Sunday Harajuku Socializing

Tokyo street fashion is influenced by many styles and subculteres from around the world. In the 80s a great numbers of street performers and extravagantly dressed teenagers gathered around Omotesando and the street that goes through Yoyogi Park on Sundays when the roads were closed off to traffic. However the roads were reopened to traffic in the 1990s, and teens stopped meeting there. Today there is a revival in the amount of young adults dressing up and hanging out in Harajuku, most of them now congregate on Jingu-Bashi, across the railway tracks from Harajuku station to Yoyogi Park. Everything from British street punk fashion of the 70's, goth, and many other fashions from around the world have all moulded the teenage style in Tokyo today.

Myself in Digitaria SS10, the morning after.

Sweet Lolis create their look by combining various shades of pastels and white, often mini or knee-length frilly dresses with accents of crinoline and lace, corseting details and added ribbons. Accessories are also an major part of the look: tiny top hats worn to one side with a lace ribbon tied under the chin, headbands or bonnets, dolls or teddy bears, parasols, frilly thigh high or knee high socks, opaque or fishnet stockings, white frilled aprons, and chokers with charms such as cameos, spiders, cherries, or skulls. Their handbags and what they carry ranges from patterned rolling suitcases to hatboxes to Kelly bag styles.

Kawaii fashion generally relates to someone wearing clothing that appears to be made for young children or clothes that accentuates the cuteness of the individual wearing the clothing. Ruffles and pastel or bright colors may be worn, and accessories often include oversize toys or bags featuring anime characters.

Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupu-re), short for "costume play", is type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies.

Male to Female crossplayer (male costumed as female character, sometimes abbreviated "MtF"), who put on a formidable amount of preparation and effort into the ruse of a female persona, here as a "meido" (maid). Some males, particularly teenagers, frequently manage to recreate a striking image of femininity that can fool most unsuspecting bystanders.

Music is the main force in the creation of Visual Kei Fashion. It is exactly as it sounds - Rock music that incorporatesmany visual effects and ostentatious costumes to heighten the the music and the show. Visual Kei started in the 1980s and became so popular by the 1990s that the nearly all-female fans started dressing up like their favorite band members who were often males that wore striking make up and had crazy hair styles - most dressed androgynously or as females (usually, the more feminine the rock star, the more fans would try to copy them).

Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behavior to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Inanimate objects are given an anthropomorphic forms and it is not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa.

Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL) refers to the fashion of frilly, ruffled knee-length dresses and head-bands etc. Elegant Gothic Aristocrat (EGA) refers to a more subtle and refined dressing consisting of longer dresses and coats. Most Goth Lolitas love the high-end Vivienne Westwood (her “Rocking Horse” wooden platform Mary Janes and boots are highly sort after) and Jean Paul Gaultier labels as well as the multitude of Japanese.

Decora consists of bright colors and hair clips with bows. Lots of layering and colorful accessories are used in Decora. The accessories include plastic and furry toys and jewelry, which stick together and make noise as the wearer moves.

While many people from all around the world are influenced by Harajuku, the real Harajuku style fashion stays where it originated from - in the area itself.