Category Archive for Tokyo + Japan
TOKYO FASHION FEATURE: SHIBUYA-KEI, COSPLAY, HARAJUKU OSHARE STYLE. JAPANESE HOST HAIR, CRAZY HAIRSTYLES IN ASIA.
Yesterday, a neat new fashion site launched: Tokyo Candoll. The Japanese project collaborates with your favorite Gothic Lolita Punk brands, and introduces popular Gal models. I was approached to be featured on the site as a “reader model” (I’m honored!). You can see me in the “J-style celeb” section here; my interview responses are below.
Name: La Carmina
Occupation / dream for the future: Harajuku fashion and J-pop culture author/blogger/designer
Hobby: Attending to the many needs of my Scottish Fold cat, Basil Farrow
Shopping area: I spend most of my wardrobe budget on secondhand Gothic Lolita Punk fashions from Closet Child.
Favorite brand: h.NAOTO, Black Peace Now, Victorian Maiden
Favorite food: Izakaya
Favorite color: Goth black, Mana-sama blue, blood red, empress purple
Policy of Oshare: If you look like an undead Marie Antoinette, you’re on the right path.
Favorite Japanese: My Tokyo spooks! My friends in Japan are crazy and inspiring.
Tokyo Candoll’s sister site, Music Japan Plus, recently highlighted several clothing boutiques in Marui One. The Shinjuku department store houses your favorite Gothic, Lolita, punk rock and street brands. (You can see photos of all the stores in my gargatuan Goth and Lolita shopping guide.)
Atelier Boz is one of my favorite elegant Gothic aristocrat brands, especially the items for men. “This particular shop has constantly strived toward recreating a ‘classic, traditional European’ style. They sell beautiful items that have elegant forms and dashing, ‘knightly’ qualities. For the spring season they are planning to provide a wider variety of skirts, pumps, blouses and vests in various sizes.” Click here for more images of Atelier Boz, Moi-meme-moitie, Kera Angel and other brands in Marui One.
“What would happen if Alice of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ finds herself in ‘Pirate-land’? That is the main concept for this shop selling wild, decorative and stylish clothing.” (You can also find Alice and the Pirates at Laforet; click to see my photos.)
h.NAOTO dominates the sixth floor of 0101, as you can see in this post. “In addition to brands providing punk, gothic and Lolita items, brands such as ‘HONEY’ that sell SEXY & CUTE clothing for women, and ‘Sixh.’ that designs VISUAL & MODE-kei items for both men and women are well worth a look.”
“When you were little, did you ever wish you could try out the very cute lace frill dresses with lots of ribbons worn by princesses in picture books? Here’s a brand that will help you fulfill those childhood dreams” — Angelic Pretty. I photographed the cute Marui boutique in this post.
Hyphen Magazine, a San Francisco-based publication about Asian-American culture, interviewed me for a piece about Japanese theme restaurants (above). If you’re intrigued, you can find out more about Akihabara maid cafes my book, Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo.
Finally, some bits and pieces of J-pop fun…
† My friend Maria uploaded a great video of Kaya performing at Tokyo Decadance, wearing a white Lolita dress. Kawaii.
† I found some mind-blowing Japan hairstyle photos on Flickr. The neon colors and spiky swirly styling are insane. (Above are some winning hairstyles from Tokyo Riyo.)
† Hooray for Japanese host hair — these nightclub staff pics are hilarious! Which one is your dream-boi? Mine is the ALIEN.
Have you found my Gothic Lolita Punk store photos and shopping guide to be useful? I’ll be updating it soon!
Song of the Day #333: Sin with Sebastien – Shut up and sleep with me (Because that’s how sinning with Sebastien should be. I kid, I kid!)
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TOKYO DECADANCE WHITE DAY: CYBER GOTH CLUB PARTY PHOTOS. ADRIEN LE DANOIS, KAYA LIVE CONCERT, DJ SISEN & SELIA OF SEILEEN.
With a snap of his fingers, Yukiro Dravarious teleported from Hollywood Noirland to Tokyo Rococo… in time for an all-white cyber-Gothic nightcrawl! Here’s his report on last Saturday’s Tokyo Decadance:
White Decadance differs from the normal monthly party, since you get a discount if you dress up completely in white clothing. The event celebrates White Day, a Japanese tradition occurring every March 14th, where boys give white chocolate to the girls they favor (a reversal of Valentine’s Day, where the girls give boys chocolate).
This year’s party was much better than last year’s (pics above). In 2009, White Decadence was held in Shibuya’s Trump Room, which was too small. I stood out because I wore the very opposite — black.
This year, the fashions were in fine form. (Left: Yukiro with G-suS.) DJ SiSEN’s wig was one of the night’s highlights! So shiny, and he had a whip in the same color.
My new friend and performer Yusura (center) had one of the best outfits. She had blinking blue lights in her headdress that created an elegant effect, and we matched in colour. Selia’s new corset was just perfect for his well-established white ice-queen look.
Some familiar faces from this blog: Takuya Angel, Kana, Hungry Ghost and Uzuki. It was craziness everywhere, and the first few people got free ice cream; sadly I wasn’t one of them. It’s always nice to attend parties at Christion Cafe Shinjuku, since the cathedral-themed restaurant is spacious. And there are plenty of tables where you can sit down or sleep if you’re a bit tired.
Kaya was of course the best performance of the night (remember Yukiro’s report on Kaya at the Jasmine You memorial?) It’s always a treat to watch Seileen (SiSEN and Selia’s duo) on stage. I wasn’t impressed with the Circus de Soliel guys… Hanakengo (top left) was a bit too scary!
Sounds like a night to remember — and how cute was Yukiro’s white cyber rabbit outfit? If you’re thirsty for more Tokyo cyber/Goth party reports and photos, come browse through my club guide. You’ll also find photos of Christon Cafe, Vampire, Alice in Wonderland and other theme restaurants in my new book.
PS: may we be friends on Twitter? I add back all legit accounts…
Song of the Day #328: Seileen – Carnival of Blood (Selia and SiSEN are delicious performers live.)
LA CARMINA
