Gothic. Lolita. Punk. A major player in the popularization of these trends is the Japanese brand h.Naoto. A store is scheduled to open soon at New People in Japantown, the first location outside of Japan. If you like Betsey Johnson, love Alexander McQueen, are maybe into vampires, and actually care about uniqueness, you'll love h.Naoto.
Naoto Hirooka, creator and designer of h.Naoto, was here on Sunday to judge the Naoto Mania: Fashion Contest by Fans at the J-Pop Summit Fest. Though many of our favorite wearers of crazy shit were heading out of the city yesterday to some remote desert in Nevada, there were plenty left to participate.
Though at first h.Naoto may seem like any other brand that belongs in Hot Topic, the designs are interesting and noteworthy. Check out some of his collections and fashion shows to see that h.Naoto is much more avant-garde (and terrifying) than, say, Lady Gaga's latest gag. The flagship h.Naoto store is scheduled to open Oct. 8.
The contestants wore their favorite h.Naoto designs, styling their outfits with handmade pieces and creative flair to complete their looks.
Though most were just superfans, Syu Martin, Helen Dinnigan, and Camille Tambe are attending City College for fashion and have their own designs in the works.
Those who are into h.Naoto are totally into it. Tambe said she "loves his vision" and is crazy about "its demented, twisted, heavy gothic punk style." She is particularly impressed with how Naoto Hirooka creates his pieces, often burning and bleaching the fabric to create a certain look. "He's not afraid to go there, as an artist," says Martin, also inspired by h.Naoto.
After the show, we caught up with Hirooka at the pop-up shop. Draped in unassuming black with just a touch of color, thanks to a few strands of bleached hair, Hirooka quietly styled customers in his creations while they came in and out of a tent set up as a makeshift dressing room. A graduate of Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College, Hirooka started h.Naoto in 2000. He said he got into fashion in junior high school as a fan of the J-Pop group Kome Kome Club.
Hirooka was inspired by the lead singer, Tatsuya Ishii, who designed the costumes, makeup, and stage design himself. Piece by piece, Hirooka debuted his own creations at the Tokyo nightclub Oto. Rooted in underground culture and helped along by costume play - or cosplay - h.Naoto is now a leading brand in Tokyo fashion.
The collection on view was mostly black, and though most pieces were drowning in frills, lace, and ruffles, idiosyncratic details make each item seem one-of-a-kind. A good portion of the clothes on the rack were dresses perfect for a cosplay outing, but there were also pieces that anyone who has a flare for fashion and individuality has to have.
Hirooka had me try on some light gray jeans adorned with shiny blue sequins over the front. Not entirely satisfied, he had me me squeeze into bright blue pants that had been bleached and then adorned with colorful prints. My favorite piece was a maxi skirt that was also bleached out in spots then torn, burned, and tied in knots toward the bottom hem.
Also noteworthy was this cosplay group, There Will Be Cosplay. It includes UC Berkeley and UC Davis students Caitlin Chang, Joleen Tseng, Anna Chow, Guo Zeng, Katrina Kokts, Karen Poon, and Jess Kwan, who created these cool hoodie designs in homage to Vocaloid Matryoshka. If you don't know what vocaloid is, well, that's a whole other beast.
The posing ... it's a cosplay thing.
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