Garden of alternative couture

So, what was the deal with that FASHION show at a COSPLAY event, you may ask. Now, my dear honeybee, please, let me explain.

Photo: Michal Svojanovsky

In the first installment of my 'explanatory post, because I want everyone to know about the amazing fashion we have here in CZ and SK so that everyone can be in awe, bow before the amazing seamstresses here', I'm gonna talk about the first inspiration, why this fashion show was even born, who helped and what went absolutely wrong (let's be real and let's learn from our mistakes, I bring your some pro-tips).

It all began last year in June witch a chance meeting between me, Temi and Anet. Temi, as you know, is the second (and better) half of Bara no Usagi. She is really into alta moda and haute couture, just like I am, so we had been dreaming for quite a long time of a fashion show that could be shown in the otaku community and wouldn't be too out of a place but still awesome and luxurious. Cue Anet, one of the organizers of Cosples, who is also a very good friend of ours, is a part of RG (just like Temi), and is an awesome person! Everybody needs an Anet in their life. really.

Our visions all began with these (All hail our gods - Sweet Banana AKA Dolce&Gabbana♥):

So, back on track, after subtly (not so subtly tho, we need to be somehow an elephant in a porcelain cup because without it, no great thing would have been accomplished!) introducing our idea of a grande fashion show, Anet told us that hey, why don't we actually do a fashion show for Cosples?

This gif actually represents people during organizing a fashion show, mainly those around me that don't want to have anything to do with my workaholic slave-driver self

Now, please, let me stop here for a moment. The problem with organizing fashion shows is that one person can't do it all on their own, and the communication between the event's organizing team and the head of the fashion show must, at all times, be clear and perfect. In other words, if these two sides don't communicate clearly and on time, the stress levels are rising and the show itself is slowly packing its bags and reserving a ticket to launch itself into the sun.

The problem with planning a fashion show for an event, for the first time? The communication is going to suck big time. Everybody knows what they want but nobody will tell you exactly what it is that they want.

Mistakes were made, words were exchanged later that was ideal, at one moment I thought that the whole show was over even before it started, people were panicking, nobody knew what to do, but somehow, SOMEHOW, everything was resolved and we were finally officially part of Cosples!

That sentence really made me happy - you know, people knew there was gonna be a fashion show, it was official! ♥

To give advice to everyone planning such an elaborate show as a part of an already gradieuse event - talk to each other and make sure that both sides know exactly what the side wants, and communicate on time, ask and talk! Right now, I am in the middle of planning a lolita fashion show for AnimeFest 2018, and I think that the head of programme affairs is already sick of my questions. But if it means that everything will go smoothly in the upcoming months, I am willing to play the role of a stomach bug evolving into an ulcer!

Trust me, there is nothing worse that answering 'I actually don't know...' to any of your models' or staff's questions.

This reminds me of the FS preparations - everything burns, nobody actually knows what's going on, but hey, it's okay, that's normal!

The big question was, should I actually make the entire dress collection for the show or should I play the role of an activist and invite some other brands? The second options is true at all times and nobody is surprised, righ.

I knew that if I wanted the lolita community to be widely known and talked about in happy and awed terms, I had to invite the best of the best. And this is the reason why the fashion show was not 'haute couture' or 'lolita' only, but was 'couture & lolita'.

Because I am a crazy person and usual fashion shows bore me to tears, I knew that show with a story is a must! Slowly and through trial and error I ended up with a basic outline - there is going to be a story teller, a girl that would be the audiences' persona, and three fractions, in each there would be a different style.

Then one day while sleepily dragging myself to faculty to teach new generations of scientists, I got the perfect idea - the theme would be 'Metamorphosis'! The girl would be partly a Dantian character, going through different parts of something, and she would be required to choose something, only for the audience to choose her ultimate fate!

Even later, when looking at some dress' ideas, I knew that the difference in the styles means that I would have something light, something more gothic and dark in style, and then there are lolita brands.

Then later, while listening to some Malice Mizer in combination with ALI Project and Rokugen Alice, I got the idea of a Hell, Heaven and Earth/Life fractions, and the girl is someone who died and her soul is traveling through dimensions so she can choose where she's gonna stay for all eternity. And also, I should add a guide. Just because stories usually have someone that knows what's going on, I told myself.

So, the main characters and fractions were decided, and then I hoped that nothing major would require changes.

