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Naoto News!

March 3, 2011 by

There are so many exciting events coming up shortly in the gothic fashion and music stakes, which I’ll be posting about in the next week. Some of them are in Tokyo and I’m getting VERY excited now, as I leave for o/s again on the 14th – a week Monday!! After 3 days in Seoul, South Korea, I head once again to Tokyo, which leads me back to the topic at hand.

Today I want to focus on fave Japanese gothic designer, Hirooka Naoto.

March 19 – h.NAOTO Frill Collection 2011

To display his latest “Sweet Frills” range, Naoto is throwing a Lolita Sweets Party! (And it’s when I’m there, muahahaha…) Gothic Lolita celebrity Aoki Misako (world ambassador for “Cute”) will be there, having returned from her jaunts round the world (read more at her website):

Naoto Creative Designer Hiroshi Oka will also be there, as well as other guests, photo sessions, and from what I can make out, a Best Co-ordinate Competition. Oh, and of course, delicious sweet cakes and tea, all in a genteel atmosphere. So Tokyo lolitas have a wonderful excuse to dress up and come along! I think I *might* just get to this for the photo opportunities, even though I myself am not at all into the sweet side of things.

  • DATE / March 19 (Sat)
  • OPEN: 15:00 START: 16:00
  • PLACE / h.NAOTO + Harajuku
  • Tickets dealer / h.NAOTO + Harajuku, Laforet Harajuku, Shinjuku Marui * Tickets are 1,575 yen (tax included) 
  • Contact / h, NAOTO + Harajuku (03-3478-6454)

March 26 –  T. KUNITOMO & gouk FASHION SHOW & PARTY

Fashion show of brand new collections, set in a party atmosphere with food and drinks

  • DATE: March 26 (Sat)
  • OPEN: 18:00 START: 19:00
  • PLACE: T.KUNITOMO Gallery
  • Contact: 03-5766-3910

There are soo many upcoming Naoto events – check this page for what’s happening in the next few months. One I definitely want to check out is the exhibition in Marui One from March 24-30:

h.Anarchy Army Collection

ANARCHY will present a punk rock and “ARMY” theme.  Expect wild and powerful camouflage fabrics in military designs. 

  • DATE:  March 24 (Thu) ~ 30 (Wed) 
  • PLACE: h.NAOTO store, Marui Shinjuku
  • Contact:  h.NAOTO + store (03-3478-6454) , h.NAOTO Marui Shinjuku (03-3358-1889)

    •  

    Pet cat 101 MINT SHOP 

    This is a pop-up store in Marui One, on the 2nd floor from 5 – 23 March, featuring the popular Sixh offshoot brand, “MINT Cats” . To commemorate this, the character “Sakurako” T-shirt has been designed, and  the first 50 people who spend over 5,250 yen,  will win a “Sakurako” badge.  See the t-shirt and badge below.

     

    Naoto has also released new items on the website for March 2011 from h.ANARCHY, Blood, and H.JELLY, Gramm, Frill,Sixh, Hangry & Angry, and Gouk.

    Just last week on Feb 26th, the Sixh 2011 Summer Collection was unveiled at Naoto HQ in Harajuku. This time there was definitely a rock and quirky/indie vibe happening, and far from being all-black, there was blue and purple in the designs, and even plaid! 

      

     

     

    Of course you want to check out the runway show, I’m sure:

    Fans will recognise IBI, Mint and Gashicon from Sixh the band – who will all be attending the Anime Matsuri convention March 18-20 in Texas, along with La Carmina! See her post on Anime Matsuri here for more details. And…the band itself will be playing only a day later, back in Tokyo, on the 21st of March!

    Sixh. Night Vol 3 in Ikebukuro BlackHole

    Of course it will be an event fusing fashion and music. Sixh is joined by God Circus Dog

     

    Sixh. Live sponsored project

    • DATE: March 21 (Mon)
    • PLACE: Ikebukuro BLACK HOLE
    • Doors open 18:00 for 18:30 start
    • Advance ticket 3,000 yen / 3,500 yen

    That’s another one to try to get to…but there’s so much else on!

    So that’s a whole lotta Naoto love for now; hope you enjoyed 🙂 Other posts you might like: Naoto at Japan Fashion Week, Naoto fukubukuro day and h.Naoto gothic lolita fashion designer extraordinaire.

    Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion, Japanese Fashion, Music Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    12th Japan Fashion Week Designers announced

    January 25, 2011 by

    Late last week the participants in the 12th Japan Fashion Week were announced, and I’m excited to see gothic and gyaru brands up there amongst the other designers. (See my post on the highlights of SS 2010 Japan Fashion Week here). What are some of the brands we can look forward to seeing, at least in association with JFW?

    h. NAOTO

    I’m so pleased that h. Naoto is back! (See my post on Naoto’s Goth night & collection last August)  His various labels are favourites of mine owing to the gothic aesthetic, but I feel he really pushes the envelope when he has a collection to present as part of JFW. Likewise, his catwalk shows are dark & moody, with a mysterious vibe that casts a spell over the viewer.  I already own a lot of his clothing, and am keen to grab some from the newest collection too.

