Devilishly Cute Fashion from Web Japan

I found this article on web-japan.org about ageha fashion-soo informative! I love the mobile phone decorations-I almost bought a Hello Kitty one for my ipod touch yesterday but they didn't take cards and I didn't have cash :(
Here's the article! (PS if you want to see the photos that come with it, go to http://web-japan.org/trends/fashion/fas070831.html):


DEVILISHLY CUTE
Magazine Caters to "Little Devil" Fashion Fans (August 31, 2007)
The cover of Koakuma Ageha
Of the many women's fashion magazines in Japan, Koakuma Ageha has been making waves for its especially daring fashion suggestions. Launched in October 2006, it covers hairstyle, makeup, and fashion and targets young women who love designer-brand goods and seek fashions that attract men. The streets of bustling Tokyo districts like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, and Ikebukuro are now populated by many women who have seemingly jumped out of the pages of Koakuma Ageha.
Curly Hair, Big Eyes, Decorated Phones
Koakuma Ageha (koakuma means "little devil") comes with the subtitle "Seduction and Desire Book for Beautiful Gals Who Want to Become Cuter." True to the subtitle, it features hostesses who work at hostess clubs in addition to professional models. The pages overflow with the women's favorite hairstyles, makeup and manicure techniques, dresses, designer bags and accessories, shoes, and other items.
Cute frills are key to this look.
Hime-kei (princess-type) fashion
The fashions, hairstyles, and makeup featured in Koakuma Ageha are characterized by an avid pursuit of sexiness and cuteness. The look that these styles represent are alternately known as hime-kei ("princess type"), due to the preference for princess-like curls, rose corsages, frilly dresses, and glittering accessories with pearls and rhinestones; age-jo, derived from the magazine title (Ageha), the verb mori-ageru meaning "to puff up the hair," and the term jo, referring to young women; and koakuma-kei ("little devil type"), in reference to the seductiveness of the look.
Girls into this style of fashion typically have dyed blond hair, which they puff up at the crown of the head and let hang in curly locks at the sides. They exaggerate the size of their eyes by applying heavy eyeliner both above and below the eyes, plenty of dark eye shadow on the entire eyelids, and several coats of mascara to lengthen and thicken the eyelashes. Color contact lenses are also a favorite.
One of the keys to the age-jo look is to reveal some skin, such as by wearing strapless print dresses that accentuate the cleavage and miniskirts that show off the legs. Women who sport the style therefore busy themselves with keeping in shape by dieting and frequenting beauty salons.
A decorated mobile phone
(©dekoden.com)
The age-jo look is glamorous from head to toe, to the point of being garish. These women wear elaborate nail art and adorn themselves with brand-name jewelry and bags. They walk around in high heels ornamented with roses and ribbons. Moreover, they use decorative cell phones covered in rhinestones and kawaii (cute) motifs like hearts and roses.
A Kind of Cosplay?
The prevailing fashion trends in recent years have been mote-kei ("attractive type") and aisare-kei ("endearing type"), both of which grew out of fashion magazines aimed at young women. These days the "little devil" look is catching on among young women who were not satisfied with these more elegant fashions. Intensely cute, self-indulgent, and sexy, the latest style appeals more strongly to men.
With its overdone hairstyles, makeup, and fashions, the devilish princess look advocated by the Koakuma Ageha magazine may be likened in some ways to a kind of cosplay (dressing up as manga and anime characters).

Fashion Trends in Japan

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Awesome site for ordering Japanese goodies ^_^

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Ponyo on the cliff by the sea

*sighs*
All I can say is that this movie is sooo sweet and the animation is amazing. Almost as good as Spirited Away!Wish I could find a Japanese version
The sorcerer dad guy is funny-favourite part of the film:
(Ponyo's dad is walking along spraying the ground in front of him with a shower head attached to a backpack)
Sosuke's mum: Excuse me!I don't know who you are but we don't use weedkiller in this community!
Ponyo's dad: What!? This isn't weedkiller!This is the purest ocean water! I'm spraying it so that I don't dry out on land!
Sosuke's mum: Ok...As long as it isn't weedkiller (gets in her car)Man, that guy was a freakshow! (to Sosuke) But don't you call people freakshows, we don't judge people on their looks

heheheheheheh ^_^

Bento Chou Kawaii!

I LOVE BENTO
SO MUCH
so..soo much. I even tried to make one once. But that was a failure...

So this time I decided I would buy a real bento kit and recipe book called Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute and Convenient Japanese Meals, and then after forgetting to buy the actual box (noooo) I bought THE cutest bento EVER. A hamburger. With separate tiers that were the lettuce and ham. Awesome. ^_^ It wasn't soo cheap as I expected from ebay buttt it was a lot cheaper than the US dollar turned out to be in Australian $$$
oh..did I mention it's Winnie the Pooh?No idea what that has to do with hamburgers but anyway...I'm so excited for them to arrive!Hopefully they won't take ages or get lost like everything I order from strawberrynet O_O

Napoleon Perdis is turning Japanese!

Recently I went to the Napoleon Perdis Masterclass and one of the looks that he paraded was 'Turning Japanese'-sooo sweet!It may look underrated through the photos but the model's eyes were soo cute and I loved the little rainbow beads hanging from her hair. He used liquid eyeliner making sure he didn't flick it out to much to round the eyes more, 4 individual lashes on the underlid and pink shadow ^_^ perfect :D


As an intro to the feature, he told us about Ageha's and I was instantly in <3<3<3! I'd always seen the photo's on the side of Japanese photo booths in Singapore but never realised it was a real trend let alone that there was a magazine about it!My new obsession.