Also, some more advice for planners of fashion shows - do yourself a favour, be the baddest witch around and hunt your models into attending a rehearsal some days before the fashion show, and then be even worse and threaten them into attending another rehearsal just hours before the show itself.
For everyone who doesn't know what it means to model in one of my fashion shows - a week before the event, there is a rehearsal that lasts for about four or so hours, where I try to help with the model's psychology and mental preparations, then there is an exercise part because nobody has ever walked right with their muscle mass being in a state of liquid poo, also the models have to know how to walk so we have a walking session (no, walking is not easy, trust me), and then in the last few hours we try to go through the story and where should everybody be at, what is the right time, how to get there, and what to do once they are at that spot.
It's more like a boot camp, my dear poor models. I think that that night, everybody slept like a baby!
Then, once the day of the event arrives, we go through the story and the show two times, with music and story telling and everything, and then we hope for the best.
So as you can see, being a model is not easy! This is why I choose my models very carefully, if I see that someone just uses this opportunity to 'wear a nice dress', they are out of the game. Either you are doing this for others, for the j-fashion community, to create something beautiful, be selfless and be able to be 'just a model', or you are not in the game. Strict, I know, but these shows are my babies and I want them to be for others, not just for us.

Photo: Michal Svojanovsky

In the next installment, I am gonna talk more about the main character and story teller designs and the first dimension the girl encountered - Hell.

Last time we talked about several magazines shutting down. But some are just being born! Melt, Eternita, and now 'Fanatic'.

Fanatic's mothers, their styles are unique and interesting!

Four students of the prestigious Bunka Fashion college in Tokyo launched this magazine at the end of March 2017. Their names are Rizna, Fuki, Haruka and Mei and I love their philosophy that even in this digital era we still need a printed magazine! It's true that nothing beats the feeling of having a fashion bible in your hands and not on your phone ♥

They intend to publish several issues a year, but if Fanatic becomes a hit there is a chance of increasing the frequency~

Fanatic magazine's cover, source

In the first issue there are street snaps (you know, if you have a Harajuku magazine and don't have at least some street snaps, it's not a Harajuku fashion magazine!), interviews with indie brand designers, editorial shoots and fashion articles. Just as it should be in every good fashion magazine! I think that given the magazine is led by just students, it will get even better over time and one day Fanatic will be as awesome and loved as Kera once was.
One can buy the magazine at many resale and vintage shops in Tokyo, unfortunately I haven't found yet where you can buy it online. But if you know someone currently in Tokyo, ask them to buy the magazine for you ;}

TokyoFashion.com translated their English manifesto, all credit goes to them ♥ (Reading the manifesto is so beautiful, but it's just dust in my eyes!)

In order to raise up the fashion culture of contemporary Japan, Tokyo, and Harajuku, we four students of the Bunka Fashion College have launched FANATIC Magazine.

We are working every day to preserve the history of modern fashion through a resurrection of print media, focusing on the inexpressible things which will someday disappear from social media and the internet, shaping a new era of fashion that is both emotionally and visually vibrant as we create a chronicle for our own and future generations.

We are currently producing a free seasonal paper four times a year. Next year we will focus on announcements and sponsorships; it is our dream to receive a barcode and line shelves in bookstores around the country, and even around the world. For the time being – following our launch – we are focusing our distribution in vintage clothing stores and beauty salons in the Tokyo neighborhoods of Harajuku, Shimokitazawa, and Koenji. We will also accept orders through e-mail so that people outside Tokyo can get their hands on our magazine.

The theme of FANATIC’s first issue is “self-expression”. We have gathered together snapshots and projects with a focus on people who are able to express themselves and their own personality.

FANATIC Magazine is edited at the Student Center, and a lot of the people introduced in it are students themselves. The reason for this is that in today’s world, while people with a lot of followers on social media have their creations seen and evaluated, we still think it unfair that other students producing really interesting creations of their own are limited by how many social media followers they have. This is the forum for our desire to be more fair and to introduce a larger number of people to the Japanese students who will be responsible for fashion culture in the future, as we allow these children to spread their wings and expand their horizons.

In addition, our cover concept is “Remember how we felt back then, because we want to be our true selves.” Let’s begin by looking at the naked, unornamented self. That beating of your heart when you first like someone, when you first yearn for them. You’d forgotten that feeling, right? Let’s remember the true self, innocent, gentle, without ostentation, the self that was pure. We have produced a first issue in order to make people feel this way more and more as they turn the pages.

In summer, there was a Fanatic party and I want to show you some shots from there, those people are so freaking awesome!!! (Source: TokyoFashion.com)

Important links:

First of all, no, Harajuku fashion is NOT dead.
I repeat.
HARAJUKU FASHION IS NOT DEAD!
Repeat 'till hoarse.
Put that mourning outfit back into your wardrobe.

