Hypothesis: Harajuku is Over The Top.

I was flicking through the March '08 issue of Teen Vogue (Yes, I do have the April issue), one of my favourite fashion magazines in the world, and one which I always swear by in terms of style, creativity, fashionability and innovation. All in all, a great magazine for teenage girls around the world who seek some artistic inspiration in terms of fashion, as well as a means to broaden their own creativity and awareness about the fashion industry and fashion cultures.

Anyway. I was happily turning the pages while sipping on a nice cup of jasmine green tea when I experienced something that must have been similar to a heart-attack, choking and dropping my cup of gorgeous-scented tea to the ground (thank god it was a carpet, Mum would've killed me if I'd broken one of her Dutch china cups!) (hang on, it was MY carpet! I'll find time to clean it up later).

I began to stare in horror at page 126, titled "Street Chic Tokyo: Harajuku Girls", which sat open before me.







































*cough cough* I'd always known that the Harajuku style was slightly "out of the ordinary" and that layering and combining interesting colours and items of clothing was en vogue in Japan. I'd already seen previews and samples of the eclectic fashion culture that went on in the country of the rising sun, notably through Gwen Stefani's video of "What You Waiting For?".

Gosh, on my trips to Asia, I'd even force my parents to go the malls, being absolutely in love with some of the clothes I saw, and with how amazing people looked.

But never, NEVER, in my worst nightmares had I pictured those clashing, OTT outfits which Teen Vogue was so kind as to feature in its pages, which I had once revered and adored (well I still do; I just try to forget that this incident ever happened within the pages of my favourite magazine ever). But to think that the all-knowing Teen Vogue could say that these atrocities were "Street Chic"? Tut, tut, tut.

1) Overload of pinks and clashing colours.

2) Gosh, these accessories must weigh at least 10kg on these girls. Who would ever walk out of their home wearing 5 million headbands, barettes and crunchies in their hair ???

3) Oversized dresses and 'shirts' that look like granny pyjamas.

4) Heart-shaped and panda bags (that look like dead, stuffed Pokémon) and hats that make their owners look like three year-olds.

I could go on listing all the fashion crimes I have seen (and which will forever be plastered in my traumatised mind) on that small, glossy page.

I guess that these Japanese girls, in that sense, are really artistic, trying to go beyond the limits of the art of fashion by being daring and bold, however hideous and horrid the clothes may be. I respect that. But these outfits... Brrrrr... Who could have known that the main characters of Pokémon would one day spring into life ?

Conclusion: Harajuku, the way I have seen it on page 126 of Teen Vogue's March 2008 issue, is WAY hideous and OTT, and should never be seen on the face of the earth.