I thought this might interest you fashion people.
Part I:
Part II:
A very apt video about Fashion in Japan. More people need to be aware of the unique fashion culture in Japan instead of bashing it like some previously did.
Here you have it, you don’t need to just be scary, you can be scary sexy on Halloween. Gizmodo’s guide to the Top 10 Sexiest Halloween costumes. French maids aka gothic lolita styles are one of them. :P
Frankly, i like the gold digger costume very much even though it’s crosses the politically correct line for women :P
Autumn is here. It’s not cold enough to take out the big guns yet and it’s not warm enough to dress in just tshirts and shorts. Hence, layering is most important. It’s actually a skill when it comes to layering clothes and making them “work” for you. These dual layer tops is a great place to start (pieces from Onatoko):
Here’s an excellent article about layering your clothes well from E-Zine.
I went shopping the other day and bought myself peddlers. I was also very close to buying this mini short shirt as well. BUT, due to time constraints, I had to go :( Leaving the nice mini skort behind. It’s okay, I have these pictures to content myself with for now. Not that I would wear all of them…some of them are too cutesy for my taste. Maybe my baby sister (if i had one) can wear it :P
You can buy all these skirts from Asiajam.com
Trendy young men in Shibuya usually means dyed blond/brown hair with tanned skin. They were called the Gyaru-o, or “gal men” because they look a whole lot like the girls with the same look…however today, the trend has changed to a new style called onii-kei, literally translate to “older brother” look. Why gyaru-o men tend to dress down like the surfer attire or the casual sporting attire (i.e. the jock style in US) the onii-kei looks is a slick, sexy, flamboyant and a more clean shaven look. Their dress code is characterized by white tailored jackets, low-necked tank tops, imported jeans, and pointed leather shoes.
In a world where women’s fashion dominates, it’s hard to find pictures of these men in the onii-kei fashion sense. But, being the nice blogger who takes into consideration of her readers’ needs, I looked high and low and came up with some :)
This is what The Corner have for Onii-kei fashion:
THis is from Men’s wear at Glad News
(weird names):
This is from Goa:
Source: Trends in Japan
I found some pretty wacky Japanese t-shirts online that I thought I’d share with you. Thank god for the translations (as some of them were in Kanji), I am able to understand the funny behind it! Some are written in horrible broken English because it’s funny, i guess. Some are in kanji.
Anyway, here are some of them now (note that some of these t-shirts were taken off jlist.com)
It says: “Support the Emperor and Expel the Foreign Barbarians!” I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this really..:P
It says: “In Case of Emergency, Commit Seppuku”
Ugh…awful. The murder of English!
For a lot more of these funky tshirts, visit the site below.
Source:J-list
I’m going to try and focus on the fashion magazines and books that are common in Japan for the next few posts. This information may not be complete and accurate, because my Japanese is poor and a lot of the information I’m finiding is quite old. If there’s anything that I’ve said incorrectly or something that you want to add, please feel free to add to it in the comments.
While I was still in Japan, my housemate purchased the highly appropriately named Gothic & Lolita Bible. This thing was a tome. It was huge. And fairly hugely priced at a bit under 2000 yen. The Bible has many articles, interviews with Visual-kei artists that goth-lolis so often idolise, catalogues, photos, manga and even outfit designs for budding cosplayers and gothloli heads. In theory, it’s published quarterly but don’t bet on that. It seems to be pretty erratic.
The Bible is a huge success in Japan (and around the world as Gothic Lolita and EGL became popular outside of Japan) and has spawned some spin-off magazines. The Gothic & Lolita Extra Volume seems to be just a collection of things that couldn’t fit into previous volumes. It looks like there is only one of these, but more may appear in the future. The Gothic & Lolita Hair Make Bible focusses obviously on the hair and make-up techniques and trends followed by gothlolis and finally the Gothic Lolita & Punk Brand Book is basically just a catalogue of fashions available. It has photos of all the typical fashions you can find for sale along Takeshita-dori and Harajuku.
