Harajuku Lover

Para Para Dance

irisgurumi — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:20:00 -0800

Para Para (Japanese: パラパラ; also "Para-Para" or "ParaPara")

- is a popular Japanese solo dance. Unlike most club dancing and rave dancing, there are specific, preset movements for each song, and everyone does the same moves at once, much like line dancing. Para Para is said to have existed since the early 80's, when Europe started selling Italo Disco, Euro Disco, and later New Wave music in Japan (New Wave came about in the mid-80's), but did not achieve much popularity outside of Japan until the late 90's, when the popularity boom of para para took place. Today, it is known throughout the world, especially the Pacific Rim.

Description
Para Para is performed using mostly arm movements; very little lower body movement is involved save for perhaps moving one's hips or stepping in place, although a few routines require more detailed leg motions. It has been speculated that it is a descendant of the traditional Bon Odori dance, though this is incorrect. The dance originated from the early days in the 80's when men working in the VIP room in clubs would choreograph dances to impress the women. The dance style then grew from there. The dances are performed to fast, upbeat music such as Eurobeat. Fans of Para Para dancing often call themselves "Paralists".

Variants
Some variants of Para Para are also present, such as TechPara (which would be danced to Hyper Techno techno) and TraPara (which would be danced to trance). This is also known as Torapara due to trance being written as トランス (toransu) in Japanese.

Current trends
In April of 2005, the Para Para dance for "Dragostea Din Tei" was aired on the popular show SMAP×SMAP in Japan (the same programme which created the '98 boom). The Para Para Paradise video series has since been replaced by the Gazen Para Para!! series of CDs and DVDs, marketed to younger teens using popular ganguro models from Egg magazine. However, as with past trends, the boom has quieted down, though Avex continues to promote Para Para through its Super Eurobeat, We Love Techpara, and Gazen Para Para!! competition series.

Para Para outside of Japan
Para para has devoted fan bases in all countries outside Japan. Many paralists often gather a few times a year for performances and events at conventions and parties.

The United Kingdom, United States, Finland, Norway and Russia are notable for having para para teams and more active fanbases.

However, most events in the United States occur at anime conventions, due to the fan base being very scattered. Many fans have seen a desire for club events in the United States.

In United States, Geneon Entertainment has released the Para Para MAX US Mix series of CDs. The discs contain remixes of anime theme music from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Pokemon, Magic Knight Rayearth, and many other different anime productions. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 were released in August, October, and December 2005, respectively. Geneon also help contests to promote the CD and its anime series. 2005's contest was held at Otakon on 20 August 2005. Geneon's efforts failed to expand the reach of Para Para in the United States, and the series is generally considered a failure by American fans. Regardless of this, Geneon released a Para Para instructional DVD called "ParaPara MAX: The Moves 101", featuring several well-known United States paralists. The DVD did not sell well due to an exclusive sales agreement with Media Play, Sam Goody and Suncoast, because they soon went out of business. The DVD can still be purchased online or from various vendors at anime conventions. After the Anime Fusion Tour's conclusion in the summer of 2006, Yoko Ishida's management changed, which lead to the end of Geneon's promotion of Para Para in the United States.

For more information / http://www.paraparaparadise.net/
special thank / wikipedia.org
VDO Clip / youtube.com

Gyaru - fashion and life style!!!

irisgurumi — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:26:42 -0800

Gyaru (ギャル, Gyaru) is a Japanese transliteration of the English word gal. The name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "I can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties. Its usage peaked in the 1980s and has gradually declined. The term gradually drifted to apply to a younger group, whose seeming lack of interest in work or marriage gained the word a "childish" image. It is now used almost interchangeably with kogyaru and younger generations may consider it clichéd or even archaic.

Varieties of gyaru

There are various subcategories of "gals" depending on the choice of fashion, and also gender.

Ganguro gyaru (ガングロギャル)
- a gal with an artificial deep tan and bleached hair.

Kogyaru

- generally a high school student (高校生 kōkōsei).

Oyajigyaru (オヤジギャル)
- from oyaji and gyaru. A gyaru who behaves in a masculine way, who drinks beer and uses rough language.

Onegyaru (お姉ギャル)
- a gyaru who has graduated from high school, and thus become a more mature onee-san (literally "elder sister" but, here, "young lady"). The style is more sophisticated.

Ogyaru (汚ギャル)
- a dirty or disheveled gyaru who may forsake daily baths or takes little care in her behaviour and dress, even by gyaru standards.

Gyaruo (ギャル男)

- the gyaru's male counterpart. See Gyaruo.

