Mika

[ashes_to_roses]

I was about to post this on a steampunk comm, but my eye wandered over here.

This man's clothing made me think of my variety of male steampunk fashion. This video reminds one of A Clockwork Orange. I'm not exactly sure what this song is talking about, but the beginning is fantastic.

What do you think of the dancing of the lead singer or others?

Comments

[colmunson]

Well, nothing wrong with drawing some inspiration here, I suppose. However if you want the fuddy-duddy analysis...

This is a stage costume, not an outfit or style (ref. his other videos). It's clever and eye-catching by design. Personally, I find the braces distracting as all Hel. The waistcoat is backless -- a system invented in the mid 20th C., IIRC, to make such things cooler to wear. More importantly, it is how you make vests for costumes, rental suits and tuxedos as it allows for easy fitting. It is not Victorian. I could see a Victorian ne'er-do-well or Bowery tough wearing his braces outside of his waistcoat out of laziness or some sort of bravado, but naturally it is not gentlemanly.

I can't say I care much for the song, but it IS catchy enough that it is stuck in my "gullavah" now. I think you're getting the 'Clockwork Orange' impression from the combination of the bowler and stick with the mannequins on the couch. I suppose that's rather intentional on their part (subtly edgy?). But I feel the video is much more of a tip of the hat to Gene Kelly and Buzby Birkley (sp?) - Vaudeville. As such, it is quite cute and rather refreshing compared to the usual stripped-down "we're just singing" videos. It's also very, very Mod (which was the basis for the book Clockwork Orange, BTW). It's either a huge mish-mash or very creative. I was entertained.