Blog #5

Blog 5

When I hear the word “street wear”, I think of Adapt, Breezy Excursion, and Fatlace. These are street wear brands that are based in Bay Area. “Street wear” reminds me of the hypebeast/skating scene. Hypebeast, in my opinion, is defined as those who are up to date with the latest trends and always wears the most hyped and trendy pieces. The reason why I associate the word “Street wear” with the hypebeast/skating scene is because I am always surrounded by those who wears those types of clothing. “Street wear” for others might have a different connotation. Some might think of clothing from Forever 21 or some might think of the Harajukus in Japan. Street wear in Japan has been such a huge global influence. In the article, “Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion”, the author, Yuniya Kawamura, stated that “These fashion conscious, or fashion-obsessed, youngsters indirectly and directly dictate this type of Japanese fashion. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are the agents of fashion, who take part in the production and dissemination of fashion. Japanese street fashion emerges out of the social networks among different institutions of fashion as well as various street subcultures…” It is true that technology has played a big role in the dissemination of fashion, especially street wear. Viewers are able to look at street wear clothes and relate to it more than clothes on a five foot ten skinny model. The whole idea about wanting to dress up in extravagant clothing and makeup is very intriguing. In the article, "Cult of the Living Doll in Tokyo", cosmetics and beauty journalist ,Yuko Ito, stated "the Japanese woman has a thing about going under the knife. They think it’s a sin against their parents. This is why they would rather opt for cosmetics and dramatic clothing. It’s also the reason behind the astonishing range of cosmetics available in this country.” Some Japanese women spend hours upon hours doing their makeup; enhancing their facial features to appear doll like. They enjoy spending all these hours dressing up because dressing up normally is boring to them. The article also talked about how it was hard for these girls to be in a relationship because most men rather women wearing regular clothes. In response to that, Kiyomi, one of the girls who is involved with the Ageha look, explained that "dolls shouldn’t need to talk, much less explain anything.” These looks have become a lifestyle for some of these Japanese women.

Another week of the Be Green Challenge has passed. Cyber Monday was a big temptation. I did look through various websites to see what their sales were like but I never caved. There were these two times I almost did. There was a great deal on a really good digital camera and a 2TB external hard drive. I realized that those two items were items out of a want and not a need. Yes, it’s a really good quality digital camera but I have a phone that takes fine looking pictures. Yes, I have a 250GB external hard drive that’s almost full but I can delete some of my old files. I found myself thinking about alternate ways to deal with the things I already had. 

- Nicky Lei

Sources:

• Shoji, Kaori. "Cult of the Living Doll in Tokyo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Feb. 2010. Web. .
• Kawamura, Yuniya. "Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion." (n.d.): n. pag. Print.