Thursday, May 22, 2014

Shibuya round 2

We went to Shibuya today again, this time to visit two stores. Or well, one store and one mall. The store was Forever21, which I am proud to say had prices comparable to those is the states, but the store itself was a lot cleaner, a lot more organized, a lot bigger (it was 6 stories, after all) and had much more variety. 

The next place we went to was Shibuya 109, which is a 12 story building with about 8-9 shops on each floor. These shops were reminiscent of boutiques, and had every style from girly to western to goth clothing. While I didn't buy anything, the people watching was still fun.

Some of my observations:

1) Each boutique had 2-3 girls working in them. 90% of them had dyed their hair blonde or light brown, and had curled their hair at the bottom. Apparently, this is considered to be fashionable. Those who didn't had dyed their hair another color (for example, one store was pink themed. The girls had, you guessed it, pink hair).

2) Said girls also wore heels that were greater than 3 inches tall. I was wearing wedges about that tall, and after 20 minutes, my feet were screaming for rest. Working in those heels must be hell. I too my hat to all of you.

3) Said girls also wore lots of makeup, making them look almost doll like in appearance. This is a wider trend I've seen while in Tokyo - very few girls don't have layers and layers of makeup one. And it's nothing extreme, they all conform to having the "natural" makeup look.

4) If you're not thin, you will not be able to find anything to wear. For reference, I'm 5 foot 6 inches, and weigh about 110 pounds. At the Forever21 in the states, I wear a size small. In Japan? Medium to large. At Shibuya 109, I tried on a one-size-fits all dress. I couldn't fit into it. And honestly, it was depressing. I'm not used to not being able to fit into something. But that was exactly the case today. 

It makes me wonder - what about people who are actually bigger than the norm? How do they feel, especially in countries like Japan and South Korea, where conformity in appearance is key? 

This might, however, explain why plastic surgery in East Asia is as common as it is though. 

Thoughts?

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