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From a highly decorated salon for synth-punk heads, a toilet-paper, tape and headmounted antennae fashion show.
Pepi's Fashion Show
A thick crowd
 of camera-toting Japanese and foreigners assembled into a corridor in a street near Omote-Santo. An orange light shown from one end, lighting up an insect-like silhouette behind a sheet. From the light emerged a human with a sprouted head, their body wrapped in tape and toiletpaper. They carried a large candle, color matching their colored headgear.
One became three,
each with a different colored candle. They strode and turned to show off their elaborate head plumage, and selective bodycovering. Responding to each other and positioning their candles, they performed vague but profound gestures:
Soon they left the street to appear behind a glass storefront window nearby. Around behind the cafe and salon buildings, there were a few women being fashioned:
This woman is sitting stapled to the floor.
This woman is stapled to the wall.
The crowd surged inside and took seats alongside a narrow runway. A more proper fashion show began, with each model emerging to show off his or her clothes. As each model turned before us, a video image of the model played back on top of the model, and a mirror image video of the model played back on top of the model.
This sense of play and confusion was enhanced as two models collided and began to attack each other:
Their fight quickly degenerated into hair pulling; oddly enough their hair came out and they hurled it at the audience.
 A serious girl with red dreds.
 Looking happy to be wearing a headdress fashioned of frozen toothpaste.
 The salon-runners and people responsible for the show receive applause and flowers at the end.
My favourite performer, after the show, sitting in the dressing room in a giant puffy plastic chair. She walked out as one of the only models wearing a color; pouting, tired, and peevish. A nice performance of impudence.
Afterwards, three women stand in costume.
from the runway to the crowd
Tada was there; he seems to be present at nearly every lively art event in Tokyo.
Tada introduced us to one young man born in Germany, half-German, half-Japanese. Reputed to speak six languages. He might have been wearing an ascot, if it's possible to wear an ascot and still appear somewhat indie. Cultivated alternative. Works for Dentsu, a Japanese advertising agency. He was proud of his recent work on a Coke campaign here in Japan, where famous artists had been commissioned to do Coke-inspired work under the heading "No Reason." Nobuyoshi Araki made posters with naked backs painted with Coke propaganda; Yayoi Kusama made dot-covered Coke machines for Harajuku.
This girl brought her pet rabbit. Is that the rabbit's brother on her head? Fur accessories seem to be in some fashion in Tokyo these days. Real or fake? Either way, it's a bit unsettling to see slight women carrying fur bags - large hairy skin pouches, like something out of the Flintstones. This girl and her pet were quite cute; unfortunately they sat in front of me and there was more fur than fashion in many of my photos.
This woman was taking pictures most of the night. From Australia, she has been working as a dominatrix and photographer, while doing some writing on the side. It seems she'd like to switch that balance. She directed me to some of her sex-play work online, under "Kinkabell."
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