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)
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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