![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Angelique Retour comic outfit ratings
Jan. 26th, 2015 10:54 pmAs per pictures here.
Limoges: I was incautious here: at first, I thought that the scoop-necked blouse and the pink-red skirt in which Limoges is shown on the frontispiece was her new outfit. I could've gotten behind that: getting rid of the vest, deepening the red tones in her skirt, and changing her to a simple shirt & skirt look was a good way to modernize her look relatively but to keep her style sweet & traditionally "feminine." I like the clean, fresh lines of the outfit, which go well with Limoges's uncomplicated character.
I note now, though, that she's wearing a different outfit in the manga itself: a variation of her original outfit where the vest and skirt are all of one piece and the vest actually stops at mid-hip instead of being short. Limoges has ruffles on every hem and edge - on her vest, her skirt, her blouse sleeves, her blouse front where it's button, and even her collar - and her blouse has puffy short sleeves and a Peter Pan collar. She has ribbons on the sides of her sleeves and the sides of her hair and a ribbony lapel pin in the shape of a bar. (I'll get an image of this outfit when I update the photos to scans.) It's a good tie-in with Limoges's Trois-era casual outfit, which it greatly resembles, and benefits from looking fairly sophisticated with its unified look and not having the clash of pink & red of Limoges's original outfit. That said, it is a bit overdone, and I think the frontispiece outfit would've been a better choice.
Rosalia: Unquestionably the best of the lot. The smart tailored lilac suit with the right amount of fancy ruffles; the equestrian boots; the stylish side ponytail with the rose. It doesn't go over the top, yet it communicates an upper-crust feel. Terrific.
Julious: His bird brooch goes over the line from "elaborate & ornate" to "tastelessly gaudy" and "visually unbalanced." I actually like the base for the outfit - the blue, smooth, high-necked collar subtly accented with golden wreaths, formal yet vivid & resplendent - to be used as a palette for further elaboration. I could even get behind the doily hems of his sleeves, and I like Julious's tiara: it's a credibly nice piece of jewelry with some good metalworking.
The big dumb bunchy ruffle down the side, though, is completely unnecessary. It makes Julious look like an unmade bed. (This is a recurring problem with these designs: an overabundance of extra gewgaws added with no thought or reason.)
I'm coming to terms with it over time, but I don't much care for the slicked-down hair. Both he and Clavis look like they were caught out in the rain.
Clavis: I like how the diamond pattern at his waist hearkens back to his Special 2 outfit; I liked the boldness of that one. I could also get behind the idea of a kimono-like garment, with its plain, clean lines - a contrast of Eastern simplicity vs. Western opulence in Clavis & Julious's looks. The problem is, though, that Clavis has like 18 different patterns & designs & fabrics & doodads on his collar & cuffs & lower hem. It looks messy & busy as hell, which is pretty much the antithesis of Darkness. There was a good idea for a base design here, but the artist(s) has/have no idea of how to execute it.
He also has these giant hoopy bangles on his right wrist, which isn't Clavis at all.
Luva: I'm largely fine with this, actually. Probably because it's not very different from his existing outfits. I think I'm all right with the decoration on his chest, but I need to know exactly what it is first. Lace? Filigree? Both would be an odd choice for Luva - the first too feminine, the second too showy - but they could work with careful execution. I'd have to see the outfit in color. For now, I'll content myself with noting that the striped bandana in his turban makes it look like he has a tie wrapped around his head.
Oscar: I failed to notice at first that the front of his outfit is taken from Lord of the Rings elf armor. That doesn't really work. They probably thought they had to do something in that area, but it looks too busy and linewise clashes with the rest of the outfit.
I do like the strong contrast of what appears to be deep red & navy blue, noticeably yet subtly accented with gold at the collar and shoulders, as well as the bold, simple color blocking and the use of simple, single-layered fabrics with a few leather straps - they seem more soldierlike, more pragmatic ("pragmatic" being a relative term in Angelique fashion), yet still showy enough for Oscar. That bird emblem, and those kneepads, are too much, though.
Lumiale: From what we can see (which isn't much), they seem to be going for something Timka-like in his wardrobe, which *might* be interesting. Looking carefully at one pic, though, it looks from the edge like Lumiale *may* be wearing a fringed striped shawl hanging from his waist and puffy genie pants, which no no no no no no no.
I know I don't like his hair. It's grannyesque.
