STP'S FAR EAST FEATURE: 2011 TOP 10 FEMALE TRENDS @ TOKYO HARAJUKU

We've talked about Men's Top 10 Trends in 2011 a couple of weeks ago, and now it's time to reveal what the women of Harajuku were rocking last year. Harajuku is one of the fashion hotspots of Japan, it is colourful, bold, and playful. In this little trend report, we can see that the Far East shared some similar trends with the West last year, but in terms of colour and pattern use, Harajuku girls always go the extra mile.

 

See Through

When I think of see through materials, the iconic trend would have to be YSL's 1969 sculpture gowns. Since 2010, this trend was popular among all styles, in 2011, Harajuku girls mainly use it with contrast materials.

Mixed Materials

Combinations of different materials have been introduced by many big brands since the Fall of 2011, and it soon became trendy for the Harajuku girls, who are really good at pulling it off. The denim and leather match was particularly popular.

Tartan

2011 Tartan was big among boys and girls in Harajuku, men wearing kilts, and the women love tartan coats, vintage style is preferable.

Colour Block

 Everybody knows this trend last year, it was very popular before the earthquake struck Japan, but then did not seem to fit with the mood of the country. But the Harajuku girls brought it back to lighten up people's mood.

Volume Coat

This look was seen in many big brands in A/W 2011, Japanese girls generally like oversize knits to contrast their tiny frames. Last year, big sleeves were particulaly popular, with beige, camel, and grey colour to soften it up.

White Tights 

White tights appeared in Harajuku from late 2010, and became more popular in 2011. It represents the lolita spirit which is always popular in Japan, it was also a big element in Bottega Veneta 2011 Fall collection.

Collar

The 'collar trend' was probably one of the most dominant trend last year. Who knew a tiny collar could make such a difference to one's style! Some say the collar trend in Japan began when Princess Diana visited Japan in 1986.

Platform

Following the boys, platforms was big for girls as well. Platforms are always trendy, but you can see a lot of Converse, Dr. Martens platforms last year.

Vintage Glasses

2011, vintage glasses were very popular. They name girls that dare to wear big old school glasses "Akiba Girl" in Harajuku. 

American Apparel Bag

Cool, simple, chic, and cheap, the American Apparel tote bag was very popular among the Harajuku girls, especially the younger crowd.

Source & images from Fashionsnap.com

STP's Far East Feature: 2011 Men's Top 10 Trends @ Tokyo Harajuku

Since I've been living in the East and the West for the past 6 years, it's always an hobby (and also my job) to observate the fashion between both sides. I found a survey done by Japan's street style/ trend report website Fashionsnap.com, and I thought it might be fun to show people last year's top 10 biggest trend in Tokyo's fashion central, Harajuku.

Super Short Shorts

Cotton shorts became popular in 2010, but in 2011, they are even shorter! How short is super short? The key is to be at least beyond the knees. In the spring, summer, Harajuku men were embracing men's hot pants and showing off their lean legs that would even make girls jealous.

Kilt/ Tartan Skirt

Since 2008, man's skirt trend started to appear in Harajuku. Since tartan was a popular element last year, obviously men in skirts became the much more manly, men in kilt.

Side Parting

2011's theme was "Classic", approximately 8:2 ratio side parting hair style was very popular. Maybe Harajuku was also blown by Mad Men's stylish wind?

Bicycle

More and more guys on the street of Harajuku can be seen with a bicycle. The boom happened after the big earthquake struck Japan last year and many people couldn't get home without the metro. Now people are persuing a more fashionable, environment friendly lifestyle. 

Denim on Denim

This late 80s till 90s trend has been popular amongst the girls in Harajuku since 2008, but in 2011, the men are owning this look.

Platform

Men's high heels was a big trend in 2010, in 2011, thanks to Parda's S/S men's platform shoes, Harajuku men tried many different material platforms. This kinda punk-y look was also favoured by girls.

