Scans by angel-ayu @ aYu][kult

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Hamasaki Ayumi Dresses Up in her Favourite Brand’s Pre SS Collection

“This is definitely the person to grace the finale of year 2005!”
With that, we invited Miss AYU to be the last cover girl for this year.
This issue, AYU changed her hairstyle to dark & straight. And with the new lady-like look, she dressed up in the latest items from 3 of her favourite brands, in her cool, elegant, gorgeous way!

D&G

With a dark hair colour, I feel like wearing all black.
「Looking at various Spring/Summer collections, what really caught my interest were the cool items. So with that image firmly in mind, I picked this black pantsuit by D&G. I’ve always loved tailored pants, and the overall cutting of this suit is really beautiful. So saying, with a dark hair colour, I feel like wearing all black. I’ve been buying nothing but black clothes recently. (laugh) When I had blonde hair, I often wear brightly coloured clothes, even in my personal life.」

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emanuel ungaro

The cutting of this dress is very adult-like, so even with the floral print, it doesn’t come across as too girly
「I’ve always loved ungaro, and wear it lots in my personal life. That’s why any item from them is always a hit with me. This one piece dress from the SS collection is the cutest. The cutting of this dress is very lady-like, so even with the floral print, it doesn’t come across as too childish or girly. Recently, I’ve started to like one piece dresses. They’re just so easy to wear, that’s the image I have of them.」

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PAOLA FRANI

This PAOLA FRANI dress’ material and translucence are perfect
「This dress has a really pretty silhouette and cutting, the low-cut is also beautiful. This is the first time I’m wearing PAOLA for sweet, but I really love the brand, so I always wear it. I feel that this dress’ material and translucence are perfect. This shoot was really fun, they even caught the right facial expressions on film. This is my first time working with this photographer, Kitajima-san, but we managed to set our views on things like movement and such. It was interesting. (laugh)」

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Ayumi Hamasaki: Special Interview

Unafraid of change, Hamasaki Ayumi-san’s charm probably comes from the fact that she faces up to every challenge with attitude. As if to prove our point, she changed her hair colour from her trademark blonde to black. This new chic style is certainly fresh!

「I got used to it really quick. In contrast, I was always shocked seeing photos of myself when I first got blonde hair. (laugh) In my personal life, I do pay attention to my clothes, but I seldom put on make-up. Imagine me wearing colourful clothes, with super blonde hair, but no make-up. (laugh) With black hair, having no make-up seems fitting. It’s just easier to strike a balance. That’s why having black hair is easy.」

Together with her hair colour, she seems to be wearing black clothes recently, even in her personal life. Also, she seems to have foregone jeans, but opts for a lady-like style with skirts and one piece dresses. This, along with her new single 『Bold&Delicious』, composed by R&B artist GEO of SWEETBOX, accurately erflects her change in perspectives. A powerful gospel chorus, a R&B sound; this song is full of the artist Hamasaki Ayumi’s new situation.

「For me, it wasn’t as if I was planning to “make something new and surprise everyone”. Of course, I will wish to change, but that was not the reason why I chose to sing this song. It was really just the right circumstances that led to it. I’ve always liked SWEETBOX, (scan is cut off) and I remember mentioning it to the staff. It seems like they contacted SWEETBOX without my knowledge, and suddenly, I received about 12 demo songs from these staff whom I thought had forgotten the whole incident. (laugh) GEO is an artistic but very gentle person. He would respond to me really fast, saying things like “I hope for the melody to go like this”. So it was no accident that Hamasaki Ayumi ended up singing SWEETBOX’s songs, it was more of a collaboration, with both parties helping each other towards the same goal.」

Even now, there is a strong wish to speak of my feelings to fellow girls

『Bold&Delicious』, coupled with the beautiful mid-tempo 『Pride』. These 2 songs seem to contain a message, telling us to move forward without giving up, so that we can make something into reality.

「By working with all my might, I often overdo things and forget to have fun. But what 『Bold~』 and 『Pride』 illustrate is a feeling of fun amidst the hard work. In the past, I was pessimistic, and was often reluctant to do things. Well, there were times when I tried to be optimistic, even if everything was going negatively. However, recently, it seems as if the things I fear are gone. That’s why it’s ok now, even though I’m still a pessimist. Of course, it won’t do to be a pessimist through and through. As long as I know what kind of person I want to be, then no matter how people look at me, no matter what anyone says about me, I will be able to shrug it off.」

(scan is cut off) …with these negative songs, we have new album 『(miss)understood』.

「Even now, there is a strong wish to speak of my feelings to fellow girls. Girls nowadays are strong, and possess great power, right? I feel that girls will be able to create new things, no matter what they are. We have the wish to come together and get it on, as well as to look on from a distance and think “Yes, we girls are all working hard”.」

And so, this girl’s words, which are engraved in this album, tell us of gentle “strength”, reminiscent of the encouragement given from girl to girl in a private girls-talk.

Even a powerful woman becomes pessimistic sometimes, right?

「In that sense, this is a very strong album. But that strength comes from understanding pain and sorrow. It comes not from running from, but from wanting to bear the pain. Somehow, when a man gains power, and is able to have all he wants, he will become an extremely positive person. But with women, we still become pessimistic sometimes, right? That’s why I wish for this album to become your conviction. Let it tell of your story, or the story of other girls, who are working just as hard. I think that there are many girls out there who look at me and promise to work hard themselves. It works the same way with me, looking at all the girls working hard, I get the energy to work hard too. And that gave birth to the strength of 『(miss)understood』.」

NAILS

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Looking at D&G’s suit, Hamasaki-san wished for simple nails to match. With 3 slightly different shades of purple as base, the highlights are the black Swarovski crystals decorating the edges.

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To match with the one piece dress’ off-white, a mix of transculent white and a frosted colour were chosen as base to mimic the softness of tulle and lace. Coloured stones were used to match the design of the dress.

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Hamasaki-san’s suggestion was for a gorgeous image. On a gold base, large stones of various colours were placed randomly and boldly. The underlying theme for this set is 「refined gorgeous jewellry」.