Harajuku is a kind of freedom of expression through ones clothes. In Japan they are very reserved and conservative, so Harajuku is used as a creative outlet for many people, even outside of Japan. Harajuku is like a subgroup of fashion because the theme for Harajuku has always been the same, but there is elements and styles that have same and gone. When dressing in Harajuku style key elements of their clothing are; mixing genres and influences, looking cute, pieces typically have a sense of humor, be confident, and unusual or fun contrasts.

Harajuku is actually the name of a district in Japan, in that district there is a lot of fun and cute shops and other places to visit. Harajuku started becoming popular in the 1980's. Back then, and still now, people will gather in Takeshita street dressed in their Harajuku clothes and just hangout with other people who also enjoy the fashion. Harajuku subcultures that could be seen on Sundays would be; Cosplay, Lolita, Punk, Gyaru, Ganguro, Manba, and Visual Kei.

Punk and Cosplay are likely terms that you have heard before, but Lolita needs some explanation. First I should start by saying that Lolita has nothing to do with what it means for us, sexualizing children. Lolita is a fashion style based on Victorian-era fashion. With Victoria-era fashion coming into the modern day there have been some modifications to the style, like the picture on the left there is a goth or punk version of this look. The Lolita fashion trend started in Japan in the 1980's.

Gyaru started becoming popular in the 1990's after Japans financial crisis, after that the high school student with richer families were able to afford expensive western styled clothing, and they did that to show their status. Gyaru was mainly a style for girls because they would wear short school girl skirts, dye their hair brown, slightly tan skin, and have luxury bags. They would wear their uniforms outside of school and with loose socks. This was also a kind of protest about how people thought girls should dress and how girls act when they dress a certain way.

Ganguro started mid 1990's because Japanese women wanted to defy typical beauty standards in japan, which would be fair skin and light makeup. They would tan/use self tanner in abundance to give themselves a very dark complexion, as you can see, and paired with this would be a very light hair color of either orange, blond, or silver. This trend isn't really around that much today, but there is still some people who dress in Ganguro fashion.