TIC pilot | Ultimate Guide to Yami Kawaii

It’s hard to pinpoint the beginning of Yami Kawaii as a fashion movement but this fairly new trend has too much in common with the emo movement of the early 2000s to ignore.

In article titled ‘Can ‘Sick-Cute’ Fashion Break Japan’s Silence on Suicide?’ on businessoffashion.com Yami Kawaii is defined as follows,

“Yami-kawaii — “yami” meaning sick or alluding to the hospital — is a “sick-cute” aesthetic that has been bubbling out of Tokyo’s streets and manifests through accessories such as fake guns, syringes, gas masks, pills, bandages and plasters. It’s a mash-up of frills, hearts and pretty fonts spelling out words like “I Want to Die” or “Fuck Everybody Else.” Beauty looks on some Instagram stars feature feverishly white skin and red puffy eyes. There is even a popular cartoon — Menhera-chan — created by illustrator Bisuko Ezaki, featuring a pink-haired girl with bandaged wrists, holding a knife.”

A search for the tags, menhera, or yami kawaii on instagram or pinterest will give you a better idea of what this look is all about.

Colourful hair, over the top makeup looks and shocking fashion choices designed to draw attention and sometimes express internal chaos on the outside are things that emo culture and yami kawaii have in common.

This is an informal guide put together by yours truly, Tic Editor Arienette to help you achieve the Yami Kawaii / Nu Emo look I’ve been obsessing over lately.

To make things easier, I’ve split this particular subculture up into four groups with distinct looks, attitudes, and reasons for using this aesthetic to help express themselves

01 Fever Queen

Our first group revolves around the medical aspect of yami kawaii. Bandages, plasters, surgical masks, and other hospital/health related imagery is heavily used.

This group can be taken to the extreme by using sfx makeup to create scars, wounds, blood, and bruises.. Just be careful, and try to avoid looks and situations that might cause distress to innocent bystanders. (e.g. maybe the zoo at noon on a saturday is a bad time to head out with a fake bleeding head wound and bandaged wrists and maybe a rave is a bad place to apply a fake nosebleed in case someone calls an ambulance)

There are many reasons why someone would want to dress like this, maybe they’re looking for a way to express inner pain on the outside, or perhaps they’re into sfx makeup and want to flex their skills. Whether casual or extreme this style will grab attention while keeping strangers at a distance.

Key points;

Loose fitting dresses in plain colours, think medical gown.

Pj style clothing

Dewy skin with heavy blush applied across the nose and high on the cheeks, as though you have a fever

Medical themed accessories, hospital bracelets, bandages, bandaids etc.

02 Dream Walker

If you want something you can wear to a festival then here you go, this group might be the most extreme when it comes to makeup and clothing.

More cute than creepy, the dream walker look is ethereal and soft. No blood or gore here, just colourful, psychedelic, dreamy style. This style is theatrical and philosophical, where do you go when you sleep? What do you look like on the astral plane?

Key points;

White eyeliner and mascara

halloween / novelty contact lenses (white out/unnatural colours)

Ethereal colourful outfits with lots of texture

Experimental makeup looks

Coloured hair or wigs

03 Demonic Darling

Tied for most extreme look with the dream walker this is basically the opposite in style with the same level of commitment.

Keep the kawaii to a minimum here, this look is dark and edgy. Stick to a minimal colour palette and liberally apply black. Black contacts, black eyeliner, black lips, black clothes, black hair etc. Your end goal is to look like a demon so seductive that anyone would happily lay down their life just to make you smile for a second.

Key points;

Black everything.

Novelty contacts (black, white out, cat eye, etc.)

Usually dark hair

Graphic eyeliner

Red eyeshadow

Blood

04 Cry Baby

The cutest and least extreme of all the groups. To look like a cry baby you will need to enlarge your eyes to epic proportions, embrace some cute hairstyles with ribbon and bows, and dress a little like it’s your first day of kindergarten.

This look is super wearable but if you want to be more extreme you can add faux tears or tear stains

Key points;

Cute childish hairstyles with ribbons and bows

Juvenile clothing; Peter pan collars, overalls, frilly socks, pastels etc.

Eye enlarging makeup

Soft natural looking makeup

Faux tears or tear stains

Tic Pilot was written in January 2019 and never published until now. It’s not exactly relevant anymore but I enjoyed writing it xoxo Arienette

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