— Yukako Izumi, deputy editor, Time Out Tokyo
If you were to stop someone on the streets of Tokyo and ask them what kawaii means, they would probably offer a simple translation such as “cute,” “adorable,” or “pretty.” But if you pressed them further to ask what images come to mind, they might say something about pastel colors or busy, cartoonish pop imagery, like an overturned box of toys. Some people might say girls in school uniforms or pretty floral dresses are kawaii. Others might mention their favorite pop idol, whose makeup emphasizes big eyes, long lashes, a button nose, and a small, rosebud mouth, evoking a childish kind of beauty. Still others might show you a smartphone case with animated characters on it, or a stuffed animal charm dangling from their bag.
Answers like these tend to give outsiders the impression that kawaii is a childish aesthetic, an obsession with all things small, young, and most of all, cute.
For Japanese people, the word kawaii itself carries with it all the rich resonances and associations with childhood, nostalgia, fantasy, escapism, youth, beauty, and of course, cuteness, but the word is also used in increasingly complex and diverse ways. Recently, many Japanese women have started to use kawaii as a compliment or interjection similar to “great!” “cool!” or “delicious!” depending on the situation, so the term has clearly moved beyond its origins as something simply “cute” or “girly” to describe food, music, and so on. Like other aesthetic styles originating in Japan, such as wabi-sabi’s imperfect beauty as expressed in a cracked teacup or the characteristic minimalism of Japanese landscape gardens or flower arrangements, kawaii style is an aesthetic that is instantly recognizable, but never simple to explain.
The fact is that it is perfectly natural in Japan for cute characters to appear on credit cards, on airliners and trains, and countless other places. This is not because Japanese people are childish—of course, they aren’t—or because they long for childhood more than people of other cultures, though nostalgia is certainly one part of kawaii’s appeal. While it is a style rooted in fantasy and nostalgia, kawaii as a concept is taken very seriously by many of its devotees. Attempting to master a kawaii look can be viewed in a similar light to practicing the Japanese traditional arts, such as Bushido (the way of martial arts), Kado (the way of flower arranging), and Sado (the way of tea). Practitioners of these arts find beauty within the prescribed actions and creative results of these disciplines as they strive to attain the highest level of skill possible. The people wearing kawaii style on the streets of Tokyo often see their style as a craft. They dress with intention, great attention to detail, and take pleasure in this mode of creative expression, even if they just love kawaii style or the way a floaty, floral dress makes them feel, and even if the end goal is simply to have fun.
Model Natsume Mito wears a white Sina Suien blouse paired with a jet-black skirt. The sweet Peter Pan collar and puffed sleeves with embroidery and button details are classic kawaii touches.
Tomoko Inuzuka, director, Vermeerist Beams, in a scarlet Angel Chen dress, a Vermeerist Beams original white shirt with an oversize pussy bow, and Le Kilt × George Cox enamel shoes. The ruching, ruffles, satin ribbons and bows on the shoes, and schoolgirl socks add playful kawaii touches.
In this chapter, we’ll focus on kawaii as it’s explored in different ways by women who currently influence and define street style in Tokyo. Through our conversations with these stylish women, we’ve found that, for some of them, there is an undeniable appeal to dressing up in pretty florals and floaty fabrics as a way of escaping into a fantasy world. There is also the attraction of appreciating natural fabrics and soft silhouettes with intricate detailing as a way of taking pleasure in the little things in life and focusing on your immediate surroundings amid the hectic pace of Tokyo life. So far, so kawaii.
But kawaii in street fashion is also subversive. It undermines traditional ideas of femininity by juxtaposing harder edges and masculine detailing with floaty fabric and flowers, or uses irony and anachronism to intentionally invert traditional associations with flowers and silk dresses. In this context, reclaiming kawaii to experiment with new combinations and styling can be a kind of liberation from what is traditionally considered “girly” and all of the social constraints that stereotypical kawaii style entails. The spirit of their style comes from a passion for playful irony, the subversion of expected norms, and rebellious punk music and rock ’n’ roll. So, it’s no wonder that kawaii styles influence street-style fashions and attract such exuberant devotees.
