Friday, October 17, 2014
What In The World Is Kawaii????
For the longest time I have seen so many cute Japanese type illustrations and I never knew what the style was called. Well, I finally was able to click on a really cute picture of fruit and found out it's in the style
"Kawaii". Kawaii (かわいい?, [kaw͍aiꜜi], "lovable", "cute", or "adorable"[1]) is the quality of cuteness in the context of Japanese culture.[2][3][4] It has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms.[5]
The word "kawaii" originally derives from the phrase 顔映し, which literally means a "radiant face", but more commonly referred to the blushing of an embarrassed person. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawaii)
In my earlier posts, you know I really like to study other cultures. Its a weird fascination of mine. Anyway, being a graphic designer on the side I decided to take a spin on my own kawaii images. So far I have a sketch and as soon as I get it transferred into Illustrator and looking all pretty I will post it on here!!!
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| starting sketch of my kawaii design |
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| finished design!!! by Asia Sansalone |
I think it is the cutest thing ever and often gives me sort of a warm glowy feeling inside!
Kawaii style doesn't just stop with illustrations of food, but other kinds of things like fashion and make up, and just an overall type of life style.
Kawaii fashion is called "Lolita" and "Sweet Lolita" this fashion is based upon the Victorian Era and a mixture of porcelain doll looks. This often entails dresses with a lot of bows and ribbons and lace. Even some men decide to partake in this fashion and some even go as far as dressing as kawaii women.
Kawaii products are ever present in the harmonious driven Japanese culture. I had a grand opportunity to visit Japan when I was a little girl and I remember a lot of kawaii products. I didn't know the name of it then, but I wanted everything. Even stationary looked invitingly cute!!!
The most common place the western culture can recognize this style is in some Japanese based cartoons. Pokemon is a huge one with Pikachu being a huge kawaii mascot. Another huge kawaii type character that is easliy recognized is Hello Kitty! She's everywhere in Walmarts! Little girls absolutely adore her, but now wonder she's an adorable kitty!!
The Kawaii culture has definitely grown in Japan and I think that is majorly due to globalization. Who doesn't love adorable stuff, I like the idea of almost featureless faces... I never drew noses on my smiley faces ever since I can remember... anyway... it's really a big part of the Japanese culture and is starting to satisfy a global quench of cuteness!
I would love to see any of the Kawaii things you all like or have drawn!! Please share