Olivie: Olivie's outfit poses a bit of a quandary. It's not entirely him - it's flamboyant, but it's not feminine. (It's more Giovanni than anything, actually.) I can see, though, that they're taking the opportunity of a reboot to try to make him a more "viable" romance interest, and if you look at some of his Yura Kairi chara art for the first game (the first first game, rather), he often doesn't actually have makeup & stuff and sports more an androgynous rock-star look. I can understand what they're doing, and I understand there's a precedent for it. The thing is that the drag look's gotten to be a part of Olivie's character by this point, and messing with that seems to be messing with a core part of him. I dunno.
Randy: I think I've come to the conclusion is that Randy's is the worst of the lot. You can't instantly recognize him, for one - I initially thought he was Zephel & that he was just weirdly shaded, until I caught sight of a figure in back and wondered when Giovanni had been made a Guardian. Second, the outfit's saying conflicting things, and none of them are characteristic of Randy. His hairstyle & the profile of his outfit are too..."feminine," almost, too soft & subdued for the element of Wind. His double-breasted jacket, meanwhile, is too formal & stuffy, which isn't Randy, either. And beneath the double-breasted jacket seems to be a multi-layered kimono-like garment. It all sends such mixed messages, and I don't see at all what they were going for with it, much less why they put it on this character.
Zephel: No, no, no. This is all wrong. An engineer doesn't wear multiple layers of hanging-down gewgaws. An engineer doesn't wear a Tetsuya Nomura level of belts & straps. An engineer doesn't put tons of mousse in his hair. You may have been able to do one of these things, but you can't do all of them.
Marcel: I hate that bob. It makes Marcel look like the photo from a box of hair dye from the '70's. Also, I don't know if this is just odd art or what, but in certain frames, it looks like it's shaggy, like a badly-executed Jennifer Aniston do, which doesn't suit Marcel at all.
I don't know what say about the rest of the outfit. It'll depend on the colors, I guess. The spiderweb cut of the back of his short cape is weird. I vaguely feel the outfit is kind of skeevy, in a weird way; Marcel's the cute, innocent one, and they seem to be playing up his underage-ness with the plaid elements at the waist (recalling schoolboy plaid) and the leggings echoing knee-highs. It doesn't really make much sense looking at the actual outfit, which isn't revealing in any way, but I can't kick the feeling.
.
Limoges: I was incautious here: at first, I thought that the scoop-necked blouse and the pink-red skirt in which Limoges is shown on the frontispiece was her new outfit. I could've gotten behind that: getting rid of the vest, deepening the red tones in her skirt, and changing her to a simple shirt & skirt look was a good way to modernize her look relatively but to keep her style sweet & traditionally "feminine." I like the clean, fresh lines of the outfit, which go well with Limoges's uncomplicated character.
I note now, though, that she's wearing a different outfit in the manga itself: a variation of her original outfit where the vest and skirt are all of one piece and the vest actually stops at mid-hip instead of being short. Limoges has ruffles on every hem and edge - on her vest, her skirt, her blouse sleeves, her blouse front where it's button, and even her collar - and her blouse has puffy short sleeves and a Peter Pan collar. She has ribbons on the sides of her sleeves and the sides of her hair and a ribbony lapel pin in the shape of a bar. (I'll get an image of this outfit when I update the photos to scans.) It's a good tie-in with Limoges's Trois-era casual outfit, which it greatly resembles, and benefits from looking fairly sophisticated with its unified look and not having the clash of pink & red of Limoges's original outfit. That said, it is a bit overdone, and I think the frontispiece outfit would've been a better choice.
Rosalia: Unquestionably the best of the lot. The smart tailored lilac suit with the right amount of fancy ruffles; the equestrian boots; the stylish side ponytail with the rose. It doesn't go over the top, yet it communicates an upper-crust feel. Terrific.
Julious: His bird brooch goes over the line from "elaborate & ornate" to "tastelessly gaudy" and "visually unbalanced." I actually like the base for the outfit - the blue, smooth, high-necked collar subtly accented with golden wreaths, formal yet vivid & resplendent - to be used as a palette for further elaboration. I could even get behind the doily hems of his sleeves, and I like Julious's tiara: it's a credibly nice piece of jewelry with some good metalworking.
The big dumb bunchy ruffle down the side, though, is completely unnecessary. It makes Julious look like an unmade bed. (This is a recurring problem with these designs: an overabundance of extra gewgaws added with no thought or reason.)
