Grrrl: Issue One by Kanae Kawasaki

Summer 2013

Editor /Writer

Kanae Kawasaki

Tutors

James Anderson Daryoush Haj-Najafi

Design Tutors

Rob De Niet Rory DCS

Illustrator

Masae Wada

Contributing Photographer (Lu Flux) Ayako Nakamura

Language Advisors Edward Franklin Philip Nayler Elizabeth Thomson Adii Dande Jen Torche Taihei Hanada 2

Grrrl is an one-off lifestyle magazine which concerns womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issues. Our motto is to encourage women who work hard both inside and outside the office. Grrrl believes that all women possess the power to make the world a better place. But it is also true that sometimes some women cannot find their places in the contemporary society. Grrrl asks female writers, fashion designers and a singer who do great jobs to discover what the key is to women enjoying their lives. This magazine contains topics i n feminism but my purpose is creating opportunity to think about women, and not pushing an ideology. Grrrl wants to give you confidence to be happy. This is independent and non-profit publication. So the magazine doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any advertisements. I only introduce people who I have actually met and spoken to.

Hello, grrrls! I think all women are still girls in their hearts. So my first issue is about girls’ culture. In order to provide various views on feminism, I met three female writers; Lucy O’brien and Suzy Corrigan talk about girl’s music movement in the 80s and 90s. And also I met a young fanzine writer who is currently working on her zines. You can see what they think about being women and hear about how they express themselves in our society. For grrrls who love fashion and music, I select great female artists who you are sure to know. Fashion designer, Lu Flux shows us her studio and talks about her ethical identity in fashion. And I focus on a singer, Emmy the Great’s biography and also ask her favourite female people. There is special feature article about Japanese school uniform. Editor of Grrrl investigates why people in Japan are obsessed with juvenile style. You will discover an unknown aesthetic and find out about its scandalous history. I hope you have as much as fun reading it as I had making it.

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7. What is a Girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Zine? 13. Grrrls with Music 21. One-off Garment with Vintage Edge /Lu Flux 27. Manipulating Textiles with Botanical Beauty 31. Candy Pastel Meets Beach 33. Artist Pickup /Emmy the Great 37. Scandal Tale

What is a Girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Zine? 8

Making Own Publication to Express Yourself...

zine is self-published work of original texts, images and illustrations which is normally printed using a photocopier. Zines are written in a variety of formats such as computer printout and handwriting. They cover a broad range of topics: fanfiction, politics, art, design, personal journals and social theory. Alison Piepmeier is a lecturer of Women’s and Gender Studies in College of Charleston in South Carolina and the author of Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism. She said about the importance of making girl zines: “Like zines, scrapbooks offered a space for girls and women to comment on mainstream culture and also to construct community and solidarity” (Piepmeier,2009:30) For many girls, zines were an important factor in enabling them to express themselves in public. This is especially true during the Riot Grrrl movement of late 80s to early 90s, when girls started to publish their own zines. So-called Riot Grrrl zines were initially started in Olympia, Washington State and from there fanzines spread to the other Western nations. Nowadays many people are blogging due to the popularity and easy accessibility of the internet. They can post their fashion, make-up and even academic or politic columns on their blogs with just a computer. Anybody sitting at home can easily express their opinions in public on the internet and the public can easily access these websites and know what particular people thinking and how they live their lives.

At an art book store in East London, Grrrl notices a zine. It is called ‘TEN by 10’ and has a selling price of £1.70. Its subtitle was ‘Women Force’ and it is obviously a girl’s zine. The content of the zine is pretty simple. It consists of ten questions with ten women with ten different jobs. Interviewees include a teacher, a doctor, a managing director, a bartender and a sales assistant. They answer questions relating to being working women. In order to see behind the scenes of this zine, I manage to meet the publisher. Cristiana is working as a freelance writer based in London, and also as an editor and publisher of TEN by 10. She studied Journalism and used to work as a manager at a boutique in Mayfair before she started working as a writer. Whilst she was working at that boutique, Cristiana had been thinking that it was not her dream job. “I had just become a bit too comfortable with my life.” She then recounts the moment when she found a way to live as a writer and shortly afterwards, deciding to make her own publication. “I wanted to do my own thing and then I thought…okay, I’m gonna do a zine. I remember doing them in a high school when I was younger, but they were more personal zines; you know kind of like teenage things. This one (TEN by10) is going to be for the older age group because I wanted do something more mature.”

However, there are some people who continue to make their own publications instead of turning to blogging. Generally speaking, zines are not an efficient way for someone to publish their writings and artworks when compared with blogging: they need to write, print, bind and manage to sell them. So, why do zine makers continue prefer to make handmade publications rather than blogging? Grrrl closes in on a female zine creater to understand the reason for the existence of her zine.

