I don't want to focus too much on the "Harajuku" styled looks too much here on xssat, but I do like this outfit. The upside down smiley face dress, colourful plastic cutouts necklace, circle blush spots and the array of bangles, all just work together! Brilliant!

Tomoko Sawada is a renowned contemporary photographer in Tokyo art world. Her upcoming show at >Colette in November will be focusing on the cute looks in Japan, that means Lolita and Harajuku style!

Tomoko Sawada exhibition, November 3rd-29th. The conceptual artist worked on describing Japanese teenagers' fashion and Tokyo's famous "Harajuku Style" in taking pictures of herself dressed "Kawaii" and typically Japanese.

During Paris-Photo 2008, join Aperture and colette, next November 14th for a book signing of photographers Takashi Homma for his "Tokyo", Eikoh Hosoe for "Barakei", Michal Chelbin for "Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes", Erwin Olaf for his eponymous "Erwin Olaf" and Michael Wolf for "The Transparent City".

Den härligt nergångna skylten utanför Shibuya Kaikan.

Inne på Shibuya Kaikan.

Pelle och jag med våra fynd.

P.S. Jag hade skrivit text i början av detta inlägg, men jag lyckades ta bort det av misstag. Jag orkar inte skriva om det igen, men bilderna finns kvar att njuta av iallafall! D.S.

Do you celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween)? What do you do?

When I was a kid in America, I used to enjoy doing what most American kids do at ハロウィーン (Halloween)...dressing up in a costume and walking around the neighborhood knocking on people's doors to get candy.

Of course I've long outgrown any interest in ハロウィーン (Halloween) for myself...but I have three kids and once they were old enough, I wanted to take them Trick 'R Treating. But knocking on your neighbors' doors and asking to be given candy (or anything else, for that matter) is not something people in Japan would feel comfortable doing.

In fact, when my kids were little there was no ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan at all to speak of. So, a couple times, my wife made ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes for our kids by hand and we invited some of their friends over for a "Halloween Party" at our house. We painted rabbit or mouse faces on the kids and gave them candy and played some games with them.

That was back when they were in 保育園 (Nursery School). But we still buy some candy and small bags now and let our kids give some ハロウィーン (Halloween) presents to their friends.
The only difference now is that many stores in Japan sells ハロウィーン (Halloween) merchandise and candy and costumes! So we can buy ハロウィーン (Halloween) candy and ハロウィーン (Halloween) bags with pictures of "Jack 'O Lanterns" and black cats.

ハロウィーン (Halloween) is still pretty new to Japan though, so many people see the ハロウィーン (Halloween) stuff being sold in the stores and think it looks fun and interesting...but relatively few people actually purchase any of it because they wouldn't have any use for a ハロウィーン (Halloween) costume (even if they have kids) or imported American candy (which is usually too sweet for Japanese tastes).

But some people do buy the ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes because there's beginning to be more and more to do to celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan (even if the average Japanese person isn't 100% sure exactly what date in October the holiday falls on...or how the holiday is celebrated in other countries).

Here are a couple pictures of ハロウィーン (Halloween) pumpkins, candy, and other goods that a store was recently selling. I didn't have my camera with me...so I took these two photos with the camera on my 携帯電話 (cell-phone):

So, if you're in the Tokyo area at ハロウィーン (Halloween) time and you want to celebrate it "Japanese style, here are some of the places you can go:

• Tokyo Disneyland...from mid-September until October 31, Disneyland has special ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and events (for example, if kids see any staff dressed as a witch, then can say "Trick 'R Treat" and get a treat. There's also face painting available).

  You can enter the park during ハロウィーン (Halloween) time wearing a costume...provided that it's a Disney themed costume.

  The Tokyo Disneyland Halloween 2008 website page is here.

• ハローハロイィーンパンプキンパレード (Hello Halloween Pumpkin Parade) in 表参道 (Omotesandou, Tokyo)...on the last Sunday of October at 11:00AM-6:00PM.

  Their website is here (日本語 (Japanese only)).

