Tried to Walk on my Red Shoes under the Shadow of Love watching the Cherry Blossom Ending.

I don't have so much time to write a long post but I thought it'd be a good idea to gather some of my favorite Korean music videos -because it has to be Korean!- in one entry. I'm aware that my teacher is going to read this at some point, so this entry will include all those great songs that have been translated visually in what I consider 'the right way', thus I'll try my best to give an unbiased and objective opinion, putting aside favoritism and personal preferences. I might do similar post in the future so this time around I'll give you the Top 5 I can think of at the moment. 

 

5. Busker Busker- Cherry Blossom Ending

Although fashion wise this video is really weak, the visual elements combined with the plot story and the song itself manage to catch the attention of the viewer all the way throughout. I honestly might be picking this video because I find it incredibly 'average' but that's its charm and that's exactly why Busker Busker's song became the iconic 'Spring Song' in Korea. 

4. BEAST (B2ST)- Shadow

There's no much to say about this video other than it's visually addictive! At first I was quite unsure about including it in the list because to be sincere most of the people around me took the video really lightly and some of them even disliked it, however I think we can give it a chance, can't we? Although the video could fall into the 'guys-dancing-a-choreography' category, I think that other than just showing random close-ups of each member of the group singing, this video is full of symbolic elements, from the outfits to the effects, everything is in their right place, not to mention that the photography is -from my amateur point of view- indeed remarkable. Of course a help understanding the lyrics would make a lot easier to understand the visuals.

Hint: 'Breaking up and becoming a shadow while longing for the past'

3. B1A4- Tried to Walk

About this video? There's so much to say, I'd write pages and pages and still be halfway. First of all, a round of claps for the stylists, the artistic direction and the photography team, the outfits were very interesting mixes and -probably it wasn't even planned- the way on which the people in charge of the photography worked, allowed to clearly differentiate the variety of textures in the garments, I felt that unlike other videos, Tried to Walk gave a special emphasis on the fashion, the camera work is outstanding, showing close up of the accessories, hairstyles and clothes without downplaying other elements. My Respect.

Also, it was probably just me -the weird surrealism fan- but did someone else notice the clear references of Dali's work? I'm maybe hallucinating and I could be wrong stating the inspiration behind the video but I when I first watched it I immediately related it to the Cover for Vogue that Dali illustrated back in 1939 as you can see here:

Flowers, branches and skeletons, anyone?

Anyhow this video has its fair share of 'symbolic elements' that can only be understood if you understand the lyrics so:

Hint: 'Although it's hard, we're breaking up'

2. Teen Top- I wanna love

I can see people raising eyebrows at this choice, 'not remarkable' might be the main objection and it's true, there's no a 'defined' story going on, no special effects, no symbolism, just depressed teenagers over -apparently- breaking up with their girlfriends, wandering around Hong Kong in the most obnoxious ways. No link whatsoever. BUT... there's something that makes this video so unique to my eyes and is the quality of the styling work. Definitely, Korean stylist are the bestest of the best. There's so much textures, colors, prints. It's risky to combine all these elements but they did it without falling into the 'I'm-hurting-my-eyes-watching-this' type of video.

Other than that, the camera work is impeccable, simply amazing. I can't imagine all the work the cameramen had to go through to have such quality of images, they captured the best angles and I can have a twisted opinion but I find that although the guys were supposed to be the focus, somehow Hong Kong took over in this video, the city is in reality the main character.

1. IU- The Red Shoes

Bran New. I'll keep it short: IU is the best act in Korea just now and no one -I don't even like her- would dare to state otherwise. And there's no reason either, she deserves all the attention she gets, her new song is pure perfection and the music video is an awesome work of styling, art direction, choreography and photography altogether. The only thing I can say about it is that instead of MV -Music Video- this work should be addressed as 'Musical Short Film' because well, that's what it really is. 

The Goodbye of the Sun

During the summer, I had the chance to visit -once again- 'La Capilla del Hombre' -The Chapel of Man- back in my hometown, Quito. This place is a beautiful museum built by one my favorite artists, Oswaldo Guayasamin -Ecuadorian painter and sculptor- to display his work of over 50 years. Guayasamin had indigenous origins and his family was really poor so his work has a social character and it was strongly influenced by the figure of his mother, he also explored different techniques and styles that most of artists at that time didn't dare to experiment. The background and inspiration for his work was so unique and refreshing that he quickly became one of the most renowned artists in Ecuador  and later on he gained a lot of popularity abroad, especially due to his close friendship with icons of the artistic medium like poet Pablo Neruda or  political figures like the -back in the day- French first lady Danielle Mitterrand.
Although his tematics are the kind of concepts that I usually try to avoid as much as possible, his paintings are way too touching and meaningful to be ignored. For Ecuadorians, Guayasamin doesn't represent a painter solely, he's the biggest proof of the infamous 'hard work pays off' so I always feel connected to his work, especially because the 'Chapel' is located in the north of the city -coincidentally quite close to my house- therefore the place holds a lot of emotional memories and I feel somehow attached to it.

