Grimoire – Vintage, Fairytale, Dolly Kei

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of teaming up with a fellow blogger for a day tour of Shibuya’s clothing stores. But not just any stores – oh no. We ventured into those with a fairyland /vintage feel, discovering more about an emerging japanese fashion trend.

Grimoire  is at the forefront of this antique, vintage, Dolly-kei phenomenon, and when you go there, you can see why.

It’s like a Victorian museum come to life, with Rococo Elements, Alice in Wonderland and other fairytales thrown together with some Gypsy spells and a sprinkling of fairy dust, before being breathed into life as a curio shoppe set in the heart of a forest.

Everywhere there are pretty and unusual “things” crammed into nooks and crannies: little bird skulls, crosses, old dolls, tiny flowers, rocking horses, jewellery boxes, clocks, cherubs, puppets, moneyboxes, vines, leaves, bronze ornate picture frames, and hats, hats, everywhere vintage hats.

As for the clothes and accessories themselves, they are sourced from the US and eastern Europe. There are lots of floral dresses, a definite boho feel, vintage furs, delicate hair ornaments, blush and dusty pink colours accented by darker rusts and reds, with pops of ivy green and a smidgen of black.

Photo: Will Robb

The girls were lovely and said they liked my blue hair very much, emboldening us to ask if we could take a few pictures. You can see the controlled chaos behind us.

A discernible style is emerging, which has been noticed by many.

There is even a community on Live Journal, called Grimoire-Japan, dedicated to the fashion style of the store. It was started by a previous Lolita-follower in January, and in it girls share places to buy similar things, and show off their outfits, as well as those of their Japanese heroines.

La Carmina
fyeahlolita

Grimoire: 7th floor, Jinnan 1-10-7  Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03 3780 6203
Open: 1pm – 8pm, or 12 – 8 on weekends/holidays

Next up in our Shibuya mission: visits to Cabaret, Rosy Baroque, Nude trump and other vintage and secondhand stores – but that is food for another post.