Why the fuchsia-black combo? Isn't that a classic naughty spicy lingerie palette? Hyper femininity = mainstream kawaii….again? (I know I'm overgeneralizing. :-/ )

And surprised to realize that over all these years, I've never seen anyone draw a deliquent Kitty here. Not ever. o_o

Don't know anyone here who's a Kitty fan that's not also goody-goody either. :P

haha

I was busy working on a friend's project and could only rapidly skim through my RSS reader and didn't read the text when this post came out… I've flipped through “Style Deficit Disorder” in the bookstore at least five times!!!! It came out at a time when I was being strangely self-restrained from buying such things… and so I didn't get the book. But somehow it came back to my mind every few months….

I've always been a drooling fan of Dr. Steele's…X-)

There will be some time until you stop seeing those electro colors, I think.. Dazed & Confused is using more and more of it (and 80s inspirations) in its editorials, which often presage what will show up in major publications, while international mainstream high fashion runways have been steadily making their way closer to revamped but very obvious 80s styles. The new, “edgy” DKNY artsy video promo is totally 80s fashion illustration-inspired (and well done in my opinion)… Though the colors generally look more acid than the Western kawaii palette. The upside is that the younger ones will probably finally move away from them? :P

From a sales standpoint, I think it makes sense for MAC to use these colors instead of pastels… fair enough in that it's a collaboration, and

I'm certain everyone familiar with the Sanrio aesthetics and classic Hello Kitty designs know that edgy colors like black and fuchsia didn't exist in the design vocabulary until perhaps around the dawn of the current century, and even now these hues are only used when they want to make it look cooler and hipper and are not for the classic “kawaii cute” merchs.

I've also noticed that kawaii merchs designed by N. Americans lose the pastel palette that dominates Japanese kawaii; the N. American kawaii palette is more like a sweeter version of the '80s disco colors. This coincides with the recent '80s revivial, which is especially prominent in teen and edgy youth fashion.

The regional difference seems to reflect longstanding cultural preferences — or just cultures. When punk and goth got to Japan and became localized, they also became less scary and intimidating than their Western originals.

I wonder why N. Americans don't like to keep kawaii designs looking meek and mellow like the Japanese original….