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New Rock Gyaru store FERNOPAA

November 30, 2011 by

On this most recent Tokyo trip, I discovered a new gyaru store in Studio Alta on the 5th floor, called Fernopaa.  How exciting!

It stood out to me immediately, amidst other retro/bland stores, on account of its rock/glam look – very much like tutuHa. There were lots of spikes and skulls, crosses, metallics, leopard print, stripes, black, splashes of red and fuschia, cool hats..all the things I love 🙂 I really like that there are totally wearable items in there, alongside over-the-top, costumey, for clubs and parties type wear.  For my money, there is more here for the average girl to wear than in tutuHa. But enough babbling, see the store:

This one is not my pic…it shows the store’s layout quite nicely.

The glamorous girls in the store looked familiar…and it turns out they’re ex-tutuHa themselves! Unlike some stores, the girls not only welcome photos, but they take pics of you for their microblog Fernopaasnaap!  I went there in the first few days of my trip, and returned on my very last day to get some more goodies 🙂 The day I last shopped, unfortunately I had no make-up, lenses or lashes on and looked disgusting, but  agreed to pics (oh, I could DIE!).   But it was so cool that they recognised me when I returned and made a big fuss. Anyway, here’s the link to when I was in the Fernopaa store on November 21st.  And here are my photos:

Ami, Morimayu and Yanitan (??) The 2 on the left are so doll-like! The third is very streetwear rock. Ami always wears the pirate hat and Morimayu the tall marching band hat.

I bought some fab wristlets  in the shape of spines, and a new eyeball ring (also just seen on the khaki-clad mannequin)…but I’ll show you these in an upcoming outfit post!

I noticed that gorgeous gal blogger Woxje has done a post introducing Fernopaa too!  She also gives links to the shop girls blogs, so take a look.

All in all, Fernopaa is a real addition to the gyaru fashion scene. If non-gyaru girls like me love it, I can only imagine that gals will flip! Hopefully a webstore will be coming soon…and maybe a shop in 109 one day? Who knows?

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Keepin’ it Teal

November 17, 2011 by

Yesterday’s outfit was all about the teal, with some metallic thrown in. I started off with a beautiful Issey Miyake top I bought at Takashimaya, from the Pleats Please range. It is a black fabric woven through with iridescent sapphire blue and emerald green metallic threads, so the total effect is a shimmery 2-tone effect. (The Pleats Please webstore is here, if you’d like to see more)

Beneath (for it is transparent), I wore a turquoise Topshop tank top. The leather skirt is from Australia..Sportsgirl I think (?) But something is definitely missing from the look…  The look is completed with the addition of lipstick, a chain necklace with crosses, and the star of the show – TA-DAA!! The beautiful feather jacket from Sly.

 teal feather chubby

teal feather chubby

Much better! (Though I do appear to have tickets on myself here, teehee).

Sly teal feather jacket

The jacket was definitely a splurge..but it is so gorgeous, so in tune with my hair colour, that I had to have it.  I’m sure I’ll get lots of wears from it in the cooler months.

Yesterday was Shibuya (where I only got as far as La Foret!).  So pumped was I to go shopping that I didn’t even stop when one of the papparazzi on Omotesando wanted to stop me for pics! (Ok, I regretted it later, but I figured I’d ever see the photos anyway). Today is a fashion exhibition on Cat St at the Cannabis store, called “Void Of Course“, which has an alternative/fetish bent…and then general wandering in the area, as well as Omotesando. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Filed Under: Alternative Fashion, Designers, Fashion, gothic fashion, Japanese Fashion, Outfit posts, Travel Tagged With: , , , ,

Harajuku Street Fashion – the Fashionate Traveller

April 25, 2011 by

Back in March I was in Harajuku, having finally made it to Tokyo…and got street snapped!! The website in question was Fashion Snap, which is one of my faves, and the link to my Fashion Snap pics is here.

There’s a stretch of road on Omotesando, just past La Foret, where photographers from various publications lie in wait for interestingly dressed people to photograph. Like here, where 2 gothic girls are being snapped, and I snap the paparazzi while he’s snapping them:

I got papped once before when with Hana of Finding Tokyo back in January, but never saw if it was published, as we forgot who it was who snapped us. This time I made sure I checked…but as luck would have it, my friends Rebecca and Samuel from Tokyo Telephone, who saw it before I did.

 

 

Unfortunately I’d been out late the night before, at Shibuya Eggman and the Trump Room, and here I am a bit rough and with last night’s make-up on, and no lashes. But you’re not gonna say no when a photographer asks, are you?  Must remember in future to always look immaculate when in Harajuku, just in case…

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Nozomi Ishiguro 2011/12 Haute Couture collection

April 20, 2011 by

One of the Japan Fashion Week shows I that most wanted to see, which was rescheduled for April 15th was Nozomi Ishiguro.

That the collection was Autumn/Winter made it no surprise that fur and shearling was used liberally – but in surprising ways and with splashes of colour that proved Winter doesn’t have to be about grey and black. Bright corals and reds add pops of vibrant delicious colour with hints of regal majesty.

Rich in textural detail, outfits featured shearling skirts and long shaggy shearling boots bound with buckles, but paired with lace leggings for lightness and contrast. Knitwear is artfully distressed, as if unravelled through wear and perhaps battle.

