Hyper Japan at The Old Truman Brewery

Following on from a recent post about the trend for all things ‘Japaneazy-Peazy’, it came as no surprise that last weekend saw the first ever Hyper Japan Exhibition at The Old Truman Brewery.  Three days of nothing but in your face Japanese Pop Culture – from Manga, anime, snacks to technology, street fashion and so very much more.

Event Poster

The entertainment was diverse, including fashion shows, film screenings, cooking lessons, sake tasting sessions and first dibs at the latest Playstation 3 game, ‘Dragonball Raging Blast 2’.  The vibe was fiercely buzzing!  As for the outfits, well, take a look for yourself.  It was almost as though Harajuku had moved to the East End.  Priceless.

An audience with one of Japan’s top Lolita Models, Misako Aoki, was a roaring success.  The Q&A session was hosted by Tania Tanzil, representative of UK-based Lolita fashion fans, and Naoki Matsumura, Editorial Supervisor of KERA magazine, Japan’s leading street fashion magazine.  Naoki, talked of her joy in bringing Lolita and gothic fashion back to the UK: “These styles are heavily influenced by the daring punk fashion pioneered by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. Obviously, it has transformed over time in Japan, but it’s a great honour to be here in the home of these style icons, showcasing what essentially is a product of London’s fashion innovation”.  (You see, it all started over here.  In London.  Of course.)

Kera Magazine

So, reading between all the sparkle and shine, it appears as though the trend for all things ‘DECO’ is set to continue.  By ‘DECO’, I mean the next step up from customization.  True personalized decorating gone bonkers!  Quite frankly.  Check out ON THE LASH, where you can turn your otherwise dull eyelashes into full on spider eyes - a look which was already picked up by Katie Waissel when performing at the judges house on X Factor recently.  (A raw fashionista in the making that one - mark my words!)

Another avenue with which to go 'DECO' crazy, is with gadgetry.  Now we know how the Japanese are famous for their love of contraptions.  (Just remember the Japanese kid in the film The Goonies).  Well, check out this video for some ideas on how you can go about upscaling your mobile phone.  The Japanese 'bling' is nothing like the footballers bling as we know it.  Japanese bling is simply fantastical, magical and cutesy to the bone.  Go on try it.

                         

Japaneazy-Peazy

Gwen Stefani has been a fan of Japanese culture since I can remember.  When she first appeared on stage with her four ‘Harajuku Girl’ dancers in the early noughties, it was like – wow!  These speechless, visual aids (people – I know) acted as a perfect backdrop to her unique and edgy look, which has seen her gain cult status in the style stakes; and rightly so.  Gwyn (because we're on first name terms, of course) has since launched her own fragrance line called ‘Harajuku Lovers’.  Two words.  Roaring.  Success.  To be entirely honest, I have never smelt the fragrance (sue me), however the packaging alone, is a selling point and would fit perfectly with my collection of iconic pieces of popular design culture - (I hoard quirky things that excite me).

                                               

Then there was Kirsten Dunst literally ‘Turning Japanese’ in the music video by Takashi Murakami which was shown at Tate Modern last year during the Pop Life Exhibition (which rocked my world – the best show I’d seen in years).  Dunst’s character was Cosgirl and she sang the most repetitive, cheesy, catchy, upbeat melody you will ever hear; I was singing it like a wind-up puppy for days, much to the annoyance of everyone around me.  Be warned, for the rest of the day you'll be bouncing around like a kid at a christmas party.... after eating too many wham bars (I'm an 80's kid).... and OD'ing on coke (a cola)...

                                

Fast forward the tape and now we have Lady Gaga who has been making waves with her own OTT ‘fashionistic’ ways (OK - I just made up that word, but it fits - fashion and futuristic - get it?!), to the point of her own detriment.  I digress.  The point I am trying to make is that Lady Gaga (aka femme fatale), may have created a love hate divide across our nation, (just like our infatuation with Marmite, I guess).  Her visual narrative, however (which is nothing short of original) - continues to span many weird and wonderful indulgent fantasies; Japanese culture being a more recent inspiration for her. Firstly, the contact lenses she wore in her Bad Romance video, known as Circle lenses, have been huge in Japan for years.  

Teenagers have been wearing these monstrosities, which cover the white area of the eye to make the pupils larger, to try and emulate manga-like faces.  Since the music video release, this trend has moved over here and has caused much controversy as a result.  I won’t bore you with that stuff, because, in my opinion a bit of controversy goes a long way and I am a real advocate for ‘rules are meant to be broken’ and all that. – especially when it comes to style and even more particularly when it comes to youth culture – considering there is not much left to rebel against in today’s society.  Anyway…

What I love then, is that as a result of Lady Gaga showing her love for Japanese culture in this way, the kids on the street over in Tokyo have come back with their very own show of admiration and respect for the artist, by recreating her look à la Harajuku.  One thing's for sure, whether we love her or hate her, people obviously can't get enough!

Gaga then has to have the last word and feed her fans like the 'hungry-for-her-art vultures' that they are and again shower herself with Japanese symbolism.  We all know that the Birkin remains THE cult ‘It’ bag of our generation, with it’s infamous celeb following and uber exclusive waiting list (as in ‘if your name’s not down you’re not coming in!’ - not now, not ever - and certainly not with out a minimum of £3000), so only the loony Lady in question could embellish her own Birkin in this way.  Some would call this sacrilegious.  Personally, I think it's genius and wouldn’t have expected any less. 

So with Gaga having solidified the trend for all things 'Japaneazy', it came as no surprise to find a selection of Hello Kitty dolls in the window of the Dr. Martens store in Covent Garden.  I stopped in my tracks.  Weird?  Obviously not, considering we live in a 'Gaga' world right now.  Who would have thought, the once very much punk brand of the 70’s would go all kitsch like this.  I have to say, I kinda like it!

That leaves me to ask one question - how can we ever be 'Lost in Translation', when we live in such a visually vivacious world?

(That must be the cheesiest line EVER written - but I'm smiling, cos it's true!)

Arigatou gozaimasu.... SAYONARA!