Since the 1980s, Tokyo has been the focal point of almost every new
fashion and cultural trend to develop in Japan. As the world’s largest
city, Tokyo’s dozens of unique districts and neighborhoods have been
home to some of the most unique new forms of creativity and expression
ever seen in the fashion industry.
Many people think of Tokyo fashion trends and assume they will find a
wide array of outlandish designs and styles typical of the images they
find in magazines and traveler’s books. While certain parts of Tokyo
have become famous for outlandish colors and combinations of various
styles, there are other styles and trends that are much more traditional
or built off of existing styles from the west.
Japanese Fashion Trends Explained
Gyaru
When most people think of outlandish Japanese fashion, it is the
Gyaru trends they are envisioning. Literally meaning “gal” in Japanese,
Gyaru refers to the legions of young teenage (and early 20s) girls who
take to the streets of Omotesando and Aoyama wearing incredibly
expressive fashions.
Harajuku’s crowded streets are often a source of these trends, and
often magazines like Egg are chosen reading for its practitioners. There
are various different methods in which Gyaru girls dress and make
themselves up, but the most commonly referenced is that of Ganguro in
which incredibly dark fake tans are applied through bronzer and tanning
equipment to darken the skin. White makeup and bleached hair contrast
the darkened skin and expressive, bright clothing is often worn in
conjunction.
Other Gyaru styles include B-Gyaru in which young women dress to look
like popular overseas R&B artists, Himegyaru in which young women
wear bright pink makeup, long eyelashes, and huge, bouffant hairstyles
with expressive, almost gothic style dresses and bows. Another common
term used to describe some Gyaru trends is Kogal – often referring to
young women who alter their skin and hair color while attempting to
constantly retain a “cute” look with trendy new clothing.
Yamanba is another popular derivative of Gyaru style that involves
wearing excessive makeup, stickers of cartoon characters and a large
amount of fake jewelry and brightly colored clothing. Ganguro makeup is
often applied and hair extensions are often added.
Onii-Kei
This popular Tokyo fashion trend refers to a way in which many young
Japanese males dress, combining “ame-kaji” or American Casual with
“ita-kaji” or Italian Casual with a Japanese sense of rock and glam.
Usually men who follow this fashion trend are interested in acquiring
the newest and most fashionable label products and are very much into
accessories such as belts, watches, sunglasses, and pouches from those
brands. A popular hair style for Onii-kei style men is the “Wolf Hair”
style which is essentially a loose, shaggy hair cut with gelled, teased
ends.
Onee-kei is the female origin of this style, which originally
appeared in the mid-1990s when women in Shibuya started growing out of
the Gyaru styles they were wearing and started wearing more adult
looking body dresses and clothing. Today, Onii-kei can involve
everything from a more military style appearance in the Ame-kaji
tradition to a more European, suited appearance in the Ita-kaji
tradition.
Lolita Style
The Lolita style started in the 1970s with the advent of brands like
Angelic Pretty in Tokyo and has grown exponentially in the 1990s and
2000s with the development of publications such as the Gothic-Lolita
Bible which showcases numerous new Lolita styles and trends that quickly
spread throughout Japan (and now North America and Europe with recent
translations).
The style itself involves a combination of 19th century Victorian and
Edwardian clothing and makeup that very much mimics the appearance of
popular porcelain dolls. Young women and teenagers will wear colorful
lace dresses and outfit themselves with a large number of accessories
such as bonnets, shoes, socks, and ribbons. Additional touches can
include dyed hair and even color contact lenses to appear more like the
Victorian dolls.
Variations to the inspiration for the style have included things like
special backpacks and the inclusion of slightly less innocent imagery,
and a more gothic bend to the style. Recent designers like h.Naoto have
taken the trend in the complete opposite direction, nearly completely
abandoning the cuteness of the Lolita in favor of the grit in the
Gothic, though most clothing bought and worn in Tokyo streets tends to
be a mixture of the two.
Decora Style
Made famous by fashion magazines like Fruits (and often called
Fruits-style as a result) Decora is short for “Decoration”, a Tokyo
street fashion that involves wearing as much colorful clothing and as
many colorful accessories as possible. The clothing itself will often be
overshadowed by the sheer weight and volume of the accessories
including everything from plastic toys and jewelry to feather boas,
wings, thick boots, and extra pairs of socks.
Japanese Streetwear
Streetwear is a general term that has come to define a number of
developing fashion trends in Tokyo. Generally, the style refers to those
who take their inspiration from Hip hop and R&B culture from
overseas and in Japan. Designer sneakers, military inspired jackets, and
screen printed t-shirts are often common aspects of this style.
However, there are multiple derivatives of it as well.
Punk has a major influence in most Tokyo streetwear fashions,
including the advent of the screen printed t-shirt and the slim legged
denim that has become both famous in Japan and around the world for its
original, handmade ingredients and sources.
Skateboarding culture is another major influence on streetwear
fashions and can best be seen in the massive array of different sneaker
brands and styles on the market in Tokyo and throughout Japan.
Tokyo’s Trend Setting Ways
For two decades, Tokyo’s streets have been a showcase for new
fashions and trends to emerge. These trends are often the seeds of what
Japan will be wearing in months or years to come and have intrigued
visitors, celebrities, and fashion personalities from around the world.
If one wants to know what the next likely street or youth fashion trends
might be in two or three years, often they need only look to Tokyo.
Type: TV Series
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