Among his work, one of my favorite collections 'Huacayñan' or 'The Path of Tears' depicts the vision of miscegenation in Latin America, specially in the Andean Region. I'd spent hours talking about why I like these paintings so much but I better give you a glimpse of Guayasamín's art:

Capilla del Hombre- Coleccion Manos 'Hands Collection'

Las Manos de la Protesta- The claiming hands

Capilla del Hombre, indoor sight of the dome

Mural Capilla del Hombre. Translation 'I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a kid with no feet'

In days like today, when I feel homesick, I wish I could go over the 'Chapel' and take pictures, there's an amazing view of my Quito from there, because well, my city too is a big inspiration for me when it comes to my creative process and, of course, I can't help but longing to be there...

The Chapel of Man, as seen from the workshop building of Oswaldo Guayasamin.

And of course as in the spirit of being back home, some music from Latin American groups that totally fit my mood now:

You know it's true...

Finally I managed to get my hands on a copy of L'Officiel Hommes Korea from April 2013. To be honest the main reason why I wanted this magazine was that one of my favorite groups was featuring in one of the editorials and as expected I was curious about the concept.

Since I was young I had a fixation over fashion from the  80s and 90’s, or to be more specific fashion from TV shows of early 90s like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Saved by the Bell and singers like New Kids on the Block (specially from their late 80’s era) so I must admit I nearly died once I checked the whole photo-shoot Teen Top made, I’m aware many people would hate the hairstyles and even the clothes, but for me such shapes, prints and ambience take me directly to the period I’ve always dreamed living in –in a very platonic way of course-.

I might be wrong with the references that inspired this fashion spread but when I look at it closely it has a late 80s feeling very ‘New Kids on the Block’ style in the music video for ‘I’ll be loving you forever’ combined with a troublesome guy of the 90’s –sorry this is completely random but I was thinking maybe Gangsta's Paradise would be the perfect soundtrack-

Anyhow, thumbs to the stylist of L’Officiel, the pictures came out pretty nice -and now I’ve officially founded the Korean Stylists' Fan club- their work is outstanding; it’s always a pleasure to have a look at Korean magazines, the pictures are never disappointing!  usually presenting striking concepts with fresh fashion, cool sets and overall amazing visuals. Once you’ve laid your eyes on the photoshoots Korean fashion magazines have you will never ever find again pleasure on checking the plain and overused concepts editorials in western magazines tend to display.

Scans from L'Officiel Homme Korea 'Boys on Top'  April 2013

Teen Top Official Facebook 

And in the spirit of the period some musical inspiration! seems like ages since I last listened all these songs.

 

Is it any wonder?

My search for inspiration for my current project has become an obsession, I'm absolutely sure about what I want to do, I know the direction I want to take and I know how I've used my research to come up with the ideas I have, however translating them into garments is driving me bonkers because I don't have any intentions of 'creating' something that is too related in a literal way. I've always hated when designers use uncomplicated themes to just copy the obvious references -hello there, designers who put Japan culture as inspiration just to copy the silhouettes of kimonos or the patterns of cherry blossom trees- so I don't want to suddenly become one of those people who work superficially, I want to give a strong interpretation to my approaches and I want to make this collection worthy.
For instance, I've always worked with clean and structural shapes, minimal in a way but with a powerful twist, so I'm somehow starting to believe I need to break the mold -although I haven't really stuck to one concept in the past-. But breaking the mold is not easy, I keep repeating myself I should look for new and unknown -for me- sources of creativity but whenever I try to escape from my definition of 'being a good designer' things like this suddenly remind me where's my place.

A close up look at WOOYOUNGMI AW13 padding detail in the new issue of Fantastic Man.

Do I even need to explain all the perfection in the 'simplicity' of this jacket? I don't think so. For me, Wooyoungmi sisters are genius and I'm foreseeing them rising as the new iconic menswear brand in Paris now that they're finally opening their store. I'm a fan of their creations and I wouldn't mind working in their atelier, but well, first of all I'll need to survive now and make that collection of mine work...
Probably they don't represent the way I want to work at the moment, but no doubt their work is visually stimulating, I can't help but loving this all.

The second of the WOOYOUNGMI X Michael Johansson AW13 campaign images. 'The Cube'.

