WIN is fond of students with special outfits. Today: Marjorie, first-year student of the Teacher Education in English study programme.
How would you describe your style?
“Yami Kawaii, that is Japanese for ‘as cute as a nightmare.’ The Japanese styles are very striking because the rest of the society is so grey and conformed. Schoolgirls have to wear uniforms but after school they would wear exuberant clothing and collect artistic items.”
What is the idea behind that?
“Individuality is being undermined in Japan. They can dress however they like in their spare time and then they sometimes come up with very out-of-the-box ideas. In their stone-cold society, in which everything revolves around work, they want to feel colourful. Hence the cute bunnies, bears and smiling strawberries.”
What are you wearing today?
“Yami Kawaii has cute but also creepy elements. Today, I am wearing hair clips in the shape of skeleton hands and earrings in the shape of pills, alongside all the bright colours. That is how I ask attention for mental disorders. There is not a lot of understanding for that in Japan.”
Tell us about your bag.
“It has a front-pocket that has a transparent sheet that you can decorate with anime- and manga-buttons, pins and pendants. For example, I put a rainbow-button on there. These types of exuberant backpacks hurt the eyes of the average Japanese person and that is why they are also called ‘painful’ backpacks.”
Maarten Kors
