My beef is with his hips.  They rotate inward too much, like a woman's, instead of straight-lining down.

But, that's the bishies style SKU parodies for 'ya.

Back in the land of fashion....




Hrm, not that there is any one distinctive feature I dislike aside from the color palette, I hate this dress.  Maybe if you took away the Ursula crown and went for a circlet or something with more curves than spikes anyway it would look better.  And perhaps nix the triangle/circle figures on the tassles's clasp to the collar...they look very cartoonish to me and don't suit the more professional yet feminine look of the rest of the outfit.  Really though, the only thing that can save it is a better use of color.

Which brings me to my question.  Why green?  The red and gold ( which is fail because it's not gold, it's a terrible, clashing yellow) have some symbolic importance, but the green?  Sure, there is eternity, which is part of what she represents, and all the business with gardens and such, and I guess the artists may have felt it matched her eyes, but was it really the best choice of complement? 

[Originally the dress was white, and the green didn't really look that bad, but someone decided to give the white dress to Utena and changed Anthy's to red.  ]

There are colors we know Anthy looks good in...pastels, usually.  Powder blue, pink, pale purple to contrast her dark hair and skin.  Some of the colors on this dress could have worked if the artists had only bothered to tweak and get the shades and their placement right.

Overall I think the dress is a jigsaw of ideas that don't really fit together.  The designers bit off more than they could chew, trying to mash together elements of fairytale princess, sexuality and numerous other symbolic nuances into one outfit.

Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (01-08-2010 08:48:52 PM)

And a duelist uniform in the lines. 


I like all of the symbolism, and am impressed with it, I just wish it worked aesthetically as well.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Oitl in another thread wrote:

I'm one of the people who think she did this partly by seducing him, and partly through magic.  When Dio's comes to see Utena in her coffin, his collar is undone, which is a fashion-statement used by both Akio and Touga later in the series to represent entwined power and sexuality.  In the flashback, Dios wear's white and Anthy wears a red dress and gold bracelets.  Akio wears a red shirt and gold armbands, and Dio's white hair becomes Akio's light lavender.  Symbolic of Anthy's meddling, perhaps?  And by present time in the series, Anthy now reaps what she has sown, and sex between the two is a emotionless and twisted act used to fill unsightly desires and exert dominance.

BONUS NOTE:  I mentioned earlier that Akio wearing Anthy's red color and gold bands could be symbolism of her seduction, and also mentioned that he uses sex to both dominate and mock her and remind her of her guilt.  Whenever the two are seen pre or post-coitus in the series, it is implied that during the act, Akio remains as clothed as possible, while Anthy is pretty much always nude.  This may not just be a way of expressing dominance and control, as nudity can be used to humiliate one and make them appear or feel vulnerable and not in control, but may also be Akio doing it on purpose to nonverbally drive home to Anthy the guilt and shame he wants her to feel for being the one who tainted him, by reminding her of their little roll in the hay back in the shed during every sexual encounter they have.

This is one of the main reasons, or things I interpret to mean, to be more accurate, that it was Anthy who initiated their sexual relationship, because it is Akio's appearance who is altered to resemble Anthy, it is Akio who's image is, shall we say, tainted, not the other way around.  I think to an extent, he is aware of this, and the resemblance in clothing is intentional, he wears it to remind Anthy of her transgressions and mock her, to gain back some semblance of control. 

Does it represent control?  Possibly.  Though who holds the power is left ambiguous, who belongs to who, since they are both wearing red and while Akio may have chosen to, the reason he chose to is Anthy.  *passive-agressive Anthy glasses flash.* 

Also, the color red, as with Akio's car, Anthy's rosebride dress, and Touga's setokai color is used in Utena to represent adulthood defined by sexual maturity and power, as opposed to emotional or intellectual. 

And maybe I'll mention that, once again, Anthy was originally the one to wear red.

(Though, it could be a whole 'nother can of beans to say that maybe she only did because she was marked by society as a Witch long before the incident in the shed. 

