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lilyginnyblackv2 · 2 years

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T&B Clothes and Style Analysis:

This all started when I was thinking of a way to try and get a better gauge on Ryan’s age, but then it started to kind of become it’s own thing. Basically, something I’ve noticed is how aspects of many (though not all) the character designs are indictive of the decade they grew up in.

Let’s start with the oldest of our heroes (I’m limiting it to heroes so this post won’t be any more massive than I’m sure it will already be).

Kotetsu and Antonio: We know that they are both 38 in S2, so that means they were born in 1942. So their childhood and teen years were the 1940s and 1950s, and you can see the influence of those time periods on their outfits.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s cowboy inspired fashion was very popular. My grandfather had a bit of this style too, and he was born sometime in the 1930s. Of course, Antonio’s outfit is also meant to reflect his NEXT persona as well, being Rock Bison and having, iirc, a meat sponsor.

Meanwhile, Kotetsu has that snazzy look about him. Clean cut, button up shirt, tie, sleek and ironed pants, button up vest - his look is, in a way, rather hip in comparison to Antonio’s look. I also feel is has more of an upscale, blue collar vibe to it than Antonio’s, which style originated with blue collar, “working on the farm,” and legit cowboy types. Of course, Kotetsu doesn’t hold himself in that way, though I do think that his outfit is what adds to the moe gap and charm of Kotetsu. He has this put together appearance to him, but his life is a mess and he can be very immature at times, lol.

(This post is SUPER long and image heavy, so the rest is under a Read More!)

Next, let’s take a look at our newest heroes, since the 1980s influence on their style is obvious. All three of them are teens, so it would make sense that their fashion style and sense would reflect the 80s the most.

Subaru’s is, imo, the easiest to draw a link to in regards to possible inspiration. The outfits aren’t an exact match, but that puffy life preserver like jacket + jean pants combo just screams Marty McFly. I know he is also meant to reflect the “Red Ranger” trope found in series like Super Sentai and stuff like that, but I also think that Subaru’s problems with being looked down on and such is similiar to Marty’s with his issues surrounding being called chicken and what not. They can both be impulsive and quick to anger in that regard.

Lara has a school uniform on or, at least, an outfit inspired by one. Obviously, there are some liberties taken with the design, certain elements to make it cuter and more in-line with how school uniforms are often depicted in anime. The blazer top is really what gives it the 1980s Japanese school uniform vibe though. And since Lara is meant to represent magical girls, it makes sense that she would be wearing a school uniform.

Thomas has the most..anime-like outfit of everyone, imo. His outfit isn’t something you would someone wearing just every day, ya know. I tried looking a bit into high fashion/runaway fashion and the like, but didn’t get very far with that. I think the aspects of his outfit that have some basis in the 1980s though is the combo of “very shiny leather jacket” + tight jean combo like we see MJ wearing in his Thriller MV.

Okay, so now let’s take a look at characters that we know the exact age of, or have a very good, general idea of how old they are. First up here is Barnaby.

Listen, Barnaby’s outfit really doesn’t have much going on in the way of 60s or 70s fashion (the eras when he was a teen), but his hair absolutely does! Without a doubt, the inspiration for Barnaby’s hair was Farrah Fawcett and her hairstyle became popular in the 1970s, when Barnaby would have been in his late teens and early 20s. He had more of a general shaggy hairstyle in the few flashbacks we see of him as a younger teen.

This chunky gold chain is also very 70s.

Now we are more in the “we have a general idea how old they are range, and it was confirmed via outside sources.” The one that I feel most concretely on this is Karina, who is 19 in S2. That means she was born in 1961 (one year earlier than my parents, lol) and her childhood was in the 1960s and her teen years were pretty solidly in the 1970s outside of 19.

Whenever I think of Karina’s dress in S1, I my mind just always goes to the kinds of short dresses that were really popular in the Brady Bunch era. Other elements of her design are definitely different, but that dress is such a key aspect. Her S2 design feels more mature and like Mary Tyler Moore-esque.

Ivan, I believe, is 21 in S2. I think it was confirmed, somewhere, that he was 18 in S1. So he is only a little bit older than Karina and his teen years were the 1970s, period. Design-wise Ivan is a complete fish out of water. At least Barnaby had the hair and jewelry tying him to the 60s and 70s. But Ivan is meant to be a Weeaboo, so that whole idea and concept is far later, and his visual appearance reflects that.

However! Edward Said’s book Orientalism, which goes on to describe the term as:

the exaggeration of difference, the presumption of Western superiority, and the application of clichéd analytical models for perceiving the "Oriental world". This intellectual tradition is the background for Said's presentation of Orientalism as a European viewpoint reflecting a contrived Manichean duality.

