What is Yume Kawaii Fashion?
Japanese street fashion is filled with many different types. Today I wanted to explore Yume kawaii or ゆめ かわいい fashion style. This style of J-fashion should not be confused with Yami kawaii or 病み可愛い. If you know Japanese, you know that 'yume' means 'dream' and 'kawaii' means 'cute.' So Yume kawaii fashion literally translates to 'dream cute' fashion. Yume kawaii fashion is mostly defined by its pastel colors, cute imagery, fairy jewelry, cottage core vibes, lighthearted and playful nature.
According to Japanese Fashion Wiki, Yume kawaii's color palette comprises of "primarily pastels and white" and "darker colors, such as dark blue, purple and black can be used as accents." Japanese Fashion Wiki goes on to note that there are no specific rules when it comes to what articles of clothing you can wear, but instead this style is defined by "the focus on pastel and cute items."
To dig deeper into this fashion trend, I decided to surf Instagram under the hashtags #yumekawaii and #ゆめかわいい. I noticed a couple similarities from clothing details to outfit ensembles. Some similarities besides the pastel palette were peter pan collars, high waisted dresses with full skirts, lace accents, ribbons, hearts, ruffles, and knee socks.
Makeup for the most part uses exaggerated pink blush that's closer to the eye area than typical western style makeup. The eye makeup generally tries to make the eyes look big and droopy. And there are sometimes appliques like hearts, stars, or clouds for example placed on the cheeks and across the nose bridge.
If you would like to get a better sense of Yume kawaii fashion, cue up PONPONPON by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to set the mood and check out these Instagrammers, just a few, who use Yume Kawaii style:
To learn more in general about current Japanese street fashion, check out @tokyofashion 's Instagram account which documents all different kinds of fashion trends by photographing fashionable pedestrians in Japan's Harajuku, Shibuya, and other areas of Tokyo.
Sources:
Japanese Fashion Wiki- "Yume Kawaii"
Instagram- #yumekawaii and #ゆめかわいい
PONPONPON by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
Instagram account- @meggbun
Instagram account- @arisunyan
Instagram account- @canddy.lye
Instagram account- @tokyofashion
