Many would say that fashion is an expression of the culture and soul, hence every nation has a unique reflection of its own history as well as traditions in one way or another.
Japanese fashion is no exception to this sentiment. This article will go into a few details of how it has changed throughout the years while always remaining intact in its traditions.
The Past and the Present
One of the most traditional and common Japanese fashion outfits is the Kimono; it is still worn today in more modern designs, it was also embraced by the Western nations because of its sensuality as well as elegance.
Throughout the years Japanese fashion saw very few changes but throughout the years the Kimono was a dominant part of the classic collection and consistently a part of their lives in one form or another. Another kind of Kimono is the Furisode which is worn by young women in their twenties; in Japan the age to legally drink and smoke is twenty and in order to celebrate the parent frequently offer their daughters a Furisode.
Then the Houmongi takes the stage. This is another kind of Kimono that is worn by married women and similar to the Furisode the parents will give their daughter one when she is married.
The formal Kimono is known as Tomesode and is typically worn by married women to social functions such as marriages. Additional variations include the Mofuku which is the funeral Kimono for Japanese fashion and the Uchikake is the wedding Kimono.
Last but certainly not least the Obi is the oldest form of the Japanese fashion as they are no longer in production today and rarely will you find someone wearing this type even in Japan.
Modern Japanese fashion generally has several categories in addition to some that are not related to clothes. The Japanese fashion known as the Kogal is translated in Japan to people who enjoy displaying their higher income by wearing expensive jewelry or clothes.
The Gangoro Japanese fashion is designed for those people who began changing their hair color and then you have the Lolita as the Gothic Lolita Japanese fashion, which is being represented by the innocent and sweet dressed (Lolita) all the way to the other extreme type referred to as punk fashion, which is known as Gothic Lolitas.
The Eternal Fashion
The world of classic fashion is eternal throughout the world and Japanese fashion has their Kimonos to prove it. The use of colors also plays a large part in the world of Japanese fashion as well as their culture as it is directly correlated to the event. Fashion not only reflects and defines an era and a place in time but also the character and personality of the person who is wearing it.
By Korbin Newlyn
Kogals (kogyaru in engrish, lit. "small/child girl" from KoGirl) are a subculture of girls and young women in urban Japan, one of several types of so-called gals. They are characterized by conspicuously displaying their disposable incomes through unique tastes in fashion, music, and social activity. 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 ("ko-gyaru-go").
Kogals are known for wearing platform boots, a miniskirt, copious amounts of makeup, hair coloring (usually blond), artificial suntans, and designer accessories. If in school uniform, the look typically includes skirts pinned very high and loose socks (large baggy socks that go up to the knee). Kogals' busy social lives and desire for new material goods leads them to be among the first consumers of Japanese cell phone technology, and their taste in clothes tends toward names such as Burberry scarves and Louis Vuitton handbags.
Kogals spend much of their free time (and their fathers' income) shopping, and their culture centers around the Shibuya district of Tokyo, in particular the 109 building, although any major Japanese city is sure to have at least a small population. During the summer, kogals may sometimes be seen at the beach. They are generally not seen in high-end department stores.
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 kosai, which may at times border on quasi-legal prostitution.
The kogal phenomenon emerged in the mid-1990s and its effects can still be seen today in its numerous off-shoots of sub-categories, although conservative tastes in dress and hair color seem to be on the upswing. Interestingly enough, the Gothic Lolita aesthetic has been described as a reaction to the kogal look.
Ganguro, literally "black face", is a fashion trend among Japanese girls which peaked in popularity from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, an outgrowth of chapatsu hair dyeing.
In an interview with Tony Barrell, Creator of FRUiTS magazine, Shoichi Aoki, stated: "Ganguro was a phenomenon that was specific to Shibuya, about 1km away from Harajuku - which we have been talking about - and they were totally different so FRUiTS as a rule didn't really take them up. Only a few times we've covered ganguro in our magazine. Where they came from is actually a mystery, no one really knows but there is some speculation that they were girls who were infatuated or fascinated with Janet Jackson or black American musicians or perhaps Naomi Campbell, the super model, but it's still a mystery what their origins were."