Manba (マンバ)

- deep tan and contrasting white make-up. Their hair is usually pastel-coloured or blonde, and very long and back-combed. Their clothes are neon and layered.

Kigurumin* - wear kigurumi,
- a type of pajama-suit that resembles an animal and sometimes cartoon characters.

Bibinba (ビビンバ)
- this look usually includes a lot of gold and jewelery. Similar to b-gal.

Banba (バンバ)

VDO Clip of Angeleek group

- barbie-gal, with differences such as their wearing of slippers and stilettos. They also use more glitter, and have a neon touch to their hair. They use more extreme-looking types of false eyelashes and coloured contact lenses. The most respected Gal-cir is Angeleek; there are 22 members in their Tokyo group, and they have many other groups throughout the country.

Kyoba bo-i
- the male banba. The make-up is similar to Sentaa-gai's, but the eyes can be made up to look bigger. They accessorize excessively and commonly don bangs.

Himegyaru (姫ギャル)

- girls who dress as princesses. Hair colours vary from blonde to brown and is usually very big and teased. They wear expensive clothing from brands such as Liz Lisa and Jesus Diamante.

Japanorama - Gyaru

Ganguro (ガングロ, Ganguro)

- is an alternative fashion trend among young Japanese women which peaked in popularity around the year 2000, but remains evident today. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo are the center of ganguro fashion.

Japan TV - Fashion in Japan

Characteristics

In ganguro fashion, a deep tan is combined with hair dyed in shades of orange to blonde, or a silver gray known as "high bleached". Black ink is used as eyeliner and white concealer is used as lipstick and eyeshadow. False eyelashes, plastic facial gems, and pearl powder are often added to this. Platform shoes and brightly-colored outfits complete the ganguro look. Also typical of ganguro fashion are tie-dyed sarongs, miniskirts, and lots of bracelets, rings, and necklaces.

The deep ganguro tan is in direct conflict with traditional Japanese ideas of feminine beauty. Due to this, as well as their use of slang, unconventional fashion sense, and perceived lack of hygiene, ganguro gals are almost always portrayed negatively by the Japanese media.

Fashion magazines like Egg and Cawaii magazine have had a direct influence on the ganguro. Other popular ganguro magazines include Popteen and Ego System. The ganguro culture has evolved its own synchronized dances, called Para Para. Participants do predetermined moves at the same time, usually as accompaniment to J-pop music. Para Para events are held by ganguro circles, and involve either going to clubs to perform Para Para or gathering to learn new dances.

People generally associate the ganguro look with the old style. The newer style consists of a mid tan, natural makeup, long white to brown hair, with curls or straightened and backcombed. Current clothing trends include mini shorts, knee socks, and tanktops.

One of the most famous early ganguro girls was known as Buriteri, nicknamed after the black soy sauce used to flavor yellowtail fish in teriyaki cooking. Egg made her a star by frequently featuring her in its pages during the height of the ganguro craze. After modeling and advertising for the Shibuya tanning salon "Blacky", social pressure and negative press convinced Buriteri to retire from the ganguro lifestyle

Yamanba

YamanbaYamanba (ヤマンバ, Yamanba?), is a newer term often used to describe extreme practitioners of ganguro fashion. Yamanba feature darker tans and add white lipstick, pastel eye makeup, tiny metallic or glittery adhesives below the eyes, brightly-colored contact lenses, plastic dayglo-colored clothing, and incongruous accessories to the ganguro look. Some yamanba wear stuffed animals as decorations. The male equivalent is called a "center guy" (センター街, Sentaagai?, Center Street), a pun on the name of a pedestrian shopping street near Shibuya Station in Tokyo where yamanba and center guys are often seen. Yamanba is often referred to as the outdated version of Mamba

special thank / wikipedia.org
Photo from / photobucket.com, google.com
VDO Clip from / youtube.com

Lolita Culture

irisgurumi — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:49:08 -0800

Lolita culture

In Japan it is mass-marketed and has wide visibility particularly in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka, on television, in manga (see Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa for an example of gothloli inspired manga) and computer games. Outside of Japan it is still a fringe fashion although it has slowly begun to spread to other countries. Gothic Lolita, along with cosplay and other Japanese cultural phenomena, can sometimes be seen at concerts and anime conventions throughout Europe and the United States. The style has not yet been mass marketed outside of Japan. However, there are plenty of dedicated fans filling the gap. Gothic Lolita magazines are widely available for purchase on the Internet and at Japanese bookstores, which also deal in anime and manga. Adherents often sew their own homemade lolita outfits, sometimes offering them for sale to make up for the difficulty of acquiring them from Japan. Many adherents also purchase lolita outfits, accessories and dolls online through Baby, The Stars Shine Bright or through Ebay.

