So I went to the h. Naoto store's grand opening event last weekend in San Francisco. They were having a free gallery exhibit showcasing costumes that h. Naoto had designed for famous Japanese musicians (including Gackt, Hakuei, and X Japan!). At first I wasn't sure if I should go, or how much I would enjoy it - it was just costumes, and not the actual musicians themselves, so would it really be that interesting? But then I made myself imagine, "Would I be excited to see one of Mana's costumes in real life, even if it was just the costume and not Mana himself?" And then I realized I'd be all over that, so that sealed the deal for me. XD;
And I'm so glad I went!
Naturally, you couldn't take pictures of anything inside, but they had these wreaths outside with notes from various celebrities, congratulating h. Naoto for opening his first store in America, which I eagerly took pictures of.
Among them were wreaths from Hyde (L'Arc en Ciel), Gackt, Yoshiki and Sugizo (X Japan), and Amy Lee (Evanescence).
The gallery was quite small, but it was not a disappointment. It was upstars from the boutique, and in a dimly lit room with a projector playing a video of models striking various poses and walking around. The costumes lined two of the walls.
(Hakuei from Penicillin, wearing h. Naoto)
They had a cape that Hakuei from Penicillin had worn for a photoshoot, it was modeled after Dracula and had nails nailed through the collar that were sticking out, and made me think of nails in a coffin. A girl that looked at it and walked by made the comment, "No hugs for him!"
They had 3 outfits that Gackt had worn: that funky white one from a photoshoot where he looks like he's wearing a schoolgirl skirt, a samurai-esque one, and the vampire-like trenchcoat he wore for the Diabolos tour. The schoolgirl outfit actually had pants under the skirt, we realized, but you couldn't tell from the photoshoot because he was kneeling down. Well, I'm glad we have that cleared up now, right?
The samurai one was very Gackt, it fit his personality and strong interest in samurai and was a samurai-punk style, but I wasn't particularly interested in it.
(Gackt, wearing h. Naoto for his Diabolos Tour)
But the Diabolos tour outfit... was... AMAZING. It was a fitted trenchcoat with a hood that was oddly wrinked/scrunched, and same with the collar. The description panel next to it (which were all written in something between English and Engrish, by the way) said the piece was trying to imitate the skin of a vampire, going for an ancient, weathered look. It was amaaaazing! And tiiiiny! I could have fit into it! I was surprised. But that was my favorite, by far.
Sugizo's outfit had these ruffles going down the front, and Yoshiki's shirt was a super tight and stretchy long sleeve white shirt that the description said was made specifically to not impede his piano playing. XD; Yoshiki's shirt was the tiniest of them all.
We looked at the clothes in the boutique for a little bit after the gallery, but I didn't get a chance to try anything on because we had to meet up with my sister's date. Probably a good thing, because I probably would have bought something that would have been bad because I would be poor and we all know I'm saving up my money for Moitie, right? ^_~
But it was so much fun! I probably helped cause I had my sister there because she has experience with clothing design and runway fashion and was able to give some good insights on the costume designs, and also I had fun trying on a skirt at Baby and talking to the salesclerk for ages XD; it was fun! I feel like sometimes I just need to go to these kinds of things, to connect my obsession with Japanese alternative culture with my own real life. With it all being so far away and my not having many friends that are into it as well, sometimes I just need to know it's real.
I remember back in the day buying the Gothic Lolita Bible magazines and flipping through them with my friends, and seeing the h. Naoto dresses, and now it's come full circle and they've opened a store here, and I went to the grand opening - it's exciting.
Well, that's my review!
Sorry if I've thrown out a lot of Gothic Lolita brandnames/terminology for ya! I love you all! <3
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