There is often much debating about this in the american Ganguro community. Many claim the name itself, "Black face" support this. This also goes against Ganguro itself, because many people are seeing it as racist and comparing it to the "Black Face" of early 1900's culture in america.
The basic look consists of bleached hair, a deep tan, both black and white eyeliners, false eyelashes, platform shoes (usually sandals or boots), and brightly colored outfits. Also typical of the "Ganguro Gal" look are cell phones covered with purikura stickers, tie-dyed sarongs, mini-skirts, hibiscus flower hairpins, and lots of bracelets, rings and necklaces.
Extreme trend followers further bleach their hair up to a platinum blond shade, get even deeper tans, wear white lipstick, multicolored pastel eyeshadows and tiny metallic or glittery adhesives around the bottom rim of the eye sockets. Popular Ganguro magazines include: Egg, Popteen, and Ego System.
The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo are the center of ganguro fashion.
The kimono is the traditional Japanese form of dress, and was worn until the Meiji period (1868-1912) during which time a western dress style was adopted. Kimonos are still worn on special occasions such as "coming of age" day in January.
Contemporary Japanese fashion is highly eclectic. It ranges from the ultra-conservative suits and ties worm by businessmen (so-called "salarymen") and uniforms of "office ladies" (female business personnel) and school students through to various outrageous and extravagant street fashion styles. Many Japanese ladies are very brand conscious, favoring clothing and accessories from well-known and expensive design houses.
Fashion Trends in Contemporary Japan
Ganguro
Ganguro (literally "black face"), is a fashion trend among Japanese girls which peaked in popularity from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, an outgrowth of chapatsu hair dyeing.
The basic look consists of bleached hair, a deep tan, both black and white eyeliners, false eyelashes, platform shoes (usually sandals or boots), and brightly colored outfits. Also typical of the "Ganguro Gal" look are cell phones covered with purikura stickers, tie-dyed sarongs, mini-skirts, hibiscus flower hairpins, and lots of bracelets, rings and necklaces.
See Ganguro
Lolita Fashion
Lolita fashion tends to imitate Victorian-style girl's clothing and often aims to imitate the look of Victorian porcelain dolls. Skirts are knee length and may have a crinoline or petticoat to add volume. As in mainstream Japanese fashion, over-knee socks or stockings are extremely popular. Black fishnet stockings and white or black tights are also common. Shoes or boots with high heels - though not usually stiletto heels - such as Mary Janes, complete the look. Frilly, ruffled or lace-trimmed Victorian blouses are also popular especially with "Gothic Lolita" types, who may also favour long skirts and jackets rather than overtly "childish" designs. Apart from the occasional shortness of skirts, designs are usually modest, sometimes with long lace-capped sleeves. Lace headdress and bracelets are usually worn.
See Lolita Style
Gothic Lolita
Gothic Lolita or "GothLoli" (gosurori; sometimes alternatively "Loli-Goth") is a youth fashion among Japanese teenagers and young women. It emphasizes Victorian-style girl's clothing and often aims to imitate the look of Victorian porcelain dolls.
Gothloli's name and origin is a combination of lolita fashion—appearing deliberately cute to the point of looking childish—and certain styles found within gothic fashion. The style started as a youth subculture sometime around 1997/1998 and became a well-established genre available in various boutiques and some major department stores by around 2001. Some observers consider it a reaction to the "Kogal" aesthetic.
See Gothic Lolita
Kogal
Kogals (kogyaru in English, lit. "small/child girl" from KoGirl) are a subculture of girls and young women in urban Japan, one of several types of so-called gals. They are characterized by conspicuously displaying their disposable incomes through unique tastes in fashion, music, and social activity. In general, the kogal "look" roughly approximates a sun-tanned California Valley girl.
