A close friend of mine recently returned from Japan.  I was of course eager to hear about her trip, where she had been and what she had seen. After several hours of in-depth conversation, what came across most in our discussion was that Japan is a beautiful country, their Starbucks is better than ours and that the people there pay much more attention to how they dress. I remember her saying that out of all the places she had traveled to (such as Rome, London, Barcelona); Japan was the place where she had seen the most, well-dressed individuals. Fashion trends were evident; the women wore the latest designers and runway styles while the men looked sharp in their tailored suits. She recalled that even Janitors could be seen in business attire: as she had been told, all jobs are respected in Japan.

This cultural view of work and the world of business as highly desirable appears to be less and less appealing to the younger generations of Japan. This too becomes evident in style trends; the way which Japanese teens have begun to dress in the last several decades. Eccentric and over the top, these subcultures of the fashion-world are much like dress-up for adults. A prime example of this is Lolita fashion. Heavily influenced by Victorian and even Baroque styles, clothing items are most often embellished with ruffles, bustles and lace. Lolita fashion has a number of sub-styles including Gothic, Punk, Sweet (often literally decorated with sweet food items) and Classic. The culture surrounding these trends is highly immersive: shopping venues are creatively themed and there are life style magazines just for Lolitas. However, the reason why many Japanese teens claim this style as their own seems to be fairly simple. When questioned, many Lolita’s explain that their reason for choosing this particular fashion is no more complicated (or deep) than that they are mimicking a Japanese hard rock band or because it’s cute.

Lolita fashion seems very unlike anything I have come across in the states. Gothic Lolita is incredibly distinct from American Goth: Lolita’s are highly effeminate, cute, with china doll faces and a mountain of curls. In contrast, the American standard of Goth is most often black clothing, hair, lipstick, eyeliner, boots etc.  The American Goth may be influenced by period themes and Gothic Lolita’s usually wear some black but the similarities seem to end there.  In fact, there are few fashion trends I have come across which are so involved or so much like the children’s tradition of dress-up. The closest parallels I can imagine are cultural fads such as Steampunk or Sci-fi, where enthusiasts often create elaborate costumes and accessories for themselves. Such enthusiasts however are looking to participate in or escape to a fictional and fantastic world. Lolitas seem to be content in this version of reality; the bizarre style is instead a method of separating themselves from the rest of society.

It has been suggested that these over-the top, outlandish styles reflect certain underlying social trends in Japan. The Japanese tradition of highly valuing society, as well as authority figures, is beginning to wane. The youth of Japan are endeavoring to separate from old culture ideologies; through their clothes they are individuating themselves.[1]  This is reflected further in the fragmentation of popular fashion. It seems that there are myriads of trends which Japanese teens chose from; Lolita and its sub-styles are just a few of the many options. These trends, however, are always defined by a fairly strict set of rules. Although Japan is beginning to grow more and more interested in the Individual, they remain a high context culture (a concept explained by Katherine Isbister in her book Better Game Characters by Design: the Psychological Approach) . A significant emphasis is placed on the rules and social cues of the fashion world: while they are often unspoken rules they continue to be a strong organizational force in this culture.[2]

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[1] Kawamura, Yuniya. “Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion.” Current Sociology. 54.784 (2006): 787-789. Print.

[2] Kawamura, Yuniya. “Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion.” Current Sociology. 54.784 (2006): 787-789. Print.