Let’s continue our Tokyo shopping trip. I took photos inside Studio Alta, the Shinjuku department store for gyaru / gal / youth street fashion.

From Shinjuku Station east exit, walk straight and you’ll find Alta. There’s lots of colorful, electro fashion here.

This Jaoanese shop girl, dressed as a pirate, won my heart.

She’s captain of a new boutique, Fernopaa.

It’s rocker-80s: loads of studs, leopard print, toy soldier hats.

Dig the pirate girl’s arm jewelry, and the punked-out doll at counter.

As soon as you enter the glass doors of Studio Alta, you’ll find doll eyelashes, nail polish, and Hello Kitty cosmetics.

Also near the entrance: Liz Lisa.

The girly, gyaru brand is very popular in Japan.

Shoe stores are scattered throughout the building.

Animal prints and cute accessories are always in season.

The basement has a cool stockings / socks store.

Don’t overlook Claires, or the takoyaki and taiyaki stands! (The octopus balls are only 500 yen.)

What else can you find in Studio Alta? Sweet lingerie and PJs..

Street, punky clothing (quite well-priced, around $30-50 per item).

Some of the latest styles are… questionable.

But you can’t go wrong with nail art decals, and AC/DC backpacks.

PS: Speaking of shopping, thank you to Racked for interviewing me about my favorite obscure shop in LA: Hyaena Gallery! And arigato Kyoko for the drawing on the left, inspired by Yukiro and me.

What do you think of gal style in Japan? Which items and stores did you like best, out of the photos in this post? Let’s chat in the comments.

At Luisaviaroma, we fashion bloggers didn’t merely dress up in designer clothing. We also lent our names to a good cause.

Each blogger adopted one of 20 Steiff pug dogs, customized by famous couture designers. These toys will be sold, and all proceeds donated to Unicef to support disadvantaged children.

That’s why we all got a Luisaviaroma t-shirt with a pug puppy, dressed like Marie Antoinette!

Designers such as Balmain, Emilio Pucci, Mary Katrantzou, and David Koma dressed the dogs in high fashion. I adopted the Worth Couture pug. She’s got a Gothic Lolita flair, don’t you think?

This design house is a fitting choice. Charles Frederick Worth is considered the father of haute couture, and his elegant designs were the toast of 19th century Paris. I’d wear his long trailing skirts and corsets in a heartbeat.

Seba chose the Versace dog on the right. Aren’t they a fashionable pair? We’re honored to be part of the “Pug Dogs For Happy Kids” initiative, and glad to continue our charity work.

Here’s a closeup of my look from Day 2 of the Styling Lab. MAC Makeup once again delivered. Silver on the inside corners of my eyes, and bottom eyelashes with extensions for greater length.

And I love my hair by Aveda: tumbling curls, pinned to the side. Soon, I’ll post more photos from our outfits at Luisa.

Have you heard of Worth Couture Paris? Are you inspired by the fashions of previous centuries?

PS: thank you to Vogue India for featuring me in a magazine article (above).

Album of the Day: Children of Bodom – Relentless, Reckless Forever

Did you miss my teddy bear cat, Basil Farrow? Here’s tons of cute photos, and a new video where he chases a catnip ball!

Whenever I get a parcel, my Scottish Fold waddles over to inspect the goods. This time, we got to test-drive the TRIA Hair Removal Laser.

Slide the laser head across your skin — beep, beep — every two weeks. Hair will gradually reduce, and in about 6 months, be near gone.

The laser isn’t as powerful as those found in salons. But it’s much cheaper, and you can beep-beep yourself while watching TV. So the question is: does it work?

There’s a security lock and 5 settings; I used the highest one. Pain was negligible, except for the underarms. In the words of Sebastiano: “Aiyyyy! Why it hurt so much? Is beyond human pain!” (I minimized this problem by shaving closely and using ice.)

My honest finding: the Tria does work. After three treatments, there was significant reduction in the pits. Medium reduction on the limbs. I’m happy, and will keep zapping.

