Perfume pimp “Spinning World” for their 8th Perfume Closet collection

Perfume Closet is back with its 8th drop. This venture is clearly making them some money, which is great considering how hideous some of the looks have been and the high price points. But Perfume Closet is basically a merch line masquerading as a clothing line. And I think basing the looks on some of Perfume’s stage and music video looks is really clever, because it allows fans to wear them to Perfume gigs and for their dance cover videos. Although some fans know how to sew and have made some incredible recreations of Perfume’s looks over the years, and have even gone as far as to adjust the designs based on their own style preferences, body types, gender, etc. The Perfume fandom be trash a lot of the time, but there is an amazingly wholesome and creative corner of it which is really great.

HENNYWAY.

One of the coolest parts about this Perfume Closet drop is that we get a pretty lengthy promo video of Perfume twirling in different looks to an instrumental version of “Spinning World”, the look from which is the hero look of the collection.

I really cannot get enough of “Spinning World”. I’ve played it constantly since the day it released. It is easily one of Perfume’s best songs. Nakata was in a Perfume Closet tote bag when he made this song.

Perfume always list which songs / albums correspond to which look. But Perfume’s looks are so distinct, that you can identify which look is which without it. I will cuss out Perfume every now and then; but their branding and image consistency is truly second to none.

The one thing I see in Perfume Closet that I wish Perfume’s style team did more, is play with the colours and silhouettes of each look tied to a song and / or album. Seeing the “Spinning World” looks in different variations was a nice touch, given that in the music video and on the Plasma album covers, a-chan, Kashiyuka and Nocchi all uncharacteristically have the exact same cut of the outfit. Even when Perfume are wearing what look like identical outfits, there is usually a subtle detail that’s different; the collars, the waistline or the neckline (i.e “Spending All My Time”). But we didn’t even get that for the “Spinning World” looks. And of all the times Perfume have performed “Spinning World”, only once did they perform it with the outfits in a different colour and it wasn’t even Plasma green.

It seems like Perfume’s team over time have made each member’s silhouette look more unified. Kashiyuka’s skirt length is now the length a-chan’s used to be. And whilst Nocchi still wears shorts, they are usually designed to look more like a skirt, or just hidden under a long-ass skirt. There’s nothing wrong with any of this at all. But it’s a shame that the silhouettes aren’t as distinct for each member as they used to be, and yet this is something that Perfume Closet plays with. Even to the point where they switch silhouettes between the members for the lookbook shoot and have Kashiyuka and a-chan in the trousers variants of looks.

Perfume’s looks have needed a refresh for a while now. Whether we’ll get it is another matter entirely. The ‘fashionable’ looks in the music video for “Flow” and Perfume giving us a televised performance in those looks gave me a slither of hope, but I played myself. Of course Perfume are gonna stay wearing Super Sentai looking-ass outfits until the end of time.