Code Geass and Tomato Girls

My Personal Aesthetic

When challenged to identify what aesthetic matches my own personal style, I had some trouble trying to nail down my fashion aesthetic. I don’t tend to base my outfits on any major design aesthetic, I just follow my own intuition for what I will feel confident in. I wear a lot of red, white, skirts, dresses, v-necks, blues, and chunky jewelry.

In my research I believe that this most closely aligns with the tomato girl aesthetic. The tomato girl aesthetic originated from TikTok in 2023, inspired by the romanticization of summer life in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean sea.

Credit: Elle: “TikTok’s Tomato Girl Aesthetic: What It Is & How To Achieve”

This is funny to me because I also really enjoy the Mediterranean interior design aesthetic. According to Aesthteicswiki.com the critical elements of the tomato girl aesthetic are vacation dresses, floral and vegetal patterns, roses and other flowers, Mediterranean headscarves, and the colors red, white, beige, cream, green and blue. However, my personal style is less flowy than these coastal styles and more bodycon.

Of course, we are all a product of our influences. I tend to focus on reds because my eyes are green, red is opposite green on the color wheel so I believe it brings out that feature. This color theory is advice that my mom gave me when I was a little girl that has really stuck with me. I traveled to Greece, Spain, and the South of France with my older sister the summer that I turned 19, and the style of the beautiful, sophisticated women I saw there certainly left an impression on me as well. I specifically noticed that the color pallets of their clothes, even in colorful outfits, were low contrast. I find that this brings out the contrast of their features rather than drawing all the attention to the clothes themselves. In terms of accessories I love how chunky jewelry evokes a sort of eclectic energy and adds texture to an otherwise basic outfit, this was influenced by an old friend who always wore chunky rings.

Futurism and Anime

For my final project, however, I want to venture outside of the rustic and into futurism to create a unique gift for my boyfriend. This will be outside of my comfort zone as futurism requires very smooth, sleek finishes and higher contrast.  My “client” loves anime and his favorite is a show called “Code Geass” that is set in an alternative future version of Japan, China, and Europe. In the show the protagonist Lelouch Lamperouge wears a very iconic helmet pictured below.

Credit: Code Geass Wiki

I’ve found some 3D printing tutorials for such a helmet and even some that include the lifting mechanism on the back of the helmet. I’ll be scaling down this print in order to make it a desk item, as my “client” isn’t a cosplayer and doesn’t really have a place to wear or store a big anime helmet. As a backup plan I might place the helmet on a levitating magnet display in order to make it dynamic and to add to the futurism of the piece.

Credit: Levitexa on Amazon.com

I believe that the futurism aesthetic is intended to highlight the abilities of tech so something like harnessing magnetic fields for levitation seems right in line. For the center of the helmet (the dome shaped piece) I would love some advice. I think it would be cool to incorporate an OLED, glass, or laser-cut acrylic in the center but I’m not sure how to achieve the dome shape. I did some online shopping for dome shaped OLEDs (this would be sick bc I could program it), but there aren’t many programmable ones. I only found one product and it was over $200, which is out of the price range for this project.

Sources Cited:

Nimbus Levitating Display – Floating Display, Levitating

https://codegeass.fandom.com/wiki/Zero

TikTok’s Tomato Girl Aesthetic Is Going To Define Your European Summer Holiday