TEN by 10 http://10x10fanzine.tumblr.com/

At the book shop in the East London, there are a whole variety of zines, but why did Cristiana chose the topic of women this time? ‘I have always been involved in feminism, feminist organisations and I have a lot of feminist friends so the first issue seems to be naturally about women in the work place.’ Cristiana has been always thought about feminism but she wanted to make her zine feature topics which are more familiar to many women. ‘Sometimes I find really, extreme examples of situations where women have been really discriminated against in work place and know this to be the case, and they are not like invented [sic]. But I wanted to present like more common situations about present experiences that more women could relate to… So you know, people with jobs, whom they are more likey to have had dealings with in a place of work’.

Cristiana talks about the aims of her zine. After she published the first issue of the zine, she received positive comments from people, even it was the debut first issue. TEN by 10 is currently available on her website as well. Cristiana says she likes to use the internet and she thinks using both internet and paper-based publishing makes her zine more accessible to people. But she emphasised the publication side. “I think maybe people can make it something special. My zine is available for free download so you can buy the paper but if you don’t want to, you can read it online free. These things are not about money. But I think making actually something makes it more flexible, you know it’s like you can look at it, you can write on it, you can photocopy it. It’s like something that stays with you. You know it’s there; it’s physical. It exists in time and space, it’s just a…I think it’s more appeal to it.” [sic]

‘But I think making actually something makes it more flexible, you know it’s like you can look at it, you can write on it, you can photocopy it. It’s like something that stays with you’

The writing style of zines vary but more often than not they resemble a personal diary with spoken language. TEN by 10 does not have a typical zine format. ‘I’m quite a practical person. Sometimes I find zines and magazines don’t have a pragmatic approach to issues. So questions are very like theoretical or like kind of [sic]... They don’t really get into the practical subjects so I’ve always had really practical questions to use.’ In fact, her zine is very clear and concise as she comprehensively laid out questions and answers. She is able to cover the concerns of a whole group of different women as she features women from different spheres and walks of life. “I think it speaks to a lot of women; I think a lot of women can related to the situations and feel like “Oh yeah, this is quite a fair representation of what happens in the world of work”’ she says.

The next issue of TEN by 10 is going to be published this summer, and she is now working on her third issue. After the interview, she says she is going to meet her friend to discuss the layout of her zine. Creating zine can be seen as old fashioned. But Grrrl thinks actual publishing a hardcopy is better than posting and electronic copy on the Internet.

Grrrls with Music

Huggy Bear

We make a big deal of music since it can express our identity. You might think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a case especially for girls; many girls began expressing their inner feelings during the age of Riot Grrrl. 14

Kathleen Hanna

It’s true that girl culture has always had a profound relationship with music, and there is nothing more appropriate than speaking of the “Riot Grrrl movement”. Riot Grrrl was a punk rock movement among young girls and it originally started in the early 90s. It is known that the movement began in Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

feeling gender inequality, or at least less compared to the past. But when young women become older, some of them suddenly notice the issue of being women. People call it feminism or not, Grrrl magazine thinks it is necessary to keep seeking out women’s issues to make our lives better. So I interviewed two women who are familiar with—and indeed got involved in—girl culture and music.

Riot Grrrl bands were often associated with the issues such as patriarchy, and racism, and they were categorised as third-wave feminism. Representative bands were Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, Huggy Bear and there were many other bands which were involved. During this movement, girls produced their zines and art, and they took part in political activities. 20 years later, female musicians can release their songs as well as male musicians. There are still some fanzines influenced by this movement and girls are making their own zines. But it is also true that there are many young women who are not interested in feminism as a label or movement anymore. Sinikka Aapola, Marnina Gonick and Anita Harris are researcher and lecturer specialised in Sociology and Women’s Study and authors of Young Femininity: Girlhood, Power and Social Change. They said about this situation in their book of page 195. “Nordic context, it is often claimed that today’s young women believe they are equal when they are still in education, but will only start to see the need for feminism when they get older and enter the job market and/ or started families.” (Aapola, Gonick and Harris, 2005:195) Thanks to all the feminists and artists who act and contribute to the women’s rights movement, most young women in developed countries can live without

Looking back at the music scene around that time, she says, ‘There were many female artists generally. And punk was very new at that point. And I think what was great about it was for the first time, a lot of young people, girls, boys, they could perform music and they didn’t have to be completely expert. They could just pick up the guitar, play, sing, and do what they wanted to do. And it did not have to be perfect, the whole point…punk was sit at quite raw, it was D.I.Y….you do it yourself.’

Lucy O’brien is the author of Madonna: Like an Icon, She Bop and She Bop II and has been writing on music, feminism and popular culture since the 80s. Lucy grew up in Southampton and she formed a punk band, “Catholic Girls” while she was in a convent school, and was involved in music activity until she left the band to go to Leeds University. Lucy played with a number of bands before giving up performing for writing instead. Lucy is currently a senior lecturer in Music Journalism at UCA Epsom. I meet Lucy in her office. She looks smart and ladylike. In contrast with first impressions, she was a member of the punk band and she used to play music with her friends. It was in the late 70s and before the Riot Grrrl movement. “Well… It was very scary.” Lucy talks about her band activity when she was in “Catholic Girls”. I remember the stage was only six inches high, but it felt as if we were going to skydiving! If you have the whole audience, you look at them, you know the thing ‘We have to do something and perform.’… So it is very scary.” But she says she felt excited at the same time. She recommends all young women do something to get over their fear like her. “It is very scary. But once you survive that you get through it. You realise nothing so scary again”.

