Tokyo trends - YouLookFab Forum

I have been off the forum for a couple of weeks as we were holidaying in Japan. DS learned to ski and snowboard in 4 days and is keen to return to the slopes. My efforts at skiing were far less impressive, I was thrilled to survive each day intact. We ended our holiday with a week in Tokyo.

These are my Tokyo observations (from staying in Ginza and Shibuya, two fashion areas, Ginza is conservative and luxe with many people wearing suits, Shibuya has trendy street style):
- Designer stores are on every corner and had huge lines to enter on the weekends. People patiently cue and wait to enter.
- Women carry expensive handbags, lots of Dior, Chanel, Gucci and LV bags were held by women everywhere, including the subway.
- Being winter, most people were rugged up in a coat, in most instances (about 95%) it was a black woollen or puffer style coat.
- Sneakers, boots and loafers were the footwear of choice for most people but some women were wearing elegant footwear and heels. On Running (a Swiss sneaker and fashion store) had massive lines outside their store at all times of day in Shibuya. I was surprised to see young people wearing Ugg boots as outdoor shoes, in Australia, we mainly wear Ugg boots as house shoes.
- Athleisure is popular and looks luxe, I saw lots of black Moncler and North Face puffer jackets and coats being worn.
- Most people dress in cool toned neutrals - black being predominant with grey, navy, beige and shades of white and ivory being the other colours worn.
- Fits were either tailored or oversized.
- Trendy pants and jeans were baggy, I was surprised to see that the only people wearing leggings were travellers or runners exercising in the local park, running is popular in Tokyo.
- Women wear skirts and dresses a lot in Tokyo. Skirts were either mini (on teens) or ankle-length and voluminous with pleats or texture being common.
- The only pattern that I noticed being worn was plaid. Comme des Garcon and Vivian Westwood punk looks captured my attention, but also conservative Burberry style plaid is popular.
- In Shibuya and Harajuku (which is next to Shibuya), I saw lots of coloured hair in rainbow colours. Blonde hair is also popular with trendy youngsters.
- Make-up was generally minimal and natural. Young women had some amazing manicures with elaborate nail art.
- Dogs are pampered and often taken around the city in special dog prams. At a Tokyo dog park there were different enclosed areas by size of dog (under 5kg, over 5 up to 10kg, over 10 kgs) I saw many dogs wearing coats and also little shoes for their paws.
- Tokyo has amazing Christmas light displays. I saw many young girls filming TikTok dance routines on the streets of Shibuya with the bright lights as backdrops.

I took a range of clothing to layer which was useful because it is warm indoors even when the outside temps were cold. In the first few days of our trip, we had unexpected warm weather. The biggest failure was taking boots, which I thought were comfortable as my only footwear which after walking more than 15 kms or 25,000 steps per day for a few days in succession, gave me bad blisters and aching feet despite all attempts with Band-Aids and socks. In the future I will road test any shoes with those distances before taking them away and travel with an alternative sneaker. I limped to a Nike store and bought a pair of 97 Airmax sneakers which were kind to my feet.

4 months ago

Dee

Veteran

Always fascinating to hear about street fashion across the world, sounds like a great trip with exception of your footwear problems. I don’t know if I’ve got any shoes that would keep my feet comfortable long enough with all the walking that you did.

Irina

Thank you very much for the report!
I watch sometimes YouTube videos of streets in Tokyo and observed the same trends. It looks to me that people there dressed better than in North America, maybe because they don’t wear as much athletic clothing.

I find fascinating queues outside of luxury stores!

cat2

Sounds like a great trip, and that shopping is still a social activity there, which is fun.

Bonnie

Nice report! You certainly did a lot of walking. Good job finding comfortable shoes, I had that happen in Paris years ago so I always take a tried and true pair of shoes with me.

Runcarla

Thanks for the detailed report. It’s a good read and food for thought.

The Uggs as outdoor footwear is popular here in Ontario, Canada too. Unfortunately worn with baggy grey sweat pants or flannel Panama bottoms.

Roberta

How wonderful to see a country through your eyes! And what an adventure, learning to ski in japan! I feel very sorry for your feet. I have known that feeling, and there is nothing more frustrating to me than having to buy something that I have half a dozen of at home. I hope you enjoyed your comfortable new sneakers.

