Long before Gwen Stefani copped their style, teenage girls in Japan have gathered each week to display their sense of style in the Tokyo neighborhood of Harajuku.  The Harajuku Girls, as they are collectively known, coalesce each Sunday on a bridge overlooking the commuter train tracks of the Harajuku Station in order to display their latest street fashion creations.

Much like the club kids of New York in the 1980s and 90s, much of the fashion on display in Harajuku is either hand-made or constructed by piecing together divergent pieces of ready-to-wear outfits.  Its only the asthetic of a sub-genre that is followed (heavy pinks for kawaii, black lace and fake blood for Gothic), while the individual is allowed the room to take the genre in as many directions as their imagination dictates.

The neighborhood of Harajuku sits at a cross section of Tokyo that literally bridges boulevards of modern fashion houses and the traditional Shinto culture of the Meiji Shrine.  That tectonic meeting of kimonos and the cutting-edge is where the Harajuku Girls have come to call home.  Despite the lack of formal training in design or fashion, the Harajuku Girls have attracted designers like John Galliano and Alexander McQueen who have studied their work and drawn inspiration for their own design houses.  And when singer Gwen Stefani (who has labeled her tour dancers as “The Harajuku Girls”) first launched her own fashion line L.A.M.B., she almost exclusively drew from Harajuku street fashion.

In their presentation, The Textile Museum provided a detailed discussion of the dozens of sub-genres of Harajuku fashion inspired by the Victorian era (Gothic Lolita), animated characters (Cosplay), and other contemporary influences.  Perhaps the most fascinating sub-genre was one where participants bleach their hair, apply orange cream to their skin, and spend up to twenty hours per week in tanning booths in order to recreate the fake-tan look of many American teenagers.

In recent years, the Harajuku Girls have gained notoriety among anime enthusiasts who have encountered enthusiastic American teenagers who attend anime conventions and dress up in Harajuku styles (the same girls can be seen running around the grounds of D.C.’s own Cherry Blossom Festival each year).  In Japanese youth culture, the Harajuku scene is largely divorced of anime except for the sub-genre of Cosplay.  However, in America it is hard to find enthusiasts of the Harajuku style who are not somehow tied to the anime scene.

Participants noted that the enthusiastic curiosity of the sold-out crowd at the Harajuku presentation may encourage The Textile Museum to slate additional events centered on Harajuku street fashion in the future.  In the meantime, the museum is running a rather interesting collection of modern Japanese women’s fashion acquired through the private collection of Mary Baskett.  It runs through April 11.  Admission to the museum is free, with a suggested donation of $5 for non-members.

2320 S Street NW (Nearest Metro: Dupont Circle)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 10:00am to 5:00pm, and Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm.
Closed federal holidays.

For more information, visit: www.textilemuseum.org