I'm not sure how I feel about these books if I'm honest, like you I'm always somewhat disappointed by these kind of books. I've got "Fashioning Japanese Subcultures" and while I haven't read it properly yet it seems OK but from comments here I gather it does fail as a proper study. When I flicked through Fruits in a bookstore once I wasn't a fan of it.
I suppose these kind of books are hindered by general lack of information about different Jfashions in the West? It would be hard for people to write a decent book about fashion if the info isn't there or is easy to access. The Lolita community is quite big on community resources (Handbook, Hello Lace etc.) but do other fashion communities really do that sort of thing? And more importantly guides that aren't on Tumblr? That and I think a lot of Western viewers still view street fashion as a "Look at those crazy Japanese" kind of thing. When that is your focus why bother doing any form of research? One of my favourite tests for "Guides to Japanese Street Fashion" is to see how long takes them to bring up Ganguro!
And on a different note, I see Kawaii!: Japan's Culture of Cute is on your list. Do you happen to have that book and what is it like?
Yeah they're a real mixed bag for me, but I find them interesting nonetheless. I like the lookbook aspect of them and I want to read actual insightful comments about the various fashions, but they are always lacking for me. I have both the old Fruits photobooks and while I really don't think they hold up so well beyond nostalgia (because we've all seen these pictures millions of times before) in the early 2000's they were very impressive because the first one was literally the first of it's kind in English.
It's not so much that I'm interested in style guides the way the Lolita fashion likes to do it, but I would be very interested in people's personal opinions and even just anecdotes about the fashions they wear, sort of like a less rambling and insane version of what Novala used to do? I know some of the other fashions are as "defined" as Lolita is, I don't think they have as many accessible resources the way Lolita does, probably largely just because Lolita has been around for so long! Idk, I feel like something like that would require pretty much zero research on the writers part and come across as much more authentic than the usual style wiki-ripped off style blurbs.
A lot of these books do seem like they have a very heavy emphasis on "wacky Harajuku", like I feel like even if the photographer doesn't necessarily feel that way the publishers sort of push that? Nearly all of these books have the wackiest damned fashions on the cover. Even the recent ones all have 90s style decora on the cover.
I haven't had the chance to pick up the Kawaii book but digging around for reviews and just checking out the index makes it look like it's actually surprisingly complex? It seems like it's marketed towards the "HELLO KITTY KAWAII HARAJUKU" typical wackyness but the reviews seem to say it's actually a thoughtful book (although it has the same old "cute handwriting, yankee cat photos, etc" history that every one of these books talks about)
To be fair that isn't just a Western outlook. "Normal" Japanese society looks at Lolitas and say "look at those crazy Lolitas" too. It's not widely accepted here and though the little Japanese grandmas tend to love the frills, in general Lolita and most other street fashions are looked down upon as people who "are not capable of fitting in and thus failures to the Japanese society". I actually think it's looked upon even worse here than outside of Japan because outside of Japan it's at least seen as amusing whereas here in Japan dressing the way we all do is seen as a failure to assimilate into society aka people without any kind of common sense or future.
Infact lots of lolitas and alternative fashion Japanese entusiasts when they reach a certain age like 20-25 they usually quit the styles because after university, they need to find a career and usually a good one not a part time job, because for a Japanese individual dressing alternative, getting into "otaku" culture and such are considered things not good for an adult Japanese person. I have also heard some girls call themselves "old women" when they reach their 20s, i was shocked to hearing this!! Japanese society isn't that rose colored as outsiders believe. I remember when here on Egl we talked about a young teacher who was mocked by children's parents to dress Lolita in her free time. I mean... c'mon it's her business dress as she wants when she doesn't work right? But in Japan things work differently unfortunately because they have a sense of community, so every person inside the society even during non working time must give a "good" image of themselves. Instead in our western culture if people dress alternative during their free time isn't a big deal as in Japan.
I suppose these kind of books are hindered by general lack of information about different Jfashions in the West? It would be hard for people to write a decent book about fashion if the info isn't there or is easy to access. The Lolita community is quite big on community resources (Handbook, Hello Lace etc.) but do other fashion communities really do that sort of thing? And more importantly guides that aren't on Tumblr?
That and I think a lot of Western viewers still view street fashion as a "Look at those crazy Japanese" kind of thing. When that is your focus why bother doing any form of research? One of my favourite tests for "Guides to Japanese Street Fashion" is to see how long takes them to bring up Ganguro!
And on a different note, I see Kawaii!: Japan's Culture of Cute is on your list. Do you happen to have that book and what is it like?
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It's not so much that I'm interested in style guides the way the Lolita fashion likes to do it, but I would be very interested in people's personal opinions and even just anecdotes about the fashions they wear, sort of like a less rambling and insane version of what Novala used to do? I know some of the other fashions are as "defined" as Lolita is, I don't think they have as many accessible resources the way Lolita does, probably largely just because Lolita has been around for so long! Idk, I feel like something like that would require pretty much zero research on the writers part and come across as much more authentic than the usual style wiki-ripped off style blurbs.
A lot of these books do seem like they have a very heavy emphasis on "wacky Harajuku", like I feel like even if the photographer doesn't necessarily feel that way the publishers sort of push that? Nearly all of these books have the wackiest damned fashions on the cover. Even the recent ones all have 90s style decora on the cover.
I haven't had the chance to pick up the Kawaii book but digging around for reviews and just checking out the index makes it look like it's actually surprisingly complex? It seems like it's marketed towards the "HELLO KITTY KAWAII HARAJUKU" typical wackyness but the reviews seem to say it's actually a thoughtful book (although it has the same old "cute handwriting, yankee cat photos, etc" history that every one of these books talks about)
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I remember when here on Egl we talked about a young teacher who was mocked by children's parents to dress Lolita in her free time. I mean... c'mon it's her business dress as she wants when she doesn't work right? But in Japan things work differently unfortunately because they have a sense of community, so every person inside the society even during non working time must give a "good" image of themselves. Instead in our western culture if people dress alternative during their free time isn't a big deal as in Japan.
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