I recommend the device if you’re ok with the minor discomfort, and use it regularly on the highest setting. The charge only lasts 30 minutes, so allow time for multiple sessions.

The privacy and convenience are a boon, and the price is affordable ($395) — especially if you share it. The Tria’s available via Amazon and you can learn more on their website.

Now, a new Scottish Fold video! Basil got a catnip ball for Christmas. Watch as he chases and licks the treat (don’t worry, the floor is perfectly clean). He lies down and reaches out with his short paws. Aww.

View the new video on YouTube and above. I’m on an editing frenzy; you can look forward to tons of videos this year.

What are your thoughts on permanent hair removal? Have you tried it? Were you satisfied with the results?

Album of the Day: Aesthetic Perfection – All Beauty Destroyed

Luisaviaroma’s Firenze4Ever extravaganza brings together your favorite fashion bloggers: a mix of nationalities, personalities and styles. I suppose I carried the banner for Japanese street / Gothic aesthetics. So I did theatrical, flamboyant makeup: loud and proud!

Each blogger gets to take part in a high-fashion styling lab. Shall I walk you through the steps?

1) Get your face painted by MAC. I showed my makeup artist photos on my iPhone, so he knew what I was going for. And he did a marvelous job.

Fabio put a layer of white under my eyes to enlarge them, then added careful eyeliner definition and top/bottom layers of fake eyelashes. Brown shading added a Sleepy Hollow effect. My blue lips turned me undead, while the bright fuchsia blush raised me back to life.

2) Pick out your three outfits. We got to wear anything we wanted from Luisaviaroma’s latest collections. I picked cute / rock / Goth styles: lace and leather and metal.

I’m wearing a faux leopard fur jacket by Banana Fish, and a t-shirt gifted by Solobuio (the visual factory of Rome-based music video director, Carlo Roberti. We worked on something together… can you guess what it is?)

3) Take part in an interview for Fashion TV. I spoke about my styling choices, and my experiences in Florence thus far.

4) Have your hair styled. Aveda twisted and pinned my hair on top, and added scrunchy bedhead waves.

5) Choose your accessories. An orange clutch, and a cute boy (Sebastiano, of course).

6) Pose, pose, pose. We stormed the streets of Florence with our photographer.

I’m afraid I don’t recall the brands of my clothing (the info was left out of my files by accident). But the boots are unmistakably Camilla Skovgaard – one black, and one white!

A close-up on Seba’s boots. We have many more modeling photos to share: I did SIX looks in total, so stay tuned!

You can preview my styling lab photos on the Luisaviaroma website. Thanks to AOL / My Daily and Style.it for featuring me. More press and TV clips soon.

I leave you with my “Meet the Fashion Bloggers: La Carmina” video, where I talk about Visual Kei bands, and the joys of big eyelashes. Please give it a view and a YouTube Like.

Do you like my first look from Luisaviaroma? What do you think of the MAC makeup? Funny how many found it extreme, but in the subculture, it’s a day in the life…

Album of the Day: The Cure – Disintegration (Remastered)

Fashion blogging is a rather ridiculous phenomenon. But you know what? It’s an amusement park ride that lets you travel the world and meet fascinating people — and hopefully, learn and contribute something meaningful.

Luisaviaroma’s Firenze4Ever flew in the world’s top fashion bloggers for three days of partying and high-fashion styling. On the whole, the bloggers and designers I’ve met are lovely in person.

Here’s a preview image from NSS, taken at the “Pink Party” closing event. A zillion images from Italy to come, so please check back my blog and Facebook.

I’m wearing a dress I got years ago in NYC. The hair flower fascinators and maille chain necklace (worn as a bracelet) are gifted by Angelica Brigade (available on her site and Etsy). Sebastiano is wearing Jury Black, a Japanese brand worn by famous Visual Kei artists.

What do you think of our vampiric looks? Did you ever expect to see Goth / Jrock kids at an Italian haute couture event? Life is nuts, sometimes…