A yami-kei infusion to start the New Year!

The start of the New Year usually has people looking towards the future, but for our reporter Ikuna Kamezawa, every January is also an opportunity to turn back the clock a little. That’s because Ikuna has her own annual tradition of buying the lucky bag/fukubukuro from Japanese fashion brand Ank Rouge.

Ank Rouge specializes in yami-kei fashion, which starts with a base of kawaii cuteness, sprinkles in some gothic Lolita-inspired fancy frills, and adds a dash of dark edginess to complete its aesthetic assortment. Most of Ank Rouge’s customers are in their early 20s, which, without revealing specifics, is a demographic Ikuna is no longer part of. Once a year, though, Ikuna dives back into the brand’s youthful styles by buying and modeling the contents of the Ank Rouge lucky bag.

▼ Part of Ikuna’s Ank Rouge haul in 2024

For 2025, Ank Rouge’s lucky bag is sort of a hybrid, in that they guarantee that it will contain a vanity bag and a jacquard dress (a dress with a decorative design woven into the fabric). However, the colors of both of those items are random, as are the other six items included in the eight-piece lucky bag, which is priced at 17,600 yen (US$112).

Gushing with girlish glee, Ikuna opened up her lucky bag to find…

● A vanity bag (black)
● A jacquard dress (black)
● A check-pattern camisole dress (blue)
● A check-pattern miniskirt (blue)
● A miniskirt with pockets (pink)
● A naval-exposing camisole (white)
● A sweatshirt that exposes the naval and a lot more (pink)
● A card-holder lanyard

▼ Stitched across the camisole dress were the words “Gothic Angel,” which is a pretty good summary of Ank Rouge’s design theme.

Now, you’re probably wondering just what a “sweatshirt that exposes the naval and a lot more” is. We’re not sure if this type of garment has a more official name, but it’s basically a long-sleeved top that also covers the shoulders, but nothing else, leaving your entire chest and back exposed. As such, it’s clearly meant to be paired with other something else underneath, so Ikuna decided to partner it up with the camisole dress.

It’s definitely a unique look, but Ikuna thinks it might work even better with some other kind of different inner layer. On the other hand, the black jacquard dress made for a very nice combination with both the pink and blue miniskirts.

As you might guess of someone who writes idol music lyrics as his side hustle, our reporter Seiji Nakazawa has an appreciative eye for this kind of fashion, and so he volunteered as cameraman for Ikuna’s photo shoot inside SoraNews24 HQ.

However, since this was happening in a writers’ room, not a photo studio, we had to make do with whatever props and backdrops were available, including some of our writers themselves.

Still, we think Ikuna’s sense of style shines through, even if sometimes the only things for her to pose with where her toothbrush…

…a random book…

…or a stuffed animal squid.

With this year’s Ank Rouge bag featuring a number of light-material and low-coverage items, it probably won’t be until spring that Ikuna can really start to make use of them, but for now her yami-kei New Year’s wardrobe boost is off to a great start.

Related: Ank Rouge
Photos ©SoraNews24
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