Product Description
Japanese schoolgirl fashions and subcultures have sprung up, burned out, mutated, and evolved into a pop culture phenomenon gone global from Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls” to Gothic Lolita-fueled manga and the deadly schoolgirl in Kill Bill, it’s no wonder that international fashion designers look to the streets of Tokyo for fresh inspiration. This playful and thoroughly researched handbook examines the key styles and subcultures past and present: sailor-suited gan… More >>
Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook
I’ve been waiting for this book since I first read about it months ago; when I picked it up, I was a little concerned. I mean, it seems a bit thin and it’s not a photobook the way Fruits and Fresh Fruits are.
Lucky for me, it was better than that. “Japanese Girl Inferno” is a history lesson in the social evolution of the various trends that have pervaded the lives of young japanese women, from the motorcycle gangs to gothloli. It was incredibly informative and filled in a lot of gaps for me.
The book is divided into sections by trend, starting with the gang-types fro the early 60s and 70s and ending with the present-day decora; not only does it outline the history, it has “profiles” on each type which include and illustration of a typical member and details on specifics, then another section outlying “Ideal Boyfriends” and “Must-Have Items”. The illustrations themselves were very charming, and the book is well-written.
All-in-all, I recommend this book for any fan of Japanese fashion, especially those who enjoyed the movie Kamikaze Girls.
Rating: 5 / 5
I found this book before it came out, just dubbing around on Amazon. I thought it looked interesting enough, and not too expensive, so I ordered it. I was so pleased when I got my copy in the mail! It’s an interesting, well organized, and well catagorized history of Tokyo teen girl fashion. From the well known and ongoing to the unheard of and extinct, it shows a timeline, influences, and interests of every sort of girl. What that girl did in her day. What her interests were. What future styles she may have inspired.
It really is a great book, full of pictures and cute illustrations. It even includes a few makeup and dressing tips, as well as references to check out if anything tickles your fancy. It isn’t too long or wordy, and is written in an entertaining style so that the book can interest both hardcore subculture freaks, or maybe just a girl who happens to think Lolita is cute.
I must say, I really enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it to anyone with any sort of interest in Tokyo’s peculiar fashions, or even someone with an interest in girl power alone.
Rating: 5 / 5
When i got this book in the mail, I was really happy and read it right away. The information about all the fashion that happened in Japan and the pictures were really good and interesting, and the mini-interviews of actual people involved in the fashion was really nice. The articles tell you how long that fashion lasted and what caused it to go out-of-style. To me, it was a nice cute touch on how sprinkled in a few of the chapters were the “life of a Manba/GothLoli”, and even a segment on how you can transform your face like a Ganguro girl’s. Even when my friends looked into the book, then liked how informative it was.
Why did I rate it 4 stars? Well, it’s not the information of the book I took out a star for…it’s the fact that merely a few minutes after I opened the book, pages started to fall out. And I’m a person who’s very delicate with books. I’m not sure if I was the only one that it has happened to, or if the batch of books they were selling were defective ones. But it’s not a good thing.
I’m not trying to say “Don’t get this book, it’s defective!”, because really, this handbook is a VERY good one for anyone interesting in the history of Japan’s fashion. I’m just trying to give out a little warning to people who are considereing buying this book.
Rating: 4 / 5
Japan is home to anime, sushi, samurai, and girls wearing giant hamster suits? Yes, it’s bizarre, but true. Kigurumin (girls who wear cheap cloth costumes of characters like Hamtaro, Pikachu, and Winnie the Pooh) are only one of a dozen fashion subcultures that Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno features. From ogals, who rarely bathe, to gothlolis, who manage to be both cute and creepy at the same time, to lady’s, who were the “biker chicks” of Japan, Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno covers them all.
The book is broken into sections, each covering a specific fashion or subculture. Each section contains a history of the fashion, fashion profiles, must-have items, and ideal boyfriends. The book also contains make-up tips, interviews, a look at the evolution of the Japanese school uniforms, and a fun little test where you are sorted into a fashion subculture.
As some of the other reviewers have said, the binding is not the best. The book is only available in paperback, unfortunately. I would recommend handling the book with caution, and not leaving it face down on any tables (that’s a surefire way to destroy paperback books).
Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno is a must-have for anyone interested in fashion or Japanese culture, especially fans of manga and anime. Of course, the handbook can also be enjoyed by people who know nothing about either fashion or Japanese culture; after all, who can keep a straight face while reading about “fashionable” girls wearing giant hamster costumes?
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a very well-designed book (if you’re into that sort of thing). With dimensions just slightly larger then your average Japanese manga book, this paperback feels weighter then it should thanks to its use of high-quality, glossy paper stock. The pages are in full color and there is a plethora of full color photos and cartoon style sketches to complement the smatterings of text.
As far as the actual content of this book – if you’re at all interested in the concept of the Japanese ‘school girl’ as a cultural icon – this book does cover the various sub-cultures of this iconic demographic spanning the 1960′s through the present and covering everything from the biker-gang type delinquents to the glam Material Girls of today. A very easy book to breeze right through if you have a couple of hours to kill.
Rating: 4 / 5