Through the following conversations, we hope you’ll begin to see that, rather than following a fixed set of style rules for being kawaii, incorporating kawaii elements into your own style is as personal as it gets, and relies on having an open, playful mind-set, often mixed with a wicked sense of humor. Let’s start by meeting one of the most well-known icons of kawaii style.
Owner, director, and DJ at Faline Tokyo and Miss Faline
— Baby Mary
Baby Mary is a charismatic figure in Tokyo’s fashion world, and her influence on street style is undeniable. Walking into her stores, Faline Tokyo and Miss Faline, is to enter a world of kawaii, staffed by “Faline Girls and Boys” who are well known on the streets as Tokyo’s It girls and boys. Thanks to Instagram and other social media, the Faline staff members are also getting attention worldwide for their edgy, kawaii-cool style. Combining her love of Vivienne Westwood and music, Baby Mary nurtures these young style influencers and talents, many of whom go on to careers in music and fashion. For example, DJ and fashion icon Mademoiselle Yulia (@mademoiselle_yulia), who frequently appears in street-photography magazines, is a former Faline Girl.
When we met, Baby Mary reminded us of a character who had just stepped out of an old film or novel, a girl with great fashion sense and a dash of rebelliousness. “My version of kawaii,” she tells us, “is edgy spitefulness and sexiness.” Although pink florals, ribbons, and Mary Janes are key elements of her wardrobe, Baby Mary exudes edgy coolness. She seems as surprised as anyone that she likes such girly styles so much, given the equal attraction that punk and house music have for her, but she also takes obvious pleasure in the contradiction. It is this subversive strain within the sugar-shock cutesy styles that make kawaii so interesting and influential for street fashions in Tokyo.
The first store Baby Mary opened was Faline in Nagoya, a major manufacturing hub that is increasingly associated with the fashion industry. The store originally sold Vivienne Westwood clothes exclusively. Why Vivienne Westwood? “About twenty years ago I saw a corset dress with crinoline that was in a Vivienne Westwood collection and I fell in love at first sight. I immediately rushed to Worlds End in London. I still remember how nervous and excited I was when I opened the door. I think that my fashion life changed drastically from that moment.” Vivienne Westwood was selling her iconic “mini-crini” (a mix of a Victorian crinoline and a ballet tutu) that was inspired by the Ballets Russes production of Petrushka with its glorious music, costumes, and dance. The mini-crini was supposed to be emblematic of both the restrictions of women’s clothing, because the Victorian crinoline was worn underneath corseted gowns to help change and conceal the true shape of a woman’s body, and also liberation, because the short length exposed the legs and allowed the wearer to move freely like a ballerina.
Baby Mary wears a Chloé dress with Louis Vuitton ankle boots with a book-shaped clutch from Olympia Le-Tan. She also sometimes serves tea to customers in the afternoon.
Rie (left) and Erika Gold, members of the sales team at Faline Tokyo. Shop staff at Faline Tokyo are leaders of the kawaii style tribe and are commonly known among young people in Harajuku as “Faline Girls and Boys.” Classic kawaii pieces—Rie in a short red dress with a sweet collar and cuffs, Erika Gold in a crinoline skirt and T-shirt with a cozy fur cummerbund worn over the shoulder—are transformed into a fresh, original kawaii cool look when styled with unexpected details like fish-nets and black Doc Martens or a bright red lip and wavy, cropped hair.
— Baby Mary
At the time Baby Mary discovered Worlds End, with its oversize clock over the door that looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland, Westwood had moved on from punk to explore fashions that were sexy and nostalgic, even a bit childlike, as a counterpoint to the increasingly boxy, adult, masculine power-suit styles for women in the mid-1980s.
