Japanese street fashion is something we all know and love.
The very thing of showing and expressing oneself visually in the unique way the Japanese do, the best without a doubt is the very this we’re all here to see.
We love it. We hear so much about Japanese style street fashion these days and how it’s crossed over into mainstream fashion and culture on so many levels.
You now see it in high fashion mags, on the TV, replicated in video games, it’s great. But to see it for real. In London is rare but it does happen as we all know. Where possible my camera in hand I try to capture the special moments I see before me so I may share them with you all.
One of the very best styles you know and love is the classic kawaii Harajuku style as it’s now come to be referred to as. One of the best shops you can buy clothes in this style from is called DokiDoki. It had a sale on once with a reduction of just 6%. Somehow seeing this sign of 6% DokiDoki outside the shop stuck in young teenagers minds as this is how the shop is now referred to and has changed its name and brand to suit its followers. I say followers because the girls from the shop dress the part so much so they’ve become style icons themselves travelling abroad showcasing the great sense of style and so that brings me to the Japanese Art Festival in London on the 21st & 22nd of August where I met the girls and managed to do a shoot with them. The phrase a colourful bunch springs to mind! www.dokidoki6.com
Here are some of those moments from the shoot.
Also at the festival was that other great staple of Japanese style street fashion, Gothic Lolita. This is a very specialised visual form of expressing ones style that bares its roots from Europe, was unique to Japan once but has now come full circle and is growing fast outside of Japan especially in and around Europe. It has various style and subsets. Sweet, Otona or Boy, Punk, Elegant so much more.
Here are some of the gang that performed a show at the festival or as it’s known in Japan the Matsuri. I also managed to do a small shoot with them.
If those of you are new to gothic Lolita and want to get to know more about it, check out the Live Journal forum called LoligothUK run by the incredibly talented Manga artist and graphic illustrator Sonia Leong
