Harajuku

Harajuku girls…who are they? Well most of today’s society knows of the Harajuku girls being Gwen Stefani’s “little pets”, the girls that will do anything that Gwen asks of them. Gwen had originally “adopted” these girls into her media life because of their unique style, as she states in her song “Wind It Up”. Gwen’s idea of these girls is completely wrong, she literally is using these girls as pets. In an interview Gwen had had, she says for the interviewer not to speak to the girls because they’re not real, they’re only her imagination. They have had names made up for them by Gwen, “Love” is the name of Maya Chine, who had grown up in Japan, “Angel” is the name of Jennifer Kita, who is a Japanese American from Los Angeles, “Music” is the name of Rino Nakasone, who grew up in Okinawa, and “Baby” is the name of Mayuko Kitayama, who grew up in Osaka. One of these girls isn’t even from Japan, but is portrayed to be. The real identity of Harajuku girls is not being displayed appropriately when it comes to Gwen.


The term “Harajuku Girls” according to the English language media is to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku. Harajuku style is named for the Harajuku district of Tokyo. Harajuku has a wide range of diverse influences, and shows many different styles. Their styles have many different looks, ranging from Visual Kei, gothic Lolita, to punky modern looking, the styles are created by mixing and matching different clothing styles to create their own. For example, Visual Kei, refers to the Japanese rock musicians and is worn in style by using costumes, different looks and hairstyles, costumes and striking makeup. Gothic Lolita, refers to the fashion of frilly, head bands, and ruffled knee length skirts. Kawaii and Decora, refers to clothing that would appear to have been made for younger children, or clothing that is classified as being “cute”. Cosplay, refers to a fashion of dressing like characters from anime, manga, and video games. There are so many different styles of fashion within the Harajuku style, and a lot of it is created by personality.


So does Gwen portray the style of “her” Harajuku girls appropriately? In a way yes, it is different, and it does follow some forms or the original Harajuku styles. But is she right for doing what she’s doing? By controlling these women in the publics eye? I don’t think so. I believe that once people had started calling them her pets, I became against it all. These girls are real women, and they work hard, and I think that if they are being represented as Harajuku girls, that it should represent it accurately and that Gwen should learn more on the culture and the personality of it all.