(Before you read: I am not gonna talk about the birth of Harajuku fashion or it's history - the earliest or more modern, I am just gonna write why everybody panics and why is the fashion changing. I am assuming you are familiar with certain milestones and with the relationship between the fashion itself and Japanese political/cultural history. There will be separate series that will focus on the history.)

Last issue of KERA magazine, Gothic & Lolita Bible and FRUiTS magazine

Let's just state some facts, shall we?
- FRUiTS magazine is over
- Kera is continuing digitally, their shop is still open
- Gothic&Lolita bible is over
- Eternita has been born
- Melt has been born
- Tourists are cancer. Seriously, we will talk about this later, but they are horrendous
- Some shops have closed down
- Several new fashion styles have emerged
- Some trends are worn by a minority
- Fast fashion is a natural disaster but people buy it

FRUiTS magazine is dead, but FRUiTS lives on. At least, Aoki Shoichi said so (If you don't know who that is, he is the dude that gave birth to the cult, the photographer that should be worshipped by every fashionista). That guy still takes photographs, and besides, FRUiTS lives on in everyone who wears Harajuku fashion. Thanks to those pages full of amazingly dressed people, Harajuku fashion got around like a plague. History is documented on those pages! One day, that stuff will be in museums because once it was an incredible monthly occurrence of stylish. Now, you don't have that because everyone has instagram and so instead of once a month, people can have eye orgasms every minute.

Aoki Shoichi. Source here

You know, publishing a magazine, a monthly magazine at that, is not cheap. You have advertisements, staff, printing. It's not cheap. And people just don't buy physical copies anymore.

Thus, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you bought a PRINTED magazine/book/fashion spread? Yeah, a majority of people doesn't buy that anymore, right? The truth is, we live in a digital world, everything you need is made up of zeros and ones, not lignin and cellulose. Someone wants to see the latest fairy kei fashion trends? They search tumblr. Someone else want to know what their favourite star said? They don't read a printed interview, they check their twitter.

And that is not a bad thing, everything is easier to access, you want a tour of Harajuku? Well then have a damn virtual tour of Harajuku! The thing is, three magazines ceased their printed production, other just started, some went digital. That does not mean that Harajuku fashion magazines are over, they evolved into either digital form or morphed - I like to think of Melt as a love child of Kera and G&L Bible. Individually, those two magazines didn't have a large audience, but together? I have hope~

Kera magazine, front cover of the mobile issue

Kera mobile, issue 9. Have a look at it, it's just as awesome as were the printed issues!

Tourists. Tourists in Harajuku. Are. Horrible. Really! Every day, there are millions of people passing trough and ogling, taking pictures and generally making stylish kids feel like they are an exhibit in a ZOO. Often, tourists don't even ask permission from those whose pictures are being taken. You know, when five people in the span of one hour take a picture of you, one can live with that. But when it's every freaking minute, that's just pushing it! And so fashionistas don't want to mingle with their own kind in their natural habitat, because their natural habitat has fallen prey to armadas of tourists without an ounce of respect. If you want to take a picture of someone, just ask. ASK! There is only a small chance you will get rejected!

It's interesting that even though tourism in Japan is on decline, Harajuku still has the same problem with number of tourists for the past, let's say five/four years. Source

We are getting older. I mean, majority of the friends I've made over the years is in their late 20s and are getting jobs, having families and just generally do the scary thing called growing up. The younger generation obviously doesn't have the same tastes as we did. Their fashion is new, fresh and there is obviously that sibling-like relationship with fast fashion and mainstream trends. Harajuku fashion is still there just in another form. Trends have been born and dead and it's life of the fashion industry. What was is in the past, you can't have the same fashion trends in the same form existing, like, for all eternity. That's like with people and evolution (even though I think that evolution is chronically afraid of some beings and ran away from them while they were in the form of zygota.). I am sure that there will be born more dark and visual-like and princessy trends, not everything will be all pastely and colourful and mainstreamy all the time.

Also, not only that people who were there at the beginning or even some twenty years later, during the 2000s, are older, but there is one giant reason why Harajuku fashion is not that in-your-face-Japan as it used to be. It's simple. If you look at Japan's history and political turmoils of the late 20th century/beginning of the 21st century, you will see that Japan was in some deep shit, economically, culturally and mentally. And Japan's youth rebelled. It's easy as that, Harajuku fashion was primarily born out of the love of western fashion penetrating Japan and the rebellious natures of Japanese teens. And now, is there a reason for people to rebel? Well, there are plenty of reasons but if somebody dresses in full Harajuku style, nobody will look at them as if they ran out of mental asylum for time-travelers. The fashion just lost the impact it once had. (On side note, punk is not dead! Right? If you really think about it, punk and Harajuku fashion are SO similiar...)