• ハロウィーン in 多摩センター (Halloween In Tama Center) in Western Tokyo on the last weekend in October.

  Events include Trick 'R Treating, Jack 'O Lanterns, etc.

  Their website's in 日本語 (Japanese only) here.

• Roppongi Hills Happy Halloween Parade

...on the last Saturday in October.

Their website is here.

• Kawasaki Halloween...on the last weekend in October in 川崎 (Kawasaki (south of Tokyo)).

  They have a Halloween parade and kids 12 and under can go to stores in the shopping center that have the Halloween poster in their window and say "Trick 'R Treat" to get candy. The kids don't necessarily need to be in costume.

  When my daughters were under 12, we went to this event. A couple pictures that I took of people in the Halloween parade can be seen on this post.

  The Kawasaki Halloween 2008 website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.

• 元町ハロウィーン (Motomachi Halloween)...in 横浜 (Yokohama) on October 31.

  Their website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.

• Tokyo American Club Halloween Monster Mash...on the last Saturday in October.

  The Tokyo American Club is a very exclusive club with membership by invitation only (plus their membership fees are extremely steep). But if you're a member, they have a Halloween event (but you'd probably already know about it). I don't have a membership...so I've never been.

  Their website is here.

• 山手線ハロウィーン・トレイン (Yamanote Line Halloween Train)...late October on the Yamanote Train Line in Tokyo.

  This is an unauthorized (and unapproved) event started by foreigners in Tokyo. Every year, some (adult) foreigners meet at a designated time and train station wearing Halloween costumes. I haven't ever participated in this (I haven't worn a Halloween costume since I was a child)...but I've heard that the police and train attendants try to stop it every year because the participants usually drink alcohol and act rowdy on the normally quiet Tokyo trains.

wait.

before delving into that, i have to say - i made the mistake of doing this when i was 12. in grade 7, i was notorious for wearing panty-hose with short shorts. big no no. and i've seen plenty of girls doing this in Montreal in recent weeks. all i gotta say is nooo nooo.

But I have to say - my absolute dislike of zippers has turned against me. I find myself drawn to what I don't like. I'm now looking at them through a different lens. So you'll see some Marc Jacobs and Diesel zippers in my collection of coveted fall '08 items. Some of them are reminiscent of Dynasty. Some are reminiscent of the later 80s. Either way, it's mostly 80s.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend seeing KAMIKAZE GIRLS (Shimotsuma Monogatari 下妻物語) - it's an endearing send-up of the whole Tokyo Lolita world.

Confined to Tokyo for years and only followed by Japanophiles, it finally hit the American mainstream when Gwen Stefani co-opted it and featured a dancing troupe, "The Harajuku Girls", in videos and on tour (it was also the name of her album)- who were forbidden from speaking English for the press.

Soon, generic Harajuku fashion started popping up in boutiques, with such lines as Stefani's own Harajuku Lovers. This stuff is mainly jeans and t-shirts with the logo on them, and not Lolita bloomers and such.

Then, this past weekend, after around a decade (more?) had passed since the Lolita style started in Tokyo, The New York Times online featured a peice on New Yorkers awkwardly rocking the fashion. Wow, I thought Brooklyn was supposed to set trends.

Well, I thought this was surprising...since it was so late catching on. I figured this was the death knell for the fashion. Hot Topic must be ordering this stuff for the winter.

Well, I was too optimistic. It has actually hit a further bottom than I had imagined. Witness the autumn flyer from Party City:

Notice the ages for whom this is intended. Other variants include Gothic Geisha and Lolita Kimono .

Hannah Montana? Gabriella and Sharpay? Puh-lease! That is sooo for 10-year-olds!

As my friend Silky commented, "The New York Times is one thing, but when it hit hits Party City - that's a wrap!"

Entre las callecitas encuentras tiendas de todo de tipo.
Fuimos en busca de una diminuta de muñecos que recordábamos del viaje anterior donde apenas dos personas podían estar a la vez en la misma, en la calle ya te daban la bienvenida en cestos multicolor.

