Japan Fashion: Winter '13 edition

Remember that rule about dress yourself warmly for winter and then take an article off?

In Japan's case that article is a hat...or maybe brain.
Apparently skirts and mini skirts never go out of fashion. It was snowing the other day and I just watched a couple walking at a major shopping arcade. The girls skirt was shorter than some of my panties and well she wasn't alone in her short skirt-ed-ness. There were certainly others there without half the clothing that I had on. But that shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone anymore.

I mention the hat because it is one obvious thing that all people should wear to keep their heads warm but guess who doesn't? I think I read somewhere sometime that we lose 80% of our body heat through our heads. Where that little nugget of parenting trickery is clearly not true (if it were true then we could walk around nearly naked and keep our heads warm and still not be cold because our heat is conserved), the Japanese take it to the extreme and decide not to wear hats all together! Well for the most part. Or at least the womens part. I asked why it was that they don't wear any hats to keep them warm and they patiently explained to me that they had big faces. Well I have never been concerned with the size of my face or head, and have never heard such worries over in America before, so I inquired further. They explained that if they wear a hat and they have a big face, then it will push their hair down and make their face look even bigger by comparison. I have some students so adverse to wearing hats they will literally run away from any offenders trying to place one upon their heads (often their friends) so that no one will ever know. Again it isn't something I really see or notice people for, but they seem to care a lot.
On the flip side, there are some extra chicly dressed people strutting themselves around Japan wearing some of these guys right here. Not exactly Por Pie hats, so I guess a little closer to Fedoras, but there are tons of shops all over with this kind of selection so there is clearly a good market for them. As you can guess the predominant type of person who wears this is men, but there are a good number of women stores around. You just see them wearing their hats less. I think these are slowly coming into fashion as you see more and more people wearing them on television shows and commercials.

So one thing that pretty much every normal person, and I can admit to wearing right now, will be wearing this time of year, is Heattech or Heat Fact. It is a heat conserving technology used in clothing to keep people warm without them wearing 18 layers. They sell it in a variety of different styles of shirts, leggings, socks, and scarves and such. Pretty much the idea is to look like you are still only wearing one layer of clothes. These can easily be bought at nearly any generic department store like Aeon or a bit more popular in the rankings is Uniqlo. I remember Korea also had, and I am sure still has, something like this at least in tights. They were nice and kind of fuzzy on the inside and kept you nice and warm. Though they were a bit thicker.

Another raging fashion I have been seeing all over the place, is fur scarves. And yes, I too have fallen victim to it. Don't judge. They are very warm...and soft. Anyways! These scarves have been around for quite some time actually and were used in combination with kimonos before. But this year and perhaps last year, they have been outfitted for everyday fashion. They are mostly rabbit fur with some fox tails (which are noticeably more expensive) and are colored and styled to ever style of fur scarf I could possibly imagine. I even found this crazy mustard colored one I was sorely tempted to get my mustard-loving friend. They are mostly shorter in style, as the wrap around ones are going to be more expensive and thus have a much limited market. Some are thick and will go down like a capette toward your elbows in a fancy dress me up sort of way, and other are simple around the neck and tidy claps sort of affairs that are for every day use. And I sincerely believe that nearly every woman in Kobe must own at least one. And all those women in Kyoto, especially the fancy-pants kimono ladies, they have one too.

And one last piece of winter fashion advice, peacoats. I remember when I was in college especially that they were the exact coat that everyone should own. But in Japan things were different last year. Everyone and their mother went out and all bought down jackets. Not a hard feat to accomplish when Uniqlo sells them for 2990-3990 on sale. But even more popular last year, were these puffy down coats. The sort that only a tall slim figure could pull off and not look overweight. Those coats would go in or tie or they would have some belt at the middle so as their figure would not be diminished. They were typically a bit longer sometimes even going to mid thigh or knee. So those coats are still around this year of course, but since last year when I was disappointed to see that not many were wearing peacoats, I have been doubly surprised to see their resurgence. Again I would blame idols and the television as when I think about all of the fashion conscious commercials, I remember in specifically a nice bright read peacoat and a cute navy beret. So needless to say, they are in fashion and there are more styles of them than I can count, but the odd thing I find is, is that the stores were not quite ready for this trend to take hold and a good many of them are still serving down jackets.

