De-mystifying Japanese Street Style

De-mystifying Japanese Street Style Today, the Japanese are known to have diverse, wild and ingenious fashion ideas and their designers are most commonly world renowned. It is very evident as a walk on the streets of Shibuya will surprise you with fascinatingly dressed people ranging from the youth to the snazzy elderly.

It wasn’t until the mid 19th century when Japan began to follow the western fashion by wearing suits and leaving their hakama clothing in their wardrobes. They have adapted wearing ties and hats at that time for business, especially if they were dealing with foreign businessmen. By the start of the 21st century it had evolved to something as Street style or street fashion where the youth of Japan are on the lead.

Street fashion is a term where the one who wears the outfit customizes his or her clothes in order to get a mixture of current, tradition and forgotten trends – which of course, solely depends on the wearer.

Most clothes are home-made with the use of other materials and items that are purchased in shops or stores.

Currently, the styles in Japan have grown enormously, having a huge selection and mixes from both local and foreign labels. Some of these styles are extreme and avante-garde, which is almost similar to the haute-couture that is commonly seen in the European catwalks. Street style is not only popular in Japan today but is being recognized all over the world, but street style in the sense that it is a style that is commonly seen on the streets still differ depending on the wearer as they have their own style to wear and show the world.

Street Style in Japan is often associated with the mixing and matching of different styles and genres and there’s no known single-sought after brand that can attract or appeal in every style available in the country, which often poses a challenge to clothing stores and brands.

Street styles in Japan are almost all the time quirky and flamboyant with the splash of colors. Lolita is also a fashion style that is very popular with the girls as it has subgroups of gothic, doll, punk and classic. While for the male ones would the Kei fashion which also have sub-groups of Visual, sweet and more, this sort of fashion is leaning towards androgyny.

While of course there are those tamed styles with playful key items found in their outfits.