JAPANESE GOTH: SUBCULTURE & STYLE SYMPOSIUM AT FIT GOTHIC DARK GLAMOUR EXHIBIT.

Tiffany Godoy, author of Style Deficit Disorder, and La Carmina. Tokyo Japanese fashion and pop culture writers, bloggers.

My friend Tiffany Godoy – who you may recognize from Narzib/Fashion Ramone party photos – rocks my world. She lives in Harajuku and jetsets to Paris and NYC to report on fashion; she’s the author of Style Deficit Disorder and hosts a fashion show on NHK World…

Need I say you’re going to love Tiffany’s next book? Japanese Goth (Rizzoli, April/May 2009) “is a visual foray into Japan’s popular and influential Gothic-Lolita and Gothic Punk subculture,” featuring interviews with Versailles, Mana, Gackt, Kokusyoku Sumire, and your favorite designers. I’ll likely have an advance copy, so stay tuned for a first peek!

Gothic: dark glamour exhibition at Fashion Institute of Technology. Subculture and style symposium on Japanese Goth street style and clothing.

Tiffany will be in NYC this week to participate in the two-day Subculture and Style symposium hosted by the Fashion Institute of Technology. FIT’s current exhibition is Gothic: Dark Glamour (you may recall I went to the opening party). On Friday, Feb 13 (2-5pm), Tiffany will be speaking about Japanese Goth fashion in a panel discussion. You may also be interested in the panel on Saturday, Feb 14 (10:30am-12:30pm) with Hiroshi Narumi, “Japanese Subcultures” and Dr. Yuniya Kawamura, “Japanese Street Fashionand Subcultures.”

h.NAOTO Elegant Gothic Lolita ensemble with Angry doll from Gothic Fashion exhibition, dark glamour, curated by Valerie Steele at FIT museum, NYC.

If you can’t make it, you can still visit the Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibition, which runs until Feb 21. And if you’re nowhere near New York City, you can see photos of the garments here. The h.NAOTO ensemble with Angry doll (far right) is on display in a spooky glass case. Tiffany Godoy put it together with the help of several Harajuku Gothlolis.

Goth Jean Paul Gaultier shirts and Hussein Chalayan blob top. Weird designer runway clothing at Gothic Fashion exhibition, dark glamour, curated by Valerie Steele at FIT museum, NYC.

The garments in the exhibit span from Renaissance times to Jean Paul Gaultier (left, center) and Hussein Chalayan (right). It was wonderful to see the textures up close.

For more information about the Subculture and Style symposium, check out this PDF. Students and FIT staff are admitted free; for everyone else, a two-day pass to all events is $100.

Song of the Day #45: Tommy February6 – Strawberry Cream Soda Pop. (Can you find Jimi? Those of you who have a hard time telling men from women will have a field day with this video!)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 00:52 and is filed under Art + Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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emo clothes

those are great outfits
nign

Not sure if you know about this yet. Got this via my weekly Google Alert for "Valerie Steele":

One upcoming 2010 FIT show is about Japanese fashion and visual culture. It will include Hello Kitty and is called "Cute and Scary."

Wonder what Dr. Steele has up in her sleeve this time...

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/...

Love her! :)
lacarmina

YES another friend of mine worked with her on the Gothic exhibition at FIT and has only the best to say about her! Looking forward to this next exhibit.
nign

Oh mine.....!!!

I was busy working on a friend's project and could only rapidly skim through my RSS reader and didn't read the text when this post came out... I've flipped through "Style Deficit Disorder" in the bookstore at least five times!!!! It came out at a time when I was being strangely self-restrained from buying such things... and so I didn't get the book. But somehow it came back to my mind every few months....

I've always been a drooling fan of Dr. Steele's...X-)
nign

Mmmm... some thoughts on the M.A.C. Hello Kitty-inspired dresses and other things that have been on my mind...

I'm certain everyone familiar with the Sanrio aesthetics and classic Hello Kitty designs knows that edgy colors like black and fuchsia didn't exist in the design vocabulary until perhaps around the dawn of the current century, and even now these hues are only used when they want to make it look cooler and hipper and are not for the classic "kawaii cute" merchs.

I've also noticed that kawaii merchs designed by N. Americans lose the pastel palette that dominates Japanese kawaii; the N. American kawaii palette is more like a sweeter version of the '80s disco colors. This coincides with the recent '80s revivial, which is especially prominent in teen and edgy youth fashions.

The regional differences seem to reflect longstanding cultural preferences -- or just the cultures. When punk and goth got to Japan and became localized, they also became less scary and intimidating than their Western originals.

