This week’s fashion spotlight is shining on a designer who already has quite the few spotlights shining her way already.  I’m talking about Gwen Stefani and her line of clothing, Harajuku Lovers.

Harajuku is actually a train station in Japan.  Due to the proximity of parks as well as upscale shops on Takeshita-dori,  the station became a popular hangout for Japanese youth.  And we all know that when a bunch of young people congregate, trouble creativity is bound to happen.  The Harajuku station bathrooms became the place for teens to change from their normal clothes into the fun, spirited, and outrageous fashions that the area is now famous for.

Harajuku fashion is seen as a form of dress-up, not necessarily a lifestyle.  It is all about freedom of expression and of course, the age-old rebellion thing that teens have a well-deserved reputation for displaying. The picture below is an example of this.

Source

To be honest, I was fully prepared to hate Gwen Stefani’s line for girls.  I kind of wanted to look at it and say, “Woman, stick to the music!”   I wasn’t fond of the entourage of “Harajuku girls” that Gwen surrounded hersef with for a time. But, suprisingly, I think the clothes are cute, and unlike many clothing lines for young girls nowadays, totally age-appropriate.  The clothes reflect the colorful, cartoonish style popular with Japanese youth.  They are casual and comfortable, with an emphasis on shirts and hoodies.

Source

The original story happened quite a while ago, but it was around Christmas and I just didn’t feel right posting about questionable teen undies at Christmas.  I don’t know, call me old-fashioned.  But hey, Christmas is over and now everything is fair game!

The above panties were found in the teen section of a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, as reported originally by Feministing.  Apparently, what the article did not report was that on the back, the panties stated, “When You Have Santa.”

Yeah, like that makes it so much better.

After some grass-roots internet outrage, Wal-Mart pulled the panties.  Fine, kudos to them.  Although really, how long are three dollar panties going to last anyway?  Most of the ones that sold are probably already falling apart.  Maybe they thought that the panties were fine because only the girl would know what her panties said.  At least, I certainly hope she would remain the only one.

So are these panties just harmless fun?  Does the saying on the back make it acceptable? 

And perhaps this is the biggest question, when did underwear become reading material?