10 Men Summer Issue 2010 Wooyoungmi

No Link...whatsoever

So amidst the work we're doing for our upcoming school project we had this presentation in front of the class to present our primary research, it was mostly about the things we dislike. To put it short since I'm always so complicated and sometimes tend to spend TOO much time preparing visual material and over thinking 'Is this right or wrong?' this time around I made my work quite obvious, instead of working in a conceptual way like I always did in the past and creating personal links to the theme, I decided to get a hold on myself and try working in a literal way -like I always see my classmates working-, for example f I get told to work -random theme- on flowers, while my classmates would get obsessed with recreating the shapes of the flowers, the volumes, the colors, I'd totally start to question myself over and over again what flowers mean to me and I'd probably end with something that at first glance wouldn't look inspired on flowers at all.
Honestly this new way of working is not as easy as I thought it'd be at first, I'm having massive headaches because I want to work in an obvious way but doing so without falling into predictable is harder than expected.


Anyhow the reason why I'm writing this post is just because I have this 'problem' stuck in my mind. After the presentation we were supposed to get feedback from our classmates about our ideas, I have to say that I'm not really the friendliest person with my classmates, there's just some kind of aura that I haven't been able to overcome during the past two years so our relationship is more likely to be plain and superficial,that of course with the exception of two girls who for some odd reason hate me, I haven't even -not even once- spoken to them so I'm guessing  that  they believe I should have made more of an effort to appeal them after they incorporated to school last year? -sorry this is starting to look like a complaint- but well, to put this straight I read the feedback from my classmates and it's sad these two girls were the only ones giving me negative feedback, but the fact they criticized my work doesn't upsets me, quite the opposite the fact that they didn't even pay attention and then decided to criticize my work is what really annoys me.
'I don't understand the move from bright colors to yarn? NO LINK. Knit would be a cool thing to work with'
Dear lord, I've heard of mean people but this is just stupidity trying to be disguise as 'positive criticism'. I don't even know why I'm taking this so heartedly -I'm guessing the lunar phase is getting me LUNATIC- but I just hate when people don't even take some time to hear. I remember quite well I explained 'I have two different directions I'd like to work with' I never said yarns and bright colors had any connection whatsoever and the work was not about connections either, it was about the possible directions our project would take after the research. I'm probably mentally too old for my age because it sincerely alarms my how childish people -specially grown ups who are even older than me- can be, I know it's impossible to get everybody to like me and my work but I wished that people would give me at least valid criticism like I did, it's a shame some folks can't separate feelings from work, which takes me to the real reason why I'm writing this. With that 'eventful' experience I got to realize how also I'm sometimes too temperamental and how unimportant stuff can be so much of a tether on my creative way, I'm the kind of person who believes about energies coming from our souls and I must accept that all that meddle of emotions -anger, annoyance and even misery-  made me feel like my energy was stolen away. Basically I made no point in this entry but I needed to write it so hopefully I could get it out of my head, I even thought about it while showering and that's a little bit insane, of course add it to the annoyance of washing my hair twice because I didn't realized I had already done it previously.

The picture, well, I choose the most 'valuable' critics, honestly most of it was nice to read, it gives me a deep insight of what I can improve about my work.

If you knew that I've dreamed so much about you

Working on my collection, organizing files and erasing stuff I don't need anymore I tripped over one of my forever favorite poems, I'm not so much of a 'romantic' person but I must accept I love the books of surrealist poet Robert Desnos, he might be one of the few poets whose work I really enjoy, although my fave poem of his might be 'If you knew', 'I've dreamed of you so much' -see the image above- is worthy to be read. Inspiration suddenly seems to come whenever I find one of those 'old treasures' in my computer.

Roses and thorns

In the search of inspiration for the current collection I'm working on for school I found myself thinking a lot about the possible reasons why I hate yarns so much, after much reasoning and self analysis I came to the conclusion of yarns giving me the idea of chaotic and messy, for instance when you knit there always comes a time when the yarns get all tangled and you feel like you're going to die out of pure frustration -I'm exaggerating but you get my point, don't you?-

So back to the research, I -being the shameless fan of Korean pop music I am- immediately made a connection with a music video from last year’s sensation artist Lee Hi. The sets in 'Rose' are incredibly neat and the overall video is so rich visually, it simply gives me more reasons to add to my list of  why I love Korean 'over produced' music so heartedly. 

The whole symbolism part is rather nice and of course when you understand the lyrics of the song, the picture above with the tangled dry stalks of roses trapping the girl make a lot more sense but I'm not planning to talk about it in this entry, the point was just to find something related to my visual research so I can progress a little bit more and find some themes to develop deeper.

Lee Hi's Rose gave me millions of things to think about, although honestly I dislike her voice and I sincerely can't stand her, this song is probably one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard and I totally consider that every person in the world should listen at it at least once in its lifetime regardless of being or not being able to understand what on Earth she's singing, but just a clue, the girl is in fact telling her lover to leave her because just like a rose she 'might be beautiful but her thorns will only end by hurting him'. Nice, isn't it?