HARAJUKU FASHION
How fashion allowed youth to express themselves in niche subcultures, eventually becoming one of Japan's strongest cultural exports.
Harajuku fashion is arguably one of Japan’s more prominent cultural exports, with the eye-catching bright colors and overall grandeur of the clothing styles seeping into American streetwear and culture in recent years. Shaped and consistently redefined by the youth, Harajuku fashion is not just representative of one style, but many subcultures with their own tribal natures and shared values. However, as globalization has intensified and as fast fashion has oversaturated the marketplace, there are claims of Harajuku fashion being “dead.” Others argue that globalization was a major factor in shaping Harajuku fashion and pushing the boundaries beyond traditional Japanese style.
WHAT IS HARAJUKU FASHION?
In the 1980s and 90s, the Harajuku area was the most famous hokoten in Tokyo-- a shortened form of the phrase Hokousha Tengoku, which translates into “Pedestrian Paradise.” Hokotens do not allow cars or traffic through the streets in order to let pedestrians mingle with each other. The ease of mingling and accessibility made Harajuku a popular hangout spot for youth, who were interested in building their own subcultures. Bravely unorthodox and contrasting with the very rigid Japanese societal ideals, 90s-era Harajuku was the perfect breeding ground for new fashions and mindsets.
SUBCULTURES IN HARAJUKU FASHION
Harajuku fashion is particularly interesting because of the very rigid culture in Japan. With many almost ritualistic practices (such as the proper way to accept a business card), long work hours, and the pressure to wear a business suit in the office, younger Japanese people felt trapped in the system. This is a system that tourists fundamentally don’t understand, because as soon as they are identified as a tourist, they’re not expected to know any of the societal rules. However, for a young Japanese person, these extreme social pressures can be suffocating.
Photos by Shoichi Aoki.
In a country that has a word for death from overwork and the hikikomori stereotype of extreme social withdrawal, young people were itching to find a way to express themselves. As mentioned in the discussion about Harajuku style types, many of them were connected with a larger movement or ideology that was in some way, contrasted with the mainstream Japanese thought.
SHOICHI AOKI & FRUiTS MAGAZINE
Shoichi Aoki is a former computer programmer who began photographing street style in London in the 80s. He started STREET magazine in Tokyo in 1985 with his London photos to give local Japanese kids a “slice of time and space”; that is, showing them the radical street style abroad. However, in the late 90s, he became fascinated with the changing street styles in Harajuku. In this interview with DAZED, he recalls three girls who had inspired the first FRUiTS Magazine:
“They had brightly coloured hair, with a mix of kimono items and western clothes,” he recalls. “Looking back, we think of these elements as mundane, but at the time they were fresh. These girls made the new style.”
This mixing of traditional Japanese wear with Western clothing items and styles was a departure from the Japanese cultural norm, which was usually to avoid mixing the two. High-end labels, such as Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto have only experimented with this style of fashion, and kids in Harajuku were casually doing it on their Sunday afternoons. As best said in the DAZED interview, “the Harajuku kids more likely channelled the stylings of their grandparents than the higher echelons of fashionable, Paris-centric taste.”
Japanese fashion houses like CDG, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo are often acclaimed for revolutionizing the fashion in their own way -- however, these are often trends that can be found elsewhere. For example, Kawakubo could have “invented” black, but so did Coco Chanel. The many cultural influences that shaped Harajuku street style arguably made the youths, with their DIY fashion and subculture-driven statements, more original than the fashion houses who were seen as the pinnacle of Japanese fashion.
Fran with Shoichi Aoki @ ComplexCon. Photo by me.
I actually had the opportunity to meet Aoki at ComplexCon in November, which was a pleasant surprise. After handing me a signed print of a girl that reminded him of me (she had blue hair), he chuckled when I apologized for not having dressed better that day. I was curious to hear from himself as to why he had stopped publishing FRUiTS, and his answer was more curt than he was in most interviews: “There weren’t that many cool kids anymore.”
THE DEATH OF HARAJUKU
“If a street is dedicated exclusively to consumption, then it’s fine to have it open to cars, but the budding flowers of creativity needed space to grow.” In an exclusive article that he wrote for i-D Japan, Aoki laments the loss of personality in modern Harajuku district, especially in the loss of the hokoten atmosphere as the pedestrian zone closed in 1999. The loss of easy pedestrian access combined with the growth of the fast fashion industry and mob mentalities from social media all played a big part in what was called the death of Harajuku.
