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Oftentimes when looking at Japanese style, there is an immediate Western gravitation towards large fashion designers like Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, or Issey Miyake. However, during the peak of these brands popularity and Western interest in Japanese fashion, there existed a vibrant underbelly of Japanese fashion that reflected quite the opposite of the designers more muted, darker, and avant-garde styles. Japanese subculture fashion, which included styles like Lolita, Mori Kei, and Kogals - all styles in which I will further explore in this timeline. The styles reflected a brighter, more kitschy version of Japanese fashion, and was often represented by young Japanese youth and young adults in certain areas of Tokyo. According to Japan_Talk.com, there are over 20 different kinds of subcultures that can be found in Japan, ranging from styles like Rockabilly, Cosplayers, Dekora, and Gyarou. Each style reflects a certain group and way of dressing, and all feature distinct characteristics that differentiate the styles from each other. This timeline will focus on a select few in order to go more in depth into how the aesthetics of the style are understood.

In taking a look at Japanese subculture fashion from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s, it is first important to look at how subcultures are defined and then contextualized in a modern historical context. In her book Fashioning Japanese Subcultures, Yuniya Kawamura comes to define subcultures themselves as constituted by groups and individuals who share distinct values and norms that are against dominant or mainstream society” (Kawamura 7). She further notes that the word itself alludes to how subcultures are viewed in a broader context, saying that “the prefix ‘sub’ implies notions of distinctiveness and difference from the dominant or mainstream society” (7). Subcultures are often regarded in a more Western context, with movements like punk and goth coming to mind. Kuwamura also points out that these subcultures are often male-driven and dominated - a fact that is considered to be quite the opposite in Japanese subculture fashion, with women being the leading force in most of the popular style subgroups. It is therefore “the Japanese youth [that] play a crucial role in forming a separate fashion community and producing the latest styles that express their subculture affiliation and identity” (4).

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In her book Fashioning Japanese Subcultures, Kawamura also notes that there is a relationship in Japan between the rise in subcultures in the early 90s and the economic crisis at the time. She “argue[s] that there is an ironic correlation between the Japanese economic slump and the increase in the youth’s creativity, ” seeing as the styles gained popularity following the stock market crash and corresponding economic crisis in 1992 (Kawamura 4). In the 1980s, Japan was considered “an economic giant” and large companies like Mitsubishi and Sony flourished. However, when the recession hit, “Japan is no longer a unified and homogenous society, and the overall societal values have changed” (35). Unemployment rates rose, and the previously solidified notion of more rigid values were called into question, and “working for a major corporation used to guarantee a permanent job and thus lifetime stability; a strong belief among the Japanese, [...became] a myth” (35). “Women [were] forced to become more independent financially and psychologically,” and as the economy supported less and less full-time jobs for men (36).

The street styles as a result were overflowing with superfluous details and accessories, and the young people of Japan, as they became angry and frustrated with the growing sense of despair and chaos surrounding the economic state of Japan. As Kawamura remarks, “When the traditional values and ideologies no longer work for a society to properly function it is only natural that individuals, especially the youth, begin to question the status quo and search for something else” (42).

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(image credit: "From Joshikosei to Kogyaru" 1997, ACROSS-PARCO - Google Arts and Culture)

The Japanese Kogal style (an abbreviated version of Kogyaru Gal) is characterized mostly through the recognizable school girl style that is featured in many perceptions of female Japanese fashion and style. Kogal became popular in the early to mid 90s, and “was similar to school uniforms with short plaid skirts, knee-high white socks, heavy make-up and artificial suntans” (Jiratanatiteenun et al. 293). Europeans eventually took interest in the style, and it spread to all areas of the world as non-Japanese decided to partake in the kogal lifestyle. However, “... the appearance of Kogal not only irritated the older generation, but surprised foreign observers and media pundits, and it surfaced in Harper’s Bazaar and the New Yorker magazine as objects of fascination” (293-294). This kind of fetishization of the style by Western eyes minimized the subculture, and it eventually fell out of more popular style, evolving into the Gyaru style, which is essentially a dilution of Kogal.

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(image credit: "Kawaii: Ganguro Gal", 1999, ACROSS, PARCO - Google Arts and Culture)

The Ganguro style is a bit more controversial, especially by Western standards, as the word literally translates to “blackface.” The style gained a lot of popularity in the late 90s and is associated with “...more extreme look with long bleached-blond or dyed brown hair and saddle-brown tans with heavy make-up, brightly colored mini-skirts or short pants and high platform boots.” making it a kitschy and wilder style within Japanese subculture fashion (Jiratanatiteenun et al. 294). More specific style developed out of this style, but the basic and distinctive characteristics remain pretty much the same.

