Harajuku’s LaForet gets a new look and renewal

Harajuku’s iconic LaForet department store, a venerable favorite for trend-setting teens, opened its doors last Saturday to reveal the results of a major overhaul. 13 new boutiques and 17 updated ones add up to equal LaForet’s new spring campaign, “LaForet 30 years into the future.”

LaForet has a reputation for using some pretty elaborate photographs in their advertising campaigns, and the spring 2008 poster proves to be no exception.

New boutiques include unisex graphic design T-shirt brand Laundry, Lolita fashion label Metamorphose, and trendy global goods concept shop Wall (pictured left to right).

Meanwhile, staples such as the earthy Lowry’s Farm, punky World Wide Love, and sporty Lipstar have undergone renewals (pictured left to right).

“Renewal” is a popular Japanese-English expression for giving a shop (or bar or restaurant) a new, more up-to-date look. LaForet just completed another major renewal project in 2006, which included the opening of Tokyo’s first Top Shop outlet, leading us to believe that the 30-year-old department store is starting to feel its age.

Despite the basement array of gothic, punk, and Lolita get-ups and tie-ins with top local and up-and-coming overseas designers on the floors above, the corridors lack the enthusiasm for consumption seen one train stop south in Shibuya.

In comparison, popular Shibuya 109, which seems to have captured a lot of La Foret’s former influence among fashion conscious youth, opened four new boutiques, Re Dark, Cizare, Miel Chrishunant, and Titty & Co. (no pun intended, I believe) and eight renovated ones since February.

The pre-spring season (as well as the pre-fall one) is typically the slowest period for retail in Japan and many stores use that time as an opportunity for “renewal,” playing on the tried and true wisdom that anything “new” is sure to get them in the shops.