Is J Fashion Dying?

>>9102227
I think it's just changing. Stuff like this always happens.
Stop being paranoid. Even if it does die, you'll find other ways to spend your money I'm sure.

>>9102232
They're just so different from each other it seems weird for both to have some kind of business / money problem at the same time. That's why it made me think there could be something on an industry level?

I agree with the other anon. I don't think it's dying exactly but like most alternative fashions it's just changing. Look at current street snaps from TF and compare them to older ones. Overall trends fade in and out and general styles change, the way people buy their clothes has changed too. Wouldn't be surprised if there's more of this, though I agree it is a bit unsettling to watch, and I wonder how other brands will contend with the way the market and trends are changing. (specifically wondering about what moitie to be honest)

>>9102238
I can't speak for milklim but h.naoto seems like it's been having these issues for some time, they have closed a lot of stores over the years.

Also, speaking as someone who isn't super knowledgable about this so IDK how true this is, but as for milklim it could be something as simple as perhaps the rent is too high in Harajuku and they'd rather close the store and focus on something else. Big brands do this here too - for example, Toys R Us closing their Times Square store due to rent costs, but the brand seems to still be doing fine (? to my knowledge).

>>9102246
EGA does seem like it's sort of played out at this point and Japan REALLY seems to like steam punk at this point.

But Pastel styles, at least online do seem to be holding popularity.

I read that as big western fast-fashion stores keep opening up in Tokyo (like say, forever 21) more and more young japanese people like to buy from there rather than the harajuku stores which used to be more popular with their demographic. Basically they said that because of globalisation j-fashion is becoming less popular in Japan itself.

>>9102374
Those western brands wont hold up. Forever 21 is crap and the clothes fall apart easily. I dont see japan having any of that shit for very long.

>>9102498
Trouble is with promotion of super fast fashion, it doesn't matter it that shit falls apart easily.

It is obscenely wasteful though in my opinion and you wouldn't believe the amount of it that ends up in the trash or sent to charities that can't sell them because customers know it's cheap poor quality fashion they wouldn't even pay a few dollars for.

Kids you're not saving the world by donating your used poor quality goods, it just takes up space in sorting warehouses and most of it can't be used and ends up in landfill - out of sight and out of mind 'an all that.

Ahem that ended up as a mini rant, whoops.

>>9102254
H.naoto has a steam punk line too. I think that there overall is an economy issue with less disposable income for the youth. There is also a population issue that the younger generations are less and less every year. The brands that are popular also trend in and out. I kind of feel I'm seeing more fairy kei street snaps than goth.

J Fashion isn't dying. But Harajuku definitely is because of a combination of tourist+higher rent+globalisation+low birth rate.

>>9102227
It seems lolita fashion is calming down as well.I saw something about it posted on the closet of frills thread....

>>9102227
No it's not dying or anywhere close to it, just changing. As one brand shuts down, another takes its place. Kinda like how Gyaru is dead, but Larme is taking off.

Also a lot of brands, not just Japanese, are closing their in-person stores. Its bound to happen with the rise of the Internet. Bookstores are closing, but that doesn't mean people have stopped reading. Same applies to fashion.

>>9102834
Gyaru itself isn't dead but it changed a lot. The gyaru brands that were able to adapt are still doing well. Same goes for other j-fashions. Most pastel cute fashion I see in streetsnaps have more mature/ femine feel to it than fairy kei used to have. Take KOKOkim for example. It's a fairly new pastel/cute brand. It does well because it follows these trends at the moment.

When looking at h.naoto I'm not sure how well they adapt trends and if their style is popular right now. It's not popular in the west at least.

Yen is rising which makes it more difficult to export, plus rents are going up with the Olympics. Not only that, typical 'JFashion' has been out of favour in Harajuku for a while, you never really see any tribes in Yoyogi or on the bridge on Sunday anymore.

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>>9102227
Tokyo Fashion had a whole article about why shops are closing, it's mainly because Harajuku is a tourist area these days (westerners wanting to see "wacky japanese fashion", it scares the japanese youth away) which increased the rent a lot while the average tourist obviously doesn't have the money to spend on burando.

https://medium.com/@TokyoFashion/japanese-street-fashion-10-things-you-need-to-know-in-2016-59221ab241ee#.embbfi7ur

>>9102842
KOKOkim doesn't have physical stores anymore and the online shop hasn't had new stock since last year

>pizza places near my house closed because rent went up
>is italian food dying?

>>9102991
Lmfao

>>9102969
Well that's fucking annoying.

>>9102969
Well that explains a lot. Sad to see, and here I'm saving money to spend on that burando when I go next year! It will be interesting to see the fallout post-olympics. In the meantime and beyond that, I hope we continue to see some old and new thriving styles.

>>9102969

I can second this. I was in Harajuku this spring and it was fucking baffling how many of your typical "wow Japan sure is wacky" tourists were barraging anyone dressed in Japanese fashions. It was incredibly uncomfortable to watch these teens who came out to enjoy some time off school/studies being constantly harassed for pictures and treated like freaks.

I can definitely see why they won't come out or hang out where they used to, and it's very sad because the streets were jam packed with people who would just take photos and not really buy anything.

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>>9102498
Same shit with Primark here. They suddenly came to Germany and expanded so much in the last few years. The qualitiy is so bad that you have to be lucky that it holds one full season (not one year) before it is unwearable.

