Japanese School Uniforms entering Harajuku Fashion

From an American perspective, school uniforms aren’t anything to write home about. Typically, they’re a white/light blue polo shirt and navy colored pants. So it might be surprising for many that Japanese school uniforms are becoming a staple in fashion culture in Japan and has been spreading.

A major reason in this trend is due to the fashionable nature of Japanese school uniforms. They aren’t as lackluster as their American counterpart as their uniforms include blazers, ties, cardigan and all varieties of fashionable accessories.

Now that trend has expanded beyond the borders of Japan has been popping up all over the world. In July 2011, in a Japanese fashion in Paris, 30 different models sported the school uniform outfit to much praise from the audience calling it kawaii. The fashion show was orchestrated by Conomi, a large school uniform(or “seifuku”) retailer in Japan which even has two shops in Tokyo’s fashion mecca, Harajuku.  The vice president of the company, Toyoko Yokoyama, noticed that school uniforms were not just part of cosplay culture anymore and has expanded into everyday fashion.

However, with uniforms becoming a staple in Japanese fashion, you can of course expect the denizens of Harajuku to have their own take on the style.  Maririn, a patron of the Harajuku district has picked out her outfit to complement the schoolgirl uniform design.  With the core of her outfit purchased from Conomi Maririn has fashioned her outfit with mostly pastel colors making her look like a schoolgirl from a surreal dream (or just a Harajuku fairy kei girl). Pictures will describe outfit better than I ever could, so here:

With the fashionable aspects of Japanese school uniforms, will we start seeing the outfits outside of highly fashionable areas like Harajuku or Paris?

Source: aramatheydidnt, Tokyo Fashion