Women's Wear Daily on Japanese Goth

Some of you may have seen this, but the current issue of Women's Wear Daily has a long article about Japanese goth fashion and its influence on western designers. (The fashions in the image to the left, for example, are most definitely not Japanese.) The article starts by talking about these western designers (including stalwarts like Givenchy) before moving onto the influencers - Japanese designers like h.NAOTO and Mana (Moi-même-Moitié).

It's clear that neither Women's Wear Daily nor some of the western designers quite get the whole thing, but you can't fault them for trying, at least. They even print some of the choicest answers that you can tell were exasperated comments from people being asked what they consider really stupid questions. It's actually pretty funny to read Valerie Steele of the Fashion Institute of Technology say, "No, no, no! A million times no!" to the assertion that goth's popularity is due to the bad economy.

And of course the article makes the cardinal sin of lumping gothic and Gothic Lolita into the same bucket. People, they are not the same! But of course, you guys all know that.

Still, it seems Japanese gothic (and Gothic Lolita) fashions are marching more towards the mainstream in this country. We just wonder why anyone would bother buying western stuff "inspired by" Japanese fashions when you could just buy the real thing.