Kogals are known for wearing platform boots, a miniskirt, copious amounts of makeup, hair coloring (usually blond), artificial suntans, and designer accessories. If in school uniform, the look typically includes skirts pinned very high and loose socks (large baggy socks that go up to the knee).
See Kogal
Fruits Shoichi Aoki. A collection of Tokyo street fashion portraits from Japan's premier street fanzine of the same name. 'Fruits' was established in 1994, by photographer Shoichi Aoki, initially as a project to document the growing explosion in street fashion within the suburbs of Tokyo. Over the last five years, the magazine has grown to cult status and is now avidly followed by thousands of Japanese teenagers who also use the magazine as an opportunity to check out the latest styles and trends.
Fresh Fruits Shoichi Aoki. A new collection of Tokyo teenage street fashion portraits. The average age of kids featured is between 12 and 18 years old. Most of the clothes that they wear are a combination of high fashion – Vivienne Westwood is a keen favourite – and homemade ensembles which when combined together create a novel if not hysterical combination. This latest edition follows the original by including translations of the various Japanese captions that were originally attached to the photographs that list the name, age and clothing of each person photographed.
School Uniform
Perhaps reflecting the highly conformative nature of Japan, school uniforms are worn in almost every public and private elementary, junior high, and high school, and even in some women's colleges. Junior and senior high school uniform traditionally consists of a military style uniform (gakuran) for boys and a sailor dress (sailor fuku) for girls. The Japanese pronounce this as sera fuku.
Many schools have moved into more western pattern parochial school uniform styles in order to make a departure from the decidedly military appearance of the traditional uniform. These uniforms consist of a white dress shirt, necktie, blazer with school crest and dress trousers (often not of the same color as the blazer) for boys and a white blouse, necktie, blazer with school crest and tartan skirt for girls.
Somewhat surprisingly, school uniform is considered a popular style of fashion, with many teenagers wearing uniform even at weekends and school holidays. Some even continue to wear their school uniform long after graduation.
People experience culture shock when they visit other countries for the first time. I should know — I’m experiencing it right now.
I arrived in the United States from Japan at the beginning of June. This is my first time in the United States and therefore everything catches my eyes as new and surprising. I was shocked when I saw the huge frozen foods aisle at a Wal-Mart and puzzled by all the soda fountains in convenience stores. I’m enjoying it all with excitement and a little nervousness, of course.
The biggest surprise I’ve had so far though is how many students at the University of Nevada, Reno wear T-shirts with school logos on them. It strikes me as odd because I have never seen college students in Japan wear school T-shirts as daily apparel.
While many people may shrug this off at first, I have come to find this is a big cultural difference between America and Japan.
American fashion is more simple and perhaps more comfort-oriented when compared to Japanese fashion. For the most part, Americans put on jeans or sweatpants and T-shirts, whereas Japanese people are more attentive to their fashion. While Americans are not necessarily less fashionable, Japanese fashion is generally more innovative on a consistent daily basis. To put it another way, we wouldn’t just put on sweatpants if we’re late for class. We just were not raised to do that.
The point of Japanese fashion is to harmonize the total style. It means you have to think about the color and the shape of the clothes when you coordinate them. If you want to go even further, you need to care about your footwear, bags and hairstyles to create your own style. Japanese fashion is full of variety and creativity.
I believe these differences in fashion are a direct correlation between our two country’s differing senses of the individual. Generally speaking, the United States is an individual-oriented society, while Japan is a group-oriented society. Japanese people try to act in cohesive units and strive to express the same opinion as others. It is important for us to harmonize with others.
Therefore, Japanese students have difficulties studying with American students in the same class environment at first. It is difficult for us to speak our own minds and opinions in front of many students because we were not taught to do so when we were growing up.
In regards to fashion, we rarely show patriotism or affiliation with a school like Americans do. We have an inherent pride in our country and institutions we are a part of, and we do not feel the need to express it visibly on our T-shirts. Therefore, it is surprising to us that Americans put their right hands on their chests when they sing the national anthem, wear school or American pride T-shirts.