I wonder why N. Americans don't like to keep kawaii designs looking meek and mellow like the Japanese originals....
lacarmina

I noticed that too! Western kawaii is associated with emo/scene queens, so I think it's an attempt to make the products "hip" and appealing to these young consumers... Personally, I'm sick and tired of the 80s hipster electro colors (blue yellow pink) that currently saturate the young market.

From a sales standpoint, I think it makes sense for MAC to use these colors instead of pastels... fair enough in that it's a collaboration, and
nign

Almost forgot the question I originally had in mind:

Why the fuchsia-black combo? Isn't that a classic naughty spicy lingerie palette? Hyper femininity = mainstream kawaii....again? (I know I'm overgeneralizing. :-/ )
nign

Emo and scene queens...? Okay I get the scene queen association slightly, but why emo? Serious befuddlement. :(

There will be some time until you stop seeing those electro colors, I think.. Dazed & Confused is using more and more of it (and 80s inspirations) in its editorials, which often presage what will show up in major publications, while international mainstream high fashion runways have been steadily making their way closer to revamped but very obvious 80s styles. The new, "edgy" DKNY artsy video promo is totally 80s fashion illustration-inspired (and well done in my opinion)... Though the colors generally look more acid than the Western kawaii palette. The upside is that the younger ones will probably finally move away from them? :P
lacarmina

I've seen emo and kawaii merged... like http://th01.deviantart.com/fs14/300W/f/2007/083...
http://www.ugotbling.com/img/graphics/emo/hello...
http://gi66.photobucket.com/groups/h271/63K9SI8...

haha
nign

Ouch. Wonder what Sanrio thinks of these. :P

And surprised to realize that over all these years, I've never seen anyone draw a deliquent Kitty here. Not ever. o_o

Don't know anyone here who's a Kitty fan that's not also goody-goody either. :P
Olga

I loved the Style Deficit Disorder book. Very interesting and has helped me a lot in the understanding of the fashion scene in Japan.
lacarmina

Such a good book, and excellent photography from Gallermic (who organizes the Fashion Ramone parties).
lacarmina

Oops! The video got pulled. Here's another link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDeEEL0dwI
Thomas

I want to go so bad! I'd be really late on Friday due to work but even just for an hour or so on Friday and all of Sat it looks like it might be worth it
lacarmina

oooh that would be great if you catch at least a bit of it. Say hi to Tiffany for me, if you catch her!
kagitsune

"featuring interviews with Versailles, Mana, Gackt, Kokusyoku Sumire, and your favorite designers"

O RLY??? O.O

Man, I want Tiffany's life.

I really, REALLY wish I could be in New York to see this exhibit, but no, I'm stuck in Indiana studying for a degree I'm not interested. Oh well, I'm applying for FIT's fashion design program in August, anyway. :) I hope to visit Japan in the summer for a little language-learning and a lot of inspiration, and then come back and work on my portfolio!! \m/>.<\m/
lacarmina

How exciting! Go for it!!
XNXFX~Aesthetic13~

Oh my gosh, I love Tiffany Godoy's work. If her next book has Versailles and Mana in it, count me sold and stoked. ^_^
lacarmina

Hear, hear.
Nursey Rhyme

so awsome ;_;
karen

OH! My husband is in NYC this week while I'm stuck in dreary Toronto! I told him about the exhibit and I hope he has time to go. It looks SO wonderful! Ah! The unfairness of life!
lacarmina

Aww! Make sure he brings you back a Valentine's Day souvenir from the exhibit! And a couple of Japanese magazines from Kinokuniya! ;)
Dragonswyng

sounds like a really cool event!
lacarmina

There will be so many cool people there... Michael Musto on Goth Rock, various Goth fashion/subculture authors...
Black Bitten Nibblets

wow that is amazing

some of the designs are great
まるめるかどぅ

Elegant&Classical★"GOTHLOLI"♪†('-'*)
karmaneko

Ah, so will you be keeping us updated on the book? You said check back, but it's too early for me to be conscious (it's 8 a.m.).
You two look cute and I love your top.
Can't wait for the bok :)
lacarmina

Hahah I'll have more info about the book in the coming month or so. Rizzoli doesn't have press materials available yet.... but soon!

The top is Peace Now, from Closet Child. :)
seed

woah, in that last picture, is it made from carpet material?
the book is something to be excited about^^
wish i could go to the exhibition
lacarmina

The book is going to full of photos and interviews... very sleek. Excited!

The top is made of rRed and black wool carpet and black silk
Fall 2005, Geometrics collection, England
Lent by Hussein Chalayan

"This enigmatic (and heavy) top creates a sense of claustrophobia and vertigo, two mental states that are central to gothic narratives."