Miss Neko in Tokyo: Spank! fashion ♥ cute 80's culture & riot music

 

Hey there (^-^)v
Today I'll will continue to tell you about my trip to Japan.
This entry will be about Tokyo and my favourite fashion store:
SPANK! - used clothing shop
Their fashion is all about cute 80's pop culture & freedom for your own style.
Their official news page : spank-news.tumblr.com
Get everything else you need to know about it here
Tokyofashion.com :

• Interview with the owner Tavuchi & a look into the store
(with lots of photos)

• Tavuchi SPANK! & Her Tavuchi Necklace in Harajuku
one of the latest entries about Spank! :
• 9th anniversary Party of spank! + Video

♥ With the shop staff Choco :

(Yeah, before you ask I'm 1,78 cm ^^)

You can see more of Choco on the official

Spank! shop staff blog 

I can't tell you how much this experience means to me ♥

I absolutely adore the style of Spank! and it's owner

Tavuchi Sayuri  since about 2007.
This was shortly after I started getting into Tokyo fashion in general.
So their style has influenced me a lot over the years and since then
I have always been gathering all the news and information I could 
get about SPANK!, their Parties, bands that are connected to it and more.
I'm really glad that Choco has been so sweet ♥
She even let me take as many pictures as I wanted inside
of the store ! That's really rare for a Japanese shop as normally photos
are forbidden inside and they are very strict about it.
That's one of the reasons I love Spank! so much,
it's not only a super cute brand but their concept and
attitude is very kind and loving as well.
CHU ♥

In front of the store :

Pastel kitty ♥

"2 F" means second floor. According to the European and American
system the store is on the 1st floor !
In Japan our ground floor is the '1st floor'.

In the beginning SPANK! consisted of 3 stores :

[very old picture, not up to date]

Over the years there also have been several changes within the shop staff.
Sadly now the only store left is "Spank!" - the one which I visited.

Here are my photos of the cutest store in the world :

~♥~

Tavuchi on this sofa :

[source:tumblr]

Care bears and friends :

~♥~

~♥~

In front of the store :

~♥~

And of course I also bought some things there ^-^

I got this baby bottle pin and a brooch :

I absolutely love such cute baby doll themed accessories ♥

~♥~

"I ♥ Spank!"

Necklace: 6%DokiDoki

I also got this babydoll top:

I'm super exited about making a new outfit with it ! Stay tuned ♪

The next thing I got is this 80's themed bow : 

I found the bow on the bottom at Closet Child in Harajuku
and it really reminded me of Spank! ♪

"Spank! 2014"

~♥~

My dear readers might know that I did not spend my time in Japan on

my own. I visited my close friend Bea ♥ who lives in Kyoto.

She helped me a lot with everything. Thanks so much again you're an angel :3

So of course we went together to the store. Without her I would

really have struggled to find the store as it's really not central

and quite remote from Tokyo. I was so happy when we finally stood

in front of the store. And Bea even gave me this 

iPhone cover because the glass on the back of my phone

is shattered and a huge safety hazard. 

Now it's super glued on my phone forever, hence repaired. 

What would I do without her ! ♥

 ~♥~

There are super tiny little ghost bunnies on it ♥

 ~♥~

 ~♥~

~♥~

~♥~

Shop address :

Now I want to share some really inspirational pictures with you
so you get a hint what this look can be all about ♥
Tavuchi Sayuri, owner of Spank! :

~♥~

~♥~

~♥~

~♥~

 With some other fashion influences like 6%DokiDoki :

~♥~

My all time favourite photo from a fashionshow in about 2007 :

I wanted to do this look when I was 14 and this was the result: 

 

Of course I had so much more to learn back then ! ;D
Looking back on this I'm quite proud of how much I've learned
about fashion and Japanese culture since then.
It feels good when you see how you improved your own skills.

I will definitely do a recent version of this look
next month as some kind of tribute to my old little self :3
So stay tuned for that ♥ \(^-^)/
Have you ever done this ?
Created a look you've always wanted to acheive
when you were younger with all the abilities you have now ?

Please let me know ♪

Old Spank! website :

 The bunny is so cute ♥ I guess I love this style because it's
so nostalgic and it instantly reminds me of everything I loved
when I was a child.

I was born in the 90's so I grew up with this kind of popculture
which was of course also still influenced by the 80's.

Most things I really love and enjoy are from that time.

Like for example the old Barbies and cartoons.
I had about 100 Barbies when I was a child (because I always
only wished for that doll and wanted nothing else).
One of the Barbies I had was this one :

I still have this Barbie cassette
I use it as a necklace sometimes but it also still works :

Foam'n color Barbie : 

It came with pink hair dye when I got it as a child. It's one of

my favourites. It's from 1996 (when I was 3)  and I remember playing with it at my grandmothers house and wishing for my own hair to be pink as well.

