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Harajuku Style: Asian Girls creating Antifashion

Harajuku Style: Asian Girls creating Antifashion

Japan is a place where everyone is individual – but in groups. If you go to the park on a certain hour every Saturday, you’ll see hundreds of boys dressed as rock and rollers, dancing to rock and roll music… very seriously.So it’s no surprise that when girls want to display groundbreaking fashions that no-one has ever seen before, they want to do it in the same place, at the same time. And that place is the Harajuku district in Tokyo.

Harajuki Girls

The term “Harajuku Girls” has been used by English-language media to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku. This fashion infuses multiple looks and styles to create a unique form of dress. One of these styles, Kawaii, came to fame in the 1990s. Kawaii became a popular phrase that meant something was cute or pretty. Kawaii was a form of resistance in that the style and culture associated with it were not seen as attractive by an older generation. This idea of Kawaii was a distinct youth culture separate from the traditional one in existence.The cyber-punk look takes its influence from gothic fashion and incorporates neon and metallic colors.However, it isn’t as popular as it was in the 1990s.

Harajuki Girls

Harajuki Girls

Harajuki Girls

Harajuku fashion’s origin

Harajuku fashion gets its name from the Harajuku district of Tokyo. All the switched-on harajuku kids go there to explore the many clothes shops and gather Yoyogi park, the cafes in Omotesando street or on the way to the Meiji shrine to display their latest harajuku creations for tourists as well as for their friends.

Harajuku became famous in the 1980s due to the street performers and wildly-dressed teens who gathered there on Sundays when Omotesando was closed to traffic. Omotesando is a very long street with cafes and upscale fashion boutiques popular with residents and tourists alike. Once it became pedestrianised on sundays it was the perfect place to meet, play music and show off!

Having a regular meeting place for art, conversation and performance gave rise to the vibrant Hokoten band scene. This was stopped at the end of the 1990s and the number of performers, Visual Kei fans,
rockabilly dancers and punks has steadily decreased since. Today on Sundays one can see many Gothic Lolita as well as many foreign tourists taking pictures of them on the way to Meiji Shrine. Some tourists are surprised to see such a large exhibition of Japanese youth dressed up in often shocking outfits.

Harajuki Girls

Harajuki Girls

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  • funguerilla

    Freaky stuff. Fads are really going over the top with today's teenagers

  • alisonbert

    too bad more than half of these pictures arent harijuku style…its fucking visual kei and lolita.

  • Rene

    i like the girl with the blond & brunette hair… Nice style ;) but some of them are… over the top…

  • Nexusbiorobotic

    …some of girls bring connection between mystical and sexuality, but lots of them are too….alien kind of beauty :)

  • Runya

    About half of these are cosplayers, actually…

  • Nalilali

    Blue&brunette is my favorit too :)

  • Choklitmello

    Yeah, the one on the right in the 8th set is someone cosplaying as Lulu from Final Fantasy X. Gotta love that game :D

  • Beckii C

    Almost ALL of these are cosplays = =
    They don't actually dress like that.

  • amber

    yeah, most of these are girls dressing up as guys. no matter how feminine it looks.

  • Meade

    Those girls are Awsomely Hawt!!!!

  • apple_pizza

    Sorry to tell you this, but from all those pictures, maybe 3 are harajuku,,, all the rest are either cosplays, Lolitas, glammers or steampunks.

  • you're wrong beckii c

    actually A LOT more than you think are how they really dress and go out in public, this isn't out of the norm, this is their own interpretation of goth

  • you're wrong beckii c

    actually A LOT more than you think are how they really dress and go out in public, this isn't out of the norm, this is their own interpretation of goth

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/4LTE5XTNZVXGPBGYBHTW3ZOGO4 Spritle101

    At least 50% of these are “Dir en Grey” Cosplay & don't count.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/4LTE5XTNZVXGPBGYBHTW3ZOGO4 Spritle101

    At least 50% of these are “Dir en Grey” Cosplay & don't count.

    & at least 25% of them are men. The one with the pink contact lense deffinately is.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/4LTE5XTNZVXGPBGYBHTW3ZOGO4 Spritle101

    That one is a guy.

  • http://twitter.com/NakedxBabe Perfection Queenie

    wrong wrong WRONG!!
    most of those are guys in those pics they do look like girls, but its not “anti fashion” i have lived in japan it is a fashion they made why not wikipedia yourself on it since you the auther know nothing about it, most of those girls are dark or hime lolita, i am hime i was a gyaru for a while though my husband is a visual kei like the boy in the pink hair with the spiked out gas mask. And the girls with layers of clothes and lots of hair clips are also another style in japan i think you guys should definitely learn what these fashions are like. most people say emo scene is a rip off of visual kei though,its not its a fashion teens made up most of these people though in japan are not teens they are usually in their 20's and straight out of high school!

  • Soendoro Soetanto

    Interesting fashions.

    Soendoro Soetanto

  • dunno

    Lot of goth. The one with the pepita plattern is emo. Goth looks good in europe in my opinion, but the asian culture made it really…hokum, as everything else too. They go too far, where it is not about anything else, but looking more extreme than their friends did yesterday, which has nothing to do with goth lifestyle at all. In other words, they are just lame posers.