Ishiguro used quilting to great effect, lending a futurist almost cyber look even when paired with shearling or folk details. It reminds me of Burberry Prorsum’s biker pants and jackets, except Ishiguro takes it a step further, fashioning almost a breastplate in the men’s jacket – instant six-pack, anyone?

The warrior armour motif continues in the men’s looks with the use of metallic blacks & greys, luxe silver knit that signifies chain-mail, fur pant overlays and totemic tribal touches – although the tall pilgrim hats on some models seem at odds with the theme to me.

Overall there was a Mongolian warrior meets the 21st century theme. I loved the long shaggy fur coats and boots, but found the furry flat shoes less successful.

Even the ubiquitous camel coloured coat is given an edgy makeover in Ishiguro’s hands, when paired with an intricate belt as befitting an urban warrior, as well as sequinned lapels, a lacy ethereal blouse and drapy pants. Likewise a camel knit skirt is unravelled and paired with an intricate folk print jacket – and platform stripper shoes! There is nothing safe about the use of camel in this collection.

One of my absolute favourite looks is the black and white striped confection below, for its Tim-Burton like aesthetic and its kookiness. Even just the headscarf alone, with the shaggy fur tufting up like a bleached dread mohawk, is intriguing, although I can’t see anyone rushing out to buy the dress with the half fur/half knit skirt – or are they pants?

There are numerous looks to love, as well as a few to ponder over. The folk-futurism of the collection is certainly memorable if not always wearable. What do you think? What are your favourite looks, that you’d wear (if money were no object?)

* Photos from Fashion Snap, but you can see the entire collection at the Nozomi Ishiguro website.

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Post Tsunami Tokyo Decadance

April 14, 2011 by

Originally, my Tokyo dates coincided with Japan Fashion Week, but meant I missed out on Tokyo Decadance. However, due to the tragedy on March 11, Adrien rescheduled (whilst having some R & R in Thailand) – meaning I got to go!

The first part of my evening involved me going to see one of my fave Japanese paddy punk bands, the Cherry Cokes (who I’ve written about before here and here). I’ll save them for another post all their own 🙂

Home from Shimokita after the gig, I changed and got ready for Midnight Mess – also the first after the earthquake and tsunami.

Well, I expected it to be a little quiet and I was right.   BUT the faithful few, both Japanese and western residents, gathered for their first time to party after 2 weeks of mourning and gloom.  How good it was to catch up with old friends like Tara (see below), Kenny, Maya of course, and meet some new people too, like Lily. It was like old times listening to Selia of Seileen sing…

 

But, I had other old friends to see, and the splendour that is Tokyo Decadance to experience for 2011, so off I went to the Christon Cafe, swapping my D Squared skeleton heel shoes for flats for the 10 minute walk through Kabukicho.

Tokyo Decadance

The theme for this TD was white and yellow (white for White Day that it was originally scheduled to celebrate; yellow for giving or charity). This meant you were supposed to dress in white or yellow :/

Easier said than done for those of us of the gothic persuasion! Although I did have that fluoro yellow/green belt, I opted for my favourite white corset with the ribcage on the front, and white tights, hoping this would earn me some discount off the price. It did.

But I tell you, if I wasn’t dressed to the nines as I usually try to for Tokyo Decadance, the other party goers went all out as they always do. I was staggered yet again, at their ingenuity and creativity.  Whether just amazing make-up & outfits, or actual costumes, everywhere you looked, people looked fantastic – in the truest sense of the word!

There were these three, for example, in some kind of cyber-militia space suits:

When I first walked in, I had barely scanned the entrance when I got leapt on and given a big bear hug by a guy with an eyeball hanging off his face – yes, Ryo, of Sexpot Revenge fame! Here we are below left, and right is us last year at the White Decadance (see more at my post here).

 

OK, so yes, I used to dress up quite a bit more…this time I don’t even have a wig on or fake hair attached to my head! But having come from a punk gig and with little time to change much, it just had to do 🙂

One old friend down, and a few to go! Next up was Suzanne and Jab – but doh! Suze had just left to go looking for me at Midnight Mess! But before long, we were reunited, and photos were had.

Soon we were joined by the swoonalicious Kenny, also clad in white like the others:

And let’s just see those shoes of mine that I wore, shall we?

I stayed until almost the end, but headed off just before as I had to get some shopping done the next day before heading to the 13th Moon gig. Hey, it was  after 5am!!

I should really have got lots more photos – including some of Jab who took all these ones, and Kenzo, Coco, Adrien, Kengo and all the familiar Decadance bods. But I really just went to enjoy myself and catch up with friends, chatting with them about how it was for them the day of the quake and since, hearing their stories. That I achieved in spades.

Sometimes for me, just being a person takes precedence over finding content for the blog. If I happen to get a few good pics on the way, fine, but be sure, I’ll always have had a good time, and have given my friends my time and attention. So yah, I ended up pretty cheery, and with a few pics that were too blurry to post, and video that wasn’t really useable. Hey ho – maybe next time!

Coming up soon – Cherry Cokes, Haggis and 13th Moon gigs.

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