>tfw a new sweater literally feels like a potato sack when worn
>tfw you buy a new t-shirt and its quality is so bad, you can literally rub through the garnment with your thumb and index

And still everytime I pass one of their massive stores, I see hoardes of young people, mostly female, leaving with both hands full of bags loaded with this crap.

>>9103138
That makes me sad. Fucking normie westerners are the worst.
It's going to be awhile before I can get a chance to travel to japan, and by the time I get there I bet laforet won't even be the same.

>>9103138
Ugh, normies ruining everything once again.

>>9103200

I was incredibly underwhelmed when I was there. I've been in love with Harajuku since I was a kid and it was seriously depressing. It was just a bunch of white tourists in sketchers stopped in the street. All the brands I've followed for years have closed their storefronts and it just seemed dead.

>>9103208
>>9103225
Oh man, if that's the case we need to fucking revive everything we can in the west...

>>9103266
I would be so down for general jfash meetups where we would just walk around someplace and hang out

>>9103298
I know some bigger cities have recently done stuff like this, maybe it will spread.
It's a shame that every time someone likes any of these fashions that they have kind of a shitty motive behind it like Lady Gaga (I like her but ehhh plus she's not really into lolita she likes more high couture shit) and of course Melanie Martinez... and you know, itas like Amy Lee.

I wish someone who took it seriously, could actually have enough talent to get high enough youtube views that kids would actually follow suit with the fashion.

..I-I will never be that person..

>>9102969
I'm not surprised. I live in NYC and the tourists are absoute scum.

>>9103138
I was in Harajuku last summer and there was an Asian American girl dressed in ega hanging around a crepe shop near us. A normie American couple were shitting all over her, talking about how ~weird and crazy~ it was, thinking she couldn't speak English. It was gross. My husband called them out on their rudeness and they ran away embarrassed. Later I saw some other tourist guy creepily following behind two lolitas through the streets with his camera. I definitely see why no one wants to hang out there.

>>9103376
I would love to go there now just to yell at the fucking piece if shit tourists.

>>9103376
Same, I had a normie white guy take a photo of me in lolita, like straight up snap shot while in front of me and when I told him off in english he played stupid and pissed off. It's an absolute zoo there now.

>>9103199
>tfw I buy a lot of my items from primark

Some stuff falls down in seconds, others last somewhat decently.
Either way I buy it because I'm a broke shit and at least this way I'm able to have more then 3 items in my closet to not look like a hobo at college.

>>9103417
What's the new Harajuku then?

I was in Harajuku a couple of months ago and it was definitely underwhelming. I didn't see any creepy stuff but it was very tourist oriented, there's barely any of the stores most people expect and the ones that are there are very watered down. Sex Pot was playing EDM and the staff members didn't really look like they were people who were into the clothes.

There's no culture with the clothes, I think that's the problem. 6%DOKIDOKI is touted as being this big frontiering force in J Fashion but the shop is tiny and doesn't look anything like the pictures, all the clothes were graphic printed with the same stretched jpg and the accessories were literally just toys taken from barbie dolls and the like.

There was one 'art installation' which was literally just a big pile of lego scattered around and you weren't allowed to take pictures of it.

The experience was representative of my overall Harajuku experience, everything I expected to be good was disappointing. Conversely, everything I expected to be meh was actually good.

If there was actually a vibe in Harajuku it'd be better, but those days are over and now it's just a collection of shops selling the same thing. How ACDCRag can afford 4 shops all selling the same thing on the same Street is beyond me, especially as they're not even that busy either.

>>9104101
this is so sad.

>>9104001
Nothing, most people stay at home infront of the laptop anyways and don't leave the house, online shopping makes it possible.

>>9104101
Which things ended up being great?

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several things are happening to jfashion right now

on the japan front
-overtaken by white/non japanese tourists, and the harajuku kids have been scared away

-rent is rising due to the 2020 Olympics

-international shipping is getting more expensive, so a lot of shops cannot afford to ship products overseas, it wouldn't be worth it

-related to the above, a lot of japanese stores are neglecting online sales all together. japan may seem progressive with technology, but they're actually slow on the uptake, and many of them have bare or old fashioned online storefronts

on the international front
-japan is no longer "trendy". the living doll trend is over, and a lot of weeaboos are becoming koreaboos instead

-replicas really hurt a lot of brand sales and while replicas have died down i think the damage was done

-rise of taobao and aliexpress over buying japanese brand, tumblr fashion and generic trends are favored over whats currently hot in Japan

I miss jfashion. I miss the 2010-2011 era of OTT sweet and gyaru. The current styles don't cut it for me, Larme is too normie, and the rest just don't appeal. The international community is also guilty of killing it- the need to categorize everything into tiny tiny substyles, nitpick and give every style a "name" has made jfashion exhausting.

>>9105094
>Larme is too normie
THANK GOD SOMEONE ELSE THINKS THIS TOO. ugh that fashion is boring as fuck.

>The international community is also guilty of killing it- the need to categorize everything into tiny tiny substyles, nitpick and give every style a "name"
Yup. Way to go retards.

could not agree with your comments more.

>>9105094
Agree about the west ruining Larme. It was one of the few Jfashions with room for creativity and freedom, but now it's turned into a nitpicky mess just like Lolita.

Though DESU I actually like that it's kinda normie, I prefer more wearable items over OTT nonsense.

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>>9105112
>>9105110
If anything the western larme community is what made it larme, with the hatred of anything OTT and Swankiss style.

