Harajuku Girls

The name Harajuku comes from an area around Harajuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. On Sundays youth Japanese girls are seen dressed in a bunch of different styles like decora and visual kei. Their fashions are often a combination of many different styles together. Harajuku style of dress is not one particular style. The styles are a mixure of both Japanese and American fashions. These styles are developed on the streets and are a representation of the streets of Japan as they relate to the youth. Similar to how inner city youth in the United States developed the hip hop style. With Harajuku, girls wear many colorful adaptations of many style. Some mix gothic atire with more upscale cloting. A lot of the girls have piercings about the face and may wear colorful hair clips. Everyday the styles change so the picking a particular style of harajuku is said to be almost impossible. A youth may see a particular item that another youth is wearing and decide to add that into her outfit at some point, thus changing the style slightly. But the more mutations they have with their style in a month the look can be totally different from the month before.

Harajuku teens also add basic elements that are quite common in the style of dress. They often add anime to their dress. Also alot of the teens will wear toys and other things clipped to their clothes to give them that individuality. Many times they will dress in layer after layer of clothing. Sweaters, t-shirts, tank top, skirts, leggins, socks, and anything else that they can fit on their bodies. This layered look allows them to add different items to their outfits. The can add layers of alternating colors that enhance the look of their clothing. It seems like the major theme is to wear loud colors. Handbags, hair and makeup and other accessories are usually added to give more dimension to the dress.

Recently pop star Gwen Stephanie introduced the Harajuku culture to the masses through her music video "Harajuku Girls" where she sings with four of the girls along side her. She is credited with bringing the girls to the masses but in no way is she responsible for the culture. The culture bears alot of similarities to the hip hop culture. With the alternating no rules styles, chuck tailor, and the braids and other things. If it is anything like the hip hop culture you can expect to see the Harajuku girls around for decades to come.