MCM

German luxury brand Mode Creation Munich became one of the hottest brand in Harajuku last year, the reason they became trendy again was because they re-branded themselves to a more street trend brand by collaborating with some of the coolest designers and bloggers from Harajuku. A luxury brand to a street brand, good strategy.

1 Time Fold Up

To give a slim silhouette a final finish is to follow Harajuku's golden "1 Time Fold Up" rule. In the summer guys can show their ankles, in the winer, they chose a bright colour socks to give it a twist.

Sweatpants

How hard is to wear sweatpants cool? It's probably as hard as trying to make a men's brief a fashion item. But it might just be because it's a difficult challenge, it became creative Harajuku men's popular element last year. The important note is to match them with formal wear or harder material. The guys looked quite playful, don't you think?

Sets

The idea is to use flashy patterns but traditional suit wear to create a contrast and bold look. Denim on Denim can also fall in this category, but by using patterns and textiles it's even more advanced. Isn't the old man on the right the pimpest but in the same time the cutest old man you've ever seen?

Source & images from Fashionsnap.com

Far East Feature: Bubble Tea will change your world

When I heard Bubbleology, the original Taiwanese bubble tea was coming to Leeds for one day, I was so super excited I shivered and drooled for 2 days (stroke?). Bubble tea, also called pearl tea, is a traditional Taiwanese drink that became very popular in Asia in the 80s, and now world wide. An innovative drink combined with beverages and desserts.

"Having a cuppa." is such an important thing in British culture, in Asia, tea is also in our daily lifes, our bones, our blood, and our history. In Chinese culture, we create poems for good teas, we have wars fighting for them, we can say sorry, thank you, or good bye with the gesture of making a cup of tea, we need them in weddings, graduations, any occasion.

If you ever get to go to Taiwan, you will find little tea shops in every corner. In there, you get to customize your own favorite teas, from what kind of tea, warmth, how much sugar, to what do you want to add in there, including bubbles, jello, or even aloe vera and so on.

That's why when I went to Victoria Quarter last Saturday, and had my first drink of bubble tea for the last 15 months, I was so happy I could kick someone in the face(?). The Bubbleology's bubble tea is exactly how I remembered, the taste, the bubble, even the machine that packaged the cup! 

So if you're in London, you are very lucky as you can just pop into their shops. If you're in the North like me, join my prayers for them to expand here in the very near future. All hail Bubble Tea!

Leeds Street Style: 19/09/2011

Youngsters use of socks.
Hair colour, jumper's texture and the bagpack. It just works.Floral dress with headphone and trainers, nice mixture of girly and boyish.I think people might notice my fondness of homeless chic.I'm fascinated by this lady.Stylish!Guys with cute jumpers should be encouraged.There's something amazing about this shirt!Bare foot = new trend?

Pals At Play: New Sister Brand of KitschenSink

Our good friend Rowan Grant and her jewellery brand KitschenSink have recently announced its sister brand Pals At Play, a collaboration between her and graphic designer Paul Jamie Kidd. So we think it's a great time to talk about Rowan's new work, and what we did in Leeds in Barcelona.

KitschenSink was founded in 2008, a fascination of colourful branded toys, and a desire to re-purpose mass-produced materials into handmade. She described her collections as "colourful, kitschy, funky and fun". Rowan's designs have previously been stocked in Selfridges London, and have been featured in Cosmopolitan and Company Magazine. We first met Rowan just days before Leeds in Barcelona, but it didn't take us long to decide that KitschenSink had to be one of the Leeds brands we showcase in Barcelona. And result, Barcelona leading fashion blog Lelook did a special feature of KitschenSink.

Picture from LelookPicutre from LelookPicture from Lelook

We're very excited to see within just 4 months since we worked with her, Rowan, and Paul have already produced a new collection that has had a major change in the material. I'm very fond of the Pals At Play collection, hope you like them as well.