage.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reina and Aika (Meguru Kisetsu)

Key Points:

• C-ute is still in their Forever love costumes... They aren't really apropriate for this song.
• What the hell is up with Reina and Aika's costumes? They look like British elementary school boys.

Overall Rating: 2/5; cute, but unflattering and a weird concept

Blood Alcohol Level: Whatever they needed to want to dress them up in old fashion school boys' clothes.

 

ManoEri

Key Points:

• Looks suspisciously like the dress she wore at the summer concert...
• Also looks like a kid's piano recital dress with more rhinestones. This is a pop concert, not a piano recital, costume department!
• Give her costumes more variety. I'm getting bored of white dresses.
• Cowboy boots? What's up with the costume department putting cowboy boots with perfectly good dresses?

Overall Rating: 3.5/5; Good, but the cowboy boots and the non-original costuming concept brought this way down.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00, but again, the costume department has reached new levels of lazy with this concert. >.>

 

 

 

Milkyway- Tan Tan Ta~n

Key Points:

• Koha looks like she's wearing a really-weird, fetish drivin cosplay. It's just trashy. Also, for some reason those colors with the angel wings remind me of Victoria's Secrect, which doesn't help. I still like the idea because the jacket's kinda cute.
• The other two girls were victims of more laziness.

Overall Rating: 3/5; Victims of laziness and fetish-filled minds of designers of Koha's part.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.00 for the eggies, 0.12 for Koha

 

 

ManoEri Finale Costume and Eggs

Key Points:

• Mano eri's head piece looks like a shower cap from here. Otherwise, the sleeves are way too poofy. And that cape! I can't handle that cape anymore!
• The eggs look like they just reused old costumes from the 2005 winter concert. Really. They do. I know they didn't, but I think that they just took one of the sweater vests, some skirts, and shirts, and made enough for the eggs.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 (Mano) the sleeves and cape are so annoying and look bad. 4/5 (Eggs) Simple yet effective, but they seem to be another group of victims of laziness.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.10 (Mano) Arabian nights/superhero cape/idol? What?

-I should really change this to laziness level.

 

 

Other girls finale costumes

Key Points:

• All the costumes look way too big. Either all the girls went into an unneeded fast acting weight-loss program at once, or these weren't fitted before they went on stage to preform!
• I like these designs, but the fact that they're huge just ruins it for me.
• The things on their heads are distracting yet again. Why can't they just go for a normal old headband or hair clips?
• The boots also look huge on the girls. Boots are supposed to be tight.
• Why does it seem that the superhero capes just ruin these for me?
• Someone has already pointed this out, but none of the groups are in their normal colors: Morning Musume is is Pink, which C-ute usually wears, C-ute is in blue, which Berryz usually wears, and Berryz is wearing yellow.

Overall Rating: 4/5; The idea was there, but the hideous superhero capes and unfitted look looks trashy.

Blood Alcohol Level Laziness Level: Off the charts. These could've been so good, but they didn't even bother to fit the costumes before the girls went out on stage. (Or at least it looks that way.)

 

For the concert outfits, the designers have reached a new level of laziness. Before this post is over, though, we have an early review of the Nai chau Kamo costumes, which are sizzling hot!

 

 

Nai Chau Kamo:

These are pure perfection. I just love them.

Key Points:

• They fit the song, and the cool feel of it. These really look somewhat like I was hoping they would.
• The colors, Red, white, and black just look great together. I don't know why, but they seem good for this song.
• The jackets and glovlets are just badass. They look amazing with the black under them.
• The boots are awesome. I want a pair now.
• The fishnets and short skirts along with the high lace-up boots are pure win in the eyes of all male wotas that see these.
• The sequins on the black aren't overdone, and they're placed in good places, so they complement the costumes nicely and don't look like they've been placed on last minute to make the costume department not seem lazy. *cough*Madayadecostumes*cough*

Overall Rating: 6/5; These are love.