During her time in London, Baby Mary tells us, “I used to hang out every night in clubs with cool people I met through Worlds End. My contact base grew from those encounters in London as I met more and more people at the clubs and exchanged information and ideas about fashion and music with them.” Baby Mary went on to collaborate with these designers and creators on her own original brand, including Fifi Chachnil, Olympia Le-Tan, Jeremy Scott, and Fafi (the artist who designed the Faline Tokyo original items).
Baby Mary credits her family for her eclectic kawaii style. “My father went on many business trips all over the world, so we had souvenirs from each country he went to all over my house. We lived in a European-style building with a pink-and-orange poodle-motif wallpaper that matched the orange carpeting. My mother used to cook roast beef or escargot on special occasions like Christmas. Back then I thought it was normal, but looking back at it now I think that I was brought up in a very Westernized environment. But that experience made me who I am today. When Miss Faline was just about to open I saw the completed interior design and thought, ‘Oh, this is just like my parents’ house!’ The foreign books and tableware on the bookshelves were identical to my parents’ decor. Perhaps it’s part of me—ribbons, Mary Jane shoes, and pink clothes.”
Miss Faline opened at Christmastime in 2015 in Kita-Aoyama, an area known for its sophisticated fashion, art galleries, and lively bars and restaurants. The selection of products at Miss Faline is targeted toward women looking for a more grown-up version of kawaii than Faline Tokyo. The store is a kawaii utopia made of Baby Mary’s personal selection of clothes that she herself would wear.
Faline Tokyo is located on a backstreet near Harajuku’s famed pedestrian shopping lane, Takeshita Street, where some of the wildest street fashions are born. Since its opening in 2003, the store’s obsession with kawaii style is evident in the clothing selection, which has attracted fashion addicts from all around the world. It also offers men’s clothing. This cozy store has an atmosphere that is eternally kawaii.
The out-sized wall paintings by the French artist Fafi, featured on both the exterior of Miss Faline and the store interior of Faline Tokyo, belie the tiny, intimate shop spaces inside. In addition to Baby Mary’s hand-selected clothes, the shelves at Miss Faline are stocked with the most adorable kawaii finds, including novels, interior decor, collectibles, perfumes, tea cups, and more.
Inside the store, we got lost in a pop-art wonder-land designed by the artist and illustrator Przemek Sobocki. Vermeerist Beams owner, Tomoko Inuzuka, holds a copy of Johannes Vermeer’s famous painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. The shop is named for the Dutch master. Like other influential boutique owners that we spoke to, Inuzuka tells us that she only carries clothes that she herself wants to wear, and the store feels like her closet, with each corner and shelf full of kawaii pieces.
Director, Vermeerist Beams
— Tomoko Inuzuka
Well versed in UK rock culture and, of course, fashion, it is no surprise that Tomoko Inuzuka is also a fan of Vivienne Westwood. When we meet at her select shop in Harajuku, Vermeerist Beams, Inuzuka tells us, “From the 1980s to 1990s, many cool musicians based in Tokyo were wearing Seditionaries,” Vivienne Westwood’s brand from the 1970s. Her subversive clothes were influenced by punk music and were sold by Westwood and McLaren’s King’s Road shop (called SEX at that time, but later refitted to become Worlds End). “I had a great deal of admiration for [those musicians’] style. Back then, fashionable people knew all sorts of things about music, film, etc. . . . they were really cool. I wanted to be like them, so I would often go to places where they would gather to try to get to know them and learn more about their style.”
Vermeerist was established as a branch of Beams, the pioneering select shop in Japan. Vermeerist is named after Johannes Vermeer, and the store’s aesthetic is inspired by the sumptuous fabrics, ribbons, botanical embellishments, and hairstyles that figure prominently in the Dutch master’s paintings. At Vermeerist, these motifs are transformed into something larger than life, thanks to an installation from the illustrator and display artist Przemek Sobocki. Giant painted floral motifs adorn the floors, wind their way up the legs of display cases, and spill onto the glass, and flowers hang from the ceiling.