Foam'n color Barbie :

~♥~

 ~♥~

 This month a very good book I ordered about half a year ago

finally arrived ♥ and waiting for this was so worth it !

It's about Japanese street fashion and brands.

I found out about it because I saw it in the library of my university and
had to work with it for a course. I really wanted to own it as
it's so informative.
Style Deficit Disorder- Harajuku street fashion, Tokyo :

It's like a time line for Tokyo fashion. 

And the very last page is about Spank! *o*

~♥~

 ~♥~

If you enlarge this scan you can read it very well :

I think the concept of Spank! is so enchanting because it's a
whole package deal. It's not only a look, there is so much more to it.

There are certain bands and artists who performed at Parties
given by the store who also fit this retro concept.

I want to introduce some of them to you now.
But keep in mind that I followed the history of some of these bads
since 2007 and some of them are sadly not active anymore.

SPANK! music : 

• Very often the 1990's feminist punk rock movement "Riot grrrl"
is also referred to by people who love Spank! 

The music and attitude fit the vibe & provide inspiration ♥

I'm also a big supporter of this movement.

• Le Tigre 
They're a feminist electroclash girl band. Riot grrrl history.
This song makes me so insanely happy *o*

• Bikini Kill 

Considered to be a pioneer of the Riot grrrl movement.

• Puffy shoes 

Truly my my favourite music when I think of Spank! ♥

It gives you a feeling reminiscent of hippie times ~
sadly they stopped making music.
Puffy shoes official youtube

Puffy shoes - Goodbye to you

• Räuberhöhle (robber's cave)

They are from Germany like me.

I really love their cute yet strong and independent style. 

I even had the luck to participate in one of their music videos
like the Spank! staff girls did !

• Räuberhöhle official youtube 
• 2nd official youtube channel of Räuberhöhle 

You can see me at 0:32 min and 2:41 min  ♫

Originally I had missed the deadline for submitting a video
for this project, but Krawalla the lead singer of Räuberhöhle

messaged me via facebook and asked me if I'd like to
participate. Of course I was super honoured by that and
instantly said yes. *o*
So I tried my best to put together some scenes as fast as I could,
for her to use. Sadly I only had a very bad webcam back then.

It still feels great to be a part of this movement ♥
and not part of this shit ;) 

• Broken Doll

Pretty looks and pretty sounds ♥

Their mixing is really high quality.

And they are totally active until today !
• Broken Doll online shop 

• Broken Doll facebook 

• Toydeath 

They played at some parties the Spank! store held, really unique ♥

• Toxic Lipstic

is for you if you like nasty 8bit sounds ♥
I found them back in the myspace days.

Back in 2007 I followed most of these bands on myspace and it

was a great place for finding new music.

Only thank's to all this cute 8-bit music influences I stumbled
across an artist whose music means the world to me until today. 

• Unicorn Kid ♥

I can't think of a summer without his old songs.
His sound is beyond trippy ♪ No music ever made me feel so
happy and high ~♥

His newer songs are even more a work of art

I love to get lost in them ~

He even went to Tokyo to be inspired there ♥

But my favourite song of him is this one :

I've listened to it a million times ♥

Like I mentioned before another big inspirational source for Spank!

are cartoons from the 90's and 80's.

Care bears, Popples, Rainbow brite - only to name a few.

But I want to show you another one now which has been most inspirational
to me because each episode contains lots of new songs and outfits.

I also like that strong, emancipated women are the center of this cartoon.
I'm talking about:

Jem and the Holograms 

Well, sadly I also had to leave the store again at one point,

walking home through the evening streets :

It was rainy but really warm as well, I love the humid weather of Japan.

At the train station. This looked like it could become a scenery
in one of the Ghibli movies. I see how Miyazaki gets his inspiration *-*
Everything seemed really mystical to me and instantly invited me
to daydream ~♥

~♥~

That's it for today ♥

Tell me if you liked it ! I'd love some feedback.
You might have noticed how important this whole
package around Spank! fashion is to me. In my eyes it's
more of a movement. I love it when fashion and art turns out that way.
It makes it so real and authentic. You can not only be a part of it but
claim it and make it yours.
It's revolution !
I could and would love to fill books about this topic, but for now
I try to keep it as brief as possible to give you an impression
of this world. Some day I might be able to create a book
about this whole phenomena or parts of it. During my Japanese studies
at university I also gathered so much more information and
learned about good books about Japanese fashion. Some of them
even analyze e.g. Lolita fashion on a theoretical level (it's
a post-modern fashion due to some theories, which I agree on).
It's just so interesting and some of those books on Lolita fashion
for example have even been written by the professors who
teach at my university *-* I'm glad I have the opportunity
to gain knowledge from them. I'll always try my best ~♪
Let's see where this leads me.
I hope you enjoyed reading ♥

See you next time (^-^)v nya