Society:  You hang out with the Prince too much.  Slut.
Anthy: Orly?  Show you slut.
Society & Dios: omg.  )



And as for Saionji, I guess he's just unlucky, as with some uniforms (Juri, and Wakaba) the outfit eventually grows on you, but his signature color was green, and instead of choosing a shade that could look nicely on him, they went with the standard Ohtori issue pale green.    Really though, I don't think it's that green isn't his color, white isn't.  He looks WAY better in darker colors like Royal blue and black.  See:  His kendo outfit, young Saionji's turtleneck, and Movie!Saionji's uniform. 

Whether or not this is intended to be symbolic or just a byproduct of design is up to the viewer, though it may be interesting to note that Utena and Touga look good in either.

(apologizes for super long re-post-re-post)

I noticed that the standard Ohtori girls issued ties are red and gold. I originally believed that these were the school's colors because the council members have these colors in their uniforms as well. It occurred to me that the standard male Ohtori uniform, does not have these colors... Could this somehow be connected to the preceding statements?

Last edited by Melancholic_Soul (01-08-2010 09:39:26 PM)

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

EVERYTHING THAT AKIO OWNS SEXUALLY IS RED.

So... he owns like everyone O_O except for those dull background guys O_O

[EDIT for this question... Does Nanami wear red... I don't quite remember anything except for her pre duelist days in a regular uniform... ]

Last edited by Melancholic_Soul (01-08-2010 09:55:37 PM)

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

EVERYTHING THAT AKIO OWNS SEXUALLY IS RED.

*bursts out laughing* OITL FTW

I always liked the Black Rose Duellist's outfits better. Granted, while NOTHING in this world can redeem Keiko's hair, at least they dressed in black. And black, as we all know, goes with everything. (Except different shades of black).

Edit: OK so I looked at the pictures and apparently only Wakaba's and Tsuwabuki's BRD outfits are black. (They look sexy.) But for some reason the animators just really liked pairing various shades of purple with red. And yellow.

Last edited by Syora (01-08-2010 11:38:22 PM)

lol, I do remember that... I also remember Utena's XiuXiu shirt... I want one >__>

I think I actually liked some of the manga versions of Anthy's dress better. Notice, though, that all three have a much more detailed crown than the oversimplified crown of thorns anime!Anthy got.

1. I think this is the way it should have been done in the anime, if they insisted on red.


2. I'd rather it had been white, though. And I love that it had sleeves. I do find the red tassles a bit off, though.


3. I like this one as a compromise between 1 and 2.

I would have liked white because bride = white symbolism but.. because she is the rose bride/witch, I like that the red is a bit forshadowing with the lack of white=purity. Although.. Dios was the "rose prince," and he wore white..

I have to wonder: am I the only one who actually likes most of the clothing designs for the series? :confused: Aside from the awful mint green uniforms for the normal guys at Ohtori, I really have no problem with the Rose Bride and Student Council outfits. IMO, they're more appealing than the movie designs, even though the detail work for the latter is an improvement.

Edited to say: Raven Nightshade, that first picture is gorgeous! I've never seen it before -- I love the dark, rich colors, especially on Utena's jacket. And the gloves!

Last edited by cloche (01-11-2010 04:10:17 PM)

I don't think the sweaters are the same.
If there's some symbolism behind the sweater, which I kinda doubt, then I think it's more about the colour and the girly shape of the sweater. It's not completely akio/anthy red, but it's not exactly cute and innocent pinkish either. P:

What kind of shoes is Utena wearing? I can't find the name (of the shoe) anywhere.

I think there some kind of saddleback shoes.

Any sort of a canvas low top sneaker would match it dead on more or less for shape and general style. The trick is finding one with that pattern. It's not really a saddle shoe, in that the color is on the toe cap as opposed to the instep, and not really a spectator since there's no color along the tongue/eyelets. Hell, there really aren't even any eyelets for lacing. Freak.


Saddle



Specs







whoa edited for image quality.

Last edited by MissMocha (08-24-2010 09:38:54 PM)