Yesterday was the release day for dozens of monthly lady's fashion magazine. Since my dear Japan Mode handles Japanese fashion, regular checks in fashion magazines are a MUST.
The two I had a look in today are CanCam and JJ, and they both are absolute magazines for teens to twenties fashionable ladies.
CanCam boasts a 625,000 monthly circulation and is geared towards 18 to 23-years-old ladies. It is said to be the most popular, most sold fashion magazine in Japan while the actual readership is from 15yrs old to 33. The publisher says that the magazine focuses especially around college students and fresh working ladies (like in their 2nd or 3rd year of office) who are ambitious and curious, and most importantly keen on the latest fashion.
JJ on the other hand has a smaller circulation which is 435,000/ month and focuses on a wider audience from 18 to 32-years-old. It is second to CanCam in the fashion magazine market in terms of popularity. The target audience is also female college students and working ladies in their twenties just like CanCam, but besides featuring the latest trends in gears, it takes a look on particular brands from a "conservative" point of view and also provides the newest information on overseas travel and shopping. Publishing articles on beauty like cosmetics and hair make-up is another characteristic of JJ.
Although I say they're (and not to forget that they claim to be) different from each other, the lines are rather similar and both are supported by a wide range of women, so I'd say browsing through these magazines is the quickest way to understand the cutting-edge lady's fashion.
At the moment, three fashion models from CanCam --- Yu Yamada, Yuri Ebihara and Moe Oshikiri --- reign over the fashion world as charismatic figures. Among all, Ebihara boasts great popularity across Japan and is called by the nickname of "Ebi-chan" from a range of people. The newest edition of CanCam even had an attached little booklet featuring Ebi-chan and her style exclusively.
Going back to the trends, both magazines had special features on yukata, a summer kimono which is more commonly worn than usual kimono, plus swimwear and resort fashion, since summer is just around the corner.
Basically all styles and items emphasize the recent trend of "mote". The term derived from the two first syllables of the proper Japanese verb "motehayasareru" (passive) which literally means "to be valued/ lionized" thus meaning "to be popular among opposite sex". It's not too much to say that this "mote" is the most important keyword in Japanese youth today. So "mote" in fashion is how much popular you are among opposite sex, and the special features of CanCam this month unexceptionally put "The REAL dates guys like" as the topic title.
Hmm, CanCam unexpectedly took a lot of space today. I guess I'll leave JJ and the details of "mote" for later.
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