Heroine of Shoujo

Shoujo Fashion: CLAMP Chapter

October 18, 2011 at 5:22 pm | Posted in Anime/Manga Impressions, Card Captor Sakura, Chobits, CLAMP!, Features, Kobato, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, xxxHolic | Leave a comment
Tags: Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, CLAMP, Kobato, Tsubasa Rservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic

And I’m finally back with my usual blog posting! Yay! It’s already sembreak and I can finally do this blogging thing ^_^

To add more good news, this is a feature post which makes it very special compared with the update posts It’s been a YEAR since my previous feature post….

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There are infinitely many reasons why I love CLAMP — and one of them is because they are all girls. And because they all girls, they have a go with fashion. And their sense of fashion can be reflected in their artworks.

I like CLAMP because their manga characters have a wide wardrobe. Most of the characters aren’t isolated with just a single outfit (with the exception of Miyuki-chan, of course, since she’s a uniform-based girl ). Even the trio from Magic Knight Rayearth (the first MKR) change outfits everytime their magical powers ‘upgrade’.

In this post, I’m going to enumerate my favorite outfits of my favorite CLAMP girls and ladies: Yuko Ichihara, Sakura Kinomoto, Kobato, Tsubasa, and Chii. (I’m using ‘lady’ for Yuko Ichihara. )

Yuko Ichihara (xxxHolic)

Whenever you’re asked who the most fashionable CLAMP character is, you know the answer. Yuko Ichihara!!

She’s very into high fashion, and for her, wearing the same clothes twice is a mortal sin. Of course, we know how she loves her favorite black dress (in the photo below) which she wore twice, so we can forgive that exception ^_^.

There was even a part in xxxHolic (Volume 15, chapter 173) wherein Watanuki noticed that she’s wearing a dress she has worn before. However, she hasn’t really worn it before, rather, they are still in the same dream. Anyway, this just proves that even Watanuki knows that Yuko never wears the same clothes twice .

In the Official xxxHolic Guide, Yuko’s outfits were enumerated, along with the accessories she wore with them. Casual, formal, traditional — name all the outfits you can think of and Yuko has it all. We don’t even know her real eye color because she always changes it to match her outfit. Pretty cool from the Dimensional Witch, don’t you think?

As I’ve said, Yuko styles even if she’s only going for a walk in the park. It’s quite difficult to look for images of such outfits, so I’ll just help this post with Yuko’s photo on the left – taken from one of the manga’s splash pages. Anyways, Animeholicph listed some of Yuko’s many fashions, so you might want to check it out.

And by the way, Yuko Ichihara hosts a series of Anime’s Next Top Model in youtube by deathstares92. She’s the perfect host and model for the tv series

Then again, another of CLAMP’s beautiful artworks! I don’t know if the xxxHolic Artbook was already released, but be sure to check it out and see more of Yuko’s fashion.

We won’t be seeing anymore outfits of the Dimensional Witch Yuko Ichihara since both xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle have made their final bow, but it’s always nice to see them again through the art book.

Sakura Kinomoto (Cardcaptor Sakura)

The princess of Mahou Shoujo, Sakura Kinomoto! (She’s the princess for ME, anyway)

She’s really cute and adorable! Those are perhaps the very reasons why her friend Tomoyo Daidouji keeps on sewing costumes for her and taking videos of her. Oh! We should thank Tomoyo for that ^_^

In contrast with Yuko who has her own style, Sakura never really wanted frilly costumes if not because her insisting friend Tomoyo. And so we will agree that Tomoyo is a really good fashion designer

(Most of the ‘Sakura in cute costume’ images I have are from the Art Book. It’s really worth it to have your own copy of the art book so check it out! (though I don’t have the third Art Book yet ) The book features CLAMP’s beautiful illustrations! And by the way, I think the Japanese published art book is better than the US published, so if you’re going to get a copy, I suggest the Japanese published.)

Like Yuko Ichihara, Sakura looks really good on anything she wears. Even a boy’s outfit fits her well! Remember the prince costume she wore during their Sleeping Beauty play?

Sakura is also good in projecting for the camera! Perhaps we can say that “it’s in the genes”? Her mother is a model too, so surely, the daughter will be as good as the mother when it comes to modelling. (I love their smiles ^_^)

So that goes for Sakura Kinomoto, and her fashion designer Tomoyo Daidoiji ^_^

Kobato Hanato (Kobato.)

