New People: Japanese Pop Culture Mecca Opens in San Francisco
A look from the store Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. photo via newpeopleworld.com
Since a spending spree in the conspicuously consumptive city of Tokyo is out of the question for many during this economy, my closest chance to becoming a Gothic Lolita girl in Harajuku may be loitering at New People, the Japanese pop culture center that opened on Aug. 15 in San Francisco.
Within the four-level New People complex created by J-Pop Center Project and VIZ Pictures (a distributor of Japanese films and DVDs) are restaurants, a movie theater, art gallery and shops displaying Japanese pop culture and fashion.
They had me at the opening website page that flashes all the things I imagine it means to be a young, cute and Japanese mall rat: “Be Nosey,” “Color Outside The Lines,” “Procrastinate,” “Push All Buttons,” “Stay Up Late,” “Splash Around,” “We Are New People!!”
Via San Francisco’s 7x7 Glamwatch, the second floor, dedicated to fashion, is the place to be. And based on the New People website that shows a sensory overload of living dolls wearing candy-colored outfits upon outfits, there is no dabbling when it comes to embodying a Japanese Gothic or Lolita girl. Each store is a meticulously obsessed alternate reality of fairytale clothing.
Baby, The Stars Shine Bright is billed as the “ultimate Lolita fashion brand” that sells Victorian and rococo parasols, mismatching knee-high socks and ruffled storybook dresses. On the Gothic side is its sister brand, Alice and the Pirates, a line of “androgynous and mystic” attire. A neighboring store, Black Peace Now specializes in “Japanese Gothic and punk” clothing.
But the “kawaii” store, 6%DOKIDOKI, is my favorite, with this table display that is saturated with electric hued bows and frivolous girly trinkets as if the Lisa Frank stickers and My Little Ponies from my childhood have come to life in a hallucinogenic dream. Now that I know where to get the 23 bows to pile in my updo, I just need to find a carousel horse to replace my sofa…
Table display at 6%DOKIDOKI. photo via newpeopleworld.com
Shopgirl at 6%DOKIDOKI. photo via newpeopleworld.com
A look from the store, Black Peace Now. photo via newpeopleworld.com