Visita obligada a la nueva tienda de Bathing Ape abierta en Harajuku, ya no estaba en el sótano de Ice Cream. La nueva tienda tenía 3 plantas y una sección de kids junto a la de chicos (la de chicas seguía al otro lado de Omotesando) con entradas diferentes.

Siempre GO APE!

My memories of Harajuku come to me in jump cuts. Almost, cocaine cuts. As I walked through the both old and new streets I see boys and girls dressed at the leading edge of fashion and design. No sooner than my head has been turned by an incredible texture against a funky colour, I see a flash of smooth skin offset by jewelry I could never have imagined. It was a sea of bodies, moving, talking, just being different. I heard Japanese, French, English, something germanic. I smelled clean, fragrant, gorgeous, heady scents. I fell in love, was repulsed, wanted, hated, and saw things I should never have seen and always wanted to see.

After my out of place, cocaine cut dream last night, I began to see the same thing in NYC. I was out at lunch time Friday, and saw (amongst the throngs of tourists) a group of young Asian girls and guys, dressed at the edge of fashion ... houndstooth and knee boots, splashes of colour and texture that I would never put together but carried off with confidence and style. It's true. You can find anything in New York ... even slices of Tokyo. But next to this group of avant guard kids, was a plumber from Brooklyn yelling at a client on their cellphone, a young PR assistant crying at her (just) ex-boyfriend, a Swedish couple wearing matching outfits, and a homeless man pushing a shopping cart of aluminium cans. Those things didn't exist in Harajuku. Or if they did, they were so culturally separated from what I saw, that they did not register.

In my new role in design, I seem to be paying more attention to the world around me. I like the change it is precipitating in me. The world seems filled with so much more to see now. Conor, Doug, Derek, Millie, and Brian are changing they way I look at the world. Whether they know it or not ...

Já faz um ano e meio que voltei para Sampa. Desde então, nunca deixo de entrar em dois sites maravilhosos:

TRIPLE 5 SOUL

Quero esse tênis dourado da Triple 5 Soul djá!

ROYAL ELASTICS

Como vocês notaram, ultimamente a Royal Elastics (ADORO!) andou se inspirando em Harajuku (bairro über fashion de Tokyo).

Fotos: Divulgação

She is not, in fact, clad in a French maid's outfit, though it may appear so in this photo. Juliana is actually an enthusiast for the Japanese Lolita fashions, and is wearing a genuine Lolita dress. Here is another photograph of Juliana, looking suspiciously like Clara Bow and wearing her charm on a chain round her neck:

To purchase one of these vampire-teeth charms for yourself or a pal, click here. To learn more about Japanese Lolita fashions, click here. To look at a picture of Clara Bow, click here.

These photographs belong to Lulu; if you use them without her permission, she will track you down and guilt you into apologizing.

M118 Colier unicat realizat manual din dantela si margele negre 10 Ron

Harajuku is internationally known because of it's fashion and it is as advertised: a bit garshish, overwhelming, but extremely fun! There are bargans to be had in Harajuku beginning from the four-story Daiso 100 Yen Store to the small, indie shops selling new and used clothing from less than 600 YEN! Harajuku is also great if you're looking for designer fashions engrained in certain subcultures such as Vivenne Westwood's punk style or Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's lolita stylings. I also saw a mild hip hop/"urban" presence as well as some surfer/SoCal fashions.

Some of the sales people can be pushy but if you just pretend like you have no idea what they are saying, they'll lay off. If they don't, just leave. One of the stores we went to tried to push a friend of mine into buying a thirty dollar shirt. Granted it was cute, but the sales tactics were hilarious. The sales girl spoke to her about how alike they were and how they had the same budget, how cute she would look if only she'd buy the shirt. In the end, she narrowly escaped, but she did and we laugh it off only to continue our search for cheap, cute clothes. Trust me, it didn't take very long to find a myraid of shops that fit that category.

