Style Inspiration: Kana Ichigo / Moon Kana

Alternative Japanese Fashion Queen. 

  In a previous post I talked about my passion for Japanese fashion (it even rhymes!), but there is more to it than it would fit in one post; I talked about how the Gothic & Lolita Bible infused me with inspiration for shaping my personal style, and also how it led me to start sewing and creating my own clothes and accessories. I made so many exciting discoveries in that magazine.
My favorite photo shoots from the Gothic & Lolita Bible usually had the same model, a very young looking and pretty girl with an aloof gaze, always dressed in extravagant costumes that looked as if they were out of a fairytale written by a Goth on acid.   

Sweet and innocent? Just look at those nails!

 
  Her look was edgy, cute, and slightly scary. There was a dark sweetness about her that had me fascinated, so I really wanted to know who she was – which was not an easy task taking in count that the magazine was in Japanese, but the knowledgeable people at the Elegant Gothic Lolita Livejournal community provided me with the name I was looking for:

Kana Ichigo.

    I found out that, besides modeling for the Gothic & Lolita Bible, she was a singer, songwriter and also a designer. She designed and sewn all of her costumes and a big part of her wardrobe, which really impressed me and inspired me to immerse myself into the DIY pathway. On top of that, she made adorable bunny and panda plush toys, dressed to match her style.   

Kana surrounded by her signature toy bunny rabbits.

 I just could not get enough of her pictures, and found her fashion sense unique and mesmerizing. Besides the official photo shoots for the Gothic & Lolita Bible and her music albums, there were lots of candid pictures of her dispersed around the web, which I eagerly collected. Also, sometimes the magazines included pictures of her street style, in which you could see that she was never out of carácter.  

Some of Kana's candid snapshots.

  

Street style snapshot for the Gothic & Lolita Bible.

 

Kana and her brother during a stroll through Harajuku.

 Let me introduce you to some of Kana’s signature staples:
Hairstyle: For her musical persona, Kana mostly used to wear high ear-like “odangos” (those cute high buns that some Japanese girls wear) along with her signature hair net. Other than that, she kept her hair long and girly-looking, often in crazy colors. She had a wide variety of hair accesories: huge bows, maiden-style headdresses and lots of hats, little beaded crowns and also animal ears.   

Her look for the reléase of her single Chimame ("Blood Blister").

Always with a matching plush panda.

 For her face, Kana Ichigo’s signature style was natural looking makeup with some thin eyeliner and glossy lips. 

Kana-style make-up and hair tutorial.

 

Slightly menacing manicure, complementing the chocker + bracelet  spiked combo.

 Gothic & Lolita era Kana was the epitome of the feminine with a dark edge look. Spiked accessories mixed with lace, lots of tulle and flowy fabrics, girly skirts and dresses combined with monster platform shoes and huge badass boots were all part of her trademark.   

Incredibly high platform shoes give this outfit a bit of an edge.

 

Layered fishnet stockings, tulle skirt, puffy sleeves and spikes. So many interesting combinations!

 One of the most interesting elements of her dark-but-sweet ensemble is statement legwarmers that look a bit like spats: tight just below the knee and then either puffy or flared at the bottom. Of course, they were often decorated with studs, lace and spikes.  

Punk-goth style legwarmers with platform shoes, plus girly leopard print dress with a fishnet top.

 Mini ties and badges are also a recurring element in her outfit, as well as a special connection with everything related to rabbits. 

Deconstructed jacket with patches and matching bunny. I love the high, messy hairstyle.

 My Kana-fever lasted a few years, until the Gothic & Lolita movement started losing steam, it felt like the flow of material started to get a bit repetitive and stagnant and I slowly lost interest. Kana changed her artist name to Moon Kana and continued making music and developing her style into a sweeter and more romantic fashion – which didn’t cater to my taste so much, so I started losing touch with her updates.  

Making the transition into her Moon Kana identity.

 However, this little story ends with a fun twist: during my recent Gothic & Lolita style revival, I decided to look for her and see what she was up to these days. It turns out that she’s still out there, looking amazingly cute and edgy, making music and clothing, and basically being the Kana that I remember with so much fondness.   

Present-day Moon Kana, as lovely as ever!

 I found her Instagram account and of course started following her immediately. Then, the next morning, this happened:    The fangirl in me gasped in excitement.  So is life in this crazy, internet world!