*www.myspace.com/kawaiixwonderland

Tokyo street fashion is an unparalleled carnival of color and insanity. Costume and style are synonymous and it is so dazzling, hypnotic, and intoxicating, it should be a sin. It could be a drug considering how trippy it is. But the insanity that is present in Tokyo street fashion is the good kind of insanity that reveals itself in creativity and extreme indulgence. Tokyo fashion is of two extremes. On one side it is modern, clean, structural, and even architectural, the other side, however, is an explosion of Harajuku, Ganguro, and rock and roll and it is this extreme that makes its way onto the streets.

Tokyo street fashion has many definitions and labels usually according to the name of the shopping district like the Harajuku district, the Shibuya district and many others including Omotesando, Daikanyama, and Ginza. Harajuku is the capital of the shopping districts and well known to non-natives thanks to Gwen Stefani's publicized obsession and her Harajuku themed albums and clothing line. Of course her reenactments are weak impressions compared to the real Harajuku and its saturated content.


Harajuku can easily be recognized by its outrageousness but usually it includes knee high colorful socks, short skirts, dyed hair, and a lot of colorful and random or not so random accessories. But Harajuku isn't a formula for dressing; it is a lifestyle, not an outfit that can be taken off at the end of the day. Harajuku transcends. Other fashion trends include Ganguro which is Malibu Valley Girl to the extreme: bleached hair, very fake looking orange tans, white lips, and white outlined eyes. Another is Gothic Lolita or just Gothloli, in which girls dress in dramatized victorian garb to resemble porcelain dolls. Again skirts are made short and accompanied with knee high stockings, a popular and common look thanks to the classic Japanese school girl outfit.


Japanese street fashion is so wide and different it is impossible to classify no matter how many districts or labels there are. The Tokyo youth have made a colorful revolution that is so fantastic it could be imaginary. I can say nothing else except thank you Tokyo street fashion for being so inexplicably cool and different.
by Kendra Cunningham