Jun 2, 2008

Teenage Tokyo: Hangry and Angry

They look like the revenge of Hello Kitty. Their names are Hangry and Angry and they have scars, eye patches and stitches.

In Tokyo pop culture and fashion go hand in hand and the city’s youth drive both in a way that sets them apart from the rest of the world. Hangry and Angry are the mascots of fashion designer and pop culture guru h. Naoto. He has several stores alone in the city’s trendy Harajuku neighborhood. The duo is featured in the designer’s clothing, are available in a wide range of stuffed animals (in Tokyo teenagers tote them around town while strutting their stuff) and on a variety of items like the alarm clock below.

Hangry and Angry are cute but morbid, which is not easy to pull off successfully. Humor is key. In The Tokyo Look Book Naoto describes his work like this: “A lot of this is about grossing people out. Being shocking but cute at the same time. That kind of balance is really in now.”

This is the first in a series on the pop culture and fashion of Tokyo’s youth I’ll be featuring in the coming weeks.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, these look a little scary. Not sure what my cat would make of them.....
:) Bella

Wendy said...

Hi Bella,
are they teenage cats? :^)

Nomadic Matt said...

This is why you should stay away from meth!

Wendy said...

Always remember to just say no Matt.

Prêt à Voyager said...

Japanese youth culture is fascinating, but I must admit, I don't think I'll ever understand the obsession with Hello Kitty!

Anne

Wendy said...

Hi Anne,
I'm with you on the Hello Kitty craze.

Anonymous said...

They've created a japanese rock band with two famous idol/singers (Yoshizawa Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika, former members from Morning Musume.)...representing both Hangry and Angry :

http://www.myspace.com/hangryandangry

Wendy said...

BLT★89
Thanks for link I'll check it out.