NY Times wrote a post on Japanese fashion trends, but not just any trend — the trend of women wanting to look like real-life dolls.
Basically, the article says that the Western view on Japanese women, are that they are too feminine and doll-like, and as a nation, Japan has been asking their girls to toughen up and dispel the stereotype.
In spite of all this, some are not interested in toughening up, and want to go into the extremes by looking like a real-life doll.
There are two distinct genres of doll-like fashion: “Mori” or “Forest Girls” and the “Ageha” or “Swallowtail Butterfly” girls.
MORI (Moh-Ree)- FOREST GIRLS
The forest girls wear layers of thin cottony dresses, thick tights and boots, unpretentious makeup and cloth tote bags, the intention being to resemble a handmade doll from some romantic, Black Forest setting.
Forest girls want to be discreet and to obliterate sexuality altogether, not to be confused with eco-girls who are natural, sporty types.
“Forest girls are wary of all forms of aggression or self-assertiveness. They’re just too fragile, or they would like to be that way.
“They don’t want to live so much as to exist, preferably on a metaphysical level.”
AGEHA (Ah-Geh-Hah) – SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY GIRLS
Their aim is to look as much as possible like the blow-up figurines men buy online, only with flamboyant makeup.
Naoko Kamijyo, 19, who lives to buy cosmetics, clothes and hairpieces, says: “I’m no great beauty, but I love to be made up. I want to change myself, to be unrecognizable. Who wants to go through life just being themselves?”
“I get bored if I’m not made up,” said Naoko.
She gets up at 5 a.m. and spends at least two hours applying false eyelashes, false hair extensions, layers of foundation and other complicated makeup procedures.
Like most Japanese women, doll impersonators stop short of cosmetic surgery.
“I’d love to date, but I rarely get the opportunity,” Kiyomi sighed. “The sad thing about being an Ageha is that most men prefer more natural-looking girls and we’re not into that at all.”
This seems to be the downside for wannabe dolls: Few men are actually willing to knock on their doors.
Both Moris and Agehas remain minorities, too cultish for the layman to understand and too technically difficult to easily emulate. Consequently they have about them the whiff of a secret society.
MY TAKE
I think what they’re doing is pretty brave, considering that it’s actually stopping them from finding someone who can understand their fetish with dressing like a doll and going so far for fashion.
They are essentially telling their family, friends and potential boyfriends:
This is who I am, love me or hate me, this is what and who I want to be: a living doll.
They just don’t care what others think and seem to rebel against conforming.
What I do find interesting is how these girls have turned to fashion and makeup to shield themselves from reality – they’ve turned to changing their entire look and lives to live and act a certain way, in response to their mistrust of the world.
Style on a String is a blog about style, not fashion.
And style has nothing to do with money.
Being chic on a budget is possible when you know what works for you, and only take inspiration from trends if they'll work for you. 
