A furry faux pas

Greetings. The new year deserves a new post, and since I finally found the password to this blog, off we go.

As some of us are aware, when it comes to looking good, piling it on is not always the best way to doll oneself up. Moderation is key when it comes to making oneself presentable. This applies in particular to the subject of discussion: fur.

Fur as a fashion accessory has always drawn a great deal of debate from animal-rights activists, with celebrities who don fur coats and the like being vigorously condemned. This is not about whether it's wrong to wear fur - in my humble opinion, it is - but how not to wear fur. For the sake of this post, we will assume the fur in discussion is faux fur. Since this blog is dedicated in large part to the fashion sense of Fly to the Sky, here is a picture of them decked in fur, at the 2006 MKMF Awards:

This picture must be shown in all its full glory, because it's unbelievable how anyone could step out looking like this. In short, this is a fashion disaster.

Fur is notoriously difficult to carry off. Because it's bulky, it cannot be worn like any other fashion accessory. It is a case of extremes - either one does without the fur or at most a smidgen of it (like lace trimming), or one goes all out. Fur has all the trappings of winter and/or affluence, and because it is such a difficult item to carry off with style, one must be wary of just what sort of fur clothing can be worn for a particular occasion. Simply throwing on a fur wrap and expecting it to enhance an outfit just will not cut it. Most people end up looking bloated or just plain wrong. Therefore, it is very difficult to imagine fur being a suitable and classy accessory in any black-tie event.

Obviously this point escaped 1) the stylists of Fly to the Sky and 2) the boys themselves. Sans fur, they would have looked presentable, perhaps a touch retro given Brian's almost shoulder-length bob and Hwanhee's hippie ponytail. But the addition of the fur turned them into quite the laughingstock. It meant their stylists did not know what they were doing when they suggested the fur add-ons, and it also meant the Fly boys did not quite understand just how to wear fur with class. When in doubt, discard, and it is always better to err on the side of caution than to go out looking as if you'd just lost your marbles.

Up close, they really did not look as if they knew what they were doing, with the horseshoes of fur hanging around their necks like a dead weight. It's a real shame because Fly to the Sky are some of the snazzier dressers in kpop, but unfortunately their good looks are not often exploited and they end up with some real questionable clothes. One has to wonder whether artistes actually have any control over what they can and cannot wear, whether they're even allowed to voice an opinion about their attire for public events. Of course, some artistes like being risqué with fashion (and many other things), but precisely because they are celebrities and in the media glare, it is unfortunate that they are also the first ones in the line of fire should anything not be 100% right.

Thankfully, the fashion sense has improved tremendously in 7th jib (the fur faux pas was during their 6th jib days - that's a topic for another day), and the boys have reverted to their usual good-looking selves. Let's hope there will be no more disasters of such an unfashionable magnitude.

- le jun