There isn’t one specific reason for the decline in uniqueness of Harajuku’s style. While the restricted pedestrian access definitely plays a role in the death of Harajuku, international fashion chains such as Uniqlo and Adidas have moved into the area. The small businesses in the area, many of which were tailored with eccentric fashion for Harajuku enthusiasts and participants, were soon washed over by fast fashion, with few “authentic” Harajuku shops remaining in the area.
There is also much to be said about when a subculture or trend reaches the mainstream media -- at that point, it’s less about the values, and more about the clothing. In this way, Harajuku fans who had no real ties to the fashion were appropriating the culture. In the eyes of some Harajuku youth, this was no longer their own “thing.” It was cool to have mainstream success, but sometimes things become “too cool,” and they lose their novelty.
The streets seemed like they were no longer built for Harajuku participants, but rather for bigger players and tourists who were looking to adapt the culture into their own.
HARAJUKU FASHION: A PRODUCT OR VICTIM OF GLOBALIZATION?
Gwen Stefani - Harajuku Girls
Globalization has had a profound effect on Harajuku fashion, especially with the proliferation of social media and the fetishization of Japanese culture in general. Many Western perceptions of Japanese youth fashion is not rooted in CDG or Kawakubo; instead, most people still think of the Lolita and Decora Kei subcultures from Harajuku. Celebrities such as Gwen Stefani and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu popularized a very specific, cutesy type of Harajuku fashion, and that suddenly became the mainstream discourse around it.
Allowing pedestrian access to Harajuku is a problem that can only be solved by Japanese lawmakers and civil engineers; however, there is more to this than just accessibility. Social media has made it easier to share ideas beyond borders and even your own bedroom, reducing the incentive for youth to go outside for anything more than a picture. If anything, social media has encouraged the spread of Harajuku fashion street styles to enthusiasts all around the world who dress in these eccentric ways. Tourists who show up to Harajuku are often disappointed by the lack of Lolita fashion, and influencers specifically go to the area to find their own version of “Harajuku style” to bring home.
You can’t just always blame the influencers, though -- the introduction of many international brands has heavily oversaturated the market and made it difficult for vintage stores to compete. The accessibility of fast fashion makes it so that people can now dress fashionably with respected brands, but the homogenization of fashion has replaced the individualism with a more group-centered approach. While different Harajuku trends were definitely niche tribes, they still emphasized an expression of self, and every fashion had a distinct message behind it -- not just that you could afford Uniqlo or dress like your favorite Korean pop star.
Normcore fashion in Harajuku. Photo from Vogue.
One of the styles that has arisen because of popular fast fashion places such as Uniqlo is normcore, a unisex fashion trend that is often associated with average-looking clothing. According to the popularity of this trend, standing out isn’t “in” anymore. The youth of Japan are looking to fit in, and they have different interests now -- rather than expressing themselves in real life, they are expressing themselves online. Instead of only consuming Japanese media, they are fans of Korean pop and American artists. They are no longer emulating ideals that are unique to the Japanese youth, but rather to the world around them.
Despite this all, fashion subcultures still prevail in Japan (albeit not as commonly). Lolita and visual kei are still popular in niche audiences, and most newer designs are diluted for mass appeal. Japan, specifically Omotesando (area near Harajuku), is still seen as a streetwear capital with many renowned artists and designers. All-out Harajuku fashion still exists in the world, but mostly for global audiences who cosplay at conventions.
In my conversation with Aoki, he seemed sad about the decline in truly unique, individual fashion. But I personally believe it was partly driven by nostalgia. It was simpler to photograph people when there were more of them around. However, he expressed hope for the future, chuckling that “kids are getting cooler again” as he discussed his future plans. He has faith in young Japanese kids because they’re uniquely fashionable and still have to deal with the pressures; however, the changing infrastructure of Tokyo and the inescapable social media trends put a spin on fashion like never seen before.
Coco Pink Princess, a popular child influencer and model from the Harajuku district.
I am personally excited to see how Harajuku fashion, and Japanese fashion in general, evolves over time. Aoki believes that the return of Harajuku “must start with the restoration of hokoten,” but I believe that it must start with just letting the kids be kids. Wishing they would gather on Sunday afternoons and watch street performers is a very romantic, yet idealistic, view of what once was. Just as globalization was a moving force in starting Harajuku trends, such as Victorian-inspired Lolita fashion and the American/British-inspired Punk Rock movement, it can also influence Japanese creatives who are still seeking to blend traditional with international. Almost 30 years after Harajuku’s beginnings, Japanese youth in 2019 have different sets of pressures than before, with a very different way of diffusing this pressure at their fingertips. It’s only right that they should be allowed to explore their own means of self-expression through fashion -- after all, no one forced the original Harajuku youth to dress in the way they did.
Photos by Shoichi Aoki.
