Harajuku Gothic Fashion - Where Does It Come From

Japanese culture traditionally used to put a great emphasis on simplicity.

During the last 30-40 years Tokyo has become a very consumer oriented city.

Japanese Youth culture with it's Harajuku Clothing is a protest against the cultural change in the Japanese society.
These creative Harajuku girls & boys have created their own individual Harajuku fashion.

The Japanese have always been good at borrowing from the west (technology and style) and turning it into something completely different and original.

Don't forget that western clothes have a short history in Japan.
Rather than following European and American trends, Harajuku girls were customizing elements of the traditional Japanese dress - Kimono, Obi and Geta sandals - and combining them with handmade, secondhand clothes.
Its a bit like a collage.
Nowadays each 'Harajuku clothing look' has its own avant-garde designers and brands.
Harajuku Style is all about rebellious individual self-expression, which is very interesting since Japans culture views Individualism negatively, and associates it with selfishness.

One hour in tokyo subway is enough to notice how everyone participating in the work force is wearing 'a uniform' (grey or black suit and a tie) which leaves no space for creativity and Individuality.

So these tokyo teens are having a say about the future that awaits for them – day after day for the rest of their lives.
Women too have to succumb to strict dress codes in Tokyo – see more on Tokyo dress codes.

Harajuku Style Created in Tokyo

Harajuku fashion was created in Tokyo, and evolved into a global pop culture phenomenon. You may have heard of it in one of its different names - Japanese Schoolgirl fashion, Tokyo pop culture and Tokyo pop princess.

'Harajuku Girls' is also the title of Gwen Stefani's 2004 album. The reference to Tokyo street fashion, helped draw attention to Harajuku Gothic fashion.

You may also remember the deadly schoolgirl In the movie 'Kill Bill', which created global recognition for 'Japanese Schoolgirl fashion'.

Tokyo street fashion turned Tokyo into a fashion capital. Tokyo fashion is well known in the world.
It's no wonder that Tokyo fashion designers and international designers look to the Tokyo street fashion for fresh inspiration. They closely watch Harajuku style and subcultures.
The Tokyo street fashion caused a cultural revolution, inspiring a new generation of designers all over the world.

Harajuku Gothic fashion is promoted in Japanese and international magazines such as Kera, Tune, Gothic & Lolita Bible and Fruits.

Harajuku Fashion Best Harajuku Style Pics

The secrets behind Harajuku Fashion - Why are Tokyo teens dressing like Gothic Lolitas, and the best Tokyo places for watching Cosplay costumes.
Harajuku Clothing Tips !

It happens every Sunday in the wonderful district of Harajuku. Harajuku girls dress up in Harajuku Gothic fashion.

Browse this site for lots of inside stories on How to be a Cosplay Girl.

The Japanese Cosplay page is a good starting point for ideas on Harajuku Fashion and Cosplay outfits.

Japan Cosplay page sends you to the Top 3 Gathering places for Cosplay followers.

Be sure to check out my Harajuku Girl page to learn on the many groups and styles of this great Japanese sub-culture.

It is very amusing to see how rebellious Tokyo teens dressed in Harajuku clothes meet tradition - represented by women wearing Kimono hurrying to Meiji Jingu shrine.
This takes place on Jingu Bridge (a pedestrian bridge that connects the area to Meiji Jingu shrine).

Tokyo teens who have dressed up in Harajuku style are just hanging out with friends, hoping their picture will be taken by one of the many magazine photographers in the crowd.

Harajuku versus punk

Harajuku fashion is now internationally-known, so anyone wearing harajuki style is photographed as much as the London punks who hang out in Trafalgar Square in tartan trousers and mohicans, waiting for tourists to pay them to pose for photos. And why not? When you're a punk you have fewer job options because of the extremity of your dress code, and need to make money somehow.

If you're into harajuku fashion your dedication to need only be as serious as you want it to be. You may choose not to have a regular job or attend school and be fully into the band scene, but essentially the look of harajuku style is based on clothes and make-up which can be removed as desired, so if you want to be a part-time Harajuku girl, that's perfectly okay. Punks with mohicans and piercings have to be punk (to some degree) all the time, but harajuku girls and boys can wear normal clothes then dress up harajuku-style at the weekend. Pure pop fashion, but so much fun!

Harajuku fashion is about freedom of expression

Japan is still very good at consuming trends from the West, so if you walk down the boutiques of Takeshita street in Harajuku you'll probably see a lot of teenagers wearing mod clothes. Harajuku is a mecca for artists, independent spirits, and burgeoning fashion trends that provides a space of free expression in what is ordinarily a rather conservative Japanese culture. But Japanese fashion isn't afraid to take it one step further... dressing-up in costume is seen as a major element of fashions, so no-one will bat an eyelid at a pretty girl wearing a plastic fried egg round her neck as a fashion statement.

The nice thing about Japanese - and Harajuku fashion - is that it's not a case of shops and brands (like Gap) dictating what people wear, but teenagers dictating what the shops will start selling.

There are now many clothes and websites that sell harajuku fashion and lolita fashion, but the spirit of this japanese style has arisen from teenagers not being afraid to customise and accessorise their own clothes, and to wear crazy outfits with a sense of humour to retaliate against social expectations of straight clothes, straight jobs, straight attitudes.

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.