This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Academic Disclaimer: This blog is a class project for my Visual Anthropology class; as such it is for educational purposes only. All photos posted here were taken taken by myself unless otherwise noted. Photos in this blog were taken mostly by my computer's camera, my boyfriend Kei, or in one case, a passerby at Toei Movie Studio. The man I am cosplaying with is Kei and he has allowed me to use these photos for this particular project. I do not own the rights to any character cosplayed: American McGee's Alice or Yana Toboso's Kuroshitsji. Cupcake lolita costume was handmade and crafted by my friend Ailey E.
Ever since high school when I became more in touch and aware of Japanese culture, cinema, anime
music and fashion, my style of preferred dress has altered continuously whether it was considered
trendy or not. I also encompass many different interests that ultimately influence my style and so I have
no one style of dress, but many. Since moving to Japan this obsession with multitudes of fashion has intensified.
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| Casual school girl outfit also purchased in my first year living in Japan at Sunshine City mall. |
My fashion always alters, however, depending on what kind of medium I am into. A lot of times how I dress is dictated by the town, event or theme park destination I am in or headed to. After my first semester studying in Japan I moved to a town I had stayed in on a previous
visit to Japan, Ikebukuro. I now live in Higashi-Ikebukuro, and have been here for
over 3 years now. As such, my style became briefly dominated by clothes sold at
Sunshine City mall. Just like Harajyuku, and Shibuya have a lot of punk, goth and
Lolita and gyaru, and Akihabara has otaku-style elements (also cosplay), Ikebukuro girls wear a certain style as well.
It’s much more casual than what you might see in Harajyuku around LaForet (not necessarily Takeshita-dori or street) or Shibuya. Sunshine
City has ALTA which specialises in brands like WonderRocket and other
understated, but sweet girlish clothes. Sunshine is also popular with women who
like Lolita or simpler versions of it, because of the store AXES FEMME.
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| Clothing from my first year in Japan, purchased at Sunshine City mall. Trying to dress like the majority of girls in my neighbourhood. |
Which is a great segway into my loli fashions.
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| Preparing for Kuroshitsuji Musical in 2010. Wearing dress I bought from "Putumayo" in Harajyuku's LaForet. |
When I started hanging out in Harajyuku I became more involved in forms of Lolita (loli). Goth Lolita, Hime (Princess) lolita, Sweet lolita, etc. Predominantly I prefer goth loli styles because of the music and anime that interest me most. I prefer American, European and Japanese rock to other genres of music, though as a musician there are few forms of music I do not like. Also, I prefer dark anime such as Yana Toboso's Kuroshitsuji and it just so happens that I had put the above outfit together to go see Sen no Tamashii (1,000 Souls): The Most Beautiful Death in the World musical in 2010 at Asakusa's ACT Theatre. Speaking of Kuroshitsuji, let's look at some cosplay pictures!
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| Kei and I doing a pose from Yana Tobo and Square Enix/Aniplex Kuroshitsuji. |
Japan is an especially exciting place to cosplay anime and game characters, because it is the place where the most popular characters originate. When Namjya Town in Sunshine City had a Kuroshitsuji event called "Ciel in Wonderland," my boyfriend and I cosplayed as the characters Ciel and Sebastian and then wore the same costumes to Animate Girl’s Festival the same year.
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| Just being a silly couple. |
The next year I cosplayed as Alice from American McGee's (Spicy Horse and Unreal Games) Alice and Alice: The Madness Returns. Although American's games originate from America, the
designers and American himself were heavily influenced by Japanese art and the game has
an otaku following in Japan as well as many other countries.
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| Looking down the rabbit hole, in this case my computer's webcam. |
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| Posing at Animate Girl's Festival. This backdrop resembled the third stage in Alice the Madness Returns which was titled "Scorched Earth" and modelled in the styles of both Japan and China. |
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| Cheesy kawaii pose. |
Last Halloween I cosplayed as a “Lolita cupcake” which my friend Ailey E. custom made for
me. This style Lolita is very much like what model/singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has
made popular. I am in love with lolita fashion, but do not wear it often as it isn't very practical. I wear it on special occasions or on trips to Shinjyuku Marui One, for LaForet in Harajyuku, for example. Halloween is my favorite season, and therefore, a very special occasion!
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| "Fashion Monster" ala Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. |
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| Showing off the cute spider ring. |
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| The piece de resistance: the cupcake frosting hat complete with candy corn, witch hats and brooms. The dress, bow, necklace and frosting hat were all handmade and crafted by my very close friend Ailey E. |
Lastly, historical theme parks in Japan offer dress up and photo services that are super fun! This picture was taken at Toei Movie Studio in Kyoto, Japan. I am posing as a member of the popularised historical group Shinsengumi. This was probably the most fun I have ever had dressing up!
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| Possibly the best day of my life. Photo taken at Toei Movie Studio in Kyoto, Japan. I had my pictures taken with Toei staff dressed as other Bakumatsu jidai samurai, history classes, and gigging Japanese school girls....at least 10. |
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| Although this dress is not from Japan, I adore it for the cherry blossoms, which are one of Japan's national symbols. I love Japan, I love cherry blossoms and I love this dress! The dress is a creation of former pin-up girl turned designer, Bernie Dexter. |
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