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(image credit: FRUiTS magazine no. 141, April 2009, Shiochi Aoki)

The Lolita style and subculture is quite distinct within Tokyo street fashion and Japanese subcultures. “Lolita style represents the look of being cute and elegant,” with “the style is inspired by Rococo, Victorian and/or Edwardian fashion with an emphasis on cuteness” (Jiratanatiteenun et al. 294). Members of the Lolita community tend to fall into the two most popular categories of Lolita: Sweet and Gothic. Both variations of Lolita styles are “characterized by a knee length skirt or dress in a bell shape assisted by petticoats, worn with a blouse, knee high socks or stockings and a headdress,” but with Gothic Lolita focusing on a darker, all-black color palette, and Sweet Lolita affirming more lighter, pastel colors of blue, purple and pink (294). The style, although gaining popularity and traction in the mid-1990s, with peak popularity in the mid-2000s, is still a very popular style in the Shibuya and Harajuku neighborhoods in Tokyo today. It is important to note, however, that “wearing Lolita is not a form of 'cosplay' (costume play) – the act of dressing up as anime or manga characters – but an emphatic statement, or even a whole way of life, that expresses the identity of its devotees” (V&A).

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(image credit: FRUiTS magazine no. 141, February 2010, Shiochi Aoki)

The Mori Kei subculture comes from the Japanese words ‘mori’ meaning forest and places heavy emphasis on an ethereal fairytale-like style. “The term ‘Mori girl’ first appeared in 2006 on a Japanese social network site called Mixi before it was observed in Harajuku in 2008,” and the style is characterized by lot of earthy colors and tones, along with many layers and longer flowy skirts and dresses (Jiratanatiteenun et al. 295). The whole style can be seen to be born from the digital sharing and popularity of the aesthetic, as “mori girl was in its first phase where it was introduced and adopted by so called consumer fashion change agents who are leaders of collective taste within their social networks” (Jiratanatiteenun et al. 295).

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(image credit: "A trio of cosplayers relaxing in the Los Angeles Convention Center lobby", 2014, Tom Plate)

It should be noted that cosplay is not only a style, but a culture born from anime and manga conventions, and has since translated into more street wear and street fashion in Japan. The term ‘coplay’ more generally refers to “cosplay refers to the activities, such as masquerades, karaoke, and posing for pictures with other otaku, that are associated with dressing and acting like anime, manga, and video game characters” (Winge 65). The street style portion of the cosplay identity came into popularity around the mid-2010s, and was popular and had more of a niche convention style before that. “The shinjinrui junior generation (younger new breed generation) born in the 1990s [brought] a cosplay approach to fashion” with it eventually taking “over [as] the leading role in street style” (TOKYO). Cosplay as a style depends on the popular mangas and animes at a given time, so therefore cannot be characterized as anything too specific, but rather just a style that attempts to imitate the style of another character.

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(image credit: @fruits_magazine_archives, FRUiTS magazine no. 31, December 1999, Shiochi Aoki)

The role of FRUiTS magazine in documenting Harajuku style and subculture fashion within Tokyo is undeniable, as photographer Shiochi Aoki documented these street styles in the form of a purely image-based print publication from 1997 to 2017. It’s important to note that “The Harajuku ‘scene’ [...] dates in some form from some fifty years ago, but the post-bubble era of the early 1990s birthed a new breed of youth culture in the area defined by its multiple, overflowing styles…” (Dazed) The bold and vibrant colors found within the style seemed to be “something of a chemical reaction to Rei and her ‘crows’” (Dazed). There lay an importance in this bright color and out-there fashion that directly opposed the Western sense of more popular Japanese haute couture fashion, and the Harajuku street style was solidified as a sort of anti-culture cultural presence. Shoichi noted that “the catalyst for starting Fruits [...] was a single sighting of three girls, walking along the pavement [...] ‘They had brightly coloured hair, with a mix of kimono items and western clothes’” (Dazed). Unfortunately, Shoichi stopped personally shooting for the magazine in 2002, but his legacy of FRUiTS will always leave a starkly visual impact on the world of Harajuku subculture fashion: “‘90s fashion was creative,’ he says. ‘But Harajuku fashion is not a rebellion against something.’ It is, simply, an ability.” (Dazed).

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https://www.instagram.com/fruits_magazine_archives/