Also boots. Boots are always in.

center is a fur scarf. left is a peacoat. and all of them are wearing boots and no hats.

and these...I don't know why...
They are sold all over and I don't really see anyone using one.

Japan Fashion: Autumn-wear 2012

90's grunge where seems to be in full swing this autumn with all of the flannels and plaids that nearly every store is selling in prediction for this years most popular fall wear.

You would think it weird, because I certainly do, but they are even shipping USED AMERICAN flannels into Japan and selling them for 26.00USD per. Incredible is it not? These shirts get an entire second life. Also their second life in Japan might just be worth more than their first in America. And for those of you who might ask as to the validity of this statement. Just check out stores like WEGO in Japan and look at the brand names of the shirts. Faded Glory? Yeah, definitely American. Target brand? I think that one must be extremely old, because I don't recall that they even make Target brand clothing anymore.
And what's more? They are mostly, if not all, men's. Or well boy's at least, since Japanese ladies can be very slim and can easily fit into the boys clothing section of stores. They all have the buttons on the wrong sides and everything.

If flannel isn't your thing and you are more of a skirts and blouses kind of gal, then the more popular fall accessory to have is the tattoo tights. Appear like you have tattoos without any real commitment. Trust me this first time I saw these I about fell over. Well, because first of all I saw them on a Japanese lady and second of all I thought they actually were tattoos. And if you know anything about tattoos in Japan, then you would know that showing them off all over your legs like that is pretty taboo. Man was I wrong. I simply had to exit the coffee shop I was inhabiting and walk across the street to see the tattoo tights displayed in all their illuminated glory.
Personally, I am not a fan of this fashion. I find it a bit geared toward the younger-and-perhaps-grew-up-with-too-much-sugar generation. I feel like it kind of resembles a Alice in Wonderland meets Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in style. Because like all things, when something first works well in a simple fashion, it soon goes overboard with graphics and colors.

Your other nouveau fashion accessory, that I was told is a borrowed act from Korea, are the hats with ears. OK, I know you are thinking that either I am too into the animal-human culture in Japan or that Japan itself is too into it. Or possibly you might want to tell me that this is nothing new. But it is! It is not those beanies or toboggans with ears flapping around on the sides. This is like a bowler with ears on it. I have even seen people wearing it. You know like outside. In public.

Lastly I have the say boots. Boots seem to be everywhere this fall. I don't know if they are making a special push for it this year or what, but the fashion-true high heel has been moved to the backs of the stores with the boots up front and in the windows. Who knows if their marketing skill will actually work in the next few weeks when it really begins to cool down.

Japan Fashion: Accessories

In the winter most of us are prone to wearing hats, gloves, scarves and accessories to keep us warm. Sure most Japanese people will wear scarves, almost men more so than women. But to see then wearing hats is another thing entirely. Especially in winter. Men will wear hats typically, but I feel like it is definitely not as many that would wear them in the states. The beanies, toboggans, berets are all amiss over here. Women in particular are very against wearing hats. It comes and goes with the fashion of popstars, but the recent consensus is that wearing hats, especially winter hats ( in other words NOT sun hats) makes girls faces look large.
Weird right? I don't think I have ever been concerned about my face shape in America. But I suppose it is a bit like saying 'Does this dress make my butt look big?' only instead it is 'Does this hat make my face look fat?' An excessively large number of Japanese women are concerned over the width of her face, and it is often one of the first things they will notice about a new person. I remarked upon how I thought a woman across the street was very comely and the Japanese woman next to me said her face was too big. I am sure I made something similar to one of these faces (o.O). It is super weird to hear Japanese people say anything is fat seeing as they are all so skinny and practically under the degree to which their body mass indexes are recorded for average. It is also weird for my students to tell me I have a small face. Personally, every time I hear that I am thinking about the shrunken heads from the Night Bus of Harry Potter, and get a bit concerned.
But I digress. The point is due to the attention that hats will draw to ones head, many Japanese women will avoid wearing them. Additionally hats will push their hair and any volumizing elements that wear added to it, down flat, mussing their carefully maintained hair styles, and lets be honest, to carry around all those cosmetics just to have a wear head with a hat is just a pain!
But what they might wear is a scarf. Especially if it does not mess up their locks. It is outfit accentuating and very fashionable. Summer scarves likewise seem to be a good accessory for most women. A light breezy one, or even the stewardess ones that tie around the neck. As for the hipster scarf, I swear Japanese people must have mastered the look before it reach America, with the ease that they wear them. And it is just unearthly how perfect their scarf placement looks at all time. As far as I go with scarves it looks like It found fabric and rolled in it and they assume it as a pitiable attempt at clothing oneself.
Gloves are fashionable for winter and for the gothic lolita sort, and primarily consist of a thin material, often a knit or a wool and the primary function is fashionability and not so much warmth. Mens gloves have a greater degree of variance and will be thin or think in mostly darker colors.
Also in winter, I would swear up and down that those face masks are popular, because I see no other point in donning one of those ridiculous and irritating things on. Well I suppose there is no point if you are a mouth coverer whenever you cough, but like I mentioned earlier, it seems that is against most Japanese peoples policies. Though it is really not just a winter fashion. People wear it for pollen too. It just gets to its peak of fashion popularity in the winter.

