Youth Culture in Japan
Japanese culture in this day and age has changed a lot from what it used to be. The youth are now rebelling against the older generation by doing things differently in terms of appearance and the way they act. In this piece of research I will be focusing on the style systems in the present day that the youth of Japan follow. I will also be looking at gender ambiguity in Japanese bands.
Decora
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| Figure 1. |
The Decora style is all about layers and layering up any jewellery, hair accessories and pieces of clothing such as socks. The word decora links with the word decorations, which I believe is a great way to describe this style, just like decorating a Christmas tree, hanging baubles and tinsel all over or in the Decora girls' case, hair clips, bracelets and necklaces. Just like walking overly decorated human beings. It's all about the accessories in this style, looking at their faces and comparing them with Ganguro/Yamanba I can see they don't really bother with the makeup too much because they would much rather have people seeing them, focus on the accessories they have used within their outfit.
Lolita
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| Figure 2. |
This image is an example of sweet lolita fashion. There are other sub-styles of lolita including aristocrat and gothic where the style is tweaked to match the name. Kawaii (cute) and girly are good ways to describe the style, I also feel it must give a lot of confidence to the individual because it is so in your face, maybe not in the Harajuku neighbourhood but in other parts of the world where it is not as common, it could make a quiet person seem quite loud in a sense. Harajuku is where the style originally started, it was inspired by the Victorian and Rococo eras so we may see clothing that covers shoulders and longish skirts. To the older generation or their parents it may seem like Lolitas are people who do not want to grow up and want to be childish with their cute outfits, teddybears and accessories meant for the even younger generations.
Ganguro/Yamanba
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| Figure 3. |
Comparing to the other styles, the Ganguro is less outfit related and more facial and hair appearance related. I'm not implying their dress sense is plain but more effort is put into the make-up. In this image (fig1) we see a Woman with lots of makeup. The foundation has been applied in what seems to be many layers to create a smoother and darker effect. Highlights in the face consist of a lighter product being used along the length of the nose to make it appear shinier, some people do this to make their nose look smaller when contouring their face. The cheeks have also been highlighted to give an illusion of a smaller or different shaped face. A lipstick or balm has been applied to the lips to make them appear lighter than the face. The eyebrows seem groomed but they don't really stand out too much in comparison to the eye makeup which is quite dark. Fake eyelashes have been used to give the effect of longer lashes and also eyeliner to give the effect of larger eyes, around the eyes are areas of white that also highlight the face. Another aspect of this particular style are the piercings, the bars in the lip are much larger than the average lip bar and also the nose stud is also much larger, this may be because they wouldn't really be noticeable among the masses of makeup used on the face.
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| Figure 4. |
In this image of an example of the Yamanba or Manba style I can see the hair has been took into consideration a lot more than the Ganguro style. Both styles are similar and influenced a lot by 80's rock bands with their overly made up faces and hair. We see the foundation that has been layered on and also the highlighted stripe down the length of the nose which gives a change of face shape. The light lips have also been used in this style, the contrast between the lips and face is striking. The eye makeup is standing out much more in comparison to the Ganguro style. The eyes are thickly lined in black with masses of fake eyelashes, contact lenses have also been used to change the eye colour. White highlights have again been used around the eyeliner. The hair resembles that of an 80's style, bright and big!
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| Figure 5 |
Many people who are considered normal in this day and age are actually taking aspects of this style and using it without even knowing, take Kim Kardashian in this image for example (fig5). Her hair has been curled out to resemble an 80's big style, Her foundation has been layered on to change her natural skin tone, eyeliner has been used to make the eyes seem more defined and bigger along with the white line along the length of the nose to create a new shape. The aspect which makes this makeup most similar is the white around the eyes that highlights that part of the face. It's not only celebrities that look as if they have been influenced by this style, you can see it in everyday life with people using a lot of makeup. Another link to this style would be the TV show 'Snog, Marry, Avoid' which is shown on BBC 3. Many of the people that appear on the show use a lot of makeup and dress quite obscure compared to the 'normal' way of dressing/looking. People all over the world are rebelling against what used to be in a sense because this style would have been seen as an abomination 60/70 years ago.
Gender Ambiguity
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| Figure 6 |
This is Japanese group Arashi. They are popular in Japan for their music, the group was formed in 1999 which was also the year their debut CD was created. I have chosen this band to talk about in terms of gender ambiguity because as I look at this image I am actually stumped, especially with the middle person and the one on their right whether they are male or female. For a youth in Japan it may be easy for them to decipher which is which but for me they express themselves as maybe how a lesbian may dress in England or at the same time how a camp gay man may dress in England.
List of Figures.
1 - Decora girls. Source - http://oursakurakiss.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/decora-and-fairy-kei-style.html
2 - Lolita Girls. Source - http://tokyofashion.com/harajuku-sweet-lolitas-angelic-pretty-btssb/
3 - Ganguro Girl. Source - http://tokyofashion.com/old-school-ganguro-alba-rosa-in-shibuya/
4 - Yamanba Style. Source - http://tokyofashion.com/old-school-ganguro-alba-rosa-in-shibuya/
5 - Kim Kardashian. Source - http://pinstake.com/worst-celebrity-tanning-blunders-of-all-time-ny-daily-news/
6 - Arashi Band. Source - http://24-7kpop.com/arashi-to-hold-15th-anniversary-concert-in-hawaii/
Sources.
Lolita Style - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0QSyv8tEgg
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