Examples of modern Harajuku style. Not your ordinary clothing, but somehow familiar. Taken from Tokyfashion

Young people like fast fashion. You know, stuff like Forever21, Uniqlo (who remembers Shimotsuma Monogatari and Jusco? Yeah, fantasy has become reality) and H&M and such. It's cheap and convenient. On the other hand, before every visit of La Foret it is advised to sell at least three of your kidneys and four lungs. Designer clothes are expensive and Harajuku fashion can be a damn expensive life style (doesn't have to be if you are manually talented with a fashionable eye and can reconstruct and give new life to old pieces). Shops close down because there is not enough people to pay for their clothes, it's just life.
Also, the image of Harajuku fashion has highly been industrialized and made mainstream, at least to some extent. It's become quite conservative, and I think that sometimes people can't say if a person's dressed in Harajuku or they are just some kind of high-brand wearing stylish kid.
Also, talking about stores, you want to have a home-shop in Harajuku, you pay with dragon blood and fairy dust, it's that expensive. It's mostly because of the fashion's global fame. Indie brands and smaller shops have moved further away. Harajuku fashion is relocating.

You see this, you run. Understood? Source

There is a freakingly known and good fashion college nearby, and Harajuku attracts a lot of talented people still. Stylish people just won't fully disappear from Harajuku, that's like asking pope to leave Vatican. Try it, I heard it's quite impossible ;}

There are various new styles emerging. Let's just briefly touch upon them, I want to write in more detail later, they are interestig~

Peco Club, or Peco fashion: Once upon a time, there was a girl called Peco who was so pretty and colourful and had a great style and dated a genderless boy star Ryucheru. People liked her style and started copying her and thus new style, looking very much like fairy kei had an affair with larme kei, was born.

Peco. Taken from her twitter

With Peco the name Bubbles Harajuku is often said in the same breath. It is a shop in Harajuku that sells cute clothes for uber-trendy teen girls. (More about this shop in the upcoming Peco article, it's quite an interesting shop!)

Bubbles store. Source

Genderless kei is big and shines and people are taking notice of it! I think that genderless will be very big! It's not only for boys who said 'fuck it' to masculine clothing and wear whatever the hell they want, if they like that sweater from women's sections, they will wear the hell out of that damn sweater! Girls are on that trendy train, too!

Ryucheru, genderless boy, Harajuku fashion

Ryucheru. Taken from his instagram

Maybe we will have a new Harajuku queen. Kyary got onto some bumpy road with her flop of 2016's October fail (more like last three years completely boring music. I love her style and her image, but truthfully, her music now is boring. With the exception of 'Harajuku oyahoi'! That one is LIT! ♥) and also have you seen her 'Easta' MV? I can't help myself, I hate it. It's sad. And also there are rumours she will be changing her image and everyone is like 'wait, rewind, what?'. Well, monarchy comes and goes, Tudors could write until they lose their heads from all those changes. (my puns are getting worse and worse...) All in all, Nakata saddens me and I cry over Kyary, I love her so much and yet...

Harajuku Iyahoi. It's catchy and I love it and if you haven't seen it, go have some amazingness today~

Lolita fashion has shown us that Japan is not where the newest trends come to life. The main force behind the cutesy style is overseas! And I think that the same will be (at least partly) true for the rest of Harajuku fashion. International fashionistas are big and the future is in their hands! Also, lolitas are known for being quite introverted (in Japan) and like to talk to their friends and tourists are a big nightmare for them. So lolitas are forced to relocate outside Harajuku or inside their homes.
But still there is something about Harajuku style in Japan that overseas can't have. And it's that pure Japanese-ness. Sukajan, recreated kimono, Japanese flags all around, coupled with makeup highlighting pure Japanese features, Harajuku fashion is turning to the nation's root the strongest ever since Angura kei was born!

Yamaguchi Sayoko, the vintage icon whom the Japanese love more than ever

Hey, you know, somebody panics and shouts about the death of Harajuku every few years. We have been there, heard that. The world was supposed to end in 2000, 2012 and even last year and we are still here. Fashion doesn't die, it just evolves, okay?

Important links:

Kera magazine here

Buy Melt here

Buy Eternita here
Interview witch Aoki Shoichi here (in Japanese)
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu MV Harajuku iyahoi here