(Source: The Wikipedia on Orientalism)

And that fits in with Ivan’s Weeaboo persona quite well. It’s a critical concept that is well known today (and which has a long standing documentation of existing before Said’s book was publish), but was only brought into the spotlight with this book in 1978.

Edit: Check out my reblog where I have more information on how Ivan’s outfit actually connects back to the time period.

The last character that we have a general idea of around about what age they are is Pao-lin. She was 13 or so in S1 and around 16 in S2.

The major inspiration for her outfit is obviously Kill Bill, lol. Especially with the martial arts and everything. But, of course, her S1 outfit also takes inspiration from jumpsuits that really gained popularity in the 1970s and tracksuits too. Her later outfits in The Rising and S2 are more masculine presenting and have her wearing tank tops and hoodies, both of which started becoming more commonplace as everyday wear in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. (This could also apply to Ivan, who is wearing a black tank top under his jacket.

Finally, we get into the characters whose ages are vague: Ryan, Nathan, and Keith. Now, Ryan is younger than Barnaby. That’s basically all we have to go off of really, but in The Beginning we can see that he looks in his late teens (he has a slimmer face similar to Thomas and Subaru).

His outfit there also has a very 70s disco vibe about it. Though the hair and other aspects of it are also a bit late 90s/early 2000s in feel too. His earlier designs were quite 60s and 70s inspired too:

The one in the top left almost feeling New Wave / Hippie-ish to some extent (a part of me would have loved if they went with that design, but I love his current design too). His outfit in The Rising (and S2, which I won’t even bother talking about here) are a bit more: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ design-wise.

The closest stuff I could find were like sports jerseys/sport shirts from the 70s and those shorts pictured, lmao. Those shorts are a bit shorter than Ryan’s, and they don’t have the more visually appealing hanging material, etc. But they do show how there were these sort of long shorts/pants in that era as well. Though, visually, Ryan still fits more in the 2000s era here. I started this whole research and post hoping that some of Ryan’s outfit could give more insight into his age...but nope, lol.

More info on Ryan’s outfit! :D

Anyway, our final two are Nathan and Keith. Nathan has made statements that make it seem that she is older than Barnaby and Keith, but likely not quite as old as Kotetsu and Antonio. I’ve always assumed that Nathan was in their 30s. Placing their teen years closer to the late 50s and 60s.

And while a lot of Nathan’s outfits can just be simplified to the idea of being flamboyant, I feel a lot of Nathan’s presence and the air about them is very similar to the Ballroom Scene of the 60s:

While the outfits are not one-for-one matches, there are similarities in posing, feathers, mesh, color choices, and just the outlines that are created. I will say that the shoulder pads in Nathan’s S1 outfit are far more 80s though, lol.

Edit: I realized I forgot to explain what the Ballroom Scene even is and how it relates very specifically to Nathan’s gender identity. From the Wikipedia page:

The Ballroom Scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens began to organize their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageants. [...] While the initial establishment of Ballroom mimicked these drag queen pageants, the inclusion of gay men and trans women would transform the Ballroom scene into what it is today: a multitude of categories that all LGBTQ+ people can participate in.

There is a fantastic documentary on this whole subculture and scene called Paris is Burning (link is to the YT video of the full documentary). I watched it back in college in my Queer Studies class. It’s very enlightening and insightful, but it does deal with some heavy topics (SA, suicide, etc.). I definitely suggest giving it a watch if you can though!

Edit: Some more excellent information on Nathan's and Pao-lin's styles. Pao-lin's connection to Bruce Lee and Nathan's fashion connection to the 1970s glam era + visual kei (his The Rising outfit).

FINALLY! We have Keith. His age is completely unknown. I’ve always felt that he was closer in age to Barnaby than Kotetsu and Antonio. His outfit really doesn’t tell us much. It’s a very “All-American, Hard Worker” guys kinda outfit. Definitely something you would find in the 70s (image pictured above is from the 70s) and 80s, though his pants are more 80s-like than 70s (more straight than flared).

(Though, looking at that above image, it seems like Barnaby’s big belt is also very 70s-ish!).

Anyway, I feel I can’t talk about Keith and his appearance and style without also mentioning this:

Keith looks like Tom Cruise, and once you see and know that, you cannot unsee it either, lmao.

Okay, okay, let’s wrap this up! I’m going to be including sources and references for the clothes images and that’s basically it. If you have anything else to add, please do, and thank you to anyone who has read all the way to the end! It’s greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoyed reading this! <3

Sources:

Antonio’s: blue17 and Vintage Dancer

Kotetsu’s: Vintage-Retro

Lara’s: qph.cf2.quoracdn . net

Pao-lin’s: Plaidstallions

Nathan’s: Esquire

Ryan’s: Vintage Vixen and Bored Panda, Dress That Man and The Empire Tribe