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May 14, 2021 14 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Today in pulp I try to decipher 1980s Japanese street style, with the help of Olive: The Magazine for Romantic Girls!

This may involve frills... Image
Street style is an ever changing mix of styles, brands, attitudes and poses with various influences. And you normally have to be in the right place at the right time to capture it. Image
Which is where magazines come in! Photograping, documenting and deconstructing fashion never goes out of style, and in the late 1970s Japanese youth had one key guide to help them: Popeye! Image
Popeye was the Magazine for City Boys, with the City Style - a bit Preppy, a bit Paninaro- becoming one of the dominant '80s looks. At least for the chaps. ImageImage
Women's street style was a more complicated affair on Japan with many competing trends. Kawaii - the aesthetic of cuteness - vied with Otome ("maiden style"), Lolita, Pink House, Prarie Look and many other influences in the 1980s. Image
So in 1982 the publishers of Popeye released a new magazine: Olive. Aimed at City Girls looking for a City Style it lasted for only a few issues before it was withdrawn, radically retooled and reissued. Image
Olive: The Magazine for Romantic Girls hit the newsstands in 1983 and for many years was the go-to guide for Japanese street style.

But what was the "Romantic Look" and where did it come from? Image
Well ther were a number of Olive styles over the years. The classic look was French high school style - Lycéene - with lots of volume and details. Image
Natural Kei, often associated with the Pink House label, involved soft patterns and lots of layering. Long skirts were the norm. ImageImage
Character fashion was also a notable influence, with fashion styles reflecting popular singers and bands from Madonna to Bananarama. Image
By the early '90s the focus had moved from specific brands towards specific ways of combining clothes and accessories. How you wore it mattered more than what you wore. Image
And by the mid-90s the French high school lok was giving way to Schoolgirl Style, although Olive Girls still wove the maiden-type aesthetic through them. ImageImage
The Age of Magazines may be passing, but Instagram can't replace the well-curated insights or the sheer pleasure of a good fashion magazine. So here's to Olive and all the Romantic Girls it influenced!

More stories another time... Image
(Big 6th form common room vibes here...) ImageImageImageImage

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More from @PulpLibrarian

Nov 22
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the greatest albums of all time.

What are the chances... Image
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album. Image
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera. Image
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Nov 17
Shall we take a look at some classic pinball table backglass art?

I think we should... Image
"Do you like gladiator movies?"

Mars: God of War pinball (Gottleib, 1981) Image
Dr. McCoy has been seriously working out!

Star Trek pinball (Bally, 1979). Image
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Nov 12
Today in pulp I'm looking back at a very popular (and collectable) form of art: Micro Leyendas covers! Image
Micro Leyendas (mini legends) are a Mexican form of fumetto, small graphic novels normally pitting the everyday hero against the weird, the occult and the unfathomable. Image
The art of Micro Leyendas is bold, macabre and very funny. The books often tell a cautionary tale of revenge or humiliation, much like a modern folk tale. Image
Read 9 tweets
Nov 9
Today in pulp: what makes a good opening sentence for a pulp novel?

Now this is a tricky one… Image
The opening sentence has an almost mythical status in writing. Authors agonise for months, even years, about crafting the right one. Often it’s the last thing to be written. Image
Which is odd, because very few people abandon a book if they don’t like the first sentence. It’s not like the first sip of wine that tells you if the Grand Cru has been corked! Most people at least finish Chapter One. Image
Read 17 tweets
Nov 7
The Time Machine, Brave New World, 1984: these weren’t the first dystopian novels. There's an interesting history of Victorian and Edwardian literature looking at the impact of modernity on humans and finding it worrying.

Today in pulp I look at some early dystopian books… Image
Paris in the Twentieth Century, written in 1863, was the second novel penned by Jules Verne. However his publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel rejected it as too gloomy. The manuscript was only discovered in 1994 when Verne’s grandson hired a locksmith to break into an old family safe. Image
The novel, set in 1961, warns of the dangers of a utilitarian culture. Paris has street lights, motor cars and the electric chair but no artists or writers any more. Instead industry and commerce dominate and citizens see themselves as cogs in a great economic machine. Image
Read 25 tweets
Oct 31
Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

I assume everyone's doing it this #Halloween ? Image
The Legend Of Crownpoint, by Monica Heath. Signet Books, 1974.

A lot of moss on that heath... Image
The Legend Of Holderly Hall, by Kate Cameron. Leisure Books, 1974.

This is number one in a series of four novels, proving that nobody really reads Trip Advisor hotel reviews... Image
Read 11 tweets

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