And now, Kobato Hanato!

Who doesn’t love this innocent, cute, and adorable girl? She’s as charming as Sakura Kinomoto, don’t you think?

Anyway, Kobato isn’t as good as Sakura in projecting, but hey, she’s actually good when it comes to picture things. She just have to be natural and ta-daaah! A good model for a fashion magazine ^_^ (Sakura is good with both naturals and posings)

(The Kobato official artbook is finally out, and I can’t wait to have a copy! I want to see CLAMP’s features of Kobato in her different outfits ^_^)

The manga features Kobato in a completely different outfit per chapter, and that’s CLAMP for you – they can change the outfit of a character every now and then, and every dress is not just a simple outfit design. Hooray for CLAMP and Kobato’s magic wardrobe!

Oh, is it actually a wardrobe? Rather, a SUITCASE, I mean! ^_^ I wonder how her many dresses fit in THAT suitcase…

(photo borrowed from kyameel’s flickr photostream)

Anyway, here goes the anime-manga nutter again. Kobato doesn’t have that much outfit in the anime! They don’t even have a different dress for her for every new episode! Oh well. At least the opening did its best by featuring some of Kobato’s outfit

Among the outfits she wore in the anime, my favorite is her blue dress (in the photo waay above). Her hat and sandals are really cute too! I’d love to have them for a summer day! ^_^

That’s Kobato Hanato for you! ^_^

Sakura/Tsubasa (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)

Now it’s Tsubasa’s turn!

It’s not that difficult to feature Tsubasa’s style since she’s quite the same as Sakura Kinomoto (well, they have the same souls, or that’s what I understood in the manga). Basically, you just have to check out Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Character Guides (1 and 2) and you can see features of the character’s outfits (as seen in the manga).

A different world means a different outfit for them (with just some few exceptions). And you’ll see how creative and imaginative CLAMP is because they know exactly what would fit the four main characters in a certain world/country. And with that, Sakura/Tsubasa’s many styles! ^_^

I found this magazine scans somewhere, I hope it’s alright for me to borrow them for this feature. Anyways, just see how cute Sakura is especially in these outfits which were seen in the anime ^_^

But no matter how cute those dresses are, there’s one outfit that’s really my favorite, and it’s actually very simple: Sakura’s outfit in the country of Tokyo:

I like this outfit because it shows the brave Sakura – I really like that side of her. There’s also Sakura’s outfit in the country of Infinity, but I’m opting for the simpler dress.

The Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle art book also features Sakura’s different styles, so check it out ^_^

A princess for a model? That’s Sakura/Tsubasa of the Kingdom of Clow! ^_^

Chii (Chobits)

And last but definitely not the least, Chii!

Another of CLAMP’s really cute character, and she’s really cuddly (that’s what Hideki says anyway ), despite being a persecom! ^_^

In the beginning of the story, Chii didn’t actually have any dress and Hideki lent her some of his clothes which were really oversize for the cute Chii. So Hibiya-san gave Chii some pretty clothes – which she said was hers that time.

Talk about receiving cute dresses! And they fit Chii perfectly!

Anyways, Chii is just too cute almost every outfit fits her: her work clothes for the bakery, a casual dress for a trip to the bookstore, and yes, even Hideki’s clothes .

In the manga, almost all of her clothes were from Hibiya-san (they were really Chii’s anyway), but I have no idea what the thing is in the anime since I haven’t finish!ed watching the whole series.

Chii’s photo in waay above is taken  from the Chobit’s Artbook Your Eyes Only. I love her Victorian style dress! Somehow, she looks like Victorique from Gosick, but let’s be honest, Chii is cuter

I also love Chii’s frilly white dress in the photo above! It looks really cute on her!

Now I can’t resist to buy a copy of the Chobits artbook. CLAMP’s artwork once again! And more of Chii in her cute outfits ^_^

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PS. I noticed that my previous feature post was also about anime fashion! I wonder what about I will write next?

Calling the attention of CLAMP fans! Let’s cross our fingers for another CLAMP series!

Till the next post ^_^

xoxo,
AlyssaMihara