Blood Alcohol Level: 0.07; They had to be slightly drunk to even think of getting these on ready in the midst of a lazy streak.

So, the costume department wasn't drunk this time, but they were lazy. I can't wait to see the Nai Chau Kamo PV now. These costumes just kick ass.

-Midori

Hello!

I think I'll start this tradition on my blog. Anytime there's a tour that Momusu is involved in, I'll try to give an express review on the costumes!

Last spring, the costumes were overall very good, and I loved them, but what happened here?

I'll start off with some of the better ones.

Back in Black- polka dots that is...

Yes, I'm saying these are some of the better ones. No, I'm not saying they're good.

 

Ai's looked too good, but the rest looked like this, so I decided to post one on the bad side here. If you can't tell me at least three things I don't like about this, I'd be really surprised. Here they are anyway:

-The weird, bulky layers around her stomach area make her look fat or heavy around that area.

-The white is an ugly retro fabric.

-The accesories are just bad- tying lace around your arm is not good fashion.

Overall score: 3.5/5

Must... avert... eyes... from... tacky... fabric...

Good and Green

This is my favorite set for the entire show- of the costumes I've seen so far. They're cute, they fit and flatter all the girls, they cover them up, and they aren't just plain rediculous.

 

These costumes are just too awesome for words. The only complaint I'd have is that the silver part is too shiny.

Overall score: 4.5/5

I love these!

When it starts getting bad

 

If you look at the costume set of the Silver ones as a whole, they're all really skimpy and just badly designed. Ai's is probably the best looking, and that's saying a lot. After seeing all of these together particularly in how small they are, I started to wonder if the agency just had way too much left over fabric, but not enough to make anything that would cover them decently.

Overall score: 3.5/5

Knowing the wotas were having a ball looking at these made the score go up. Otherwise, there might be outrage.

As for the choir costume, I almost fainted when I saw these. They're just so... so ugly. Morning Musume isn't a choir and never will be, so why try to make them look like one? Also, I can tell you that choir robes are some of the least sexy things anyone ever wore. To make these even worse, the costume department went on a drunk rampage through a bucket of feathers again! What will we ever do with them?

Overall score: 1/5

C'mon, who wants to see Morning Musume in choir robes?

The Morning Clowns!

 

"Oooo! I can do that!" Is the only thing I like about this picture. I mean, that costume is just hideous and wrong on all levels. Those boots are thigh highs, but they aren't tight, which is kinda the point of thigh highs. The skirt fabric is ugly and horrid overall. I just can't bring myself to look at it! The top is the saving grace of this set, as it looks really good, but then, it forces you to also notice the fluff still stuck on her head. Ouch...

Overall score: 1.5/5

At least the outfit is slightly flattering with a good top. But that's about where it stops.

Raincoats!

I'm sure if you watch one of the 2001 or 2002 concerts you'll notice that the costume people loved raincoats, but it seems that when the newer ones tried to reprise this already tacky trend, this happened:

 

I have no words to describe this mess. You try.

Overall score: 0.5/5

At least they're wearing something!

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After seeing the costumes, I'm not too hopeful about the tour, but I've heard that the music aspect was good. Maybe there's some hope?

-Midori

Hello!

School's been busy, so I don't have much time to post anymore. ^^'

Morning Musume's new single is Pepper Keibu, and they're going to release a cover album of Aku Yuu songs. I have no problem with this, and in fact, since most of these are pretty famous old songs, sales might possibly be slightly higher than we usually see these days. Now, this song isn't my favorite of Pink Lady's, but, I still might buy the single to support Morning Musume. I was really hoping for a cool new song like Resonant Blue, but you can't always get what you want... If this has the possibility of higher sales, so be it. Wotas may be put off that this is a cover, but considering how short most of Pink Lady's dresses and shorts were, and that Momusu will wear Pink Lady-esque costumes, wotas will be following right along with this whole idea...

I just can't wait to see the PV, it's going to be good. The idea is simple, but since this single was made to

For those who haven't heard the Morning Musume version radio rip, here it is.