For Lucy, playing music in her girlhood was an invaluable experience for her later development. After giving up playing music, she started her writing career by combining the two interests of music and feminism. Drawing on more than 250 firsthand interviews, Lucy has been writing about music, feminism and popular culture since the early 80s. For the Grrrl magazine’s generation, the music scene in the 80s sounds very exciting age. Speaking of the music scene between the 80s and now, Lucy thinks that the Internet has had a big factor to produce many female artists. Now musicians can release music through i-tunes and their websites and she said it’s much more ‘democratic’ for the artists. She says, “Once the music industry was in crisis and they are not powerful as they were. And you don’t need the record company now to get music heard. So I think why a lot more are there, a lot more female artists coming through. Before that—I mean up until even 2005—, any women artists were dependent. Record company were quite conservative when they come to signing female artists or girl’s bands”.

She Bop :Third Edition (2012)

Madonna: Like an Icon (2007)

Now when we see the music charts, half of them are female artists. Most people have never doubted this fact. But before the power of the Internet influenced the music industry, it was not so easy to get high in the rankings. “Say, we’ve got… Rihanna (for example), that’s it…kind of thing. So they might have one key female artist they really push. But they are quite reluctant to sign more. Generally going back to the 80s, you find the record company would invest in maybe just a few female artists…” She talks about how it was difficult for women to enter the music business. While many female singers started coming up big, many women also started working outside the home. Now not only female musicians, but also many working women can shine in their professions just like men. However, as time change, women’s concerns are also changing.

tries to make a mold for young girls. So they buy all the products; they buy hair, makeup products and the clothes... I think that creates a culture that makes young women very anxious about their bodies and themselves. They can’t be really free, they can’t be free about who they are. You know how there are so many magazines that have images that are digitally enhanced, and not real. We know that.’ She thinks that can be the causes of high-rate of anorexia, eating disorders and the pressure to look slim. Lucy always speaks in her calm manner but her eyes are always earnest. ‘I think a lot of this works out, but they impose limitations on themselves who they are, what they can do, achieve, how they should be in the world.’ Especially teenage girls are often “blind” and always threatened by the mass media driven by commercial motivations. The mass media always create their own ‘standard girls’ with the image of photoshopped skinny models.

‘It is very scary. But once you survive that you get through it. You realise nothing so scary again’

Lucy is one of the persons who works hard both inside and outside home as she has two children. She thinks there are still a few key issues in the modern society. ‘That women and men can be equal up until women have children and I mean that slowly changed because now men can get paternity benefits.’ She thinks about times when men couldn’t get paternity benefits a long time ago. ‘I think there are still a lot of prejudices. Once women have had children the employer thinks “she’s had kids she is not going to be as committed to the job, we don’t want to invest money in her...blah blah blah...” in the end it’s all about money.’ Now women have rights equal to men. But it is true that many women feel it is hard to work when they have children. The term ‘maternity harassment’ became known in Japan as their Trade Union Confederation reveals that there are women who were subject to maternity harassment more than sexual harassment in the research in 2012. Whether people call this issue ‘harassment’ or not, many women with children confront difficulties at their work places today. She has a nine years old daughter. While she is bringing up her daughter, she has got another concern which is about “image” and “appearance” related to girls. ‘I think there is a huge amount of pressure and advertising in terms of fashion and everything else that

‘But I think,’ Lucy reminds that there are feminists who act for this issue. ‘One of the areas, where there is still a need for strong, healthy feminists is in body image.’ She emphasises the importance of their activities. At the end of interview, she pointed to a large problem, ‘And I think the other thing is, globally we can’t be to complacent about other countries, non- Western countries like Afghanistan or Somalia.’ It is sometimes hard to take in all the feminist issues around the world as the problems are often complex due to difference in culture, environment, history and religion. In this regard, she talked about a feminist magazine called “Spare Rib”, which used to publish in the UK from 1972 to 1993. ‘It was all about feminist issues globally. And it was written in quite a radical polemical style. So yeah, it was not sitting on the fence. (Laugh!) It was quite campaigning.’ The first issue of Spare Rib was refused to stock by the shops including W H Smith. But later, it sold around 20,000 copies per month and circulated widely. She looked back. “Spare Rib” featured articles about what was happening globally as well as what was happening here in the west. All equally important because it affects all.’