Harajuku's crowd also has to be the most gorgeous crowd of people I've seen since being in Tokyo. If you focus your attention away from the gyaru and the lolis and whoever else is out playing dress up, the crowd is suprisingly well dressed (and I don't mean they're wearing the latest trends for the heck of following a trend) and tame for such a busy, notoriously outrageous place. Then again, Harajuku is just a smaller district of the Shibuya-ward.

I found myself much more in awe of the culture fostered in Harajuku but not surprised by the subculture and subsequent interesting fashions, however, a lot of the kids weren't out because it was Monday and I wasn't really going to Harajuku for the purpose of staring at high schoolers playing dress up. There is so much more to Harajuku than the infamy and I'm glad I got to see both faces of the district. I also visited Meiji-jingu on my way out of Harajuku which I recommend as it is a great way to get back to a more level state of mind after the mayhem that is Harajuku. I was lucky enough to be there while a wedding ceremony was being conducted, but more on that later.

If you want to go to the F.I.L. store, you can find the address and map at the end of the slide show, or if you are really in a hurry you can check the map right here.

make: maizena (first) modelo: Tatiane Betin (Daphne Models)

camisa Renata Almeida, vestido balonê Marcus Soon, sapatilha Zinco, laço xadrez e polainas acervo

body de poá Miss Bella, casaquinho MayaMarx

blusinha Carlota Joakina, regata com laço Miss Bella.

Voir la vidéo en HD sur Vimeo

Dans un message précédent, j'ai posté une vidéo ou on pouvais voir entre autre le groupe Doll à Harajuku.

Suite à la demande de Tetsuojp, j'upload l'intégralité de ce que j'ai pu filmer du groupe Doll à Harajuku. J'ai essayé de trouver leur Myspace ou leur blog mais sans succès, si quelqu'un à l'adresse, je suis preneur.

*edit* : La vidéo est maintenant en HD.

The focal point of Harajuku's teenage culture is Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) and its side streets, which are lined by many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens.  Large crowds on the weekends are typical as picture below (right).

On Sunday, many young people gather around Harajuku Station and engage in cosplay ("costume play"), dressed up in crazy costumes to resemble anime characters, punk musicians, etc.

Nearby is the Meiji Jingu Shrine (明治神宮) was built in commemoration of Emperor Meiji in 1920, is Tokyo's grandest shrine. Like all of Japan's major shrines, it's large in scale but simple in structure, entered via a winding path and through a giant torii gate.

Also nearby is Yoyogi Park (代々木公園), one of the largest parks in Tokyo, featuring wide lawns, ponds and forested areas - a great place for jogging, picnicking and other outdoor activities.  The park is a popular hangout, also especially on Sundays, when it is used as a gathering place for people to play music, practice martial arts, etc.   One of the more popular groups is the rockability group of dancing Elvises as shown in the video below.

Speaking of rock, a rock event with many local street rock bands were playing in the area last fall as part of the Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi Arena Tour to be held in the National Yoyogi Stadium, which was built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Finally, Omotesandō (表参道) is known as an upscale shopping area featuring several international brand outlets, ranging from Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Gucci to the more affordable Gap, The Body Shop, Zara and others.  Sometimes referred to as "Tokyo's Champs-Élysées", its latest development is Omotesandō Hills, an ultra modern indoor shopping mall opened in 2006.

If you are really depressed to be missing this event, you can console yourself at the Car Danchi showing in Osaka on the 21st.  No tickets, no limit, anybody welcome!  More on that later.

As previously mentioned on this blog, I have little interest in actually doing fashion photography, although I do like to look at all the pretty pictures. Although my purpose this time around was to see how the Holgas handle the intense pressures and high expectations of pro-studio shooting, what clinched it for me was the presence of Miki, a PVC-clad pole dancer and quintessential Asian babe.

Unfortunately, it was all too much for the Holgas, which until now have led cloistered lives. With the opposite sex at such close proximity, one froze with fear, refusing to wind on until I had calmed it down in the dark of my toilet. The other got so excited that it forgot everything it had learned at camera school, leaving me with contrastless images that needed serious boosting with Preview.