I'm a fashion major and I don't even know where to begin to tell you the endless streams in clothing design. Designs made in Japan are easliy worn in several countries, however, it's influence upon America is gradually making it's way to the surfice as the younger generation is being introduced to Japanese culture through video games, manga, and music. I myself design many Gothic Lolita styles which is rapidly being worn more and more in London, in which America's teen's will eventually adopt as well (along with other styles.) Fashion is an ongoing ordeal and comes from the some of the strangest and scariest places. I had one teacher encourage me take on textiles for denim by looking at brick walls, another telling me to design fashion from making an ' Acrid ' book using pictures of death, blood, and mutilation. It's wide, varied, and comes from all sources. Anyone discouraging it will be fighting a useless war because it comes in like the tide. Expect even crazier things in the future.
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I'm reading mags like WIRED and wondering how long it will be before mass production of musical fashion within the world retail market. What's hip-hop waiting for? Fuzzy muffs with sound. :30: Jazz be-bop surround sound. Snow-boarding with reverb.:108: I know they're on the market elsewhere. If not, why not? It's already happening in and between the download accessibility noise. Thermal clothing with satellite radio at the tune of a button literally. Fashion cells. I'm ready for it. In the meantime pretty things will do.:107: My particular tastes range from :141:Hendrix:64: to Sophia Loren!:142::76: Music and Fashion. Still a tomboy after all.:hat:
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Those extreme looks that you see in FRUITS, and in pictures of teenagers in Harajuku, are extremes themselves, and they have less to do with individuality than to do with following a pattern laid out for them in whatever style guide they choose to subscribe to.
Japanese fashion (ed: made in Japan) wont ever have any big effect on the outside world. People are just not willing to pay $400 (Unless they are creepy Gwen Steffani), for a pair of jeans from Japan that nobody knows of outside of Japan.
Japan's youth movement reacts to a culture that pressures you go grow up, to get into a good school, even at an early age--- A lot of this is just a reaction to all of that.
These days, I have no idea what people are talking about when they talk about fashion in Japan, I assume they are talking about people who wear clothing made from stitched together teddybears, which is considered quite odd by the Japanese themselves.
If you want to know, the only rule you need to know for a good variety of Japanese fashion, is ruthlessly wear what everyone else is wearing, do not stray from the lines. If that's 'cool', then, I have no idea what cool means.
edit: "The average age of those kids featured in the magazine is between 12 and 18 years old."
---from the description of Fresh Fruits, the secondary volume of the original Fruits compilation.
I live in Japan, and I've traveled to Korea. Coincidentally, there I saw an Onitsuka Tiger store.
I'm speaking from reading Japanese magazines, and the brands sold in them, the brands sold in Japan, and the brands sold in Korea, though I wasn't really talking about countires an hour and a half away by plane.
Please elaborate your point and I'll answer accordingly.
I live in Japan, and I've traveled to Korea. Coincidentally, there I saw an Onitsuka Tiger store.
I'm speaking from reading Japanese magazines, and the brands sold in them, the brands sold in Japan, and the brands sold in Korea, though I wasn't really talking about countires an hour and a half away by plane.
Please elaborate your point and I'll answer accordingly.
Even before BAPE, EVISU, or burberry blue/black lables, the fashion magazines you said were quite popular for some Asians.
I know Asian countries are not the whole world, but they are still parts of the world, aren't they?
Apparantly, the harajuku kids followed like ten-fifteen people who came up witn new crazy things to do.
The reason why(some of) them went so crazy has a lot to do with the fact that they all know they'll end up in suits and aprons, so they go crazy while they're still young.
Anyway, the fashion toned itself down, and there aren't that many decora-chans and "fruits" anymore(though I heard it's making a come-back).
Sadly, last I heard, hip-hop wear was in...
I love the old Harajuku street fashion and it inspires me in how I dress. But you can't seriously do that and not expect to get ugly looks.
The ugly looks is just a sign that you're doing it right
Even before BAPE, EVISU, or burberry blue/black lables, the fashion magazines you said were quite popular for some Asians.
I know Asian countries are not the whole world, but they are still parts of the world, aren't they?
Please don't think that I'm disparaging a whole region by saying that I don't think that Japan is going to have a big influence on world fashion.
What most people in this thread are talking about, the type of fashion detailed in the fruits anthologies, Harajuku kids etc, isn't even what we are talking about.
BAPE and Hysterics etc, etc, will have a limited appeal anywhere where there are enough people with enough money to fuel it's sales. As for some (US) retailers I've spoken to, it's just too expensive to carry, and since many people don't know about it to begin with, you risk having something stick on your shelf that cost you a lot of money just to get in the door. But these brands are exceptional, and exceptional brands will have more market penetration---
What people buy casually visiting other countries is also different than what people buy on a regular basis, who is purchasing what. The ease at which you can extend your effort to purchase an item gets easier the closer you get to where it's made (except being IN Tokyo--- things seem to cost more THERE, than they do outside of it...) So it's quite different to compare Korea/Taiwan etc etc to The United States which make up the location of a good percentage of people posting in this thread.
These are just my opinions, as someone who pays attention to this stuff generally, and I actually like and buy Japanese brands (when I can afford them).