Jewelry, ah jewelry. What most people automatically jump to whenever accessories are mentioned. Jewelry here is certainly worn. And I would ever fractionally hesitate to say that it is worn more here than in America. The largest difference is rings. Japanese girls and boys do not really wear rings. If you wear them people automatically seem to think that your significant other gave it to you. No matter how it looks or on what finger you are wearing it. It seems to me that they really don't know too much about the significance of rings like Korean do; who will get couple rings to all of their long term fancies and pretend they have lasting significance as promises of marriage to one another. Japanese people do wear wedding rings, but it is more of a recent fashion and I would certainly wonder as to the percentage of married people that choose wear them. It seems to be a younger thing to do for sure. Additionally, they don't really wear them like the married couples of America. I saw a family on the train this morning where the mother was not wearing her ring and it didn't look like she had in a while and the father was definitely wearing his. But she didn't look like the type to be promiscuous or anything for those who were about to suggest...(too homely). So it seems to me that rings, even wedding rings, are an accessory that are seldom worn and not worn with the regularity and meaning that I grew up with.
Necklaces and bracelets are of course worn in plenty. And the shinier the better, or so it seems. Those hipster things with feathers or made of cloth, are not too popular in this part of the world ( though I was told that feathers were in several years back). For men, necklaces are again not too uncommon, but are much more simple. There is a significant abundance of bracelets that seem to adorn the womens (and sometimes a simple thing for interested men) arms here, but a noticeable lack of watches. Even in the men, I find that watches are noticeably less. Though not as significantly absent as with the women.
Belts are worn, but nothing too noticeably different there save for that my students seem to prefer a punkish looking belts and the girls will often get some pretty often shiny or sparkly affair. Not that they need belts. They use them to hike up their skirts.

But the major Japanese accessory, is a pocket towel. Or a handkerchief. Men will often carry them about in their back pockets, and women their purses. These guys serve for multiple purposes. Such as wiping your face from sweat on a hot summers day. I see many a man doing this all the time. I think ladies must go to the bathroom and dab at their sweatiness so as not to rub their make up all around. In the winter, when you have a cold and are in complete absence of tissues, is serves as a super secret nose wipe. Now please note, it is not really polite to do this, but I have seen them do it and know they do it. The thing is, blowing your nose is disgusting to them. They would rather see you sniveling throughout an entire day than clearing your air passages in public. It is considered gross not only to blow your nose, but also to blow it into your handkerchief, but significantly better than wiping your nose, say, on your sleeve for instance. But sometimes, things get a little desperate. So the trick is to do it unseen. Going to the bathroom (which will not always have toilet paper. Especially in public ones) or any separate, vacant room, and hiding from view in one way or another is perfectly acceptable solution to this kind of situation. And lastly, and probably most important, they use them as hand wipes. Not to wipe your dirty icky hands on. More so to use after you have washed your hands afresh and need to rid yourself of the water rivulets running down them. You got it. There is no paper towels or hand dryers in a very large amount of the bathrooms in Japan. In this manner, they can save, money on electricity, trees, and maintenance as well. And, especially at the present, Japan is all about saving some electricity.