For reference sake, I don't dislike Larme or Swankiss. I just think there is room for both. And the normalness of Larme wouldn't bother me if there was more variety of jfashion right now, but there isn't.

Also, Larme has a really bland color palette. Red, white, pink, black. All outfits look the same to a certain point.

I miss 2009/2010, when Lolita reached peak popularity, hime gyaru was in, people still did visual kei, and fairy kei was just taking off. There was so much variety.

Now its just "standard lolita print dress coord", "Standard black and pink larme kei coord", "itabag" and generic weeaboo tumblr fashion, which is just a Frankenstein of dead trends from other styles (tennis skirts, heart cut out sweaters, crop tops with fake japanese on them, etc)

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>>9105130
>Made it normie, not larme

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>>9105130
Uh, hime gyaru looks pretty bland too. You really only see pink and white with an occassional black or blue dress, it's cute but then it gets old after awhile. With Larme there's more options and more silhouette variations at least. Although I do miss the more ott fashions, especially gyaru and all its substyles. Larme emerging is probably I backlash to all those ott styles. Also its cheaper and more wearable.

>>9105187
The wide range of makeup and hair options, along with the flashier jewelry, are what really set hime gyaru apart from larme to me.

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Lolita will never die.

Am I the only one who thinks a lot of people are overreacting? Yeah Jfashion isn't the same as it used to be, but that happens with all fashions. It's always evolving and changing. Deal with it. Plus a lot of things are becoming online-only, look at books. Just because book stores closed doesn't mean people don't read anymore.

J-fashion is far from dying, in fact on a global level it's pretty big compared to what it was back in the day.

>>9105208
Nah. Gulls are pretty well known for being over dramatic.

>>9105208
Yeah, as soon as I saw mahouprince and h.naoto. When the hell was the last time h.naoto even made decent looking clothing?

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>>9105187
Himegyaru? Bland? I'm not talking himekaji, I'm talking Jesus Diamante, Ageha era, huge prisilla piece hair era Hime Gyaru.

You can insist all you want about how larme is totes unique and varied in silhouette but to me, its all very similar imo.

And it doesn't help that the western larme community is just as nitpicky and stifling as the lolita community

>>9105046

Spinns 2.5D, Closetchild (Way, way better than the online shop), Fancy Pocket and some of the thrift shops (Kinji etc.) oh and also Bodyline if you have a sense of humour, it's like a 2007 time capsule complete with DDR music blasting you from every direction and messages from Mr Yan scattered around.

>>9105094
>-rise of taobao and aliexpress over buying japanese brand, tumblr fashion and generic trends are favored over whats currently hot in Japan

What is this, 2012? And no, it doesn't do anything to japanese brands.

>>9105241
Not the other anon, and I'm not trying to defend their point but I think they're talking about how a lot more people are buying from Chinese brands as opposed to Japanese. I'm in a pretty big comm and most people there, don't have a lot of actual burando.

>>9105226
The gyaru community also had its share of shit back in its heyday. I agree that the western larme community can nitpick (though honestly a lot of it is with good reason, since a lot of the "normie" comments about larme are directly related to the girls who think they can just throw on any old shit in their closet and call it larme style.) but I've seen way more vitriol in the past in gyaru communities, with lots of slut comments thrown around and the like.

I think the nitpick bar is set high for larme because it *can* look too normie. If you're not wearing brand clothes then your makeup and hair has to be on point or else you look normie as fuck. I genuinely don't really understand the "offbrand larme" thing since I'm in it for the brand clothes.

>>9105279
I think the nitpick issue is with substyles and categorisation. That's definitely what bothers me about the western community. They've taken that one article - which wasn't even the first of it's type featured in the magazine - and turned the names into headings for substyles. Fucking Ruka in particular needs to stop. She's constantly answering people on her blog telling them to "Pick a larme style" before getting into the fashion or whatever.

>>9105279
>>9105282
Yeah constructive nitpicking is fine, I dislike when people put random shit together and tag it Larme just for ass pats. But trying to shoehorn substyles and attempting to categorize everything needs to stop. It's getting to a crazy point not just in Larme, but in other Jfashions too.

This is what'll kill Jfashion more so than anything else.

>>9105208

The only part of all of this I find very sad is how it seems Harajuku culture is dwindling. I would have loved to go there in its hay day, it would have been such an experience.

>>9105279
>since I'm in it for the brand clothes.

this is why I don't get larme. why pay $50+ (and shipping and shopping service fees) for what essentially looks like forever 21 shit at the end of the day? atleast lolita and fairy kei and h.naoto can't be replicated by shopping in a mall.

>>9105282
>>9105298
Oh yes, I had forgotten about the "substyles" thing since I mostly roll my eyes and try to ignore it. It's definitely become way to overemphasized at this point, though honestly I've seen the magazine start to push it more too. Usually these "style" spreads are one issue deals but I swear I've seen some of the terms come up in the last couple of issues. I'm waiting on 23 right now so hopefully they've lightened up on that.

>>9105331
I don't buy the stuff that looks like forever 21 shit. You're rather over simplifying things. There are brands outside of Swankiss and ehyphen bonbon.

>>9105331
You sound exactly like the people who ask why you'd pay for lolita brands when replicas and bodyline look identical. Or why you'd make your own cosplay when you can get ones that look exactly the same on ebay.

>>9105394
I couldn't be further from what you said, so keep telling yourself that to make yourself happy.

Can we not derail the thread please?Like nearly everyone has said, jfashion isn't dying. Just changing.