Inspired by Vivienne Westwood-style punk, Inuzuka’s own signature style is Tokyo kawaii through and through and is well known and admired by her customers. She is super-attuned to pretty, nostalgic looks with an edge, clothes that are beautiful to look at and fun to wear but that also have a smart concept behind them, and she endeavors to support such fashion at Vermeerist Beams. “When I feel passionate about fashion, it is always about kawaii.” Clothes at Vermeerist Beams are selected based on Inuzuka’s personal preferences—if it makes her say, “Kawaii! I want to wear that!” it’s in. Her preferred floral and plaid patterns, floaty fabrics in unusual silhouettes, or heavier chintz draped elegantly around her body are the epitome of kawaii, but her styling always includes edgier details—rock-chic makeup, heavy boots, unexpected accessories, twisted, sculptural hair adorned with ribbons, and so on.
— Tomoko Inuzuka
Inuzuka also has a keen eye for up-and-coming kawaii style and takes inspiration from the streets, even as she herself shapes street style through her store’s selection and her unique style. “When I see a girl walking down the street in Harajuku who has clearly gone to great lengths to get done up right,” she explains, “I just can’t help but feel the kawaii essence that girl’s style expresses.” This joyous appreciation of fashion as a hard-earned skill and as something fun is central to kawaii street style. As for the selections on display at Vermeerist Beams, Inuzuka looks for artistic passion as much as kawaii design: “Whenever I meet someone who puts their own ideas into something, my heart swells,” Inuzuka tells us. “When I find designers who create like this, I always make sure to buy their products, regardless of the ‘value’ attached to the designer’s name.” The next designer we will meet, Akiko Aoki, is one of these passionate kawaii creators.
Akiko Aoki (right) and Mari Terasawa of Tokyo Kaihoku (left) at the unveiling of a new Akiko Aoki collection. Terasawa wears a pink Akiko Aoki vest.
Designer, AKIKOAOKI
Designer Akiko Aoki’s eponymous label, AKIKOAOKI, is an up-and-coming brand that has been grabbing the attention of global fashion media for its new type of kawaii that is classic and girly, but also contemporary. One of Aoki’s main motifs is the school uniform, but her designs are unlike any uniform you’ve ever seen before. Pleats, ruffles, and ruched edges are characteristic details, along with billowing sleeves, scalloped lapels and hems, and Peter Pan collars like something out of the manga series Sailor Moon. “I have always been fond of school uniforms, with their white blouses and sailor collars,” Akiko Aoki tells us when we meet her behind the scenes at the unveiling of a new collection in Tokyo. We ask her about her penchant for uniform styles. “It is not just me, though—Japanese women like school uniforms, don’t we? Some girls even go to the trouble of buying a school uniform to wear even though their school didn’t require one!”
We ask Aoki about the evergreen appeal of school uniform styles. “I think people like them because they’re a kind of cosplay, allowing the wearer to morph into whatever they want. In a uniform, you can ‘mask’ the self, or dissolve into your surroundings, or even adopt a different persona. I think this is why many people still have affection for uniforms, even after we grow up. I’m definitely one of those people.” So it’s partly about familiarity and partly about concealment. “Like kimonos,” Aoki explains, “school uniforms have design elements that are somewhat plain and that conceal the shape of the body. This concealment is probably the reason why uniforms will always be perennial favorites.”
“But,” she continues, “as a designer, I endeavor to pay attention to the beautiful curves of the female body and to create unique forms by accentuating or deconstructing those curves to create novel and original designs.” Pleats are one of Aoki’s signature details that create dramatic movement against the body and that have been particularly popular each season with many fashion-conscious women in Tokyo. Looking at the so-called school uniforms in Aoki’s collections, it’s easy to understand why anyone, even those not keen on returning to school-style fashions, would want to wear her clothes.
