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I don’t even try to understand them anymore cause somehow they just manage to come up with even more obscure, strange and ridiculous products and trends. Just like the latest Japanese fashion trend: bandages and eye patches. Cosplay circles are loving it and so do the geeks:

Nonoko, who works at a popular maid cafe in Tokyo’s geek sanctuary Akihabara, agrees.

“Girls who get decked out in Amaloli (cute, pink or white frilly ‘Lolita’-style outfits) have started covering themselves in bandages and wearing eye patches,” she says. “Many of the men who come to Akihabara often compliment us on how good our bandages look, or how cute they are. For girls hanging out in Akihabara, bandages and eye patches have become a must-have fashion item.”

Maybe I’ve completely lost my sense of fashion but I’d rather not look like I’d just been beaten up. But what on earth could it be that makes them dress up like mummies? A female Cosplayer tried to explain:

“When you’re covered in bandages, everybody pays attention to you and worries about you. They also provide a chance to start talking to guys, who’ll ask you how you hurt yourself, so the bandages are really, really good,”

Ah so it’s attention whoring…that sounds like borderline Munchausen.

“One guy into the injured woman look told me that the reason he likes it is because he loves the idea of seeing a thin woman’s body wrapped in bandages because it looked kind of like bondage and made him want to protect her from harm. I think those wearing the bandages get on well with the guys who want to look after them because they don’t want them to get hurt.”

He loves the sight of a woman wrapped in bandages looking like she has been in a major accident? Each to their own I guess but this is quite disturbing. Psychologist Yu Yuki says:

“There is a common trait among the Akihabara otaku fetishes, with the poor eyesight of the girls wearing glasses, the humility of the maids who refer to every man they deal with as ‘master’ and now the women feigning injury but still swathed in bandages and eye patches: all these women look as though they’re weak. This makes the men want to protect the women,”

Porn novelist Domoto says:

“The white bandages wrapped around the women’s bodies have a lot of therapeutic power in terms of colors. White is a symbol of chastity and virginity,”

I’m sure there’s actually reasonable and intelligent people in Japan who don’t follow each and every ridiculous trend some nutcase started. As for the one-eyed virginal mummies, um no thanks! I like looking not-hurt. As well we not doing anything to empower women, this “fashion trend” also show how insecure all of them are. If you want to rid yourself of some junk, perhaps now would be a good time to sell off old bandages and first aid stuff for quite a bit as hot fashion accessories on ebay.

Found on Mainichi News