Dinner at the famous Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku, and not a thing to wear! That was the dilemma faced by a friend who recently made a visit to Tokyo. Being in Tokyo, the city that gave the world Harajuku Girls, Uniqlo, and the highly coveted Evisu denim brand, we set out to find a suitable outfit – convinced that it wouldn’t take long. Oh, but it did. As my friend consistently pointed out, “everything has bows on it!” She did not want to wear a bow, not even a small one. What she noticed wasn’t reserved to the limited shopping areas that we scoured; it was evidence of a certain pervasive style popular in Tokyo: the mote-mote style.
There are a great deal of fashionable areas in Tokyo all with a different vibe but the Mote-mote style can be seen throughout all of Tokyo`s various towns. In Japanese “mote-mote” means popular among men and the style is certainly popular with Japanese girls.
The phrase “mote-mote” is an adjective, and it can be shortened by saying “mote” and adding a noun; for example, mote-o for a popular boy, mote-ko for a popular girls, and mote-huku for popular feminine clothing. Many people have heard about the Harajuku girls of Tokyo, and pop star/designer Gwen Stefani has incorporated them into her music and clothing line. Harajuku girls are however, the exception, not the rule, in Tokyo. They want to stand out for being unique. Mote-mote girls on the other hand, do not wish to stand out.
Within the world of mote there are different subsets, among them three in particular that we explored: Classic Mote, Chic Mote, and Sexy Mote. The general mote-mote fashion apparent in these different styles involves a combination of the following characteristics (in different proportions and silhouettes): pink, white, black, grey; short skirts or shorts, bows and ruffles; and one or two piece outfits that look multi-layered. The clothes are largely made to fit petite women who often dye their hair brown and wear it curly as part of the style.
Now we invite you to join our venture into the mote-mote style…
