Shopping #8 – Animalize!

Here are some relatively recent purchases of mine. As you can see, they all have a common theme ;)

MNG animal print gloves and scarves. I looove this pack of gloves and scarves from Mango. They were all ridiculously cheap (they cost like 3 € each LOL), and they will sure help me create amazing dandy outfits =D

From what I’ve seen, it looks like animal print accessoires are a big trend in Harajuku this year…

 

 

 

Some take it further and even go for animal print pants!

…and not only in Harajuku ;)

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Golden plastic spider necklace. You might remember this little friend from the last Halloween season… Only it’s not this friend, exactly, but its silver twin. It’s really amazing that they still have these necklaces in the same store one year later. Probably, it’s because there isn’t a lot of people who buy them, but for me they are just perfect :D

Now, the biggest challenge will be finding the way to top my Voodoo Dandy outfit. I'm afraid it won't be easy :P

Voodoo Dandy

I haven’t dressed like this for a while, and I have to say my inner dandy feels glad to be back!

This time I built the whole outfit around the Michael Jackson T-shirt (I have to admit it was much easier than building an outfit around a pair of trainers LOL). This is quite a curious piece, really. For some reason, it has the text “MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT” printed on it, even though the (brilliant) comic-style artwork is obviously based on Thriller. I don’t know if this mismatch (?) responds to a deeper artistic purpose, but I find that detail really funny.

(Before we start talking about Thriller, you have to see this. I swear the word “Thriller” will never ever mean the same to you again… or at least that’s what happened to me.)

Of course, going for a Thriller kind of look would have been the obvious thing to do, but you know I don’t enjoy being predictable, so I dismissed that idea almost immediately – besides, there’ve been so many recreations of Michael Jackson’s iconic looks ever since he died, it’s almost become a cliché.

(In case some of you still haven’t seen the original Thriller, you can do it now!)

So, how do you get a Thriller-themed look that’s not based on just copying the obvious aspects? That’s pretty easy: go straight to the root.

When we talk about Thriller, we’re talking about zombies. And where do zombies come from? That’s it: Voodoo!

Thinking about Voodoo and zombies, I transported myself to quite a different stylistic place, much more similar to Zucchero’s Baila (best Voodoo-themed pop video ever LOL) than to the actual Thriller.

The incredible part is that this T-shirt was actually made in Haiti, so it’s a REAL Voodoo T-shirt (no joking!).

So, instead of focusing on Michael’s slightly futuristic city kid, I decided to turn myself into some kind of southern old-fashioned dandy. It’s not the first time I do this kind of looks, so getting in character wasn’t too hard – all I ever have to do is think about New Orleans and Load era Kirk Hammett, and everything else comes on its own.

The way I see it, the key to creating a convincing look in this fashion is remembering you have to be a dandy, but you also have to be a gangster: you have to be really well-dressed in an old-fashioned manner, but without forgetting to add deliberately shrill elements, in order to remind people you can’t really be trusted ;)

I started by building a red and black (red and black is ALWAYS a winner for me LOL) base to go with the T-shirt and the wonderful red and black vintage-looking (it’s not real vintage, though) Mango blazer. There’s something very late 80s/early 90s about this blazer, or at least that’s the way I feel it, because it always reminds me of the one Freddie Mercury wore in Scandal (another wonderful red and black video).

The pointy gangster shoes strongly remind me of the ones Bill Kaulitz was wearing last december, during Tokio Hotel’s Harajuku street photoshoot for the Japanese InRock magazine (too many huge words in the same sentence, I guess LOL). I’ve had mine since 2007 (right in the height of my Marilyn-Manson-driven dandy phase), so they can’t exactly be considered Bill-inspired, but when I put them on with the tight jeans, I couldn’t keep myself from thinking about those pics, and that subtle connection made me smile :)

I had quite a hard time trying to find the right scarf, until I came across this unbelievable vintage Salvatore Ferragamo piece. I didn’t even know we had that at home (well, maybe I knew, but I didn’t remember about it in that moment LOL)! In fact, I didn’t even know it when I picked it up. I just tried it on, and it immediately added a perfect (and subtle) Italian gangster touch to my outfit ;)

However, I had the feeling I still needed to add some evil details (this is a Voodoo dandy, after all!), so I put on my brand new silver plastic spider (you might remember it from my previous post). I told you I would find a use for it, and there you go! I wasn’t sure about what the result would be at first, but I love how the collar complements the T-shirt – it looks like they were just meant to be together!

And about the fingerless gloves… Well, I always say that, if worn right, fingerless gloves are the thing that can make any outfit look mean. I’ve got black magic on my fingertips, babes. BE afraid ;)

Michael Jackson T-shirt: Gildan Heavy Cotton

Red long sleeved T-shirt: Mac Been

Jeans: MNG

Blazer: MNG

Shoes: Bata

Hat: CCC

Scarf: Salvatore Ferragamo vintage (1991)

Fingerless gloves: El Corte Inglés

Shopping #2: Halloween

The great thing about Halloween is that, for a few days, you get the chance to find all sorts of crazy stuff in stores. The most of the people would never consider using any of these things to accessorize street wear… but that’s because they don’t live by the Harajuku philosophy! (LOL) If they did, they would have learnt a long time ago that anything that’s light enough to be carried can be turned into a piece of clothing ^^

All you have to do is use your imagination!

Yes, that’s real plastic flowers (and a couple of really rococo-looking tassels LOL). You can blame fur fur’s 2012 Spring/Summer collection for this. Of course, their flowers are real, but who can resist the charm of those headdresses? I still don’t know what will come out of this, but it’s worth a try! LOL

1. Fancy skull boa. I don’t have a use for this yet, but I’m sure something will eventually come up :P 2. Decorative gothic skull. This is the most impressive piece of gothic decoration I’ve ever seen. It’s not meant to be worn as an accessory (of course), but it can be quite easily turned into a tie, or into whatever comes to my head first. Oh, and the old lady’s jaw is articulated! Can you believe that? LOL 3. Flaming skull pen. Do I really need to say anything about this one? 4. Skeleton arm and Flying V pen. Ideal partner for the flaming skull pen. The singer and the guitarrist always go together ;) 5. Spider necklace with skulls and bones chain. Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t be gothic and gangsta at the same time! ;) 6. XL exorcist cross. The cross necklace fashion is chasing me again! This is not a wooden cross, technically, but it’s HUGE! Ready, set… Harajuku, there I go! LOL