I’ve seen it available for sale in quite a few places, but you probably won’t find it at your local 7-Eleven store. Akihabara has stockists given that a few of the maids in the maid cafes also follow Goth Loli fashions. Our sponsors at JList will sell you subscriptions, no matter where in the world you live.
Kogals (コギャル kogyaru, lit. “small/child girl”) are a subculture of girls and young women in urban Japan, one of several types of so-called gals. In general, the kogal “look” roughly approximates a sun-tanned California Valley girl, and indeed, the similarities between the two extend to the linguistic, for both subcultures have derived entire sets of slang terms (コギャル語 “ko-gyaru-go”). Kogals are not to be confused with the ganguro subculture, although they are similar.
Kogals fashion are perhaps the closest thing to the word “normal” in Japanese fashion sense – the spoilt brat fashion sense that you see all over American and all americanized countries… it screams one word with this sense of fashion: MATERIALISM.
Although, many of you would like to differ that it’s “normal” to me because I’m used to the western fashion sense. True. In Japan, the term normal is a very subjective thing and I agree. Note that i quoted the word normal because in Japan, normal is weird and it’s weird being normal…….hmm.
Anyway, how would you like to be a Kogal? A Kogal looks like the typical Californian surfer babe in miniskirts and bikini tops. So, for the Californian babe look to qualify as a Kogal, here are some tips below:
Follow these 10 tips and you’re on your way to be a Kogal.
Another interesting fact, since the Kogal standards of living is so high (branded clothes and accessories), often times the supplement their living style by being in questionable activities to earn the extra income.
Critics of the Kogal subculture decry its materialism as reflecting a larger psychological or spiritual emptiness in modern Japanese life. Some kogals support their lifestyle with allowances from wealthy parents, living a “freeter” or “parasite single” existence that grates against traditional principles of duty and industry. A small minority appear in pornography to finance their habits. More may engage in the practice of “compensated dating”, or enjo kōsai, which may at times border on quasi-legal prostitution. Internet-based usage of this term has led some Western observers to the mistake of believing that “kogal” means “prostitute”.
Well, don’t let it deter you. You don’t have to do all these things – dressing up as a Kogal is just for fun and can be part of your dress up planner on different weeks..:) Although, those tan can be horribly out of place….
image taken from here.
There’s so many terms used in Japanese fashion. I’m going to have to construct a glossary here one day.
Gyaru (ギャル) is the Japanese transliteration of the English slang word “gal”. Basically, think out-there female, conscious about fashion, her looks, boys and sex. In Japan this seems to mean a minimum of tanning slightly and dyeing hair blonder, a blinged-up keitai (mobile phone) plus plenty of make-up. Ganguro and yamamba are sub-sects of gyaru fashion. men have
Now that you’ve got an image of that in your mind – twist it a bit more and think of gyaru men. Ehhhhhh?!
Well, they do exist. I’ve seen them in Shibuya, although obviously not in as large numbers as the girls. They go by the name of gyaruo or gyaru-oh (the ‘o’ sound is one kanji sound for ‘man’) They probably attract more stares than the women, because it’s such an unusual look on a man. People already know that women will go to outrageous lengths for their looks :)
The gyaruo have now been given their own little shopping haven in – where else? – Shibuya. Shibuya 109 is the place to shop for female gyaru fashion. Now, one of the joint buildings Shibuya 109-(2), has set aside 2 levels dedicated to men’s gyaru fashion. There are 23 outlets over the 2 levels. There have been reported monthly sales totals of 100 million yen since it was trialled in March. Wow!
Looks like gyaru is here to stay for a little bit longer.
PingMag has once again come up with a great article on Japanese fashion. This time, they interview some of the photographers responsible for those ’street fashion’ shots from Harajuku and Shibuya. I’ve written about Shoichi Aoki earlier – the photographer behind FRUiTS magazine, amongst others, but he is far from being the only man witha camera in Harajuku.
One thing that this article really highlighted for me is the breadth of magazines in Japan. In this article alone, there were magazines mentioned that were aimed at 20 year old men, young couples and women who ride bicycles.
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