Nude n’ Rude Koenji, 2012

Back in 2010 I first wrote about Nude n’ Rude – a goth/punk/fetish/alternative fashion store in Koenji, Tokyo.

I always try to visit Nude n’ Rude as I just love so many of the labels they carry, known to us in the west – like Iron Fist, Kreepsville 666, Lip Service, Demonia etc…as well as other Japanese labels and now their own Nude n’ Rude Couture 2012 line.

Since I was in Koenji recently for Secret Dog, ilil etc, I decided to combine them in the one afternoon shopping trip (along with a few other stores, still to come in future posts).

I wondered what had changed since my last visit a year ago. Peering in the shop windows, I was heartened to see the same kinky, kooky, retina-searing flavour throughout:

Nude n Rude store window [Read more…]

Outfit blast from the past – blonde cybergoth in 2004

By way of reminiscing over my misspent “youth”, here’s a snapshot of October 2004, or thereabouts. Having gone blue and worn blue and purple synth dreads in the early part of the year, I decided to go blonde. Very light blonde. And start braiding other things in my hair. First there was colinette wool, then blonde synthetic dreads:

 

My wardrobe at the time was very cybergoth, consisting of PVC mini-skirts, PVC buckled patform boots, buckled PVC corsets (do you see a theme here?), and sometimes bright neon green raver accents.

There was also a fair bit of silver and metal thrown in there…like this metal bodice and spiked wristbands from Allycat metalware. (Yes, I still have them)

I also tried cyberlox for the first time – not just falls plonked on my head, but braided in to look more natural. I put a silver rinse through my hair first to try to match it. And here I am with the reigning queen of Sydney cybergoth at the time, Amelia aka DestroyX.

  

A close-up shows the silver on my face and arms..I just got some silver hairspray, closed my eyes, and sprayed like crazy. Shoulda got silver contact lenses. Oh well.

Amelia had fantastic falls she had begun making and selling, in foam, plastic and tubing.

 Would I wear these today? Not really. You can still see girls wearing exactly this type of clothing, boots and hair – but they’re in their 20’s, and that’s probably as it should be. How old was I back then?

40 years old.

Yep. Yikes. Even though I undoubtedly looked good for my age, age-appropriate went right out the window. Still, you gotta give things a go. And if you’re under 40, I say to you…take a chance and wear something daring! Cos at least you know there was someone there before you, wearing something sillier. And it was probably me, #growing old disgracefully.

Panelled armour clothing

It’s rather obvious that I’ve been away from things for a while, first with travelling, then with moving house, then waiting to get internet connected (a month without!!), and finally getting a new puppy. Sometimes there are more important things to do than spend time on the internet, yanno?

But as things have setlled down, I’ve found myself with a little breathing time, and am playing catch-up with blog-reading, retail shopping and finding inspiration. Checking out Luisa Viaroma, I drooled over this amazing dress from Gareth Pugh.  I’ve always loved the futurist/armour look, and in matt black it is much more subtle than the shiny silver slashed dress and leggings of his earlier collection. The jacket is there too – and also out of the reach of mere mortals pricewise – but each of them is SO wearable!

 

Moving on from one type of fab panelled garment to another,  Artifice Clothing  has an exciting new range of cyber panelled pvc clothing with trim that glows in the dark!  There are corsets, shrugs, bra tops, collars and wrist cuffs to complete the look. White shows the glow-in-the-dark nature really well, but black always has a classic look – see for yourself!

See the website for more covered up options as well.

For the guys, there’s always SDL which has been doing cool armour clothing for years. Like these tops:

 

The bug panelled bodices for both genders are also very cool:

If panelled bodices/vests with shoulder pads are more your thing, for a Mad Max look, try these babies:

 

And now, for more panelled-clothing drooling…..