Maid cafes and 'Fairy Kei'

Maid cafes and 'Fairy Kei'

While searching for ideas for my cafe project, I came across something that has grown incredibly popular in Japan and is also cafe-related. 

Maid cafes are found all over Japan, usually in Akihabara. In these cafés, waitresses dressed in maid costumes act as servants, and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The first permanent maid café, 'Cure Maid Café', was established in Akihabara,  Japan, in March 2001, but maid cafés are becoming increasingly popular. They have also expanded overseas to countries like China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Mexico, Canada and the United States.

(Above: Interior of the 'Maidreamin' maid cafe, the largest maid cafe in Akihabara)

(Above: Interior of a maid cafe in Osaka)

Food and desserts served in maid cafes are usually made to resemble cute animals or flowers or other cute things. A blog I found named 'threemilk' posts pictures of Japanese desserts and sweets that you would order in a maid cafe daily. Here are some examples of typical 'cute' desserts from their blog:

(Above: Strawberry meringue shortcake, strawberries are very popular to use in Japanese desserts since they are considered to be a 'cute' fruit)

(Above; Chocolate and vanilla parfaits, made to look like cute bunnies!)

(Above: Japanese wagashi sweets, 'sakura' flavoured)

Another interesting find while looking for cafe inspiration was the 'Fairy Kei' fashion movement. Japan is overflowing with different outrageous dress styles and fashion tribes but one of the most recent teenage fashion movement devised is the 'Fairy Kei' style. 

'Fairy Kei' is a softer, sweeter and more casual version of the Japanese lolita fashion trend with a hint of 80's. It uses mostly bright pastel colors (like lavender, baby blue, light pink, mint green, pale yellow, etc.), star or heart printed fabrics and elements and accessories from Western toy lines of the 1980s and early 1990s, such as My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, Popples, Jem and the Holograms, Barbie,Wuzzles and Care Bears. Wigs are often used and are often decorated with large bows, star clips and other hair accessories. Fairy kei originated from Sauri Tabuchi, the eminent Tokyo fashion figure's store Spank. 

(Above: Japanese pop star, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, dressed in typical Fairy Kei fashion)

(Above: Japanese model, Kimura U, in Fairy Kei clothing)

I love the pastel colours and strange sugary 80's style of the Fairy Kei fashion style and also the 'cutesy' desserts served in Japanese maid cafes and  I'm planning to incorporate both of these aesthetics into the work I will produce for my cafe project. I think it would appeal towards both younger children (because of the bright colours and cute, cartoony designs and desserts) and also towards teens and people in their early twenties (since they might see the pastel-y 80's influence as nostalgic and fun but also unique and visually interesting).