Next we speak with Etsuko Yano, the director of the influential kawaii bouqitue Lamp harajuku, who also is drawn to school uniforms and is a fan of AKIKOAOKI for elevating the traditional school uniform into a fashion genre in its own right and cementing it as a cornerstone of kawaii style.
— Akiko Aoki
Akiko Aoki’s collections showcase her distinctive, feminine design elements that coexist with an edgy, contemporary feel. Here we see pleated skirts reminiscent of school uniforms, which appear in Aoki’s collection every season, along with other floral designs and motifs printed on voluminous sleeves and puffed skirts from one of Aoki’s popular lines.
Etsuko Yano, director of Lamp harajuku, pairs Converse high-tops with a Cosmic Wonder Light Source dress from their 2012 season.
Director, Lamp harajuku
Like high school students the world over, Etsuko Yano, director of kawaii boutique Lamp harajuku, used to push the limits of her school uniform, trying to wear it in her own way. She also loved listening to punk music, and, when not in uniform, she always wore clothing and platform shoes inspired by her favorite bands. In contrast to the neat bob she sports today, Yano’s preferred after-school hairstyle was once a faux-hawk, which she would create before going to gigs. Her affinity for punk music has shaped her style, as has her love of movies.
Etsuko Yano cites Sofia Coppola as a major influence on her sense of style. “I have an affinity for the musical expression and the beauty in her films. I find her worldview to be romantic, but it also encapsulates a somewhat dangerous darkness within it.” Think Marie Antoinette (2006), with its anachronistic combination of over-the-top frills, soft pastels, and edgy rock soundtrack. “I’m a very perverse person,” she tells us. “I just don’t find things that everyone else loves to be desirable. I’m always looking for something different. Lamp harajuku was born because of this perversity.”
“When I was younger, I loved Vivienne Westwood’s punk-feminine styles, even though I couldn’t afford her clothes as a student.” It is hard to imagine Yano’s high school look based on her current style—she is wearing a delicately embossed floral dress the day we meet with her—but you can see a kind of punk attitude infused within her style if you look closer.
Yano’s punk spirit and independent attitude, which she calls “perversity,” influence the store’s merchandise, as well. It is probably this rebellious spirit hidden within the kawaii pieces in her store that has given Lamp harajuku its enduring appeal to its young-at-heart clientele. She also keeps things fresh by regularly hosting style exhibitions to showcase new designers’ creations.
Lamp harajuku is a multilabel store that has been in business at the same location in Harajuku (where businesses come and go as swiftly as the trends they carry) for over fifteen years. Like Baby Mary’s Miss Faline (this page), Lamp harajuku offers grown-up kawaii styles and is known as an excellent source for beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces from designers both in Japan and around the world, but especially those from exclusive, high-concept Tokyo-based labels. Sina Suien, featured next, is a perfect example of the brands sold here—items created by designers with an artist’s sensibility.
— Etsuko Yano
Lamp harajuku is located on a backstreet near Omotesando in Harajuku, Tokyo’s center for youth fashion. The store is heaven for those looking for truly original kawaii clothes presented in a dynamic, gallery space.
— Etsuko Yano
An art installation by the creative duo, magma (magma-web.jp) on display inside the store.
Embroidery artist and designer, Sina Suien
— Yumiko Arimoto
For Sina Suien designer Yumiko Arimoto, kawaii style has a very personal, intimate feel. Every Sina Suien dress is made by Arimoto and created using a slightly different embroidery design and combination of textiles. Supply is limited and only a small selection of stores, including Lamp harajuku, sell Sina Suien clothing. (Arimoto has also exhibited her work at Lamp harajuku’s gallery space.)