What do you think Jfashion will look like in the future? What current trends will become the next big thing?

I actually think Jfashion the way we understand it is dying.
If you look on the streets of Japan most people wear fairly normal things even if they are from Japanese brands. (Like Lowry's farm and natural claup or whatever) Add Western fast fashion into the mix - H&M, forever 21, ZARA, Bershka and all those other brands are actually pretty huge in Japan.

Then consider that young Japanese people are generally not very wealthy. A standard part time job pays around 900 yen an hour if you're lucky. If you're in college you have the greatest ability to express yourself through fashion because it's generally considered a pretty popular time for experimenting with all sorts of styles with minimal or no backlash. However, most people also tend to move out in college or go out more and that also costs money.
So all these young people with limited funds would rather buy more 'trendy' items rather than one or two quirky one off lolita or other alt fashion.

That said, I think there will always be a place for alt fashion in Japan. It just won't be in the same places or so big. I mean the kids who go to the fashion schools, hang in clubs and do their own alt thing will always exist.

>>9105636
If Jfashion dies in Japan then yeah, it is dead. It no longer becomes Japanese fashion. The western community is not enough to keep it afloat.

We can participate in jfashion, but we are still outsiders, we can't invent new Japanese fashions (sorry uchuu-kei) or really influence the community in any major way.

The source of the fashion is dying, and the rest of us will slowly fade out too.

>>9105279
>though honestly a lot of it is with good reason, since a lot of the "normie" comments about larme are directly related to the girls who think they can just throw on any old shit in their closet and call it larme style.
You could say the same about lolita but as one of the people calling larme "normie" I can honestly say I'm saying that only after looking at the posts from the threads here. Sorry but it all looks like f21 garbage to me.

>>9106021
the larme threads that insist normal/western brands can never be used for larme make me laugh. take any forever 21 item, put it on a japanese model and slap a label on it, and you'd all be creaming over it as totally larme,

>>9106021
>>9106134
Nice samefag ita-chan.

I get you're salty that there's a new j-fashion on the board that you don't like, but making comments like this just makes you look blind and unfashionable, even to people who don't participate in larme.

>>9105262
But that doesn't affect the local market in Japan, brands don't need to sell global.

>>9106147
1. Not a samefag
2. not an itachan

Maybe there is just more than one person on this board who isn't crazy about Larme? I don't even dislike it as a style, but its annoying that the only fashions alive are "OTT classic lolita", "larme" and "itabag".

And before you bring them up, Menhera is really just a redux of fairy kei with a medical theme, and Uchuu-kei is completely cgl invented.

>>9106172
not liking it =/= not being able to see how it's different from normalfag fashion.

I fucking hate fairy kei and decora, but I can still see that neither of them can be replicated faithfully without using at least some Japanese brands and that you couldn't just shop at claire's to recreate it.

>>9106172
>Menhera
>Fairy Kei
>thinking pastel=fairy kei
Newfag.

>>9106021
>>9106134
That's just your perspective though. To the people who are actually involved in the fashion, the differences are readily apparent even if they aren't to you.

I feel like you guys are just upset that some of the flashier styles in jfashion are dying down at the moment, but that doesn't mean something new won't come along.

>>9106203
Yeah, of course decora, fairy kei, and lolita cant be replicated at western stores. you would have to be an idiot to think otherwise. I even hated the H&M JSK that everyone creamed themselves over.

But certain subsets of gyaru and yes, larme kei? can be replicated with western brands relatively easily. The only thing that really sets them apart from normie fashion is the rigid hair and makeup rules.

>>9106238
It's still generic pastel/fairy kei style. I don't care that you wear syringe pins, to the untrained eye it looks like fairy kei. This is exactly what I was talking about here >>9105130 with how the western community loves to nitpick and create tiny subcatagories that can't sustain themselves. Lolita worked well as a community because it was a broad umbrella term.
Menhera is a theme, not an already existing fashion on its own.

>>9103354
How is Amy Lee an ita?

>>9106326
There is a difference between saying that all larme looks like "forever 21 shit" and saying that it can be replicated with western brands. Sure you can pull off larme with western brands to a certain extent, but there are also certain styles, cuts, and details that aren't as prevalent in Western fashion.

Plus some people just like what the Japanese brands put out. Would you be happy if someone told you to just wear body line instead of AP dress because it's "all the same?" Lolitas are looking for certain prints, cuts, colorways, etc that interest them, not just something they can throw on and call "close enough." Why should it be any different in another fashion?

I have also seen people try to pull off fairy kei and decora with Claire's accessories and vintage pastel sweaters. And what do you know? It looks as bad as most off brand larme kei. If larme is so easy to pull off with forever 21 shit then why are people so bad at it? This one does boggles me because like you said it is seemingly possible to pull off larme with off brand stuff but it's certainly not as easy as just buying from the Japanese brands themselves.

>>9106379
Different anon, I vaguely remember seeing pictures of her wearing some Bodyline dress, possibly Love Nadia in brown? Not entirely sure it was a genuine attempt at lolita but it looked pretty bad all the same.

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>>9106390
Here you go.

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>>9106392
There's also this...

>>9106326
>Menhera
>created by west
>everything pastel is fairy kei
Newfag further confirmed, also likely Ita as >>9106147 stated.
Just gtfo.

>>9106392
>>9106394
Jesus, it's worse than I remembered. Thanks, anon.

>>9106326
>Menhera is a theme, not an already existing fashion on its own.
The japanese community says otherwise but you obviously know everything better than them. I call troll.

