TodayLife's going pretty same-old same-old. Bit awkward for conversation really - it's hard to come up with something interesting to say. I keep making myself blog so that I am reminded of that fact. It would be far to easy to slip into a zombie half-life where I don't think about what I'm doing or where I'm going.
Today's notable thoughts are on the Harajuku girls - the dance quartet that Gwen Stefani parades around. I was watching a few music videos and I got curious about them.
First off, the
wiki tells me that they are all of Japanese decent, and they were all dancers before working with Gwen. Second, people either think the girls are really cool, or that the girls are foolishly promoting the subservient Asian stereotype. I read some articles and blogs that went either way. Me, I can see both sides. They really are just a backdrop for Gwen Stefani, and that could be seen as negative because they're just Gwen's dolls, or that could be seen as positve, because you don't see a lot of Asians on the mainstream US pop scene, backdrop or not.
GwenihanaCommentary on above - read blog commentsAfter looking at the girls, I got curious about the whole "Harajuku" thing. I got a decent background on it from reading a wiki and a few blogs and travel articles, but the real explanation was found in photographs. My god, I would love to see the real Harajuku area in full swing. The things those people did with clothes and makeup and hair, and everything, was just amazing.
Someone's photoset of more spectacular outfitsI wonder about the age range on the people who participate. I imagine the Japanese school system is pretty strict on acceptable appearance, and some of the people had piercings and crazy hair. You can't put those away at the end of the day. So I have to guess that those were the ones who no longer have to conform for school. But it's hard to imagine them with a regular job too. Heck, even here in the crazy Bay Area, I would feel strange about appearing at work with some of the hair I saw in those pictures. Perhaps they have excellent wigs, but I think most of that was real hair.
I've looked through a few Japanese fashion magazines and they seem to be way more instructive than a US magazine. I also read that some of those magazines provide sewing instructions so as to better achieve the "Look". I wish US magazines focused more on how-to's than "what's new and hot". I might take more trouble with my appearance if I had a guide instead of having to apply the willpower to experiment everything on my own.
Post a Comment