This class has already resulted in stirrings in my brain of all the old assignments and ideas that I worked on back in my art school and undergraduate days. In particular I’ve found myself returning to my old Web Design class where we were tasked with making websites through all kinds of methods. Basic HTML, Wix, and, perhaps the most infamous for how weird it was, Dreamweaver. The old Adobe webdesign standby. The assignment was rough since we all kept running into so many weird errors that it made focusing on the actual difficult by extension.
We were given free reign for that assignment, we could pick any topic of our choice to be the filler of the assignment. In my case? I decided to do it on Japanese fashion. Namely the fashion that had come to be synonymous with Harajuku, the place of fashion referenced in Gwen Stefani songs and hailed by some as a fashion mecca in it’s own right with Paris and New York. Which is impressive since it’s only a section of Tokyo versus the full cities of the aforementioned.
I’ve always had a love for Japanese fashion, maybe due to my early interest in manga and anime. I have memories of seeing some girls in these stories dressed up in incredibly distinctive and fancy outfits. Whether I wanted the clothing for myself or not, I found myself looking with rapt interest at the wide variety of styles that seemed to run the gamut from edgy and dark… bright and colorful… to elegant and opulent. So when the chance came for me to pick a topic, I wound up drawing on my love for the fashion seen in these street images.
It was fun to learn more about these fashions, from the idea behind why the fashion became popular, who wore the fashion now, and seeing how it grew and evolved to what it was then.
Harajuku fashion has changed a good bit since then, to an extent that some have even declared that the particular spirit of this fashion is “dead”. That said some it’s not “dead” so much as evolving. Which is something I can relate to, in a world which frequently declares that libraries are “dead” when it’s only changing. An odd tie into my life today… But an apt one since I still find myself eagerly browsing the twitter of various Japanese fashion icons and fashion brands to see what they will bring to the world of fashion next.
Good job on describing why you chose the image. It is very vibrant and straight to the point about fashion. Japanese fashion looks like something you would see in California or a skateboarder. I can honestly say I am not a fan of the music selected. But I can hear why you chose it as it sounds like music from Japan. The two together do seem to fit to me. I can see the model in the shot walking down the runway to it. Technically there was nothing wrong with the blog as all items worked.
The image is very bold and out there, but the music to me felt like it had more of an Indian root than Japanese. While the tone of the music matches the personality of Japanese fashion, since it is very experimental, the rhythm seems out of place. I don’t think it goes well with the image. If the image had more movement and bright colors, I could see it going together. This is obviously a posed photo, so I would’ve gone with more upbeat or nightlife music.
I think if the audio was more techno or pop, it would sound much more like a fashion show or photoshoot.