Japanese Street Fashion and Styles

Japanese fashion and styles has come a very long way from kimonos and school uniforms. As time passed by, Japanese youth have created their own unique blend of fashion by adopting a mixture of traditional and latest trends along with local and foreign styles. The eye-popping and flashy Japanese outfits,fashion and style is best seen in the streets of Tokya and Osaka.

Japanese street fashion has a variety of trends and styles. Japanese youth were more expressive and elaborate in their hair styles, make-up and dressing patterns. These are some of the most popular Japanese street fashion and styles are Gothic Lolita, Ganguro, Kogal, and Cosplay.

The Gothic Lolita style focuses on emerging from the Victorian-style fashion girl’s clothing wearing dark colours, black make-up,heavy brooches, and ribbons. The Gothic Lolita style was influenced and popularized by the visual rock bands ("Visual Kei").

The Ganguro art of dressing is similar to North American youth trying to replicate tanned and blonde celebrities and models. The look consists of light or dark tanned bodies, bleached or dyed hair, summer dresses and platforms. Their exaggerated looks and outfits, is their attempt at westernizing themselves dramatically.

The Kogal style is where young Japanese women display their wealth through various tastes in music and fashion. They keep themselves up-to-date with Japan's ever-growing mobile technology. They adorn themselves with big boots, skirts pinned very high, dramatic make-up and the latest in American fashion brands.

Costume Play (shortened to Cosplay) is a trend where dressing of characters from manga, anime, fantasy movies and videogames is encouraged. The word Cosplay from the joining of two English words "costume" and "play". Japanese youth styled in Cosplay attires are often seen at various public gatherings such as amusement parks, nightclubs dedicated to like-minded dressers and many high profile Cosplay parties.

Comments

[Craig Fryer]

All but one of the above pictures have been stolen from www.japaneselifestyle.com.au. Please remove them immediately.

[Craig Boiler]

Thanks for posting