well, loose socks are still merely a fashion, but not part of school rules >_<
Quote: In Japan, they were adopted as a fashion which deviated from school
uniforms and firmly took root after a long period of popularity.
They were first worn by high school girls and later spread to junior high school girls, but not to other ages. The
fashion is so unpopular with other ages that it is said that loose socks equal high school girls. Since the socks are
worn to go with school uniforms, they generally haven't come into fashion with elementary school students. There
are also virtually no girls who keep wearing loose socks after they graduate from high school. Those who do tend to be
viewed as being strange.
source: Wikipedia: loose socks
as for Gothic styles in Japan, i was the one [Gothic Lolita] of them in craze, though i'm not a girl. personally, i
dislike such dark fashion, but as my heart rebels, i tend to love them. now i am a darkness lover :)
if i'm not mistaken, there's an article in my local newspaper interviewing cosplayers and fancy dressers in
Harajuku. according to it, they have to dress up in either of their friends' house, public toilet, and anywhere as
long as there are some privacy and most importantly, far from their parents'
knowledge. one of them recalled how heir parents screamed at their 'weird' fashions.
another is Japanese loves to dress up as beautiful as possible. it's part of their culture since immemorial times.
hence, it's natural for them to dress in the nicest style.
as far as i know, unlike western's teen fashion, japanese fashion focus less on skin-revealing dress. what's
more interesting, they mix well with some traditions.
in general, anime really play one of the biggest infuence in japanese fashion, because new fashions are always created
in every new anime. it's not suprising that japanese youngsters take inspirations into dressing up like them, as
anime too play some influence in them in turn. as mention before, culture and social impact are the main roots to
creation of such fancy fashions.
Quote by Wikipedia: Sailor
fukuThe uniform in general is seen by some youth as a symbol of conformity and as such has been modified by
rebellious students as a means of exhibiting individualism. Such variations include lengthening or shortening the skirt,
rolling up the sleeves, removing the ribbon, hiding patches or badges under the collar, etc. In past decades, brightly
coloured variants of the sailor outfit were also adopted in the by Japanese yankee and B?s?zoku biker
gangs.
merged: 02-21-2007 ~ 09:16pm
well.....one more final fantasy do create a fashion, but not a statement yet. and cosplay cannot be part of fashion
unfortunately, as it's a temporary thing which will fade one the show ends itself. example: do you still commonly
seen Sailormoon outfit cosplay nowadays?