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D.C. , so there were people who had bands here. So they were all kind of coming up together at same time. So maybe English side took a little bit longer, a little tiny bit longer, but people were involved from the beginning,’ She shares. She explained there were both American and British involved in this movement. ‘… it started happening in England in 1992. But maybe there was six months where the English people from the bands who were kind of in touch with these people in America. And they toured over there. “This is happening! This is happening!”’ Suzy talks.

Suzy Corrigan has been a writer for i-D magazine for more than 20 years. She is from Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to England after completing her degree of Humanities at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Suzy contributed a chapter to a book “Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now!” in 2007. In this book, she wrote about how one girl joined the feminist riot movement in growing America during the 80s. I meet Suzy in Holborn and she suggests me to go to the park together. We sit on the grass in the sun. Suzy gives me handmade brownie and we start to talk. At first, I ask about how Riot Grrrl firstly originated in America but she immediately comes back with ‘Oh, they were here too!’ It is generally known that the movement started in America but, ‘There were people in America but there were also people from England. In Britain but mostly England. They were doing fanzines, they were writing letters to some of the people in the bands in the west coast of America and Washington

She says that the Americans and the English always have the same talk: While English were talking about Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore, Americans were talking about the Smith, Talulah Gosh, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Cocteau Twins. In Japan, there are a lot of massive fans of Nirvana, but there are not so many people talking about Riot Grrrl. When I ask her this, she answered with a laugh. ‘Really? Probably you didn’t hang out with the right people!’ She talks about some Japanese female bands in the 90s such as Buffalo Daughter, Cibo matto, etc. Then she adds ‘I just saw bands of all kinds. They all knew about each other and they were all kind of updating more internationally even living in just like the cities.’ Through her talk, I could understand how musicians were supporting each other to produce their music and also this can be seen in the girl bands movement as well. Suzy also talks about the factor, D.I.Y. which was important for many young girls to join Riot Grrrl. ‘You know, I remember when you couldn’t, not everybody had even the phone in their house and you had to do with the letters, you had to go to a call box, or you had to arrange for your friends at various call boxes at the same time...just wait for the letter and wait for all things happen,’ She says. ‘People were just doing things before the track the tape recorder or they practiced just with the tape recorder and turn the tape recorder

on and just play in front of it. Really all you could do is drums, bases and guitar, voice and maybe the couple little have noise … just anything.’ She adds. It is clear from what Suzy as well as Lucy say, that girls used to produce everything by themselves. They were making their own music, fanzines and communities where girls empathise with others. But it was just before technology changed society. Some bands started taking advantage of this wave and girls gradually discarded the D.I.Y. approach. Suzy gives a sigh and says “Now it’s very impossible to do. It’s more impossible to do things for free.”

‘Well, everybody, even the nicest person needs to be a hypocrite at times. You know sometimes two feminists can disagree with her man, but it’s okay to disagree.’ Suzy comments on the diversity of feminism. ‘But the important thing is that they are just different points of view. You know, when you look at them, they are fighting.’ Sometimes the mass media only focus on the feminists who have radical ideas and some people have the image that all feminists are extreme even though there are other feminists against them.

‘Really all you could do is drums, ‘Really all you bases and could do is drums, guitar, we discuss bases and guitar, Finally, voice andthat thinking about feminism has never end as we voice and maybe maybe the always face problems. ‘You think you’ve done the couple little It can be said that the work, then you wake couple until mid 90s, for both up the next morning and girls and boys, they like Greek myth and have noise … just it’s have the milieu to find you have to roll and their comfort zone in rock up the hill again!’ society without spending anything’ Suzy laughs. much money and using technology. But it is also true that there are still some girls who create their own zines and sell them for pounds. I showed some of zines to Suzy and she curiously flips over the pages. ‘Oh yeah, this is Riot Grrrl zine!’ As she has been thinking of girls and their culture up until today, I ask her opinion. ‘A lot of women are more consumer feminism. They are sort of like “Oh I have to have freedom to have kids or not…” “I have to have freedom to shave my legs or not…” “If I wanna go pole dancing, I’ll go pole dancing!” it’s just sort of like “You cannot pole dance, you wait the equality.”(L) They think work hard and play hard is equality, but it’s not equality,” Suzy talks. In terms of feminism, it is difficult to take in all the ideas as feminists have different perspectives and their opinions are sometimes conflicting: Some women protest against prostitution legalizations while other women trade sex to survive.

