How to Live the Kawaii Life: Your Way

At first glance, the world of kawaii may seem to have very straightforward ‘rules’. These include characteristics such as simply making ordinary objects cuter, like swapping out plain white plates for ones with adorable character motifs for instance. There is also a high importance placed on aesthetics, such as which colors or textures to employ. 

Define Your Kawaii

When examined closer, however, it’s clear that there is more freedom than meets the eye. You can employ your own unique sense of fashion, stay true to your interests, and curate your interests individually instead of waiting for trends in order to break the mold. This serves as a reminder that you ultimately define your own sense of kawaii. 

Alternative Kawaii Fashion

One tangible way to incorporate this ethos into daily life is through fashion. Experimenting with outfits & styles allows anyone to showcase their personality and differentiate themselves from others. Under the umbrella of kawaii fashion in Japan there are multiple subgroups of unique style categories with dedicated followers. Some enthusiasts even adhere to more than one subgroup depending on how they feel on any given day.

How you decide to dress kawaii depends on a culmination of your personality & interests. A good starting point is to consider what kind of music you like, what characters or TV shows you prefer, and what kind of actresses or actors you’d like to emulate. It’s also worth considering if you’d enjoy creating a persona or if you’d rather bring your inner self out. The answers to these questions can help guide you when choosing how to mix and match colors, textures, and accessories.

Let’s take a look at five popular subgroups of kawaii fashion for inspiration. Which one do you most identify with?

How to Accessorize – Kawaii Style

Whether you go all out and adhere daily to a kawaii fashion subgroup to guide your style, or if you’re more the casual type who just likes to add a kawaii splash here and there in your look, the options for creative new ways to dress are limitless!

We think that you can always level-up your look by adding in cute and unique accessories for extra flair! It’s always those little things that can help pull off a look and differentiate you from followers of similar fashion trends. 

Some kawaii fashion styles such as Decora (often thought to be the most representative or memorable style of Harajuku fashion) are centered on their heavy use of cute accessories to enhance the wearers’ outfits. Other styles may not be so focused on this though, and draw fans that are more interested in the overall look rather than details, such as with Genderless-Kei. Each style though is made more interesting by the use of extra detail, whether it be much or just a little, so let’s take a look into how to accessorize – kawaii style!

Harajuku Fashion Brands You Should Know

Harajuku is known worldwide for its fashion boutiques and avant-garde pedestrians who show off their newest styles on the streets. With so many creators in this Tokyo neighborhood, there are some special brands that you should know to help you navigate this exciting mini-universe.

Harajuku is anchored by Takeshita Street which is the main thoroughfare. It’s forbidden for cars to drive here, so it’s really a walker’s paradise. This narrow area becomes really busy, particularly on weekends, and the streetsides are lined with all manner of interesting shops, restaurants, and cafes to try.

An entire encyclopedia about Harajuku style could be written just with entries about all the shops and boutiques alone that have been or are currently thriving in this neighborhood. Today though, let’s take a look at a few representative fashion brands from Harajuku that are a good starting point into this mecca of creativity.

There’s no need to go far for the best kawaii Japanese goods! YumeTwins sends them straight from Japan to your door each month!

Influential & Independent – Japanese Pop-Art Illustrators

There are a myriad of artists all over the world creating relatable works not only for themselves but for people with similar tastes, interests, and outlooks on life. The term ‘pop-art’ denotes an area of the art world that is quite broad in scope as by definition it simply means ‘popular art’. But some other features include plenty of color, attitude, and a very of the moment ‘zeitgeist’ appeal, making it all seem very timely. 

Pop-art as well has a very close relationship with commentary on social and cultural mores. Artists usually find a creative way to express their opinions on society through juxtaposing two or more different art styles together, or especially by placing two things next to each other that usually wouldn’t be thought of as related. This is all to try to get people to stop and think a little deeply about something in the wider world that they might not always consider. 

There are so many creators and illustrators worldwide who give the world fantastic art and ideas to ponder. Today though, let’s look at a few big-name pop-artists from Japan who have led the way in familiarizing overseas audiences with unique perspectives from Japanese society and new ways to look at the world. 

Manga Every Independent Kawaii Girl Will Love

The world of shojo manga, closely related to the myriad famous magical girl anime series such as Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura that are loved across the globe, is wide ranging but has certain characteristics common to many within the genre. These include romance, school life, magic, and even action. 

This genre is often thought of as one of the most kawaii as well, as there is a heavy usage of what’s generally considered ‘feminine’ colors, intricate aesthetic motifs, and epic love stories that beat the odds. Many stories also utilize supporting characters often in the shape of cute animals who speak with a human voice, helping the heroine on her journey.    

This world may seem to have very straightforward ‘rules’. However, if we delve a little deeper there are many great manga to be found that can be considered shojo but go against the grain in some respects. Let’s see how characters and stories tread new ground and explore complex human feelings and relationships.

All Purpose Bunny – A Mascot of Independent Kawaii

Mori Chack’s ever-evolving collection of cool plushies are quite exclusive! They’re almost instant collector’s items as soon as they hit the market because the majority of his creations are only available at crane game machines, sometimes called UFO catchers, at arcades in Japan. This arcade-only collection is dubbed ‘Chax GP’, and has been supplying Japanese game centers with an eclectic mix of eye-catching All Purpose Bunny and Gloomy Bear plushies for just over 20 years now.

Catching a new Chax GP prize is somewhat like a scavenger hunt. You’ll have to first ask what arcades carry which new items and from which date? Plus, how many of the items do the arcades have in stock? In one sense this makes it a race against time, but on the other hand, if you know which new design you’d like to get your hands on, it’s extra satisfying once you catch yours! Some designs are rarer than others, and this adds to the appeal of this ever-growing yet limited collection.

The Chax GP range never fails to surprise fans with cool new designs that you won’t want to miss out on! Let’s take a look at just a few of the cutest All Purpose Bunny plushies from the collection!

Do It Your Way!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look through some of the alternative and independent aspects of kawaii culture. Always remember that you define your own sense of kawaii, and there are an endless number of ways in which to mix and match, expressing your style just the way you like to! Let us know in the comments below how you share your kawaii interests with the world!