>>9106388
>"forever 21 shit"

I never said that forever 21 was shit, I'm not >>9106021. My comment was >>9106134, where all I said was that if you took some items on the forever 21 site, put it on a Japanese model, and slapped a larme brand name on it, no one would be arguing that it isn't larme.

>>9106397
Not a newfag or an ita, I've probably been around longer than you guys. You can't find a new insult other than newfag and ita?

>>9106403
If you weren't a newfag you wouldn't claim that pastel is what makes fashion fairy kei which it doesn't, troll harder.

>>9103354
I thought Kerli was gonna be The One back in like 2009

but no...

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>>9106147
Just give up on your memes already

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Jfashion isn't dying

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>>9106412

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>>9106414
Where did all this scare-mongering come from anyway? That TF article?

>>9106404
If you look on the archives at old menhera threads everyone agreed it was a theme that went in tandem with fairy kei.

Not every opinion different than yours is a troll.

>>9106403
So you're going from "any" forever 21 item to "some" forever 21 items? So you're admitting it isn't quite that easy.

This whole 'jfashion is dying because it isn't as flashy anymore' is stupid and pretentious. Harajuku might have been a hub of strange fashions but it has never constituted the majority of Japanese fashion and this discussion basically ignores that. It's like if it's not ~kawaii~ and ~super unique~ then it doesn't matter

>>9106431
>stupid and pretentious.
Like all of cgl and any other board focused on hobby "discussion"

I don't think it has as much to do with J-fashion as it does with worldwide buying trends.

I mean, how many western brick and mortar clothing retailers have gone belly up in the last year? Buying trends have changed with the rise of the internet.

When it comes to j-fashion most of us buy our stuff online. It's just more cost-effective to rent a building as your warehouse rather than setting up shops everywhere.

Although the bigger lolita brands (Baby, AP, etc) seem to be doing relatively well, it's safe to assume that even they will start closing up physical shops in the future. I buy from them often but I've never stepped foot into one of their physical shops, and I think this applies to a lot of us, except those who have been able to travel or live closer to one of the stores.

>>9106417
Summerfags, there are threads about "X is dying!" every year around the same time.

>>9106449
Remember all those cpk is dead posts?

It's like our version of "punk is dead"

>>9106403
Are you ESL or something? "Forever21 shit" Just means shit FROM forever21. It doesn't mean that it's actual shit. No one even thinks you said that.

>>9106449

To be fair, I think it's definitely true that J-Fashion has 'lost its way' depending on what you consider that to be.

If you think of a place like Harajuku, it's completely different now to how it used to be; it's not that the styles have changed - it's that clothing has homogenized things a lot.

I think what people forget is that it's only in recent years that fast fashion brands like Zara, F21, H&M, Bershka etc. started appearing in Tokyo. For them, that stuff is new and exciting, so there's a lot of bleeding over being done.

The traditional styles like VK, Punk, Goth Lolita, Oshare, Gyaru are more definite and specific because they depend on their underlying subculture - much of which is dead. VK is basically dead, Punk is dead, Oshare-kei is dead etc. etc. I'm not saying you can't find bands making this music anymore, but they're not what they were; the people have grown up and moved on. I talk to a handful of Japanese people who were involved in these scenes and most of them have grown up and moved out of that kind of thing.

The problem is that what has replaced these styles hasn't been that great or inspiring and its not really had much of a (Japanese) subculture behind it - a lot of it has been very much influenced by K-Pop, tumblr and fast fashion and being internet culture-savvy westerners, we're already familiar with a lot of that stuff, many of us were wearing it before it was common to see in Harajuku, That's the power of the internet for you.

The biggest thing to hit Harajuku in recent years was Kyary and it's thanks to her style that there is still some kind of definitive Harajuku fashion, this is probably why 6%DOKIDOKI and Listen Flavor continue to thrive (That and a lot of collaboration with international-friendly distributors). Even with Kyary, she's just a pop-idol, there's no musical subculture there for to leech on; instead Harajuku has had to turn this into 'Harajuku style' rather than just being a melting pot of other styles.

>>9106431
jfashion isn't dying just because the fashions aren't flashy anymore, but jfashion is losing its distinct look. we know that the rise of western fast fashion stores are killing more unique styles, and larme (im my humble opinion) is just normal fashion on steroids.it's dressy, but not quite as unique and standout as lolita/gyaru/decora/visual kei/goth.

Its only a matter of time before a big lolita brand closes. I give it two more years.

>>9106488
THANK YOU. This is what I've been trying to say, especially your point about kpop and tumblr fashion trends.

>>9106488
It's just the same that happend to Shibuya, the youth will simply move somewhere else and I noticed that jfashion seems to become more frequent in Akiba lately due to "otaku culture" getting more involved to styles (like with the popularity of itabags). So maybe Akiba will be the new Harajuku in few years?

Lolita won't die, there are too many die-hard collectors out there at this point buying direct from brand. All these apocalypse lolita threads lately are ridiculous. Most don't post publicly online anymore, since it's easier to acquire. Many keep their wardrobes private.

h.Naoto is primarily gothic. Most goths are using the internet now to buy stuff anyway, instead of venturing out. I feel like gothic in general isn't as popular over there anymore because of how anti-social it is perceived as

>>9106488
I am actually really curious what the former old school lolitas, gyarus, VKei, etc are doing now. It seems sad to think they just gave it up to dress normally. In street snaps I rarely see anyone over 23 years old. I wonder if they all think they should stop this after they get their first real jobs? It's so different from the West where "be yourself" is a huge thing, and people are encouraged to pursue their passions despite their age.