Riot Grrrl:Revolution Girl StyleNow! (2007)

f f o e n

Gar ments a h t i w tage E n d i ge V Fashion designer, Lu Flux talks about her aesthetic of making clothes using only vintage and organic materials. 23

Lu Flux

is London based fashion designer who designs playful and heart-warming clothes using complex knitting, pleating and patchwork skills. But Lu Flux’s most unique idea is that all her garments are made with vintage and organic materials. Since Lu debuted at London Fashion Week as a part of Vauxhall Fashion Scout in 2009, she has stuck to using recycled materials which she collects by herself. Terms such as “Ethical Fashion” and “Eco Fashion” are now in vogue. Marie Claire labelled Stella McCartney “The Queen of Eco-Cool” on their website as she considers the sustainability of fashion and doesn’t use fur, silk, sheep wool or leather. But it is also true that Stella McCartney has collaborated with brands such as H&M and Adidas which have had labour issues with their production process. For many designers, sticking to an ethical approach is often difficult to sustain. But Lu Flux is one such designer who keeps producing clothes in an ethical way without referring to her brand as ethical. Grrrl magazine visits Lu Flux’s studio in Hackney to examine close up her process of making clothes with recycled materials. When we arrive at the studio, she greets us with her two adorable dogs and told us their names. In her workplace, there are countless types

of vintage fabrics on tables and in shelves. There are also many vintage travel bags and teddy bears on display, and all the furnishings are retro-looking. We started talking whilst music played on a radio in the background. I ask her about the abundant fabrics in studio. ‘It’s because I’ve just collected them really. It’s quite a passion of mine and so…in keeping all these materials I considered using them. After some time I had quite a large collection which I just left for some time because I didn’t want to use them. I thought that once I started using individual items, I wouldn’t be able to find them again but I really like the fact that everything I make is just unique.’ She says she has been collecting vintage materials since she was around 15 and apart from the fabrics, she also keeps many different varieties of buttons in bins in her collection. There are many designers who are inspired by vintage clothes or who use vintage materials for the part of their collections. For Lu, recycling is an essential part of creating clothes. Furthermore, all resources are collected by Lu herself. It doesn’t appear to be all that easy. ‘Well it’s quite difficult to do… it is quite long process. Say for example to make 20 dresses: you have to find the fabrics; you have to source them; loan them ; wash them and check them for holes and damage … it’s long process before you can even start making the garments.’

‘Every time, I love it. Because every piece is different and I think that’s my aesthetic as well.’

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Lu says it takes a long time to do but she doesn’t let this tiring process show on her face. She adds, ‘But I really enjoy that part of process as I enjoy collecting, and appreciating the fabrics.’ Lu works at free recycling centres, supermarkets and boots sales to find her vintage materials. She says that she has never thought not to use vintage and organic materials for her collections. ‘Every time, I love it. Because every piece is different and I think that’s my aesthetic as well.’ Speaking of today’s fashion industry, it is true that many consumers start buying their clothes at fast high street brands. Some of the high brands collaborate with fast brands and people see how much fast fashion influences the whole fashion industry. Lu tells us her opinion. ‘Well, I think that its first and foremost about business. It’s hard because it’s aimed at people… you need to educate them about being a consumer. People don’t need so many things. But because of advertising, you know that all of the distributive shops are all trying to survive, and are all producing these things. It’s such a hard machine to fight against as one designer. So I try and do the best I can for me and my consumers.’ Lu emphasises her policy: ‘I could make something… I could not use vintage materials, I could get sixty different roles of fabric and produce one hundred dresses the all same. And that could compete. But I don’t wanna [sic] do that. Because they are not unique and have no story behind them. They lose what is essential to my garments and essential to me.’

‘...I could get sixty different roles of fabric and produce one hundred dresses the all same. And that could compete. But I don’t wanna do that.’

Lu Flux is now regularly making clothes more client-focused rather than strictly on a seasonal basis. This summer, she will show her new collection which is inspired by the female quilt makers of Gees Bend, Alabama. Quilts of Gee’s Bend are created by a group of women who live in an isolated AfricanAmerican hamlet in Alabama. Gee’s Bend quilters originally started making an improvisational and irregular quality of patchworks in the 19th century. Women used many tags to created patch work quilts for their children to keep their warm. ‘So every time I make one for production, I make another quilt and it cut out so each one of them is slightly different,’ she says. ‘I’ve just been interested in them for a while…and what I wanted to do was to use a quilt as a starting point to each dress, each dress being based upon one of the quilts. I mean ladies of Gees Bend have been established for a really long period of time so these dresses are styled towards the 30s and 40s.’ Lu shows her new collection pieces to us. The dresses contain countless kinds of fabric: different colours, different patterns and different textures. Most garments also feature pretty embroideries. She explains about each garment with a smile and we can see how much she loves each dress. Lu Flux says she started creating clothes when she was around five years old. Her mother taught her how to knit, sew and crochet. It is not an understatement to say that for Lu, making clothes and collecting vintage material is her life.

pulati i n a M ng

i l t e s x with e T tanical Bo Beauty Warm-hearted botanical and floral textiles are casually displayed at Hanna Webbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhibition space. Her eleven pieces, and also various types of flower printed stickers and her business cards which she has designed communicate Hannaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love for nature to the visitors at Free Range 2013 exhibition. 27 28

