As soon as we hand in one set of projects, we straight away get a new brief. Well they do say ‘No rest for the wicked’. Our new one is called ‘Turning Japanese’. Just by the title of it I was getting rather excited. We are to produce a design package and garment that could be worn by the host/hostess of a Japanese themed club night. Our final outcome is to be a kimono, well something that resembles the shape of it. We will be able to use block pattern pieces that we can alter to suit the design of our kimono. We were asked to start our research over the Easter break. This could be on Japanese culture, food, art- anything Japanese really. Our research will help influence our designs and final piece.
I have always been fascinated and completely in love with Harajuku. A few years ago I went through a brief Decora stage (so quick that it ended before it really had begun) let’s just say people in England don’t understand it how they do in Japan. In addition to that carrying a whole load of plastic toys strapped around your neck not also weighed a lot but made moving safely a bit of an issue (there was always the possibility of getting strangled by a caught up hello kitty). I love how the use of bright colours, prints and animated characters, such as Hello Kitty are incorporated onto clothing. It’s defiantly clear that all styles of Harajuku (I’ll explain about the different Harajuku style tribes in my next post) play on the inner child inside of everyone. Out of all the styles Lolita has to be my favourite. It’s just so pretty to look at. What with all the pastel colours, cute motifs and Victorian style lace it’s so girly. I will consider using this as my main inspiration.
Our new sketchbooks open up to reveal pages that look like a huge fan. I decided to play on the fact that it opened up like this by trying to make the first pages look like they joint up to form a street. On the first set of double pages I wrote the lyrics from a Gwen Stefani song (Harajuku girls) where she basically is singing her adoration for the ‘Harajuku Girls’. It’s clear on her obsession with this style as it’s been used lots in her videos that feature her girls- Love, Angel, Music and Baby and her fashion and perfume line called ‘Harajuku Lovers’. So I thought who else is more deserving to appear on my first pages.
I started off by typing ‘Harajuku’ into google. I already had some knowledge of Harajuku fashion and the station but never really knew much about the area of Harajuku or how the popularity of it rose. Turns out it was a small village that became hugely popular after WW11. The area of Washington heights was built up of army houses that were used to host athletes in the 1964 Olympics. Shops were built to cater for the families that lived there which allowed youths to explore western culture. The area became popular due to people wanting to meet the Olympic athletes. The increase in popularity therefore inspired shops and fashion businesses to set up.
Harajuku station is where the cool kids hang. Not just a station it serves as a dressing room for people who cosplay and dress up in Harajuku fashion. As you can tell I haven’t really finished this page hence the big blank space in the centre of the station. I’ll either paint people onto it or use a photograph as I like to mix media. I have already started on other pages further into the sketchbook but for the sake of trying not to confuse everyone (and of course myself) I’ll scan everything in order so that it makes sense. So keep peeled because there’s more to come!
