Tokyo Fashion: Harajuku Yukata!

Tokyo is famous for its unique street fashions, especially those seen in Harajuku. When I lived in Japan, I found it interesting that trends seen in Tokyo could often be seen about a year later in the States.

That still seems to be holding true, as the mori girl and dolly kei fashions popular in Japan for a couple of years are now echoed in the "natural vintage" look seen in American malls.

Capturing the constantly-shifting world of Tokyo street fashion is a great website called "Tokyo Fashion". They make daily photo posts of what they see out and about in Tokyo, focusing mainly on Harajuku.

Kimono, as I've mentioned before, are being reclaimed by some of the younger generation in Japan, who happily incorporate them with Western pieces and wear them in new and creative ways.

Occasionally through Tokyo Fashion's street snaps, you can catch a glimpse of this rebirth of the kimono, as a fun piece of daily wear rather than a stiff formal garment. :)

Here are two recent examples:

Harajuku Girl's Gothic Yukata

Harajuku Girl in a Tokyo Tower Print Yukata

(For more fun kimono looks and ideas check out CLAMP manga artist Mokona's book Okimono Kimono!)

Photos copyright Tokyo Fashion and used with permission.

Video Clips - Wedding Ceremony and Kimono

Today while surfing Youtube I ran across this great video showing a traditional Japanese wedding at the famous Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.



The traditional Japanese Shinto wedding involves the bride and groom taking sips of sake three times from the same set of cups, and I found it interesting to see the inclusion of Western wedding rings. The shrine maidens (miko) use bells to bring the gods' attention (and good luck) to the ceremony.

You can also check out Meiji Shrine's English wedding hall page. As this is one of the biggest and most popular shrines, I can't imagine how much it would actually cost to get married there. o_O

On a kimono note, the super-formal "shiromuku" 白無垢, which literally means "white purity", is the all-white wedding kimono worn by the bride. Here's a different bride getting dressed in one:



At the four-minute mark the dressing is done, and both the bride and groom pose for pictures.

Sweet Lolita Yukata

If you're familiar with the Japanese street fashion Lolita (bell-shape dresses and skirts, modest and high-quality clothing), you may know the big brands put out yukata every summer. Gothic Lolita-friendly brands like h. Naoto might have ones dripping in bats and chains, while brands known for Sweet (cute/pink/girly) Lolita like Angelic Pretty debut yukata covered in things like strawberries and lace patterns.

I never saw any I really liked until I chanced upon this red and pink one for sale secondhand, made by popular brand Metamorphose temps de fille (or "Meta" for short). It's almost too cute for my personal style, but I love it anyway!

As you can see, it keeps the traditional shape and construction of yukata while working in non-traditional motifs. For a more muted Sweet feel, I tossed on an obi with hearts, a rose and pearl corsage, and added a little pink jewel crown for a hair accessory. For shoes I'm thinking traditional geta (sandals) with pink straps or cute pink low heels.

I may wear this at the next convention I do a panel at... we'll see!

So, do you have any non-traditional yukata? Send me pictures and I'll be happy to post them. :)

And if you'd like a street-fashion style yukata, try these on Amazon:

Japanese Fashion: Mori Girl, Dolly Kei, Lolita

Kimono, like any other type of clothing, doesn't exist in a vacuum. The people who wear and the companies that make and style kimono also of course live in the larger world of modern fashion and style trends, ripples of which can at times be seen in the kimono world.

So, every now and then I'll do a post about Japanese fashion, from street to high-end, to add a bit more depth to the cultural "background" kimono come from.

Tonight, focusing on street fashions, I invite you to visit my friend Martha's blog, Moss Garden. She has great, objective summaries of mori girl, dolly kei, and Lolita styles, photo examples included.

Japan Travel: When/Where Not to Go

(Readers who have been to Japan, please feel free to add your own times and places!)

For most people, going to Japan represents a serious outlay of cash, and if you're going you don't want to get blindsided by unexpected factors. Here's a short and dirty list of times and places you don't want to travel in Japan, based on my time over there:

The week of Obon (August) and Golden Week (late April-May): Holiday weeks when most people travel. You'll find higher prices and bigger crowds traveling.

New Year's: In addition to more people traveling home to family, some businesses and banks close for a few days, leaving you out of luck if you're trying to get cash.

Kyoto in July-August: Kyoto is in a valley that nicely traps in heat and humidity, making it pretty nasty in the summer if you're walking everywhere.

Harajuku (Tokyo) on the weekends: Yeah, you'll miss the cosplayers on the bridge in front of Meiji Shrine and some of the interesting street fashion if you don't go then, but you'll also miss the insane amount of people crowding through Takeshita Street and the neighborhood.

Meiji Shrine (Tokyo): This isn't a "don't go" as it's a beautiful shrine, but rather wear or bring comfortable shoes because the walk back through the woods to get to the shrine is entirely on a wide gravel path, unless they've changed that since I left.

Tokyo Tower: Biggest tourist trap in the city, with cheesy souvenirs and a panoramic view up top often blocked by smog.

Kimono Hime: Vol. 10 Out Now

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you've probably seen me mention "kimono hime" style. "Kimono hime", or "Kimono princess", style has no firm structure (like street fashion Lolita) but the overall idea is to pair kimono with unique and non-traditional styling or themes, accessories, colors, and so on.

This style is named for the magazine that helped popularize it, "Kimono Hime." While not published very often, Kimono Hime just came out with its 10th volume, and features actress and "Nana" co-star Aoi Miyazaki on the cover. If you're interested, more volumes are for sale at Amazon Japan secondhand and new.

Be warned, though, that Amazon Japan charges over $30 to ship items to North America. o_O A better bet might be watching Ebay: volumes 3, 7 and 8 are up now for starting bids of $16 with only $5 shipping.

"Gouk" - Japanese Punk and Goth Fashion

h. Naoto is a Japanese designer/brand most famous for their punk and Goth clothing, some of which I have and absolutely love. They also have a sub-brand, "gouk", dealing with Japanese-influenced modern style.

Great for international fans (and worse for wallets!), h. Naoto also has an English-language online shop with international shipping where you can pick up their stuff, including gouk items and sub-brands within it.

Henshin Studios - Geisha For a Day

I have a sort of perverse record of never visiting or doing Famous Things You Should Do when I'm in a place. I grew up in Houston but have yet to make it to the annual Rodeo, and lived in New York/New Jersey for over two years but somehow never made it to the Statue of Liberty.

The Japan edition features me never having made it to a henshin studio in almost five years of living there, which given my fondness for kimono and geisha is pretty ironic... Allow me to explain and keep you from making this mistake yourself should you happen to be there in the future. ;)

Henshin studios are "dress up for a day" experiences, where you choose a package that usually includes getting fully dressed and made up as a maiko, geisha, or yujo (courtesan prostitute) and professional photos of you indoors and sometimes outdoors as well. Some studios also have deals where you can leave the studio and walk or go around a nearby area of the city in your costume, like the tourists shown in the photo above.

For men, there are at times samurai or "formal" dress options available as well.

The website Immortal Geisha has a nice review thread of people's experiences at various studios, offering advice, price information and some sample photos. Whenever I make it back to Japan for a visit, I'll have to finally get around to doing this myself!

Image copyright Yves Picq