  • Guest

    Two of them are definitely cosplays, at least.
    The one with the dark green uniform and eyepatch is a cosplay, I just can't remember what from.
    And the one of the girl with the tattoo on her back and the black braids and dress with the fur trim, is a cosplay of Lulu from Final Fantasy X.

  • Kat

    The Harajuku of Japan is like the Scene style of America; although I prefer the Japan style more.

  • Andreboard

    yeah…Fail…Why try to sensationalize what you don't understand?
    Some of them are dressed as characters from comic and games…
    just saying.

  • Sogato

    Actually, any display of “crazy” dressing in such districts as Harajuku are considered Harajuku style. There are different categories in the style, but it's all in the same genre of style. Also, NONE of them are dressed in the “steampunk” style.

    Also, most of those “girls” are actually boys. (:

  • Tray

    You notice it's only the ugly chicks who where this style…

  • Aho ninja

    Hi.Im Japanese. those are not guys.every pics. Any photograph is girls.
    and I think that the desire that it puts on such special clothes, and they can become another oneself.
    English is difficult.can you understand my Comment?

  • Anonymaus

    How wrong you are.
    A lot of them are incredibly pretty.
    Even if some of them are men.

  • shaboodles

    they look like little emo/punk kids. the others just look weird.

  • Tweenywitch

    These people must be Lady Gaga's inspiration

  • S3v3nvii

    i love this fashion as an african american and japanese mixture. my hear calls to the excentricities. i would feel comfortable to be myself in such company.

  • Lololol

    Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

  • Rubiaenreus

    cuanto daño ha hecho el Manga…. xDDD

  • grendelwarchild23

    theres a couple dir en grey cosplayers up there

  • Death1Note1

    damn, i wants dye like those girls!! (how about Halloween….. teehee)

  • Genu1e

    god some of you people are probly sleeping with guys and wouldent know it, there is only 2 guys there and their not hideing tha fact, mad hatter in red and the dude with glasses in the penguin suit, apart from that i dont see any addams apples, well i guess some people are just clueless!

  • medusa

    from what all iv read so far, what i dont get, and i guess i got now from your comment is that most of them are gurls dressed up as guys pretending to be gurls, quiet fashionably in their own unique harajuku styles.

  • Ana

    No, she is right. you are wrong, sorry.

    Most of those pictures ARE cosplays, wich means they are dressed like a character they like, it's not a style, It's a copy of someone's clothe.

    Some of the pictures are styles but most of them are cosplays

  • Kes

    Perhaps they like to go out in public like this, but it’s still cosplay. Some of them rang some bells, but in particular, Chrome Dokuro, from KHR. She’s right.

  • Alan2

    It’s Chrome Dokuro xD Awesome xD

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4BNYPHL7UULWFC7OA65D5YKWIY Dennis

    It is not anti-fashion. It is fashion on its own way, and a fahsion market that makes millions over a year.
    Cosplay or not, steampunk or cyberpunk or goth, visualkei, whatever, they have their own style. Which is much better than EMO by the way.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/frybrz-dhakrbasy/1708677881 ?????? ?????????

    so great it is some kind of ART and FASHION.

  • Tath

    Eh… many of those are just… normal Cosplays? f.ex the girl with the dark green clothes… mini skirt blueish hair and the eyepatch… thats a cosplay of Chrome (Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!)— also that girl with the pink bear head… that also a pretty normal cosplay ^^ i dont really see that at japanese fashion when its just cosplaying most of it :P also… a Dir en Grey fan? O.o or is it Ando Daisuke (Die) himself? cant really see ^^ bad at recognizing ppl… but its the exact clothes and hairstyle he got once except he got a more completly red haircolor that time :P i love that outfit thou XD (the guy with the red spikey long hair and those goggles)

    but still… that isnt Asian fashion… some of it is but most is just cosplaying… costumes… and ITS NOT ALL GIRLS! the one that’s either Ando Daisuke or look a lot like him is a guy! ._.’

  • Tath

    i see one of them that im pretty sure is a guy… the rest i could agree is girls… but the one with the Ando Daisuke (Die) look im pretty sure is a guy ._. if its not him himself…

  • ~Anmitsu~

    I see a few Dir en grey inspired cosplay and I think thats a Gackt cosplay with the red suit and top hat. So mostly jrock cosplay and a couple harajuku. :/

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1259468292 Jasmine Andrea Brown

    A bunch of these are just cosplays of J-Rock Musicians. Cosplay is short for costume play. Most of there people are dressing up as a Japanese Rock musician or a game and anime character. True some of this is harajuku, but most if it is just cosplay. Maybe you should have did some research before posting this, I am just saying. I listen to some of the people that these people are dressed up as.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SBHEYTZN5ZMOPFBMNFU6N2HRTI john Kenedy

    The girls with so many of clothes and lots of hair clips are as well addition appearance in adorn i anticipate you guys should absolutely apprentice what these fashions are like.

    hair accessory wholesale

  • http://www.facebook.com/pandora.jade.9 Pandora Jade

    Ya only a few are not cosplay or steam punk. I guess some will just bunch up anything to make an album

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