On the shoulder of his black silk frock-coat
So walks out Pierrot this languid evening,
Seeking everywhere for love's adventure.
“Der Mondfleck,” from Arthur Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot is the sad clown in traditional mime and theater, typically wearing a white tunic with a giant ruff, and white facepaint with black diamond-shaped eyeliner. If you ask me, one of the most striking Goth Loli-related fashions is “dark pierrot.” Adherents draw upon the lovelorn clown's imagery and highlight its most tragic and disturbing facets.
Unvollkommen, a collective led by “Luciferrot,” specializes in this type of design. The Osaka-based label has a German name that means "defective" or "imperfect." This word usually has a negative quality, but for these designers, it is the space where unexpected beauty lies:
"We do not look for perfection, but for the beauty of the unique and rare. We strongly encourage people who are physically unique to have pride in themselves and the beauty they possess. In this respect, people who are shorter or taller than average (as if averageness is a quality!!! bah!!! ), or asymmetrical in some way we openly embrace and encourage them to stand up and be proud!!"
True to their manifesto, Unvollkommen's clothes tend to use dirty pastels (greyish whites, dull pinks and greens) and black-and-white diamond prints, garnished with lush satin and floral trimmings. Nothing here is “average”: hats have giant floppy brims and are stacked with fruit, floor-length gowns have puffed sleeves the size of balloons. Each item is one of a kind and handmade from vintage materials.
Recently, Unvollkommen designed outfits for Japanese Visual/gothic crossover band Blood. In a time when concept albums have bitten the dust, this band has gone through several all-encompassing image changes since forming in 2002: vampires, Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire, and now, Symphony of Chaos. Unvollkommen’s aesthetic fits hand in glove with the band's new direction, which can be described as decadent Gothic. If you live in Japan or Australia, you can see Blood's stage outfits up close, as they are performing in several cities this spring and summer.
Unvollkommen's clothing and accessories can be ordered from its new English-language website; all items can be custom-made to fit. Take a peek at the gallery of designs. I bet it'll be raddest thing you see all week.
