Saturday, November 7, 2009

"You never really understood me, You never really tried, That cloud, that cloud - Looks like Ireland"







This post is all about Ai Yazawa's comics & drawings. She is one of my favourite comic artists - I know many of you will instantly hate her because she's Japanese, but what does it matter?
Two of her most well known series are NANA and Paradise Kiss. Nana is basically about two very different girls both named Nana, about their lifes & relationships. Nana has also been transformed into animated series and two live action movies - I'm using pics of the comics and the movies.





The other Nana has this cute & classic style, and the other Nana is very punk & bohemian. Ai Yazawa draws real Vivienne Westwood clothes for the punky Nana - is there any other comic artist who would do that?





Other characters have great styles & clothes, too. Shinichi (the blue/silver haired boy) is my favourite!








Yazawa's second well known comic, Paradise Kiss, is also a great source of inspiration (and it's such a grazy & happy series):




In the movies, the punky Nana is played by always so lovely Mika Nakashima. The theme song of the first movie is sang by her:


And well, here's the ending of Paradise Kiss animated series:


The last thing I must say about Ai Yazawa is that she was also the character designer for Courtney Love's comic Princess Ai (meaning that Yazawa DIDN'T draw that comic):



I hope you got some inpirationg from all this lunaticy. You don't have to like comics, or manga, to see how beautifully those outfits are putted together. :)

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for featuring Ai Yazawa! She is totally fierce! And I would hope that fashionistas wouldn't snub her just because she is not European like her inspiration, Vivienne Westwood, or because she specializes in "comic" art. Really, she is the artistic genius behind mending together every bit of art form there is! She brings fashion, art, and good storytelling all in one package. There are people out there who can design, some who can draw, and some who can write, but not many can do all of these.

    Nana is mad addictive story too!

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  2. Thanks for commenting, i agree. People should give her a chance. :)

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