 

Also, about the C-ute costume follow-up, Airi's dress was borrowed/previously used. I believe it was used in this episode of Haromoni theatre. The dress doesn't show up until about half-way through, but it's eerily similar, if not the same exact dress. I'm leaning towards the latter due to the fact that the dress didn't fit Airi well. If anyone sees any of the other dresses in any old Momusu or H!P media, please post a comment or contact me. I'll give you the credit, and will help solve the mystery of how cheap UFA really is. (They recycle costumes for one of their best selling groups?)

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-Midori

Hello again!

I'm sure most of you have seen most of the covers, so I won't post them all. I'll just post the one that is too ridiculous to ignore. C-ute's.

Yes. If the rest of the bloggers are correct, I am willing to say this is quite possibly the worst calender cover in H!P history. Today's post will be points on why the cover is terrible.

1. There's no text or CG or anything. For all most of us care, this picture could be a hoax. If it isn't, what the hell type of calender cover doesn't have text on it saying the year and theme of the calender. There isn't even H!P's sort-of trademark when they need to spice it up: CG flowers.
2. The Backdrop. It's boring and doesn't fit the theme of the picture. Yes, I like nature, but how does a park bench fit an ethnic theme? This picture's backdrop seems like it belongs more in a street performer idol's photobook than in a H!P calender, let alone on the cover.
3. The Costumes. I was just complaining about how bad H!P costumes can be, right. This should be a new one to add to the list: bad costumes. I'll explain why person by person (or group by group)

• Chisato & Mai: The dresses they're wearing make them look like foriegners trying to look Chinese. Just like Americans have their versions of kimonos, Qi Paos weren't didn't look like that until they were made more tourist friendly. They looked much different longer ago, with these being a modernization. But, even with the correct form for more modern qi paos, the fabric still isn't completely accurate. Frankly, these look like something you'd get in any old Chinatown. Also, while Mai's hair looks really cute, Chisato's fake bun things are way too close together, and it makes her face look extemely scrunched up, and also, considering the color, it makes her look like she's got the fake ears look going on.
• Kanna & Saki: These look like borrowed from some theatre company. I'm sure some of the clothes H!P girls wear in PBs are borrowed from stores or clothing lines, but they always fit. Both of these dresses look huge on the girls, most noticably Saki. They also don't seem very accurate to the traditional dress of the countries, and instead look like more theatrical representations.
• Erika: This seems like it might be Erika's worst picture ever, she just doesn't look as good as usual. (Her cheeks make me wonder if she just got her wisdom teeth out...) Saris are supposed to be a 4-9 meter long strip of unstitched fabric wrapped in a special way around one's body so it doesn't fall off, but this one is obviously a sewn up costume. It's not as flattering as actual saris, and all I can really say is sorry for this horrid picture, Erika.
• Airi: She's supposed to be a traditional British lady. If they kept this theme for all, the cover could've been much, much better. The problem with her costume is again how fake it looks. The stiching and the general mediocre make of the dress and hat make it seem that it was taken from a kid's theatre company. This dress also looks HUGE on her, and I'm again left to believe that they borrowed these from somewhere. C'mon UFA, how cheap are you getting?
• Maimi: She's the only one that looks lovely in this picture. But, there's still a catch. What the hell is she wearing when everyone else is wearing barely accurate ethnic costumes roughly from the late 19th, early 20th centuries and all from countries in Eurasia to boot? The only place this dress would fit in is 1950's and '60's America. I suppose the fabric could be called cheap Flamenco dress fabric, but where the hell does that fit in either?

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I'm done with my bitch fest now.

-Midori

Hello! A quick post after a busy week of school. I might do more of these in the futre instead of typing costume reports. A quick post about breaking down what makes a good or bad costume, picture edition! *da da da da~*

Note: The first 2 came straight out of the costume hall of shame.

 

 

-Midori

Hello!

