Shake It Out- Florence + the Machine

After talking about Florence + The Machine’s vinyl cover for Shake It Out shot by Karl Lagerfeld, it is only natural that I talk about the Shake It Out video. Let me start off by saying, I LOVE her album Ceremonials. I can’t even handle it.

For this second single, Florence takes us to a strange, fantasy, slightly creepy masquerade party.

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this video but I do know that Florence, you need to “shake up” (pun intended) your wardrobe for this video! I know you’re a classy lady but that doesn’t mean you have to wear the same dress in different styles all the time! In a music video, especially; we want to be visually stimulated and we can look and be interested in a long sleeved dress for so long.

Your friend is Karl Lagerfeld. Enough said.

 

 

Best Thing I Never Had- Beyonce

It’s fitting that part 4 of my Beyonce series of videos from her album 4 is for the song that turned me fully into a Beyonce fan.  After I heard Best Thing I Never Had, I was converted from just a casual Beyonce enjoyer and have never looked back.  It was refreshing to have such a simplistic take for her second video from her lead video Run The World.

We open with very gratuitous shots of a newlywed Beyonce in some white lingerie.  Although she is pretty much naked, the Princess Leia buns help her seem a little more innocent.

We flashback to who exactly she’s singing to- her high school sweetheart who let her get away.  We see why she’s the best thing he’s never had and why he’s crazy for leaving her because she looks exactly the same here, playing age 18, as she was when she was actually 18 back in Destiny’s Child.

 I love that she’s wearing a dress that was probably from the prom section at Macy’s.  Keeps it looking very authentic.

 

And we finally see the wedding dress!  Why not wear the biggest, most extravagant, dress at your pretend wedding? It’s a little much for my taste.  If it was on anyone else, it would scream tacky but she looks straight from a fairytale. I wonder if Bey’s real wedding dress had all this? [Edit: It did not! Check out her actual wedding dress shown during her performance of “I Was Here” from her Live At Roseland DVD]

Shouldn’t this be Jay-Z and not some male model?  Not even a Jay-Z lookalike?  If I were replaced by a hot male model…I wouldn’t know how I’d feel about that…

And it’s not a celebrity wedding without some Vera Wang. A simple, classic dress to relax in after lugging around that huge train all day.

Countdown- Beyonce

Part 3 of the Beyonce series and it’s time for my favorite song off 4! I’ve had this on repeat since the album came out and still listen to it.  I was expecting something totally different when I heard she was doing a video for “Countdown,” but the more I watch this, the more it grows on me.  If I recall, she described this song in an interview as a mishmash of different genres and this video is kinda the same thing- a mishmash of decades and styles.

We get introduced to Audrey Hepburn-Beyonce from the 50’s. Not quite the first reference I have in mind when listening to the song, but if it’s what she imagines when she sings it….

And quickly, at the time this video was released, the cat comes further out of the bag when in this mod cutout jumpsuit when Bey turns and you see baby Jayonce (I think that’s what people are calling him/her) who will be cooler, more talented and richer than any of us will ever be right out the womb.

 And here we begin the American Apparel takeover.  I remember reading on a blog that Beyonce came into an American Apparel store in New York with her stylist and bought those sheer button-down shirts you will see later on in every color.  Lo and behold, here they are in this video with basically the rest of the American Apparel catalogue.

A leotard in every color.  Anything that comes in that many colors probably is from American Apparel.

Then we get into some other setting that has nothing to do with where we were before that reminds me of Fame.

More American Apparel and the beginning of the rainbow of button-downs.

Then, we return to this Fame-like place where apparently Beyonce “stole” the whole routine from a Belgian choreographer.  C’mon, you don’t think someone with international recognition like Beyonce would blatantly plagiarize someone else’s work and hope no one notices? No. They full well knew what they were doing.  I think they could have mentioned when the video was announced that it was inspired by the original video but whatever the lady who choreographed it got her credit anyways from the hoopla this incident made.

But I digress. Back to the clothes- what’s with the random silver dress that appears near the end of the video? They really took this mishmash theme all the way.

Confession: I was a bit disappointed by this video when it came out but I love that she had a completely original style and concept. Plus, that Bey shops at American Apparel too.  She did say that this song was a hit with the hipsters.  Always thinking about her fans.