Sal

What a wonderful description of the fashion scene. Your trip sounds perfect for a teenager.

Footwear is hard! I got blisters with three year old well worn Birkenstocks this week.

Olive Green

Thank you. I appreciate the in-person take on a fascinating fashion scene. I have a lot of older Japanese ladies Pinned, admire their subversive style.

Cardiff girl

What a lovely report,l almost felt as if l was there.Glad you had a good holiday

Suz

(website)

What a wonderful report -- thank you! It sounds as if you had a amazing trip, apart from the sore feet. I always walk a lot when travelling and that is one reason I always travel with extra footwear because quite often a change really *is* as good as a rest. But sometimes even our most reliable footwear doesn't stand up to new or unusual conditions and there is little way of knowing this will happen in advance. How frustrating to find yourself in pain despite all your efforts. I'm glad you were able to address it with a little retail adventure.

I loved your descriptions of the fashions in the areas you visited!

Star

Thanks for taking the time to write this report for us. So interesting!

kkards

Sounds like an amazing trip. And some great people watching! For me, people watching is the best part of going somewhere
Bummer on the boots issue, but glad that you were able to solve the issue.

Joy

I appreciate your report. Were people wearing masks much? How is the Covid situation now?

Carol

Isn't it too bad that the vast majority of shoes we buy end up not going the distance, literally, down the street? I have 4 pairs of work shoes, and only wear two, because the other two are uncomfortable.

Thanks for the education. I can picture that all as you said. I particularly picture the sea of black clothes, which happens in a lot of cities, but I bet in Japan it's more. I can see the young women in long pleated skirts with a black puffer on top, and the men being glad to wear a puffer instead of a business suit. I can see the Japanese youth hacking the fashion code for their own, as they have for decades.

phoebe

Active Member

Thank you!
With your talent for observation and description you've created such a picture, almost a short film, loved it!

Lee

That’s fun reading, it’s so interesting learning what’s happening elsewhere, thanks. And now I feel even better about my ankle length pleated black skirt, lol.

Sloper

Thanks for sharing! We watch a lot of NHK’s American broadcast channel. A fascinating window on another culture. And fun to see what people wear in big cities vs the countryside.

As Runcarla said, Uggs are very common outdoor shoes in North America. I live near a combination middle and high school, and see many kids wearing the Uggs-pajama bottom combo.

Bijou

Joy, there were people wearing masks in Japan, particularly on the subway. However, it was not more than precovid, as it is part of the culture that if you feel like you have a cold, you wear a mask to protect others. We had booster shots a month before travelling and fortunately avoided getting sick.

Slowper, Uggs and PJ bottoms are a great combination for lounging at home… it is hilarious to me to wear that outside of the house. However, when you are young and beautiful, everything looks good, so I’m sure those students look fab even if it looks like they just rolled out of bed!

Jaime

Thank you for this excellent style (and dog culture) report! Very interesting about what sounds international vs. local. Sounds like a fantastic trip!

Zaeobi

This confirms what I suspected about Japanese street style lately, thanks - similar to HK's (right down to the queues to frequent luxury/ athleisure shops)!

On a cultural note, just curious whether it's really true that all of the Christmas decorations (lights etc) suddenly disappear the day after? I've heard Tokyo is really diligent about this! Which is funny to me because here it seems it's nonstop decorations from Mid-Autumn Festival to Chinese New Year, lol.

Zaeobi, I have no idea whether the Christmas decorations stay up after Christmas or not. I visited Tokyo in mid-January a few years ago and noticed lights in the trees, but no specific Christmas decorations.

Helena

Thanks for the style report, these are some of my favourite posts! Tokyo seems like the coolest of the cool when it comes to style ... The combo of high end with Uber creative is so modern to me. I screenshotted the bit about the cool neutrals to remind me this is how I want to dress 99 percent of the time hahah. *Looks up Tokyo Street style*

Jumping in for the kids in the Uggs and sweatpants ... I think it looks young, relaxed, fun and practical for cold weather as Uggs (when treated) are excellent winter boots! I do where mine as house shoes though

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