Product Description

Tokyo is home to the most creative and stylish fashion in the world. The Tokyo Look Book takes us on a dazzling journey through the streets, clubs, and boutiques of this trendsetting city to introduce us to the people who wear the latest fashions and the people who make them. Crammed with cool, full-color photographs of Tokyo's trendy teens and twenty-somethings captured candidly as they work and play, this is a comprehensive look at the richly varied fashion scenes that thrive in Japan's capital city -- from the "gal" mecca of Shibuya, to the goths and cosplayers who hang out on Jingubashi bridge on Sundays, through the cutting-edge kids on the Harajuku backstreets, to the stylish young professional men and women on Omotesando Boulevard.
Yuri Manabe's distinctive photographic portraits are complemented by insightful text from British anthropologist and fashion expert Philomena Keet, who offers witty and informative background information on each of the fashion scenes introduced, and a plethora of soundbites and quotes from the featured fashionistas. In addition, there are interviews and spotlights on Tokyos hottest fashion designers, magazines and boutiques, including:
SHIBUYA 109: Shibuyas iconic shopping mall
GLAD NEWS: One of 109s leading boutiques
REIKO NAKANE: A former trendsetting charisma109 shop girl, now producer of her own fashion label
MANA: Japanese pop star and designer of Elegant Gothic Lolita brand, Moi-meme-Moite
H.NAOTO: Creator of the popular goth/punk brand
TAKUYA ANGEL: Creator of the cult cyber-kimono brand
TEAM MESSAGE: Designer of skate/streetwear brands
DOG: Owner of a cult street-fashion boutique
SHOICHI AOKI: Creator of the influential street-fashion magazine FRUiTS
GARCIA MARQUEZ GAUCHE: The husband-and-wife team behind this stylish brand for young women
5351 POUR LES HOMMES: A fashionable mens brand
TOKYO FASHION WEEK: A peek behind the scenes
MANNENYA: Purveyor of traditional Japanese workmens outfits

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140069 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Armed with a PhD in Tokyo street fashion, anthropologist Keet hits the pavement to interview and profile several distinct tribes of fashionable Tokyo youth in this eye-catching style guide. Keet combines her findings with bold graphics, more than 200 color photographs, information on popular shops and brands, and interviews with several Tokyo-based fashion designer to "take the reader beyond the outer layers of clothing and into the minds of the wearers." Starting in the "street fashion epicenters" of Shibuya and Harajuku, Keet introduces the fast-paced trends of the teenage gyaru, the panda-like make-up of yamamba street kids, the "Little Bo Peep" dresses of the Lolitas and the colorful costumes worn at the biggest anime and manga convention in Tokyo. Beyond the highly visible "extreme minority fashions," Keet also covers the more sophisticated clothing of upmarket Ginza and the Marunouchi business district, showcasing "style tribes who are little known outside of Tokyo, but who represent what is probably the dominant fashion aesthetic." While Keet's method of spontaneously meeting and interviewing subjects gives the book a you-are-there feel, similarly impromptu photography can be frustratingly repetitive (many one- or two-shots playing stiffly to the camera), and occasionally out of focus. Still, with its cheerful format and knowledgeable commentary, this book is sure to catch the eye of young fashionistas around the globe.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"From Goth to Gyaru, Japan's groundbreaking street fashion is rounded up in The Tokyo Look Book." --Elle
"[The Tokyo Look Book] showcases full-color photographs of the stylish set, but also interviews designers such as Naoyuki Ohira and members of the Goth rock band Moi- meme-Moitie." --Womens Wear Daily

"The beautifully photographed book is notable not only for the great variety of looks it documents, but also for providing insight and background into the root of Tokyo street style and the individuals who constantly reinvent it. " --Fashion Wire Daily
"The Tokyo Look Book offers a colorful peek at what the kids are wearing these days on the sidewalks and catwalks of the capital city. Not only does she profile specific youth subcultures concentrated in a few celebrated districts, but she also turns a lens on the rest of Tokyo society." --Budget Travel (online)

About the Author

PHILOMENA KEET is currently carrying out doctoral research into Tokyo street fashion with London University's School of African and Oriental Studies. YURI MANABE is a Tokyo-based photographer whose work has appeared in a variety of prestigious music and fashion magazines.

Customer Reviews

Cute Book - Great for any coffee table
As a total Japanophile, I really loved this book! The pictures are beautiful and its just a perfect example of why I love those Tokyo Fashionistas. Unlike North America, where we are slaves to what we think other people want to wear and try to "fit in", a lot of the young Japanese people on the streets where what they want and have no qualms about standing out and looking unique!

The book shows and describes the different looks, and often which district the look is from or originated. The text is mostly narrative, but I would've preferred some more informational style text. Such as a list of what elements compose each style and/or how to recreate the look for yourself.

A Motley Collection of Fashion and Fashionista - Super Cute Book!
My current ringtone on my celly is a short clip of "Harajuku Girls" by Gwen Stefani - it's been on phone for over a year now. As someone who has spent a formidable amount of my life in Japan, I covet and collect anything remotely "cute" from or even inspired by Japan, ringtones included. So it's no wonder that I love this book. Published by Japan-based Kodansha International, The Tokyo Look Book (2007) is a motley collection of photographs and interviews of Japanese fashionistas and fashion designers. "Motley" is probably a huge understatement, given what Philomena Keet (the author/editor) calls the "fashion spectrum" that exists in Tokyo. The photographs of Japanese guys and gals make me smile knowing that those pictured often follow their own drum beats. Even in the most outrageous and incongruous outfits, the Japanese youth wear their clothes with confidence or paint their faces with layers of make-up without second-guessing why they do it. If anyone has ever wondered who these "Harajuku Girls" are that Gwen Stefani sings about, pick up a copy of this book. They are fantastic!

Amazing and Inspiring
i love japanese street style! this book gives so many different pictures of fashionable people on the streets of tokyo. it gives a little bit of background information about the culture and background, but if you want to get a more in-depth background and information on japanese styles and and designers and shops, i recommend Style Deficit Disorder by Tiffany Godoy.