Casual Cute

March 7, 2010 psychoballerina
Tags: emikyu, emily temple cute, Fashion, Shopping, tokyo

When it comes to fashion, I am, as the Q-Pot love might suggest, a follower of all things cute. I wasn’t always this way but something about Tokyo, and the sugar coated fashions of Harajuku appealed to my inner English rose. My lolita leanings of a few years previous came back to the surface as I discovered a way of dressing that suited me without giving me an overly childlike appearance -  I am not in my teens anymore after all.

I wanted a way to dress like a lady, to feel elegant while still maintaining a certain everyday wearability. I found what I was looking for with casual lolita brands, Emily Temple Cute, MILK and a mon avis.

My love of these three is Emily Temple Cute or simply Emikyu to its followers. The Emikyu concept is simple:

From the base of a girlish style, an expression of everlasting cute in an original style,

that accents the expression of fashion into the suggestion of a new style

The result is a wonderland of girlishness. The style varies wildly between boldly printed jumperskirts and skirts, often with empire waists to accent a sense of youth, to more mature a-line pieces and ladylike sweaters. Sometimes the shape can be very lolita, adhering to the bell-shape sillhouette whereas other times the design can be casual, with simple t-shirt dresses and cardigans.

Lolita-ish ETC

Casual, non-Lolita ETC

As a company. Emikyu’s foundation precedes most major lolita brands by about ten years. It’s style is indeed often more associated with MILK and both companies share a history of around 30 – 40 years. In department stores it is also set a little apart from the other lolita brands too. It can seem like an odd sheep, as it does in La Foret, surrounded by borderline gyaru or mori girl shops, Emikyu is a burst of pink on the 4th floor. Like all lolita or ‘ladylike’ brands though, it is a little pricey.

A standard ‘wanpiisu’ or dress costs around 24 000 yen or $240, cardigans hover around the 15 000 yen mark whereas t-shirts or lacey camisoles will cost around 8000 yen. The costs largely result from the detail in prints used and the origin of manufacture: all or at least most ETC clothes are made in Japan. As a small shop, the pieces they make are also finite in number. There are only 5 Emikyu shops in Japan, and none overseas. Add to that 3 franchises in Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka, where the shop space is shared and finally the stock held by Baby Ribbon and the number is severely small. It gives Emikyu a feel of the exclusive. Lolita is a fairly exclusive deal anywhere but, as with MILK, which has even fewer outlets, Emikyu designs feel somehow special.

They do like to reward their faithful shoppers too with occasional free gifts for spending over a certain amount of money. The gifts are not shabby either and giving the high cost of Emikyu clothing already, the goal figure is not too stratospheric. Last year my purchase of a skirt in the Victorian print and a black sweater earned me a cute, cake-shaped clock. This year, another wanpi purchase got me some lovely nightwear and a hair tie.

Like all good quality branded clothing, Emikyu does cost but for the girl searching for a way to be cute without going all out, Emikyu is the cutest place to go.

Entry Filed under: Cute

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed