[J-Fashion] The milklim Store in Harajuku is a Fairy-Kei Paradise!

MERCH
Jul. 15, 2015 01:41 PDT

Welcome back to our Japanese fashion blog! We had a chance to visit the official milklim store in Harajuku this week! It’s just around the corner from the LISTEN FLAVOR store covered in our previous article. milklim is famous for being the absolute epitome of fairy-kei fashion: ultra kawaii style full of pastel colors and cute pop motifs. Seeing their store in person was a fun way to celebrate the fact that we’re growing our milklim selection!

The milklim store is on the second floor of a building with a shaded outdoor balcony, where shop staff can arrange racks of clothing and accessories on days with nice weather. The entire wall surrounding the front door is made of glass, so it lets in just the right amount of lovely (but not overly harsh) sunlight. It was a pleasure to take pictures inside--the natural lighting is absolutely perfect for the delicate colors and sweet styles that fill the entire store!

We stepped inside and found ourselves gazing at these beautifully coordinated outfits hanging along the store walls. Which one do you find the most inspiring?

We were immediately drawn to this cotton candy-themed top, which comes in a variety of pastel hues.

The cotton candy top is designed to match perfectly with the milklim Volume Dot-chan Skirt, which is already available on the TOM Premium Shop!

This fun jacket is another piece that grabbed our attention right away. At first glance, the artwork on the back looks like a regular ice cream sundae… but the ice cream part turns out to be made out of a pair of playful skulls! Although this would seem to be a bit darker than milklim’s usual motifs, the skulls come across as cute and quirky rather than scary. They even have adorable little eyelashes!

This rack of skirt, pants, and overalls demonstrates milklim’s loving attention to detail. The skirts have subtle bows, lace, and petite decorative beads and buttons. The denim features embroidery made to look like a popular (and, for many people around the world, very nostalgic) type of heart-shaped Valentine’s Day candy. Of course, we also love the moon and star embroidery you can see at the far right of the image. Our milklim Good Night Overalls are available in the same colors!

Let’s take a quick break for a minute to admire the store decorations! We spotted these miniature bears arranged on top of the full-length mirror outside the dressing rooms. They’re so tiny--and ridiculously cute!

These glittery accessories are as decorative as a vase of fresh flowers!

These shoes are one-of-a-kind items personally decorated by milklim staff! No two pairs are alike, and you can only find them at one of milklim’s physical stores in Japan. They don’t even sell them online within Japan, because they’re more of a special hobby creation than a standard product.

The dress at the center of this image features the same pattern as the milklim Good Night Bear Negligee currently being offered on TOM! As shown in the poster at left and in many previous photos in this article, bears are a common motif in milklim designs. The brand has had several different mascots over time, and one of their earliest mascots was a teddy bear-style character.

These light and pretty sailor tank tops are ideal for sweltering summer days! The color palette and miniature polka dots help distinguish them from more typical sailor shirts. You can get all the cuteness of a school uniform without looking like you’re skipping class!

Gingham is still one of the most popular summer patterns for multiple brands, including milklim. We really enjoyed seeing how they put their own spin on this traditional fabric! We can’t imagine a lovelier shade of mint green.

The milklim staff suspected that perhaps their T-shirt style tops might not do well overseas, since they had the impression that T-shirts are widely available, very cheap, and not thought of as being especially stylish outside Japan. Our response: we think this kind of item could actually have a lot of potential! The important part is whether or not the shirt comes with special, cute features (in cut, fit, decorative details, coloration, etc.), which might help set it apart from a stereotypical generic-looking T-shirt.

Both of us got super excited over these gorgeous and comfortable-looking dresses! The generous elastic waist means that they will be able to flatter a variety of body types. The three dresses on the right have a bedtime-themed illustration, with a sleepy-looking moon. The two dresses on the far left have the same fit and overall design, but with an ice cream-themed illustration instead.

Meet the very sweet and soft-spoken milklim shop staff member who took the time to show us around and answer all our questions! In this picture, she’s holding up one of her recommended outfits. It consists of a loose cropped T-shirt layered on top of a polka dot sailor-style tank top, paired with a strawberry pattern skirt in mint green. It’s definitely a knockout combination! Plus, by wearing a lavender unicorn crop top over her black maxi dress, she shows us that you don't have to wear head-to-toe pastel if you just want to try a little taste of fairy-kei style!

We’ve just unveiled new milklim items on our official milklim brand page. If you like the fairy-kei look, you’ve got to take a peek! Plus, if you’ve ever bought milklim from us in the past (or if you make a purchase in the near future!) you could earn TOM Points by sharing your honest feedback about the items you’ve received. Simply go here to see all the details of our J-Fashion review campaign. We look forward to hearing from you! ♡

Thanks for reading, and see you again soon!

By Dreamy MIDORI & Sarappe