Hello Japan! Asian fashion trends

As I have promised, we are now in Japan – our next stop on Asian tour!

How does a typical Japanese girl look like? Usually, she has straight sleek black hair, upward slanting eyes, round button nose, full rounded cheeks, high cheekbones, olive to caramel-colored complexion. She is also taller and slender than other Asians but comparing to an average European, she is still shorter and thinner.

What does she usually wear?

That’s actually a fundamental question when we talk about ‘typical’ Japanese look and there is no certain answer for that. Generally speaking, the relatively high income available to the Japanese youth is significant, which means that majority of them can afford a lot of foreign luxury brands. Their look is very modern, often influenced by Western Europe or United Sates.

However Japanese styles have changed over the years, we can still notice young adults wearing subculture attire in large urban fashion districts such as Harajuku, Ginza, Odaiba, Shinjuku and Shibuya.

Let’s begin with Lolita style, which become one of the larger, more recognizable styles in Japanese street fashion. We recognize different styles within Lolita look such as: Gothic/Sweet/Hime/Punk/Kodona or Classic. But all of them have some main features such as:

primary inspiration of clothing and general aesthetics of the Rococo and Victorian periods
blouses or shirts are lace-trimmed or ruffled in the Victorian style
knee length socks with boots, bonnets, brooches, and a lace parasols
artificial eyelashes and decorated nails

Another very popular style is “Mori Girl”, meaning ‘girl from the forest’. Usually characterized by:

loosely fitting layers of garments such as floaty dresses and cardigans
natural fabrics (cotton, linen, wool) and hand-made or vintage accessories with a nature theme
color scheme tends to be light and neutral, but patterns such as gingham and floral may also be used

Of course, besides having a colorful and a huge uproar of girly-glam style, a lot of Japanese simply choose very classic and elegant look. They usually work in offices or big multinational companies and we call them office-ladies.