Instead, we distinguish ourselves from others through our fashion. Take Harajuku in Tokyo, for example, which is one of the most famous fashion capitals in the world. Various kinds of shops gather there, from secondhand clothes stores to famous brand shops, to create a melting pot of extreme fashion statements to stand out among the small and crowded place. You would be utterly surprised by the range of fashion there because it is very unique and quite different from anywhere else in the world.
Perhaps Japanese people are poor at expressing themselves through words, but we make up for it through our fashion.
In previous generations, when people thought about Japanese Fashion, they would immediately think about a kimono. A traditional Japanese dress, the kimono is still worn commonly in Japanese homes. In some cases, you will be able to spot kimonos on the streets of major Japanese cities. Although the kimono has played a historical role in Japanese fashion, its popularity here is rather recent. A comfortable thing to wear around the home, a kimono is also a great statement about how cultured you are.
When people discuss Japanese Fashion, they are usually talking about what is known as Japanese street fashion. It is impossible to pinpoint one particular look in Japanese street fashion, but all of the different japanese fashion styles are greatly influenced by Western fashion. However, the great thing about Japanese Fashion is that it adds a unique cultural twist that seem to make these traditional Western clothing a thousand times cooler.
To examine why japanese fashion is so popular and innovative, you have to understand the attitudes that Japanese people have towards clothing. Street fashion is so endearing because it allows the person wearing its clothes to personally customize their outfit. Mixing different styles and traditional styles is a big part of Japanese Fashion and you can see it in these different japanese fashion styles.
One of the most popular Japanese Fashion styles is known as the Lolita look that is inspired by Victorian children's clothing and sophisticated costumes. An edgy style that incorporates elements of punk fashion and goth fashion, one of the most enduring images of the Lolita look are French maid outfits. When people think about Japan they immediately think about how technologically advanced the country is and its influence on Japanese pop culture. Videogames, anime and manga comic books are cultural staples and this has bled into the popular japanese fashion known as cosplay, which involves dressing in a similar way as one of your favorite cultural characters.
While Japanese Fashion is often associated with cuteness, there are many styles in japanese fashion that can only be described as being quintessial cool. The kogul style of fashion combines sophisticated clothing and the latest fashions to express that you are aware of the latest cultural trends. A more dressier Japanese fashion style is known as Ganguro, which involved bleached hair, platform shoes, and brightly colored clothes. This flashy style of dressing is becoming more and more popular throughout the world. One of the most endearing Japanese Fashion styles is known as bōsōzoku, which involved wearing military styled overcoats and baggy matching pants. This style is very similar to the greaser style of 1950s fashion.
Japanese fashion is fashion and clothing from Japan. Japanese fashion is a wide category which includes the fashion styles of all of the people of Japan, but outside of Japan there are certain styles which many people think of when they see the term "Japanese Fashion".
I'm doing a big project on fashion around the world and while I was searching for polish street style pics I thought that polish fashion looks like japanese fashion nowadays! Should I write that they're similar?? I want your opinions!
I guess my room back in Japan has a Japanese fashion sense. I dont know is you just need clothes though The clothes I wear in those pictures are not pure Japanese fashion any more since I've been here for two years.
Besides youth fashion, there are many other styles of dress that are unique to Japan, including the famous Japanese school uniforms, office lady (OL) fashion, salary man style, traditional outfits like the kimono and yukata, and others.
Lolita fashion tends to imitate Victorian-style girl's clothing and often aims to imitate the look of Victorian porcelain dolls. Skirts are knee length and may have a crinoline or petticoat to add volume. As in mainstream Japanese fashion, over-knee socks or stockings are extremely popular.
An oversized drapey jersey dress - it has amazing seaming and was cut beautifully - about 12 years ago. A key signature of Japanese fashion is longline jersey dressing - which happens to be very on trend now.
I believe these differences in fashion are a direct correlation between our two country?s differing senses of the individual. Generally speaking, the United States is an individual-oriented society, while Japan is a group-oriented society. apanese people try to act in cohesive units and strive to express the same opinion as others.