I'm coming to terms with it over time, but I don't much care for the slicked-down hair. Both he and Clavis look like they were caught out in the rain.
Clavis: I like how the diamond pattern at his waist hearkens back to his Special 2 outfit; I liked the boldness of that one. I could also get behind the idea of a kimono-like garment, with its plain, clean lines - a contrast of Eastern simplicity vs. Western opulence in Clavis & Julious's looks. The problem is, though, that Clavis has like 18 different patterns & designs & fabrics & doodads on his collar & cuffs & lower hem. It looks messy & busy as hell, which is pretty much the antithesis of Darkness. There was a good idea for a base design here, but the artist(s) has/have no idea of how to execute it.
He also has these giant hoopy bangles on his right wrist, which isn't Clavis at all.
Luva: I'm largely fine with this, actually. Probably because it's not very different from his existing outfits. I think I'm all right with the decoration on his chest, but I need to know exactly what it is first. Lace? Filigree? Both would be an odd choice for Luva - the first too feminine, the second too showy - but they could work with careful execution. I'd have to see the outfit in color. For now, I'll content myself with noting that the striped bandana in his turban makes it look like he has a tie wrapped around his head.
Oscar: I failed to notice at first that the front of his outfit is taken from Lord of the Rings elf armor. That doesn't really work. They probably thought they had to do something in that area, but it looks too busy and linewise clashes with the rest of the outfit.
I do like the strong contrast of what appears to be deep red & navy blue, noticeably yet subtly accented with gold at the collar and shoulders, as well as the bold, simple color blocking and the use of simple, single-layered fabrics with a few leather straps - they seem more soldierlike, more pragmatic ("pragmatic" being a relative term in Angelique fashion), yet still showy enough for Oscar. That bird emblem, and those kneepads, are too much, though.
Lumiale: From what we can see (which isn't much), they seem to be going for something Timka-like in his wardrobe, which *might* be interesting. Looking carefully at one pic, though, it looks from the edge like Lumiale *may* be wearing a fringed striped shawl hanging from his waist and puffy genie pants, which no no no no no no no.
I know I don't like his hair. It's grannyesque.
Olivie: Olivie's outfit poses a bit of a quandary. It's not entirely him - it's flamboyant, but it's not feminine. (It's more Giovanni than anything, actually.) I can see, though, that they're taking the opportunity of a reboot to try to make him a more "viable" romance interest, and if you look at some of his Yura Kairi chara art for the first game (the first first game, rather), he often doesn't actually have makeup & stuff and sports more an androgynous rock-star look. I can understand what they're doing, and I understand there's a precedent for it. The thing is that the drag look's gotten to be a part of Olivie's character by this point, and messing with that seems to be messing with a core part of him. I dunno.
Randy: I think I've come to the conclusion is that Randy's is the worst of the lot. You can't instantly recognize him, for one - I initially thought he was Zephel & that he was just weirdly shaded, until I caught sight of a figure in back and wondered when Giovanni had been made a Guardian. Second, the outfit's saying conflicting things, and none of them are characteristic of Randy. His hairstyle & the profile of his outfit are too..."feminine," almost, too soft & subdued for the element of Wind. His double-breasted jacket, meanwhile, is too formal & stuffy, which isn't Randy, either. And beneath the double-breasted jacket seems to be a multi-layered kimono-like garment. It all sends such mixed messages, and I don't see at all what they were going for with it, much less why they put it on this character.
Zephel: No, no, no. This is all wrong. An engineer doesn't wear multiple layers of hanging-down gewgaws. An engineer doesn't wear a Tetsuya Nomura level of belts & straps. An engineer doesn't put tons of mousse in his hair. You may have been able to do one of these things, but you can't do all of them.
Marcel: I hate that bob. It makes Marcel look like the photo from a box of hair dye from the '70's. Also, I don't know if this is just odd art or what, but in certain frames, it looks like it's shaggy, like a badly-executed Jennifer Aniston do, which doesn't suit Marcel at all.
I don't know what say about the rest of the outfit. It'll depend on the colors, I guess. The spiderweb cut of the back of his short cape is weird. I vaguely feel the outfit is kind of skeevy, in a weird way; Marcel's the cute, innocent one, and they seem to be playing up his underage-ness with the plaid elements at the waist (recalling schoolboy plaid) and the leggings echoing knee-highs. It doesn't really make much sense looking at the actual outfit, which isn't revealing in any way, but I can't kick the feeling.
.