To make up for all the posting I've missed, since I had the time, I'll try to explain why an H!P concert outfit is considered "good" or "bad" by expressing my own thoughts on what can make a costume set great and what can be a downer.

With out further ado, What makes a costume "good"?

Make the costume flatter the girl

Sometimes, a costume can still be horrible while flattering a girl's body, but the fact that it's flattering on her is always a slightly redeeming factor, such as Yui Okada's yellow dress with chains from Biyuuden's 2007 summer tour, it was bad, but since it was sexy, and showed off her chest, I can say, the dress flattered at least that section of her. Also, a prime example of making flattering dresses is found in GAM, the girls had great legs, as suggested by the duo's name, so all of their costumes were short and very flattering for their legs. I also know that because Berryz ending outfits from this year's wonderful hearts winter concert were shapeless, and made them look rather fat, many hated them. I will use some of the Bonkyu outfits to prove my point that a flattering outfit can make a set. Many say that the blue and white outfits were some of the best in the concert, and I agree. Each girl had their own style of outfit, weather it involve a dress or shorts, and all looked lovely. When these girls dance in these, they don't look rediculous or weighed down. They look natural and them, and no one looks very uncomfortable in them.

 

NO FLUFFY STUFF!

Pretty self-explanitory, but I've noticed that all the fluffy outfits that are recent enough for me to notice have appeared in Celestia's "Costume Hall of Shame" and I do think that they look terrible. I only need one picture to explain why:

 

Let the horribleness burn your eyes. (no, please ignore me)

Don't put huge things on their heads

This is one of my problems. I know not many other people have any issues with this particular pet peeve of mine, but it frankly looks terrible to have something the size of your head on your head. Ex:

 

 

Make it Simple

I've also noticed that a lot of outfits people don't like are really weird and abnormal, or over the top cutesy sexy or otherwise versions of random or tacky things such as band uniforms. I also know that many have long wanted them to wear more normal street clothes, because you usually can't go wrong with the current styles, or just keeping it the simple jeans and a [relatively tight] t-shirt.

Over-the-top and ugly:

Cute and stylish:

 

Make it Pretty

Any H!P girl can look beautiful. This is a pretty safe route costume-wise, but it's always effective. The best set of dresses beauty wise were Itoshiki Tomo e's dresses.

 

Make it age-appropriate

Now, this one is a big one. Some of the biggest fashion crimes H!P has made are involving age-appropriateness. Whenever Momusu or an elder-club group is put into something poofy, bouncy, and in general cutesy, I start to groan. Those sort of fluffy and cute things should have been given to the H!P kids, and it's nearing the time that those foofy clothes will be even too little-kidsy for them. And one of the pictures from the Costume Hall of Shame of Ayaya in a poofy, fluffy dress really made that statement for me. If you're over a certain age, it doesn't look good any more to wear short poofy dresses. Floor-length and with only slight poofs out and gothic lolita dresses are the only exception to this, but even they have a time when someone just gets too old to look good in them. Same goes for the kids, they shouldn't be wearing some of the sexy stuff the older girls wear. Think how bad they'd look if they wore the Kanashimi Twilight or Onna Ni Sachi Are dresses. The last time I ever think they'll all be able to pull off poofy dresses was the battle concert, with some of them turning 17 in less than 6 months and the oldest less than 10 months away from being an adult, it's just too little kid-ish for them.

 

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Thanks for holding out on me while I've been so busy! Again, I'll get even busier as the school year drags on until after AP-testing (around May) so don't expect too much from me.

-Midori

HELLO!

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll go away from my nail obsession for at least this post, and I'll try to tell everyone what I think of the costumes for Morning Musume's spring tour, since I can't review the concert until the DVD comes out. ^^'

***By the way, for the extra look into what I think was going on in a designer's head, I will put an "alcohol level" indicator up, AKA how drunk I'd believe someone to be when designing the outfit.

Before you read this, you should be warned: This was written after a long plane ride, and I may go extremely insane at any point, so if this becomes non-sensical, please don't ask.