>>9106509
Lolita will die eventually, as all things do. It's just a matter of how long. It has lasted quite a long time compared to the other fashions.

>>9106516
The japanese band Broken Boll is the best example of "what are they doing now" as all the members are in their 30s and 40s and have been into alternative fashion since their teenage years. It's more like that after a certain age, you don't give a fuck about your online presence anymore.

>>9106504
Doesn't Menhara draw inspo from a webcomic? And Itabags are popular...maybe we will see more fashion inspired by anime/anime characters?

>>9106520
*Broken Doll, derp

>>9106521
>Doesn't Menhara draw inspo from a webcomic?
No, it's the other way around and all characters in the webcomic are based on and named after japanese youth culture stereotypes.

>>9106516
You're definitely not allowed to "be yourself" past a certain age in Japan. Especially if you start work at a company, all employees are considered part of the company's image or "Face". Most place restrictions on even visiting certain establishments whilst in uniform, not even traditionally bad establishments either. Things like rival companies or arcades.

One of my friends moved here (UK) for uni and on returning home he had to shave off his very neat moustache and beard, because even that puny level of non-conformity is unacceptable.

I know most people go clean shaven for work as well, but beards are usually fine as well as long as they're neat and well groomed, which his was.

>>9106516

It just depends, as >>9106520 mentioned, you start as you mean to go on. There are lots of people who get into a style just because they like it, and there are other people who live it. In the west we see it with people going from being goths/rockers to straight-up accountants because they're over 'that phase' while others will continue to live it and evolve and work in fashion, music or otherwise just keep the style. You can see those people in Harajuku too in their 40s, they don't care about how Japanese society judges them because they live and work in Harajuku where conforming would be career suicide, it's all relative to what you're doing.

The people I speak to who have grown out of the scene still love the music but are generally too busy with work to attend lives anymore. Some of them like to keep up with new bands while others just wait for the reunion tours. Some of them actually go on from Visual Kei into host clubs, I know a 30 something Japanese guy who was in a V-kei band in the early 2000s and is now the co-owner of some host club in Shinjuku.

Some of the others are more tame; work has eaten up their time, maybe they've had kids or just otherwise don't care anymore.

>>9106524
I thought the comic and fashion was formed congruently?

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>>9106516
I tried to do a "Where are they now" post for former KERA models from the 2008-2010 fashion era. A lot of them got married and had babies. I know models aren't always the best examples, but they were the leaders and examples to follow for jfashion. And many of them were reader models genuinely interested in the fashion before getting involved professionally.

(pic related: URi was a kera model, searching her now you find a blog she hasn't updated since 2014. She's married and has a baby)

I always liked the small "Gyaru-mama" subculture that encouraged still looking nice and being involved in the fashion even after becoming a parent.

The problem isn't the old school people growing up and leaving, they just aren't being replaced by new people with an interest in the style.

>>9106534
...no.

>>9106538
I feel upset to see Japanese models or people that wore various j-fashions giving up for family, i would love to see more "j-fashion" parents along with their kids, i saw some examples in old GLBs scans if i remember good.
Just weaboos thinks Japan is the place where lolita or other alt styles are fully accepted, while the situation is way worse compared to western countries.
>>9106532
The few lucky ones, unfortunately if a Japanese adult doesn't have a job that allow to dress as they love, they should give up otherwise they would be fired. Like that example of a Japanese teacher wearing lolita in her free time not at work, fired for just wearing a frilly dress.

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>>9106550
I know theres Frilly Capricious and her mother whos been remaking AP dresses for her since she was a toddler, but I don't know of many other lolita moms.

Tsubasa Masuwaka was a mom (and got divorced in 2013), but she's all but disappeared hasn't she? Is her makeup line even still around?

>>9106568
>Tsubasa Masuwaka was a mom (and got divorced in 2013), but she's all but disappeared hasn't she? Is her makeup line even still around?
Huh, she's still as active as always and busy with her brand EATME which you see sometimes in Larme.
https://twitter.com/tsubasamasuwaka

>>9106576
>https://twitter.com/tsubasamasuwaka
I guess I heard wrong then, glad she is still around and has adapted to the times!

She looks completely different though, but so much of her old distinct look (yellow blonde hair, the green princess mimi lenses) was changeable.

>>9106519
You'll die eventually too, anon ;^)

>>9106550
Most of my (japanese) lolita friends work the normal jimu jobs during the week and on weekends they transform into lolitas. I also used to hang out a lot at nichome and I met a lot of newhafu people who were your typical kaishain by day and dress in drag by night.
You can live the strict japanese work life and still be whatever you want. It's not easy, but it's certainly not impossible.

I expected this thread to be
>reminiscing on 2005-'09
>people missing that nostalgic FRUiTS style
>the actual "wacky japan" era that westerners were mostly unaware of

Instead I just see people remembering the years of the near-death of visual kei, OTT gyaru and decora long gone, OTT sweet lolita being a thing, and fairy kei starting. imo you guys are looking back on the beginning of the end.

I remember being shit on for shitting on westerners making up annoyingly picky, small substyles and being so bored by larme.

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>>9106874
Pretty much and it's not like if it didn't happen with western fashions too, best example for that is the fashion of the 90s where everyone dressed wierd in comparison to now and we probably will consider today's fashion wierd to in some more decades. Either way, fashion repeats all the time and everything will have a revival at some point anyways (like the 90s now too).

