Aside from featuring Anastasiya Shpagina, the fascinating real-life anime girl from Ukraine, last week's Tokyo Kawaii TV presented a brand new fashion movement called 「原宿×アキバ」 (HarajukuxAkiba). Harajuku is the top fashion district in Japan, known for throngs of people exhibiting various unusual clothing styles. On the other hand, Akiba (short for Akihabara)--apart from being the center of the electronics industry--is widely popular for being the lair of otaku culture.

The HarajukuxAkiba movement mixes the fashion freedom and creativity found in the former district with the anime culture of the latter. ちびんぬ, a clerk of SPINNS (a Harajuku-kei boutique), is one of the proprietors of what's referred to as "2.5 Fashion", which is entirely different from cosplay. Cosplay brings the 2-dimensional character to the 3-dimensional world by precisely emulating the looks of the anime character down to the accessories, while 2.5 Fashion lies somewhere in the middle. ^_^

In 2.5, there is no specific anime or game character to imitate; one is free to mix and match the apparel aspects of his or her favorite characters to create a fresh, original look. Here are my favorite street snaps by ちびんぬ as uploaded on Ridsnap.





Aren't they magnificent? Do you admire anime-inspired outfits too?

Labels: otome delight

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