     

    Gyaru brands Vanquish and Liz Lisa will also show.

    Vanquish

    This label definitely has glamorous classics that I (and many others) love to wear. But as it is a ‘high street’ type brand, will  it hold its own amongst the other designers?  I think the styling will be what lifts the brand above what you see in the catalogues 🙂

     

    Liz Lisa

    Overall it’s a bit pretty-pretty for me so far, and I wasn’t fond of the pink/brown colour scheme of the last season, but we’ll see what 2011 AW holds.  LL is certainly a huge fave amongst gals, and yet despite being a “popular” brand, is appearing at Fashion Week. Here’s a few shots from the 2011 Spring/Summer show.

     

    Of the non-brand designers, the ones I’m most excited to see are:

    Han Ahn Soon

    There was a definite baltic folkloric element to the last collection, partly in line with the Russian princess trend, and possibly also the influence of Dolly Kei? Whatever the origin, I’m intrigued by the layering, the ethnic opulence, the luxurious wearability of Soon’s pieces, and am keen to see more.

     

    Reem Alasadi

    I wrote about eco designer Reem Alasadi last February; having seen her work up close I’m impressed with the amount texture she plays with and presents in her work. As I wrote then: “Fabrics of all types, including vintage lace and fur, had been recycled, ruffled, pleated, torn, sequinned, dyed and re-made into couture pieces such as voluminous skirts, exquisite Victorian jackets and multi-layered tops. There are punk, Victorian, vintage and eco elements to her work that I really enjoy”.  Here are some images from her last JFW catwalk:  

     

    Motonari Ono

    I’ve also written about Ono before, in my JFW 2010 SS post

    See more from Ono here, the UK online shop, or the online Japanese Motonari Ono shop here.

    I will talk about some of the others shortly, including G.V.G.V, Theatre Products and FurFur; if you want to see the full list of designers, here are the brands for the 2011-2012 A/W Collection

    Which ones would you most like to see?

    Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion, Japanese Fashion Tagged With: , , ,

    January 2nd – Naoto Fukubukuro Day!

    January 3, 2011 by

    Well, I had an epic shopping adventure today!

    I decided to start off with my first love – gothic fashion, namely, at Marui One floors 6, 7 & 8.  There was no queue, as I did leave it til after 10am to go…but boy were there shoppers once inside!

    I bought 2 lucky bags from h.Naoto – although the choice from his various ranges was vast, including Gouk, Gramm, Heaven, Peace Now, Sixh etc,  chose Black Peace Now and Anarchy.

    Here’s what was inside:

    Black Peace Now

    I chose the purple bag which was “cool”, the red BPN bag was “pretty”

    Four good items were inside:

    1) an assymetrical hem t-shirt dress, value 9,030 yen 2) assymetrical hem skirt, value 14, 280 yen (I can only just get it done up and it’s a medium)

      

    3) A great black jacket with zips and buckles, value 22,050 yen

     

    4) a white blouse with matching ruffled collar (not in picture), value 14,90

    So you see, the value of any one item made up for the 10,500 fukubukuro charge (or was it 10,000?) 

    Then there was the Anarchy bag for 10,500 yen, which had 6 items.

      

    1) t-shirt type dress with elasticised drop-waist & 2) purple tank top

     

    3) Warm wool jacket and 4) jeans

     

    5) a hip length fleecy hoody with pockets, and 6) a check scarf. I have to admit, these I wore all day.

    You see, the goodie bags weighed so much, and I left my credit card back in my room, so I decided to go back to my hotel and dump it all before heading out to Shibuya. I changed my vinyl jacket I’d worn for the hoodie, and wrapped the scarf round my neck.

    The jeans will have to be sold, as I don’t wear them and they’re too small. The warm wool jacket is a bit too big…but maye Dom can wear it. Not sure if the dress with the drop-waist is really me…will have to wait til I put it on. I have to confess it made me cautious of buying more goodie bags. I only have so much unwanted stuff I can take on the plane!

    After this I went to Shibuya 109, then La Foret and Takeshita Street in Harajuku, before hitting Lumine Est back in Shinjuku and then the subnade. Bought more things, but all separate; no bags. Alas, the pics are on my little camera, and I failed to pack the uploading cable for it…so pics of girls with their fuku bags will have to wait.  I think this is enough for today, but I’ll show the rest of my haul tomorrow.

    What items did you like best in this stash?

    Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Blog entry, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion, Japanese Fashion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,