ura-hara girlie style [ura hara-kei ]

Color of Fashion Items


Memo : URA-HARA Girlie Style

The URA-HARA Girlie Style is the most popular style this spring throughout Japan. It could commonly be seen previously in the URA-HARA area. It is similar to a romantic casual style that appeared around 1984-85 in the ‘Olive’ fashion magazine which began in 1982. ‘Olive’ often introduced brands such as ‘PAGEBOY’ which still prosper today.

During the 90’s the KO-GAL style temporarily ousted the Girlie Style and ‘Olive’ stopped publication in 2003. Ironically, soon after that, the ‘slow life’ style presented by ‘Olive’ and others became popular.

Around 1997, used clothes shops and radical brand shops opened in the backstreets of Harajuku, so called URA-HARA, drawing fashion conscious people to the area. Soon, the natural feminine style of URA- HARA became popular and the ‘Olive’ style which featured topknots, low heeled shoes and a loose casual taste, was revived.

Now the ‘PS (Pretty Style)’ magazine, issued since 2002 as a follow up to ‘Olive’ magazine, is the leading magazine for the URA-HARA Girlie Style.

This year folklore patterned tunics and dresses with Bohemian or Tyrolean taste, Afghan style shawls, wooden accessories and short pants are popular within the Girlie Style. The original URA-HARA Girlie Style features slightly different colors compared with the Girlie Style in the Shibuya area.

The URA-HARA Girlie Style retains a natural look, based on black, gray, khaki and blue denim and adopts a hint of vivid color. This matches with low-heeled shoes, sneakers or engineer boots and hairstyles which feature topknots or natural short to medium bob hairs.