>>9106568
I remember her, she is a lucky kid to have that burando and twin with her mom, i just hope both won't grow out from lolita.
>>9106576
I love that she is still into jfashion, even if Larme sometimes looks more normie compared to other jfashions.
>>9106815
Good some didn't give up lolita for their jobs!Well sometimes also in Western countries we do this if we cannot wear anything creative at work or we have a uniform.

>>9106519
Nope. My children will inherit my collection and continue the fashion on.

It's not just jfashion. A lot of the big western subcultures are dying off. Everything is getting blandified to a Tumblr or Instagram aesthetic. Nowadays you don't see nearly as many younger goths or punks who care about the music and lifestyle since it's socially acceptable to use elements of those in mainstream fashion.

I feel like we've reached a stagnation in jfashion. But since fashion is cyclical, I'm hoping the colourful fashion and vk/gothic fashion will become popular again!

http://www.tokyofashiondiaries.com/neo-gal-ikemen-lolita-subcultures/

>>9108238

for some reason I first thought neo-gal in that link said neil gaiman

>>9108238
If international movement is the new jfashion, where will everyone gather? Will it become an internet entity only? I feel like we could definitely need some international social media platform

>>9107852
this. subcultures are drying out. fandoms are the closest thing young people have to a "scene" now.

>>9108254
I joined my comm in the past year and have tried several times to fit in and relate to people. It doesn't happen cause I just can't relate to people in general.
I was thinking about being just a lonelita and only posting my coords online?
I've gone out in my coords by myself with little to no problem too.
The online community is so savage though? The only thing keeping me in my comm is that it's a nice escape where people will be nice to my face at least. It's like going to pretend that everything is fine and life is good for a few hours.
I can't get that same feeling from posting online

>>9107852
Punk and goth is alive and well where I live. There's all kinds of clubs here dedicated to them too.

>>9108587
But how much has it dropped off since the early to mid 2000s, even? I've lived in three countries in the past few years and I always hear the same story. Lack of new blood.

Unless you're in Germany. Goth will never die there.

>>9108959
is this serious?
time for me to move to germany

>>9108986
Another anon, but I see the goths/punks and similar every once in a while here while riding trains.

>>9105094
We get it, you're an old gyaru. You know, gyaru brands still exist right? Support them if you want to see a comeback. I always see whining like this but no one puts their dollars into the brands they want alive.

>>9108959
Nah, just a big city in the US. Big cities seem to have more subcultures than not as big cities and of course small city culture is usually the same but the terrain changes.

And yeah. It's just where I live. I'm sure in other places it's dead. But not completely and I think it's a mistake to just write it off because it's dead everywhere else.

>goth will never die in Germany
Interesting. All my goth friends are Russian oddly enough?
But I couldn't possibly know the races of the pale kids that lurk the city at night. I just pretend that they're real life vampires.

>>9108959
>>9108986
I've heard Germany is to goths what Japan is to weebs. Is that true?

>>9109268
Pretty much. I'm British and even though the post-punk/early goth scene started here, and there are still big goth events like Whitby Goth Weekend, which even seem to be growing. However most of the goths here are now 40+ having been around since the early days, there aren't many people discovering the scene now. All the goths I know, especially the younger ones, still want to go to Germany for events like Wave Gothik Treffen because Germany has the numbers to put on events on a bigger scale and draw the best bands etc and people wear such amazing stuff. I have a friend in Berlin and from what I can tell the club scene there wipes the floor with ours too.

>>9109345
Berlin really is a special case within Germany though. It's where all the hip and youth culture concentrates. A bit like Tokyo to Japan I guess. It doesn't really represent the rest of the country.
From what I can tell Goth culture has dwindled here as well in recent years.

>>9108959
Honestly it was bound to happen sooner or later. The way they looked down on newbies (babybats) /non-goths who are interested in the scene, shaming people for liking music other than what they deem acceptable etc.
Naturally many people were sick of being shamed for what they liked so they just went 'ok, I don't have to prove anything to you, guess I'm not goth then' and left. I was one of those people (where I live goths and metalheads are very tight knit and were very popular in the late 2000s when I was a teen) and honestly I'm really happy subcultures are dying.

There were many good things that came out of them but it was a lot of peer pressure and forcing yourself into one box whilst alienating yourself from the others.

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this bitch going to Harajuku to expose it even more and being a total bitch about the whole fashion scene. I cringed watching this

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because we need more idiots exploiting the fashion scene...

>>9109520
Who is the person in the middle, and why does RinRin look like a human rat?

>>9109579
Chelsea Handler, she visited Harajuku to cover the fashion styles and such. I think you might be able to find it on Youtube if you search for it if you're ever so inclined but it had the usual "them crazy Japanese" sort of tone, even went as far as to suggest that Gwen Stefani "discovered" Harajuku. Nothing to write home about, really.

>>9106521
>maybe we will see more fashion inspired by anime/anime characters?
there's already a few brands that have made clothing based off of anime series like zoff, earth music&ecology, super groupies, radio eva

>>9109602
And Galaxxxy has been doing that ever since they were founded too, Kawaii.i had a whole segment in January about new japanese subcultures which included jfashion turning more otaku and moving to Akiba .
http://www.nhk.or.jp/kawaii-i/archives/ep44/

>>9109672
Galaxxxy's shop is such a disappointment, nothing like the images on the Internet, hardly stocked with anything and no vibe or atmosphere in there at all.

