Introduction to Harajuku fashion: Part 1

It will not come as a surprise to my regular readers, that I have an ever-increasing love for K-pop music and Korean culture, after recently attending the concert of the k-pop royalty that is Big Bang. However, recently I have found a love for all things kawaii, I used to be obsessed with everything kawaii, but then unfortunately my emo faze took over. To the newbie, when you think of Harajuku you might imagine a lot of girls piling on strange makeup to look doll-like with huge ‘anime’ style hair and you may think everyone in harajuku is plain crazy. I don’t know a lot about Harajuku yet as I have never been there, but I intend to visit soon. For now let me give you a little insight into the amazing harajuku fashion culture.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a well known harajuku icon and is known for her global hit single ‘Pon Pon Pon’, I now see her as a new fashion inspiration, I will also be seeing her perform in London for the first time. Her style is so unique, she is the definition of kawaii fashion.

 

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a blogger, model and singer. Kyary is particularly inspiring to me as she started out as a mere blogger like myself. Kyary was scouted while wondering around harajuku and since then, she has been modelling for Harajuku fashion magazines Kera! and Zipper. Kyary can be spotted wearing the most extravagant and wonderfully outrageous outfits or a more casual and ‘tame’ kawaii outfits.  

Ayumi Seto is another kawaii fashion icon that I admire at the moment. There are a lot of photos of Ayumi floating around on tumblr as some of her looks fall into the ‘grunge’ style however, her style is far beyond grunge. She is a fashion icon for so many girls as her style is so versatile and doable, with sheer know-how of finding the perfect combination of vintage items, she can make the perfect kawaii outfit. I am a huge fan of vintage clothes so Ayumi being my fashion inspiration is not surprising, some people are hesitant to wear vintage clothes, but I strongly encourage it. If the wise Alexa Chung can mix Chanel with vintage then so can you.

Some brands that I favour are Galaxxxy and Ambush. Another brand associated with kawaii harajuku fashion is 6% Doki Doki which is a huge Harajuku brand lead by the amazing designer Sebastian Masuda. Galaxxxy is a brand that has been worn by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu many times. Their clothes are bright, and eccentric with wild prints, all of which can easily dressed up or down. Ambush make unique jewelry pieces, I came about finding them by seeing many photos of the amazing Korean rapper G-Dragon, wearing their jewelry. G-Dragon has even collaborated with the brand to make a line of jewelry. G-Dragon is a style icon himself, but that shall be saved for a whole other article. Other celebrities inspired by Harajuku fashion include, Gwen Stefani who in the early noughties introduced the western world to the culture, with her Harajuku dancers and even setting up her own Harajuku clothing line. Rapper Nicky Minaj has evolved her style on many occasions but now, has a new found taste for Harajuku inspired outfits. It seems here in the West we are becoming more aware of fashion in Tokyo as in my eyes, they do it best, so much so, that even one of my favorite magazines Dazed and Confused, created a whole issue dedicated to Fashion in Japan.