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Hanna Webb Hanna Webb is living in a small village called Woolavington in Somerset and studies textile design at Somerset College. She thinks that travelling is the best way to get new inspirations as her respected artist and photojournalist is Dan Elden. So she travelled around a lot over the summer 2012. But unexpectedly the place she was most inspired with was a small village Brent Knowle in Somerset. Most houses are covered with crawling ivy and this attracted Hanna to the village. ‘I love the way that the ivy is almost playing with humanity, teasing it, by overpowering our man-made structures and this is what let me to think about how much power nature can actually have,’ she talks. Botanical and floral print design is Hanna’s signature. There is a memory with her mother behind the creation. When her mother had mounted a drawing of flowers which Hanna had done as a child, Hanna thought it is the time to move on from the childish drawing and put something else in the frame. Hanna found beautiful botanical illustrations hidden behind her own drawing which her mother had torn them out of a book ‘The Diary of an Edwardian Lady’ when she was young. Her mother’s book instantly inspired Hanna and took her into the botanical world.

but it’s important to understand that to become stressed is something which is quite natural as a human being, so taking a step back sometimes and looking for a solution is the best option.” This attempt might combine Hanna’s human power and nature power together, and create the vigorous art. At the Free Range 2013 exhibition, Hanna met a lot of new people and needed to positively explain her work. This experience seems boosted her confidence. ‘It’s made me sit back and think, “You know what?” I am actually quite good at this’ she told herself to behave as a professional textile designer. After her graduation, Hanna wants to start up her own home-wear business, targeting the vintage and shabby chic market, and now is planning to sell through “Etsy” and “Notonthehighstreet.com” and visit tradeshows to get the name of ‘Hanna Textiles’ out there.

Hanna’s sensibility expresses the healing power of textile design to visitors and reminds people idyllic English countryside. In contrast with her design, Hanna struggled with her new challenge for the creation while she worked for this collection. She had never been confident with print design but she tried for her final pieces. ‘..I considered it to be quite a scary and risking stepping stone to take, but as soon as I took that risk it all started to come together and has led me to a collection which I am incredibly proud of.’ She looks back on her effort, ‘Sometimes things can get a little bit heated and stressful which can always be considered as a bit of a set back,

P a y s d t n e l a e e M ts B C

e ac

At the Exhibition Space of Free Range 2013, Grrrl Sees the Sweetest Collection Emma Wall

is a fashion design student of Falmouth University and she is showing her graduation collection “Summer Daze” at the exhibition. Pastel-coloured, her garments are displayed with colourful roses. Emma stands by her space and shyly talks about her collection.

and wintery which is what I wanted to put across as my final collection, so I went back to my concept and added some of my own personality to it to create a collection that I was very happy with and excited about making,’ Emma tells me. In contrast with her original plan which she wanted to create wintry garment, her collection looks very summery and pleasant. Emma chooses the beach for the location of photo shooting.

She is from Worcestershire and studies at Falmouth as the university has friendly atmosphere and great facilities. She loves girly brands such as Red Valentino, Lashes of London and Fairground as they have a feminine style to their garments but have hints of sass and attitude within the designs.

‘Living in Falmouth is such a unique University experience and it would have been a shame not to take advantage of the beautiful surroundings. I think the scenery and the pastel colour pallet complimented each other well,’ She talks about why she did photo shooting in the beach rather than the studio.

Emma talks about her final collection, ‘I think my collection is different as it is not just completely girly, each item is a statement garment which can be styled, or mixed and matched with a variety of looks’. In fact, all pieces are wearable and they can match any clothes as they have simple designs.

Emma is one of the people who were selected to join the graduation show. ‘I was pleased with what I had achieved. Of course there is always bits that you want to change and wish you could have done slightly differently but overall I was happy with the outcome,’ she admits openly. She is not completely satisfied with her final collection, it is clear to Grrrl that Emma is such a perfectionist. Now Emma is perfecting her portfolio as she improving her pattern skills.

All her garments are clean and light colours such as pink, purple and blue but Emma did not actually plan to use the pastel palette. ‘Originally my line up was mostly monochrome colours, very dark

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Pickup Artist

Emmy the Great

Emma Lee Moss is better known as the London based singer-songwriter Emmy the Great. Emma was born in Hong Kong and moved to London at the age of 12. Her charming smile and sweet voice have attracted an audience, and at first she seems like just another pretty female singer. But if you listen to her lyrics, you can hear how much Emma’s songs reflect the real feelings of women. Her debut album, First Love, was released in 2009, and suggests the idyllic English countryside with its acoustic guitar and violin melodies. The album’s title track is a story of young girl’s unhappy, unromantic experience with a boy. Emma says about this song, “He meets her on the bench and he ends up taking back to her room, moving to her room and he just leaves, after she has got pregnant” (Emmy the Great talks about ‘First Love’, 2009). She says this story comes from the short novel (novella) First Love, but she retold the scene from a sentimental yet impassive girl’s point of view. Two years later, Emma released her second album, Virtue. Compared with the first album, the lyrics deal with more ‘mature women’ rather than just young girls. The song ‘A Woman, A Woman, A Century of Sleep’ is about a lonely house wife who always stays at home and waits for her husband. As Emma says about her personal life while she was making this album, “… I had such a wired experience while I was writing them. I was engaged from basically the moment I was started writing them until about half way through. Afterword I was not engaged...” (Emmy the Great – Interview – Bandstand Acoustic Session, 2009). That experience is definitely reflected in her work. But the album is actually not too personal, as she also read many fairy tales and myths

