B Morita Blog #1

Going with what I'm somewhat familiar with I decided to look into the various subcultures of fashion in the Japanese fashion scene. I had some knowledge and experience on the matter before I had taken this class but found myself learning several aspects to the fashion trends that I had never thought about. I knew about two thirds of the various styles that we had originally seen in the slides at the beginning of the quarter but some of the trends I had never heard about. Other aspects that I found surprising would be the various sub groups and adaptations to which I would have scarcely been able to differentiate before. I had know to some extent the various subgroups of the lolita trend but was unaware of how many interpretations had been popularized. Another group and the various adaptations that surprised me was how the look of the ganguro has been altered and adapted into so many forms of the manba fashion trend. I find that these fashion trends to be a interesting look into the psychosocial behavior of Japanese youth where the variation of dress styles is much more eclectic and personalized. Those who follow the various trends are able to differentiate the minor nuances and pass judgement on whether the authenticity in a ensemble follow the nature of the style. I was taking a look over this site to observe the various fashion trends that they had identified and found that they likely would have a difficult time trying to find and categorize every existing trend. http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/tokyo-fashion-field-identification-guide  The teens acting as the designers, gate-keepers, and critics to the various trends has allowed a much wider and free form of fashion expression that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world yet.

As far as my compact challenge is concerned I don't purchase clothes very often so I don't often run into situations of conscious consideration when purchasing clothes. Most of my shopping for food is done in batch from costco at 2-3 month intervals with my only other outside purchase usually consisting of clearance items. Occasionally visits to the farmers markets yields some purchases of local produce but for the most part I do not purchase much.

As a visual I did cosplay before to go to a convention with a friend who designed and made my set of clothes as well as her own. The style we were going for was a bit of a punk/lolita version of the uniforms characters wore in the series.