(In no particular order, and for no particular girl, unless the costumes are significantly different)

 

Hair: Check.

Make-up: Check.

 

 

 

 

 

Shirt: Check.

 

 

 

 

 

Pants/Skirt: Check.

 

 

 

Cowboy Boots: Check.

What's up with UFA's costume people liking to ruin perfectly good costumes with cowboy boots? Maybe they're in style? The world may never know.

(Other instances I can recall: Jiriri Kiteru)

 

 

Fluffy Osterage Butt Thingy [of doom]: Check... (Me. -.-)

I can survive the cowboy boots, but this is rediculous. Don't get me wrong, I love these outfits, but I really like it when the H!P girls can wear something extemely normal without the costume department going on a drunk tyrade around the costume area with feather/fluff boas.

 

 

Overall: 4.5/5, One normal outfit without a side of feathers, please.

Alcohol level: Barely drunk

Love the jewelry and the hair! Then again, the designers got a little overboard on Reina's hair acessory, but it's still kinda cool.

The tops are nice with the color, true to the original live costumes: yellow, blue, and red, and all 3 are used in the same way. Even though these aren't the same style as the sailor-collered originals, I like how they made these with the red ties (at least seemingly) covered by a folded over piece of cloth. I'm guessing it was made that way so this costume could have layers over it.

The shorts are... unique. The buttons and stars along with the under-layer's layer of blue and white stripes looks really sailor-ish!

The boots are ones that are very... piratey. I wouldn't like them with any other outfit, but they work here.

Overall: 4.75/5, I love these!!! My problem is the weird concept of 2-layer shorts.

Alcohol level: Completely sober

Extra note: This was after Aika was sick, so the bandages on her stomach aren't part of the costume. ^^' It's good she recovered well.

 

These are classy, city-girl outfits. I like everything about these outfits, except the return of the attack of the giant flowers. It's great to see Morning Musume in long pants after so long.

I can't wait to see these ones in movement, but in the event videos and the pictures, Morning Musume as a whole always looks really confident. It's a really good look for Resonant Blue in concert: It has the colors of the PV outfits making it cool yet idol-ish for the other songs they do in this set.

Overall: 4.99/5, (The pants are tucked in!!!)

Alcohol level: pretty sober

 

Just a note: Reina looks intense in this picture.

Again, the jewelry is spot-on! I'd like these, but all of the roman themed stuff on the costumes, along with the clashing boots just doesn't work for me.

I can't really look at these without thinking that one of the girls is just going to yell "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" during an MC wearing these. While these are great for the innumerable jokes we could probably make, they just aren't good for the songs that they're worn for, and I doubt they'll ever be good for any set Momusu will ever sing.

Overall: 2.5/5, I can has matching costumes?

Alcohol level: Somewhere between sober and drunk.

 

 

These are... unique.

I love all the color, and the dresses look like the party dresses that were worn for Mr.Moonlight when it was performed in the good old days.

The only complaint I really have is that all the crazy patterns, frills, bright colors, hair pieces, excessive fabric, the boots, and Ai's entire ensemble makes all of Morning Musume look like they just came from Munchin Land or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's factory.

I like quite a few of these, but they're hit and miss. Takahashi's should have waited 'till the Cinderella musical.

Overall: 3.5/5

Alcohol Level: somewhere between drunk and sober

 

ATTACK OF THE EXCESSIVE FABRIC!!!

I love the latinish style of dresses that are always designed for Iroppoi Jiretai's lives in concert, but the color, and the seemingly extra 2 yards of fabric makes these look impractical and wierd. The pattern on them up close is also kind of... ugly.

Now, I could put a rant here about how I'm sick of seeing the exact same style of dress every time this song's sung, but I won't.

Overall: 4/5

Alcohol Level: Sober (Possibly)

 

These are all I'm doing for now.

Again, thank you for supporting my blog. *Bows*

-Midori