Gothic & Lolita Bible

One magazine in particular, the seasonally published Gothic & Lolita Bible, has played an instrumental role in promoting and standardizing the style. The 100+ page magazine includes fashion tips, photos, sewing patterns, catalog descriptions, decorating ideas, and recipes. This magazine is scheduled to be released in an English language version in February 2008

Classic Lolita

A Classical Lolita and an Aristocrat. Note the man's contact lenses.Classical Lolita (Classic Lolita) is a more mature style of Lolita that focuses on Baroque and Rocaille styles. This look can be seen as the more sophisticated, mature Lolita style because of its use of small, intricate patterns, as well more muted colors on the fabric and in the overall design. The colors in the classic Lolita style are lighter than those in the gothic Lolita, but are not as light as those used in sweet Lolita . Empire waist dresses are also used to add to the more mature look of the classic Lolita. Shoes and accessories are less whimsical and more functional. Jewelry with intricate designs is also common. The makeup used in classic Lolita is often a more muted version of the sweet Lolita makeup, with an emphasis placed on natural coloring. This Lolita style uses slimmer dress silhouettes than its counterparts to add to the mature style. An example of the classical Lolita brands are Juliette et Justine, Innocent World, Victorian Maiden and Mary Magdalene.

Punk Lolita

Punk Lolita (or Lolita Punk) adds punk fashion elements to Lolita fashion. Motifs that are usually found in punk clothing, such as tattered fabric, safety pins and chains, screen-printed fabrics, plaids, and short, androgynous hairstyles are incorporated into the Lolita look. The most popular garments are blouses or cutsews and skirts, although dresses and jumper skirts are also worn. Common footwear includes boots, Mary Janes or oxfords with platforms. Common Punk Lolita brands are A+Lidel, Putumayo, h. NAOTO and Na+H. Many of the Japanese punk Lolita fashion brands take influence from London's famous Camden Town Markets. Vivienne Westwood, who, though not a Lolita designer, has items and collections that reflect Lolita sensibilities, especially in her Japanese collections, is popular in the punk Lolita scene.

Other Lolita

Because of the do it yourself nature of Lolita fashion, many other subtypes have come out of the basic Lolita frame. These styles are often not as well known as the ones mentioned above, but they do showcase the creative nature of the Lolita fashion, and illustrate how people make the fashion their own.

Wa/Qi Lolita

An example of Waloli.Wa Lolita (or Waloli) combines traditional Japanese clothing styles with the Lolita fashion. Wa Lolita usually consists of a floral patterned yukata, kimono, or undivided-hakama modified to fit with common Lolita garments. The bottom half of the garment is altered to accommodate a petticoat, or the yukata is used as a top to accompany a plain Lolita skirt. The shoes and accessories used in this style are typical of tradional Japanese garb including kanzashi flowers, and geta, zori, or Okobo. These shoes are often used in place of the normal Lolita platform and high-heeled shoes.

Qi Lolita is a similar style but uses Chinese clothing and accessories in place of Japanese. Usually this includes qipao and cheongsam-dresses modified to accommodate a petticoat. Accessories include platform-slippers for footwear and bun-covers as hair accessories.[citation needed]

Ouji/kodona/dandy (male Lolita fashions)

Ouji (王子　or Oujisama　王子様), meaning "prince," is a Japanese fashion that is considered the male version of Lolita fashion. This style takes its influence from the clothing boys in the Victorian era wore.

Ouji is inspired by what was worn by Victorian boys, but can be worn by either gender and includes masculine blouses and shirts, knickerbockers and other styles of short trousers, knee high socks, top hats, and newsboy caps. The colors usually used are black, white, blue and burgundy, though there are feminine versions of the fashion with a broader palette. Make-up, when worn with the fashion, is usually light and minimal, though sometimes when women wear it, more make-up is used than what they would wear with Lolita. Ryūtarō from Plastic Tree and Yukke from Mucc are two of the most popular wearers of the oujisama style.

The term kodona (from "kodomo otona", literally "child-adult") was coined by Plastic Tree's vocalist Ryūtarō Arimura as he described his dress sense and is often used as the Western name for the fashion.

special Thank / wikipedia.org
Photo from / photobucket.come, google.com, imageshack.us

bg song / imeem.com

Lolita fashion

irisgurumi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:53:19 -0800

Lolita (ロリータ・ファッション, roriita fasshon) is a fashion subculture in Japan that is primarily influenced by Victorian children’s clothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period. Lolita has made this into a unique fashion by adding gothic and original design elements to the look. From this, Lolita fashion has evolved into several different sub styles and has created a devoted subculture in Japan. The Lolita look consists primarily of a knee length skirt or dress, headdress, blouse, petticoat, knee length socks or stockings and rocking horse or high heel/platform shoes. Often to emphasize the childlike look, teddy bears and dolls such as Super Dollfies may be carried.