during the writing process, and some of her songs on this album were inspired by the brave female characters from these stories. Soon after Emma’s second album, which shows her blossoming into a woman through her sad experiences, she released the collaboration album This is Christmas with Ash’s Tim Weeler, her current boyfriend. In contrast with Virtue, this Christmas album mostly consists of homey and joyful Christmas songs cowritten by Emma and Tim. They performed these songs in London in December 2012, and most of Emma’s fans were glad to see her happily playing music with Tim. Emma is currently recording her third album, featuring the modern city of Hong Kong where she spent her early life, and plans to have it finished by the end of summer 2013. Emmy the Great is a singer who offers an original view point on the feelings of women. Grrrl magazine asked which female role model she most respects. “It’s so hard to choose. There are these incredible female role models who have worked so hard to push forward in the public eye, often making huge sacrifices to do so. And then there are all the incredible women who have made sacrifices away from the public eye and also make the world a better place.” As expected, there are many females whom she respects, but Emma’s final answer was simply lovely. “... I guess in my own personal universe my mum and my auntie have taught me everything about female strength and love and community, so they’re my heroes.” Above all, her mother and aunt had the greatest impact on shaping Emma’s character as a woman.

First Love (2009)

Virtue(2011)

This is Christmas(2011) Emma often talks about novels, myths and fairy tales, and it’s obvious that she likes reading. When I asked about her favourite female writer at the moment, she responded, “My favourite writer at the moment is called Jennifer Egan. She wrote a few books that I love, Visit From the Good Squad, and Look at Me. She messes around with form and her subject matter really talks to me, she can be hyper modern, which excites me.” ‘Hyper modern’ seems to be the keyword of her next album as she focuses on the great urban city of modern Hong Kong.

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Scandalous Tale

Japanese schoolgirlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uniforms are seen as cute by some, but deemed dubious by others. Grrrl investigates the complex issues surrounding this obsession with juveniles

used to wear school uniform, when I was in high school in Japan. At that time I was unconsciously feeling that people were sometimes seeing me as a ‘school girl’ rather than just an ordinary person, especially the opposite sex. It was not a terrible feeling but I was sometimes annoyed about it, although couldn’t explain the reason why. Now I am older, I still see some people are obsessed about school girls so I naturally thought that school girls wearing school uniforms are something special in my country. But since I came to the UK, I have realised that this doesn’t often happen in Europe and started thinking how we think about ‘cuteness’ in Japan. Women in the UK seem to aspire to look gorgeous, sexy or sometimes modern and artistic rather than the cute girliness popular in Japan. It is true that all countries have all different asthetics and there are many reasons; people have different appearances, lifestyles and history. I have started having both Japanese and European sensibilities and am able now to objectively see own culture, so I decided to research the Japanese fascination with girls’ school uniform. It is generally known that the purpose of school uniform is for students to look the same as each other and be consistent with others. However, In Japan, school uniform seems not only for uniforming students. People in Japan often see young female singers and anime characters wearing school uniforms. In Tokyo Fashion Week, Mikio Sakabe designed men’s clothes which featured Japanese girl’s sailor uniforms in his 2012 autumn/winter collection. Shueh Jen-Fang, designer of Jenny Fax also designed her 2012 spring/ summer and autumn/winter collection with many school girl’s items such as white blouse with thin ribbon ties and navy pleated skirts. Sharon Kinsella, lecturer of Yale University in the Department of Sociology who specializes in Japanese girl’s culture said about Japanese school uniform, ‘It has been as ubiquitous to dress culture in Japan as blue jeans have been to America.’ (Kinsella, 2002: 215) She thinks that Military-style uniform is an icon of modern Japanese culture. But Japan is not the only country where people wear school uniform when they

are students. So why has Japan such a peculiar interest that makes uniform desirable even outside the school environment? Looking back over the history of girl’s uniform, it started being widely worn in the 1920s, about 40 years later than boys: they started wearing Japanese army clothes as school uniform which was influenced by both the French and Prussian army. Girl’s uniform was known as “sailor suits” and the origin of its design was the nineteenth century’s English navy and it was the official outfit of the Japanese navy. Before school girls started wearing sailor uniforms, they used to wear uniforms based on the kimono. But young Japanese women started wearing Western-style clothes in this era as a matter of practicality. It is also known that when the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in 1923, many women who were wearing kimonos found them impractical for fire evacuation. At the end of the Pacific War, surviving soldiers and airmen were demobbed. Society shifted from Japanese national identity “Kokutai” which can be translated as “Emperor’s sovereignty” to the “educationalist society” under the management of government institutions. But schoolchildren continued to wear military-school uniform and these children reminded people of the pre-war army and education system and society. In the postwar years, Japan experienced a high-growth period and people started talking about Western culture. Meanwhile, the image of girl’s uniforms also started changing. Uniformed school girls appeared in novels, erotic comic books, illustrations and videos. In the 60s, the word ‘Ero-gro(Erotic and grotesque)nonsense’ became one of the buzzwords as counter-culture produced pulpy and psychotic images; schoolgirls being seduced or raped by monsters, schoolmasters or elderly relatives. People thought it was vulgar and ridiculous, but it was a factor in the association between porn and school girls.

