March 2008
Mr. Yu-Gi-Oh goes to Washington
Anime versus the power tie
If you live in the Washington DC area and are even the tiniest bit interested in fashion, you have to resign yourself to the idea that nothing new, strange or outlandish is ever going to happen here. Ever.
Bless their little button-downed hearts, but Washingtonians are just not a fashion forward bunch. Except for the perennial debates—bow ties; in or out? Long sleeves dress shirts and panty hose in August? Yes, of course. Why do you ask?—there’s really nothing to discuss.
Which is why it is so crucial that we be saved by Japan.
The calvary of the Japan Fashion Scene rode into town last month with two pronged Harajuku and Cosplay assault. Harajuku fashion was on display at the Kennedy Center as a part of their “Japan! Culture + Hyperculture” show, February 17, 2008. Harajuku gets its name from the boisterous street styles favored by the young people of Harajuku, a Tokyo suburb, where a mish mash of Punk, Gothic, Victorian and Barbie Dolls styles is an everyday occurrence.
For boys, this simply means any combination of Elvis and Sid Vicious. But Harajuku is most famous for the girl fashion known as Lolita. Think short frilly skirts, striped knee socks, and lace chokers. Add a dash of Hello Kitty with hormones and issues and you’re getting close. Add a LOT of black, go heavy on the tats and eyeliner, and voilà! You have the Goth Lolita look; something like Morticia Addams impersonating a Japanese school girl. Or if you prefer to go overboard on the sweetie pie look, carry a stuffed animal and a parasol, then you have sub-genre known as Sweet or Blue Lolita. Either way, a miniature top hat is de rigueur.
Personally, I’m hoping to see more summer interns dressed this way.
Meanwhile, the work-a-day world of Woodley Park was caught off guard that same weekend, when the corner of Connecticut and Calvert Streets became infested by groups of Ninjas, Jiggly Puffs and Transformers. Commuters slowed in their march to the Metro to ponder the girls in the pink plastic nurses uniforms. Akatsuki gangs, with their black and red robes and evil plans for world domination, roamed the streets and not a single official from Homeland Security tried to stop them.
Something was up, and it appeared to be coming from the cloud of clove cigarette smoke that hung over the entrance of the Omni Shoreham Hotel, where taxicabs unloaded packs of girls in what appeared to be French Maid costumes. Inside the venerable old hotel, a mob of costumed characters swarmed under the chandeliers, danced conga lines around the Oriental rug and greeted each other with flashing digital cameras.
What on earth was going on? Well, you would ask that, wouldn’t you? No doubt you, like me, are a part of that clueless, non-Manga literate, video-game disapproving, middle-aged demographic.
“Duh…” any typical middle-schooler will tell you, “it’s the Katsucon….You KNOW, manga? Anime? Look, it’s simple, that guy is dressed as Cloud from Final Fantasy 7, see…and over there, without a shirt, that’s Inuashi. He lost his shirt because he’s in demon form now…and, oh, never mind. Can I have some money? I want to buy a replica of Renji’s Zampakto.”
The Katsucon is a three day costume party for lovers of Japanese manga (comics), anime (animation) and video games. For months, Katsucon attendees toiled over costumes and props to slavishly recreate their favorite character. Most were repaid with exactly what they wanted: a slice of fame-for-a-day.
“Oh! Look! It’s San! Oh, San, I love your video! Can I have a picture?”
San, a woman wearing a fur pelt and riding giant a papier mache wolf, struck a war-like pose with her spear, blew a kiss and then moved on.
Takoma Park residents Dylan Burke and Emily Ettlinger came dressed as Light and “L” from the anime “Deathnote.” Light wore a tan suit and L wore a big baggy shirt and “really gross sneakers and eyeliner,” explained Burke “and handcuffs,” in keeping with a scene from the anime. Other Deathnote fans were impressed by their attention to detail.
The handcuffed pair roamed the halls of the Omni, waiting in line to talk to professionals in the manga publishing world about their own manga projects. They are currently working on two Mangas, “Caged” and “Mata Asita” (Japanese for “My Family”). Burke assures me that the plotlines are just too hard to explain. Nevertheless, they received positive reviews. “The guy from Viz media said it could be big!” exclaimed Burke.
In addition to the see and be seen game, Katsucon attendees came for the J-Pop concerts and the chance to meet famous manga artists and voice actors. There were workshops (“Self Publishing”, “The Plus-sized Cosplayer”, and a round table discussion of World of Warcraft) and a non-stop video gaming room, with daily Guitar-Hero tournaments. For a change of pace, there was a midnight Masquerade Ball. It went until 4:00 a.m., when, presumably, Cosplayers had to return to their rooms to start dressing for the next day’s marathon sessions of costume judging and Live-Action Role Playing games.
When too tired to get into full costume, Con-goers chose the default Katsucon uniform: cat ears and a tail. Really, someone reading this ought to buy stock in decorative cat ears and tails. They were everywhere. So everywhere that I fear they might soon be passé. But you heard it here first.
Colored contact lenses are also popular. Red was a favorite (so you too can look just like Dark Gray Man, my 13-year old informs me), but all-white eyes with pinprick pupils were also popular. Have lawyers or K Street lobbyists considered the intimidation potential of red eyeballs?
Also in full fashion force: corsets. Corsets are quite the utility item. You can wear it to Ren-Fairs, Katsucons and to Goth Clubs, although dancing or anything that involved deep breathing would be contra-indicated. One Katsucon fan proudly informed that she could and does sleep in her corset and that her physician scolded when an X-ray showed rib deformation. Do the models of Paris and Milan show this kind of dedication? As if.
Which brings me back to the normal, everyday ho-hum fashion scene of the DC area. Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan, in an article on Star Wars fandom (“Wookie at Me!” May 20, 2005), clucked her tongue at the world of fan-fashion and wondered “…if perhaps Pfizer makes something that, taken twice daily with water, could snap them out of their delusions.”
Link
Katsucon website: www.katsucon.org. |