History
Lolita as it is known today started in the late 1970s with the formation of famous labels like Pink House and Milk. Shortly after that came Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, and Metamorphose temps de fille. It wasn’t until the 1990s when the Lolita fashion trend began to pick up with bands like Malice Mizer and other Visual Kei (or visual type) bands coming into popularity. These bands wore intricate costumes, which fans began adopting as their own style.The style soon spread from its origins in the Kansai region, and ultimately reached Tokyo where it became popularized throughout Japanese youth culture. Today, Lolita fashion has grown so much in popularity that it can be found even in department stores.

Sweet Lolita

Sweet LolitaSweet Lolita (amaloli) is heavily influenced by Rococo styles as well as shojo manga (manga girls). Focusing on the child and fantasy aspects of Lolita, the Sweet Lolita style adopts the basic Lolita format and uses lighter colors and child fantasy themes in its design.

Makeup used in sweet Lolita is common throughout most Lolita styles. A natural look is emphasized, to help maintain the child like feel of Lolita. Light pastels, light pink, and natural colors make up the Lolita makeup color scheme.

Sweet Lolita fashion places its focus on the child-like aspects of Lolita design. It does this by using pastels, gingham or other colorful prints, lace, and ribbons to emphasize the cuteness in the design. Popular themes in the sweet Lolita are references to “Alice in Wonderland”, fruits, and cake. To keep with the child feel of sweet Lolita, the shoes usually have a smaller heel than that of other Lolita styles.

Jewelery often reflects this fantasy theme: Popular motifs include cherries, cakes, hearts, ribbons, and bows. Headdresses and bows are also a popular hair accessory to the sweet Lolita look. Bags and purses are often in the shape of stuffed animals or hearts.

Also included in Sweet Lolita are the sub-genres of ShiroLoli, which uses a strict white-on-white color scheme, and Country Lolita, which incorporates gingham prints and straw baskets.

Momoko, a protagonist in the book/film (Kamikaze Girls in the US), is a popular example of sweet Lolita. She idealizes the rococo period and likes to spend her time acting like a sweet and innocent child. She wears a popular Sweet Lolita brand called "Baby, The Stars Shine Bright". Other Lolita brands include Manifesteange Metamorphose temps de fille and Angelic Pretty.
special thank / wikipedia.org

bg song / OST. Kamigaze Girl
www.imeem.com

Gothic Lolita

irisgurumi — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:17:14 -0800

Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita (known in Japan as Gothloli) is a mixture of the Gothic and Lolita fashion.
The origins of the Japanese Gothic style can be traced back to the English New Wave
Movement during the 1980s: however, the Japanese Gothic scene is fundamentally different than
the Gothic subcultures of the west. This Gothic fashion has been adopted into the Lolita fashion
through the use of darker make up, clothing, and themes in the design. Unlike other Lolita Styles,
Gothic Lolita darker colors are used for makeup. Red lipstick and smoky or neatly defined eyes,
created using black eyeliner, are typical styles. The Gothic Lolita makeup is not as heavy or dramatic
as the Western gothic counterparts. Newer makeup styles emphasize lighter colors
but still retain the heavy eye makeup.

The outfits themselves use dark color schemes like black, dark blues and purples.
Black and white is the most common color scheme in this look.
The KuroLoli subset uses a strict black-on-black color scheme.
Gothic Lolita outfits often use less detailed fabric than other Lolita styles.
Cross jewelry and other religious symbols are also used to accessorize the gothic Lolita look.
Other accessories, like bags and purses, are often in uncommon shapes like bats, coffins, and crucifixes.

Like many other Lolita fashions, the Japanese visual kei movement was responsible for helping to introduce
and popularize the Gothic Lolita style. One artist in particular, Mana, a cross-dressing man,
is considered to be the major force behind the popularization of the Gothic Lolita style.
Mana’s own Gothic Lolita fashion label, Moi-même-Moitié, has grown to be very successful.
To describe the designs of his new label, he coined the terms Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL)
and Elegant Gothic Aristocrat (EGA) .
special thank / wikipedia.org

bg song / www.imeem.com

Harajuku Lover

irisgurumi — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:22:23 -0800

bg song / www.imeem.com