Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches Japanese Schoolgirls Go for Over-Engineered Lashes
Standard schoolgirl uniform it’s not. Hip teens are hitting the Tokyo Lash Bar in the city’s Omotesando district for eye-popping over-engineered fake lashes. Using a unique applicator and a special latex adhesive, makeup pros install a set of these architectonic master pieces, like the high-end Velvet Feather for about $43 and Yellow Flash or Dazzling Diamante for less than $20. A bit steep, but the lashes can be reused as many as 10 times. Plus, the falsies often have unexpected features. Take Lucent Sky and Lucent Sun: When light hits these translucent lashes, they cast colored patterns on a gal’s face. If only they made a pair that blinked when her keitai rang … From here:
Famed makeup artist Shu Uemura set off the exotic false Eye Lash
craze in Japan two years ago and now has branches of his Tokyo Lash Bars in Manhattan and a newly opened Vancouver branch. You have choices ranging from feathers to mink and diamonds (Madonna’s choice) to pimp your lashes.
Holt Renfrew’s Vancouver store has a popular new boutique, the country’s first Tokyo Lash Bar, which is the retail outlet for the Japanese makeup line named for famed makeup artist Shu Uemura,” Macleans reports. “It is importing 
the longest, thickest pair of false eyelashes known to womankind—more outrageous than the mink-and-diamond-encrusted fringes Madonna wore on her Confessions tour last year, the half-inch-long f
eathered falsies are as bushy as the underside of a yak,” states TrendHunter magazine here:
Ok. We know teens very often establish trends that entrepreneurs can take advantage of. Think about how www.penwish.com took advantage of Asian boys twirling pens. When we lived in Seattle, I was always amazed how far ahead of the Midwest the Northwest seemed to be in “hipness.” You name it, music, new groups, grunge, whatever, it was always years ahead. I also lived in the SoCal area for about nine years. Seattle wins. Sorry Mike. You might note that Vancouver BC is just “up the road” from Seattle, is Canada’s Hollywood and is home to many trend-setting Asians. The Seattle area is also blessed with a large number of Asians, including Japanese. I venture a guess that it won’t be too long before such “eye candy” shows up in places frequented of an evening by the hip Seattle crowd. How long, if ever, such adornment will take to reach Purdue is another story. I’m sure you know of other trends that never reach our shores??? I would indeed be surprised to walk into class to be greeted by a young lady (or guy) wearing such eye gear! High tech this is not, but entrepreneurial? This spills over into Beth’s area. Hank
I can see this being one of those trends that I look at think, that’s rediculous, but it catches on anyway. What exactly would one wear this to though? Surely it’s not intended for an every-day look, but maybe a way to dress up? I don’t know. I always said there’s no way I would buy big sunglasses or crocs when I first heard those ideas, but I know own big sunglasses and crocs. This is a big deal though. If someone comes up with a new and unique fashion idea they can make some big bucks fast. All they really have to do is convince a small group of people that their product is the cool thing to wear and it will spread like a wildfire.
Agree that this is defiantly not something people would wear every day. However, for very special events like the prom, Women would easily spend far more the 45 dollars for a special look. Before I would invest in these lash bars, I would first wonder if nail, spas, or hair salons could provide this specialty service. While lashes might not be enough to support a store, it will be a great new product/service for beauty centers to offer. That is were the money is.
fancy clothes, fancy hair, fancy nails, fancy eyelashes, whats next?? answer that and make money… i personally think this is ridiculous and even if i had thought of it i wouldn’t have taken it anywhere. i wouldn’t have guessed this would be big. guess i have some learning to do. get to work Hank. i like the idea of them casting colored patterns on the face but don’t know how it would pan out, have to see them in action. i’m curious about this and what i can learn from it, i’ll be watching it for a while.
I think the main point is this: Whether we find these types of fake eyelashes ridiculous or not, if they’re really popular in Japan (and any other county), someone is to laugh all the way to the bank.
Ad you know, if I came up with an idea like this and even though it would seem so ridiculous to pursue it, if people were saying they would use my service, I would go for it.
Janam gets it!
Yeah, if people liked it i would go for it to but i would never of thought to find out. Does this mean we should do a feasibility analysis on anything we think of no matter how ridiculous it seems to us?
being an apparel design major, i can honestly say that this innovation is really working for me.
for the most part, fashion is cyclical, so finding a niche within the fashion industry is most definately a chore.
again, going back to what Janam said, it doesn’t matter if you personally like it, it is going to catch and it is going to make money. even though i am extremely interested in the fashion industry and believe in its innovative spirit, sometimes items become popular, not because they are attractive, but more merely because they are like nothing that’s ever been done before.
This designer has the right idea
Touching up on these eyelashes, you can’t be so close minded and think that since these aren’t popular in our community they aren’t somewhere else. I went to a mall in Europe last winter break wearing khaki pants. Everybody stared at me like I was a freak. I’m sure someone wearing these would get similar looks here. A lot of styles come from overseas and I wouldn’t be surprised to see these “absurd” looking lashes here sometime in the near future.
I think it would be cool if they had optical tricks on them with light bouncing around, but you’d probably get a seizure wearing them.
This article clears up what my old entrepreneur teacher would say to us. “Just look at the people, there’s money to be made everywhere!”
This article somewhat correlates to the Croc plugs, or whatever they were called. Some people consider it stupid while others consider it to be fashionable. Whatever the case, someone is banking off of this ridiculous idea.
I love this idea because full flamboyant lashes have been a part of fashion for over a decade. Everyone in fashion knows that the lashes have to have a natural look and with glued on lashes somektimes the tint of the glue takes away the photogenic naturalness and can make the face come off as hard. As a fashion designer I would buy this product simply for it’s convienice. This can be used in fashion shows and photo shoots alike. The creators can even jack up the price a little, I think that fashion designers would eat this up. This is my type of thing so I can finally make a comment worth reading…Thanks Hank
I guess they would look cool for like fashion shows and such but i hope to God that no one would actually go out in public thinking that they will receive attention other than some weird looks. I can see this being something that they would get little girls to wear at Club Libby Lu. I guess if you got the right group of people to go out and wear these things making them seem cool, it would catch on. My friend Emily would love these things but her taste and my taste are well, much different. She loves big fake eyelashes and other flashy things such as that.
This is perfect for modeling and for other exclusive events. To guys who think it is ridiculous, would you rather go plain and simple to an exclusive event like a fashion show? Not that such designs are “the norm” but would you rather go plain and simple?
And every idea has a target market out there. Its just how big it is and how much you are gonna make out of it. This is a pretty feasible area, in my opinion since you don’t have major names like L’oreal and Maybelline who deal with fake lashes.
But all said and done fake is fake! Real beauty is always second to nothing.
I could just see models walking down the runway with these things on. I think they’re cute for fashion shows,one night events,that type of thing,but just for everyday wear? That’s a little extreme,I didn’t even know that they made falsies like that. I don’t like these kind to much,but I think the regular false eyelashes are cute.