H. Naoto

Black is always in fashion in winter time, but this year, texture is key! I decided to show H.Naoto as 'gothic' and s&m influences have come through as some key trends this season!


The brand h.Naoto was launched in 1999 as a punk and rock brand. As of 2001, there has been increasing collaboration between h.Naoto and musicians. In 2002, the brand was subdivided into punk, gothic-lolita and other themes. The same year a h.Naoto men’s shop, named ‘h’, was opened in Ura-Harajuku and ‘h.X’ magazine was started.

In 2003 h.Naoto opens a womenswear shop, named ‘H’, in Ura-Harajuku. The following year h.Naoto expands to Osaka by opening a store in Shinsaibashi (H&h.) The same year h.Naoto’s sexy category shop ‘8club’ opens up in Harajuku.

2005 saw the start of hEAVEN in Ura-Harajuku as h.Naoto develops toward music-inspired fashion with influences of anime and subcultures.

selected lines
h.NAOTO
hEAVEN (ladies)
H (ladies)
h.ANARCHY (punk)
h.NAOTO Blood (goth-loli)
S CLUB (ladies)
SiXh (mens)
RHB (mens)
h. (mens)
Hn+nois (accessories)
h.NAOTO ROOMS (interior)
HANGRY & ANGRY (accessories)
8club

Originally an extreme punk, rock and gothic brand, it has been expanding by adopting new cultural inspirations. Hirooka’s creations are extremely popular with musicians and artists the world over. Amy Lee of Evanescence wore an h.NAOTO dress at the 2004 Grammy Awards, and Japanese visual kei band Ayabie costumes are designed by Hirooka

Above is actually a skirt although it looks like a waistcoat!!!

Anime Lovies...

After showing you my fashion lovies, I've decided seeing as I love Anime and Manga just as much as I love fashion to showcase my anime/ manga lovies! Most of these, are predictably Shojo Manga as I am a very girly girl and I am very partial to a good love story and plot twists! The only exception I think being 'Death note'.

My favourite anime at the moment is Death note and after watching the last of the anime online and buying an actual 'Death note' at the London Expo, I can't wait for the release of the manga in the UK!!

I also recently watched Peach girl which made me cry so much! I'm such a soppy girl!!! hehehe.... I loved the story line although initially because the scene is set in a Japanese High School I thought that it would be childish and predictable but it pulled at my heart strings!

I've actually got Chobits and its something I can watch again and again! Ah... the love of a man and his kawaii girlie doll....

I think the last anime has to be Fruits Basket, which is just touching and very cute! My favourite character has to be Momiji-kun!!

One of my favourite mangas is Princess Ai not for the plot as it was predictable but for the artwork and just for the character of Ai. I think a 3 book series is much too short and I would have liked to have seen Princess Ai a bit more. I envy her wardrobe! I have mentioned the series in a previous post.


Love Hina is a classic 'boy living with large group of girls' manga. Its funny and totally unrealistic, but I love both the anime and the manga!
Finally, a few more anime/ manga that I love:
Rurouni Kenshin
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Ayashi No Ceres
Spirited Away

I found this great site which allows you to make a collage using pictures obtained from different sites on the internet. So I made a tribute to two great gothic anime girls:

Amane Misa from Death Note and Ai from Princess Ai!

London Expo

Went to the Anime Expo yesterday with Chloe who was the only other person who came with me yesterday. As I got off the DLR at Custom House for the Excel centre, I saw a lot of people, but not many that were dressed up or come in cosplay, but as I got closer, I saw loads more and I was relaxed- I wasn't the only person to have come wearing an outfit!

The expo wasn't as big as I was expecting it would be and there were a lot of people. I saw a lot of groups dressed up- Final Fantasy,Rave, Azumanga Daioh, Naruto, Death note, Dragon Ball... and loads more others.
I saw this girl dressed up as Princess from Super Mario and had to take a picture of her- she was just so cute!Christopher Lee was also there as he celebrated his 85th birthday and 60 years of being in show-business by releasing an album called 'Revelation' where he sang various different styles of songs.
I managed to get a photograph with 3 storm troopers from 'Star Wars':
In the end, I wore my yukata with a large stretchy black belt from Spitalfields market, sleeveless purple polo neck from H&M, leggings from Uniqlo and lace up boots from Morgan

Yukata Ideas

Was tinkering with ideas for modernising my yukata last night and I came up with a few ideas: Yukata bought from a shop in Tokyo, Japan. It comes like this:

All neatly wrapped with an obi and a bow that you can slot into the obi once done up! It even came with some flat black get shoes! Unfortunately, they are a bit too small for me and I chipped the wood on them when I wore them out for the first time to the summer festival in Yokohama.

Outfit 1

Vest: H&M, white belt: e-bay.

FRONT Outfit 2:

Dress: Rodarte for Gap designs

BACK

Outfit 3:

Corset: 'Today's Woman' by Freemans, Leggings: Uniqlo

FRONT BACK

Anime Expo

I'm such a GEEK!

Seeing as I LOVE Anime and Manga and anything related. I was pretty gutted to read in the paper (on my way home) that Virgin Megastore are celebrating the release of 'Naruto' on to DVD by having a big party where you can come dressed as the characters from the anime (cosplay) and there were performances by Japanese artists. It was a Manga Extravaganza and I totally managed to miss it!!!

Cosplay is basically dressing up as a fictional character. Personally- I love dressing up and see all outfits as an excuse to dress up. I'd love to cosplay cos it looks like so much fun! I'd love to dress in a gothic lotila style. Princess Ai would be a great character to dress up as... I have the mangas and I just love the style!
There's going to be an Anime Expo this weekend at Excel, Docklands... but I haven't had time to put together an outfit yet- I was thinking of updating my yukata from a traditional outfit to a funkified modern way of wearing it by adding some accessories...