Modern Japanese fashion generally has several categories in addition to some that are not related to clothes. The Japanese fashion known as the Kogal is translated in Japan to people who enjoy displaying their higher income by wearing expensive jewelry or clothes.
In japan most fashion is dictated by a few magazines for the masses usually real 'fashionable' people (fashion students or designers) look very different from your average person.
This preference for American is different from the general fashion tastes by Japanese for European brands. Earl Jean, the US brand gets over 50% of its sales in Japan, and far more the percentage than Diesel or other hot European brands get in the States.
It feels like a conspiracy. Every year, designers come up with new trends that make last winter's clothing look prehistorical. Yet you know too well this year's trends wouldn't last long. Next winter, you'd be shopping again for trendy clothes.
Put a stop to this. At least minimize the damage. Go back to the basics and build a timeless winter wardrobe. What you need are classics. Clothes that would look great year after year. Start building a brand new wardrobe by going back to the basics. Get clothing that need never go out of style.
In winter, you need jackets and coats as well as thermals, sweaters, long sleeve tops and pants and festive dresses or skirts. You can go for the trendy designs which go out of style very quickly. Trends like the bubble skirt rarely last more than a season. After that, they go back in storage for years. Instead, go for classics. Wool pants and wool skirts in solid neutrals will always be in style. So would a good down jacket. Thermal underwear are clothes you'd wear to death all winter and probably would be able to wear them for many winters to come until you out grow them, or they are all worn out. These are the things you should look for during the year end sales. Clothes that would form the backbone of your timeless winter wardrobe and which you can always wear in future years.
A brand new wardrobe need not be expensive. Not if you time your purchases just right. Instead of buying your winter wear in autumn, wait it out. Go for the year end sales where they clear stocks of winter clothing at discount prices. Then you can afford to get the best quality at the lowest prices. For example, if you long for The North Face jackets, instead of buying them just before winter, buy them after Christmas. That's when you get discount north face jackets which never go out of style. Quality counts but you can get it for less when your timing is right.
Anne Hathaway is a celebrity style icon in the making already, with her raven hair and creamy skin. Pair with form fitting pants, boots, and a simple t-shirt. The fashion accessories can be pared down as shiny metallic buttons will festoon across the jackets. A fashion brand herself, she will continue to reinvent her own look of elegant flamboyance style. Body skimming, elegant dresses with an element of exaggeration are her forte, like the black Dolce dress she wore recently in Dubai. Look for Victoria to also influence the menswear look with her seductive take on wearing high waisted, fluid moving pants that are hot off designer runway. The new soft silhouette of pants will be worn in various lengths this year from chic cropped styles to the floor skimming variety, and topped with smart jackets, feminine blouses, and knits.
Kate's take on combining patterns, color, and a an easy aesthetic will rule many closets this year - think dresses by Marc by Marc Jacobs, Prada, and M Missoni. Natasha Leratti offers an affordable knit look at her latest fashion designer collection website, in a citrus kissed yellow mini dress, accented by the ever popular black and white.
As a new celebrity who dresses the celebrities, Rachel Zoe's own style has taken storm due to her reality show. Strong prints in rich colors, chunky knits, and bold jewelry are the staple of her look. Not only is her look fun and fresh, it inspires our inner designer to take risks in mixing styles.
Rihanna will be a style setter for this year with her stunning good looks and cutting edge fashion style. Her sweet smile accentuates her glam rocker appeal. Little black dresses are topped off with edgy fitted jackets that offer zippers, rips, and a sharper structure. While leather seems like an obvious choice, look for unusual takes on the jacket that include fitted knit sweaters over skinny black pants and boots. Leather pants and thigh high boots are creating a tough but glam look. Chunky belts, long chains, and miles of bangles add spunk and glamour to an otherwise simple style. Styles will be long or cropped, and will be set off with sexy high heels or boots. Whoever your style icon may be, develop your own sense of style. Natasha Leratti is a Miami based High End Fashion Designer with a cutting edge vibe and distinct sense of style.
