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OH MAN! I was looking for an Alice costume and I saw that..


I was gonnnnnnaaaa cry!


I'm not sure if it's entirely scene kids (because I know they have ruined a lot of things for me, too.. like Gloomy Bear and Hello Kitty?) but it's the kids who don't know anything.


That's what really bugs me.

I'm proud to say I was the first girl at my school to get a really 'Japanese inspired' hairstyle. Regardless..

I feel yer pain.

stressed I think what bothers me most about the whole thing is that the international world (especially in the states) treats J-Fashion like it's cosplay, but it's not. Definately not.

I read an article a while back about the disturbing cross between cosplay and J-fashion, and how it only occurs in the international community. Cosplay isn't cosplay unless the costume is of a specific character from an anime or band. When I talk to people at United States conventions and I ask, what are you wearing (as in brand), I get the response, "oh it's just some lolita cosplay." I get very irked by that.

As for the international mainstreaming of Visual Kei/Gothic Lolita/j-rock, it's been happening for a while, and in many ways it's a natural thing because people are drawn to showmanship of it all. It's outside the norm of the United States, so why wouldn't people flock towards it and grasp onto the unique fashion and german industrial sound? What I don't like is the way people have latched onto bands like Dir-en-grey and Malice Mizer as if they're the only thing to have come out of Japan. In a way, the generalizations that spawn from such treatment of the sub-cultures of Japanese fashion and music bastardise what is an entire world of unique culture and art.

That's what bothers me most. crying

That Harajuku girl looks like a bad mix between kogal, decora and ero loli.

There is alot of people who still think there is a united "Harajuku girl" style. If you have ever seen a picture of Harajuku from TIME magazine, I think it was sometime in 2006 the bridge at yoyogi park<--SP? On one side there is Angleek (Yamanba) and the Frank Clan (EGL and EGA group) on the other. It someone tried to tell them they were the same...wow....there would be some problems.

About only 40% of people in America who have heard of Japanese Street Fashion have the Idea right. I met a girl at a con once that thought Hime Loli was the same as Hime Gyaru or as thought the GAL group was called, Ganguro. So she called a girl at a Loli 101 Pannel a Hime Ganguro. sweatdrop

One more thing, yes it is annoying when people say a street fashion is cosplay but what about those people who usally don't wear that type of clothing style? What are they supposed to say?

does that matter though? In my eyes what matters is that you have your own style no matter what genre it is and you dig it as much as you can. Doesn't matter who has it first or not, or that sometimes people get it wrong they don't get it wrong they have there own idiologies about it. However I do agree with the above about the harajuku costume gonk