It's a shame because I really like their clothes and aesthetic, I assumed Galaxxxy ground zero HQ would be some kind of representation of that, such a shame.

>>9105110
>THANK GOD SOMEONE ELSE THINKS THIS TOO. ugh that fashion is boring as fuck.
you only participate in special snowflake types of fashion?

I think gyaru, cult party, some Lolita styles are dying down
But Swankiss, fairy Kei, Lolita and others are gaining or remaining consistent...at least in Japan and the U.K. from my time in both.

>>9109517
She's so fucking annoying anyway. Pretty sure she's not relevant in the comedy scene anymore.

>>9109691
Larme enthusiast is butthurt.

>>9109691
Lol this sums up my thoughts about is exactly.

They're not actually interested in j-fash because it's Japanese, that's not where the interest comes from. All they care about is how different and special they look to normalfags; hence being butthurt over larme looking "Like forever 21." or "Too normie"

Surely you should be happy about having such a cheap and easy to participate in jfashion? If it's cheap and easily available, there'll be less itas, a bigger community, more variation, more potential for interesting coords.

Same people get buttmad when anything they like gets popular because it takes their special points away from them.

>>9109756
>there'll be less itas
That is not the case at all. We have brand itas all the time...

>>9109785
Yeah, they can't buy taste.

>>9109520
Minori looks 100% done, and Kimura looks ashamed.

>>9109756
Also I gotta add, I consistently wish for a decent pop star to appear that actually enjoys a j-fashion and isn't looking to use it as a gimick. So far the best we've gotten is Lady Gaga and as I've brought up before, she doesn't really love it, she's more just a "I like all fashion" person and she only wore lolita a couple of times as I've seen, and the Sanrio dress, but mostly she cares about high couture.

I would be fine if something like lolita actually caught on with people in the states or something. Like if girls everywhere started obeying the rules for the shiloutte and it became a trend instead dressing like Han Solo...
I doubt this will happen though.

>>9109801
Why do they let westerners take advantage of them tho?

>>9109802
Wakeshima Kanon?

>>9109813
>popular in the states
I mean I know people mostly watch musicians on youtube these days, but I'm talking really popular.
Like look at how many dumb teenage girls are on tumblr trying to be Melanie Martinez. I want someone with that amount of influence but without negative connotations.

>>9109802
well... theres melanie martinez... shes a total ita, though. gives lolita bad name

>>9109840
See
>>9109827

>>9109813
>>9109827
The main problem is that it only attracts people when the star just started to be popular. I think Baby Metal helps a lot with getting new people into jfashion after Kyary's popularity is fading again for whatever reason.

>>9109849
Yeah baby metal is so big where I live that my metal head coworkers actually like them... and I just saw someone on the bus reading an article about them hah.

>>9109827
We should try to get Grimes into lolita. She's a huge weeb.

As other anons have said, it's not that J-fashion is dying, it's that it is evolving. With the growing popularity of western cuts and styles, jfashion tastes are essentially becoming more toned down.

Yes you can argue that it can't be completely replicated, but Larme, Menhera, and all those other currently trendy feminine looks can definitely be emulated well by using western chains like F21, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Modcloth, etc. Its this young kind of 90s a little naughty but cute thing that is everywhere nowadays.

And also fashion in general is just becoming more toned down. Look at street snaps everywhere and it's a lot of monotones, flowy minimalistic stuff. And that urban edge wear that Koreans kind of started but now is everywhere (like how hoodies were the big spring item at Paris fashion week and high fashion brand were selling them for $700?) and sneakers/leggings/sweaters are the big fashion trend right now.

>>9110340
Holy shit this might work!! I feel like she'd only wear gothic and I think she might be too androgynous to want to even wear lolita? Much like lady gaga, she's just looking for artsy stuff to wear as opposed to a certain fashion type.

But at this point I'd be okay with someone like Yolandi wearing lolita over Martinez.

>>9104101
Yeah I was expecting to see at least a couple of people dressed in popular/well known jfash (not including shop owners), but I just saw one lonely Shiro Lolita the 3 days I was there.

>>9105204
I want this tote. Where can I get this tote?

>>9109805
Because Jfashion needs exposure and at the end of the day money is money.

>>9110690
You think they got payed hella cash for that? From what I understand mrs.Handler is a drunk and that's where all her money goes, not to her guests.

>>9110340
seconding

>>9102227
I'm not sure what's up with naoto specifically, but I don't think there needs to be a parallel drawn between the two. Milklim was a much smaller, younger brand. Small young brands die all the time, no matter what market you're in. Harajuku real estate prices are going up. Flea market apps are making buying secondhand easier than ever. The only thing killing j-fashion is globalization/internet, since a lot of japanese fashion kids would rather aspire to counter culture looks from London, Korea etc., which they now have access to images of

Funnily enough I saw two sweet lolitas in my local supermarket yesterday, I assumed they were in harajuku or somewhere else earlier. The supermarket is quite small and not spacious at all, I rarely see girls wearing lolita at all, and gothic lolita is even more rare.

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Anyone have any idea how overseas brand shops are doing? Particularly the ones in the states?

Do people still try to follow Japanese trends in lolita, fairy kei, etc. or do westerners develop their own? Like, do you mostly look to Japanese tumblr accounts for inspiration?

>>9121611
Brands produce based on brand and with buying the new releases you automaticly follow the latests trends.