Sina Suien dresses are priced for true devotees, but even so, the brand gets attention from women of all ages from college students on up. In fact, Sina Suien is so popular that there are even enthusiasts who collect Sina Suien clothing exclusively. If you pay close attention to the highly artistic embroidery and the unique use of textiles that create an oriental atmosphere in Sina Suien clothing, you will find something intriguing, hidden under a veil of secrecy and intimacy and with an air of sophistication that transcends the normal conception of kawaii as merely “adorable” or “precious,” and contrasts with the edgier, sexy, cool kawaii of Faline Tokyo and Vermeerist Beams.
When we meet with Arimoto in her atelier in Tokyo, she tells us she sometimes finds inspiration for her fashion ideas in manga and anime. “When I was a student, I loved to read the manga series Honey and Clover,” a Japanese comic series by Chica Umino, popular among women in their teens and twenties, which was later adapted into a feature film. “I was very fond of the female character, Hagumi, and I used to dress like her, always wearing cute dresses with soft silhouettes. Back then, Mori Girl style was becoming popular. So my friends started calling me ‘Mori Girl.’” Arimoto’s shy demeanor belies a sophisticated introspection, a sharp eye for detail, and a craftsman’s preeminent skill. She has loved drawing ever since she was little and has even exhibited her own original illustrations.
“Contemporary art really inspires me,” she tells us. “I tend to draw representations of things in a way that mixes fashion and art.” Arimoto says she is particularly inspired by designs from Cosmic Wonder, the Japanese fashion label we saw earlier on Etsuko Yano from Lamp harajuku (see this page), and Susan Cianciolo, the Brooklyn-based artist known for her avant-garde fashion designs and mixed-media art installations. “Recently I have become more interested in Japanese traditional arts as well,” Arimoto continues. “I produced my 2017 spring/summer collection based on the ideas of Buddhist monks’ sashes. I presented the collection at a Buddhist temple in Niigata like an art exhibition and it felt like I was breaking new ground. It also gave me a strong desire to create clothing using kimono fabric, which made me appreciate my own country as a source of inspiration more than ever.”
Sina Suien designer and embroidery artist Yumiko Arimoto pairs a red skirt, which she made herself, with a secondhand sweatshirt transformed by her own embroidery embellishments. The spring/summer 2017 collection, examples of which are shown here, is inspired by Buddhist monks’ sashes and features exquisite embroidery.
Model Natsume Mito (top left) and Lamp harajuku salesperson Rina Osanai (top right) at Tokyo Fashion Week. Osanai wears Sina Suien patchwork pants made from various fabrics stitched together with the brand’s characteristic embroidery work. The color gradation on the cloud embroidered onto the colorful floral waistband is a striking detail.
Arimoto’s unique combinations of design elements from manga, anime, contemporary art, and traditional Japanese culture are what make Sina Suien’s clothes so interesting. She is always looking for fresh inspiration. “I find that those who have a personal fashion style that showcases their own individual attractiveness are really kawaii. Whenever I see such people I try to draw them—it’s a habit of mine. I sometimes get an idea from these illustrations and go on to create a new dress.”
Again and again, we noticed how music, film, literature, and other interests beyond fashion have influenced how the women we spoke to explore kawaii style. The passion and artistic intention that go into creating intelligent music and film and so on, especially works that critique contemporary social and artistic norms and show unexpected or subversive aspects of those norms, are values that appear again and again in kawaii styles. Of course, it is possible—and fun!—to enjoy beautifully kawaii florals and feminine details on clothing simply for what they are. But the ways in which the women we’ve spoken to approach this beauty, looking deeper to find something more interesting and revealing about the idea of kawaii, and about themselves, are fundamental elements of Tokyo’s street culture.
Moving on from the feminine kawaii style we’ve seen in this chapter, we’ll explore genderless style, which has been getting increasing attention worldwide but which has been quietly developing for over a generation here in Tokyo (see this page). Like kawaii, genderless style is as individual as the person wearing it and is just as expressive of a person’s style ethos and identity. Let’s take a look at the fashion designers, brands, select shops, and concept stores that are exploring the possibilities afforded when you take gender distinctions out of the style equation.