First Sailor Uniform in Fukuoka (1920)

Jenny Fax /2012 Spring Summer

Mikio Sakabe /2012 Autumn Winter 41

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)

Sailor Moon (1992)

The transgression of young schoolgirls into adult roles is apparent in 1980 films and TV shows such as “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun” (Sa-ra-fuku to Kikanju). It is about a schoolgirl in uniform who wields a machine gun and leads a gang and this became a national smash hit. “Sunset Kittens” (Yuyake Nyan Nyan) was a broadcast at 5 p.m. every night, turning amateur schoolgirls still wearing their uniforms into television idols. This show was extraordinarily popular. Steadily the image of school girls was created by the media was imprinted in people’s subconscious minds. During the 90s, animation was also one of the factors to revive the impact of school girl uniforms. Wellknown comic, “Sailor Moon” is about five teenage girls wearing school uniform and the transformation into magical warriors to save earth from the force of evil. This comic soon became anime and it was popular with not only girl children but also a wider audience as it was screened every Sunday night. There are countless reasons that Japanese people see girl’s uniform not just as student’s wear due to animations, comics and TV programs. During the 90s, an immoral social phenomenon happened among the real school girls. A new sex industry had emerged that was focused exclusively on schoolgirls. This industry was based around “bloomer sailor”(bru-sera) shops catering to men with school sports pants which were worn by girls. Some girls were selling off items of their school uniforms and knickers for quick cash. But things did not rest at that. “Compensated dating” (enjo ko-sai) was defined as prostitution which older men give their money or luxury gifts to attractive teenage girls for companionship and possibly for relations. It became the great scandal concerning unscrupulousness of schoolgirls and the “Law for Child Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution” was established in 1999. Since then, the intense interest had been taken in high school girls by the culture business sector. The lable,‘high-school girl’ was coined in the 90s and given massive coverage by the media which emphasised criticism of their materialism and desire to get money at any cost. So that is the history between the public and schoolgirls. But, I questioned that why the young girls were blamed, rather than the adult men who exploited them, both sexuality and in the media. I felt the label for school girls can be seen as an icon which was created by the media and sex business. But am I just hypersensitive for girls to cover them?

I wanted to discover what other Japanese people think about girls’ school uniform and started to conduct a survey. Firstly I posted the survey on Facebook and the response gradually increased; some of my friends also shared my survey with their friends. But the answers were not enough to understand public opinion as most respondents were the same generation as my friends and their answers were similar. I also posted on my Twitter account but I didn’t expect any responses, because I have only few followers. However, one scholar who specialised in sociology and fashion, “re-tweeted” my tweet and soon after an author who published the book about the history of Japanese fashion re-tweeted as well. Thanks to them, I immediately doubled the responses from all ages. I asked only two questions: ‘What do you think of our culture in which girl’s uniform is often seen as anime, costume play and singer groups?’ and its reason. More than half of people think it is good. Their most popular reason was, ‘Kawaii! (Cute)’ and all of them who answered were in their 20’s. People who think ‘not very good’, and ‘neither good nor bad’ are both around 20 percent. I found some of interesting answers from them. ‘It is good to see the schoolgirls who personalise their uniform by themselves. But when there are many singer groups wearing girl’s uniform, I feel it seems that they create a symbol of depersonalized bureaucracy for girls.’, or is this what ‘I felt perverted lust when female singers wears school uniform. But more than that it is interesting why people see models dressed in sailor uniforms not as a group of shipmen but schoolgirls.’ There are also some critical comments. ‘It is just looking down the women. I used to hate wearing it when I was in high school.’ Through the answers of 40 respondents, I could understand there are some people who notice that the schoolgirl’s movement was intentionally created. Girl’s uniform is cute. But people are sometimes seeing school girls through the image created by someone. And that image can be burdens on girls. Now I think all I can do is always expressing misgivings to the black hole of the media to not create peculiar images anymore. Through the answers of 40 respondents, I could understand there are some people who notice that the schoolgirl’s movement was intentionally created. Girl’s uniform is cute. But people are sometimes seeing school girls through the image created by someone. And that image can be burdens on girls. Now I think all I can do is always expressing misgivings to the black hole of the media to not create peculiar images anymore.