At Secret Sauce one of our favorite topics in the office is that of image design –  and specifically how individuals innovate around their own personal style.

Of course personal style is also always subjective, but we applaud individuals who push the conventional limits of style to create something new, interesting and memorable.

Recently my partner in crime Nicole, sent me this very interesting article on the Bagelheads of Japan, that took body design to a whole new level.

You see the Bagelheads have developed a unique and very much “in-your-face” look by injecting a saline solution into their foreheads, thus creating an effect that looks like a bagel has been surgically implanted under their skin.

Being originally from New York I love bagels, especially from H&H Bagel, but having one under my skin…… not so much.

Now I have to admit that after living in San Francisco California for the past 19 years, I’ve pretty much seen everything when it comes to body modification.

This includes seeing people with complete body tattoos (shout out to my friend Idexa who runs Black and Blue Tattoo), multi-piercing (another plug for the folks over at Body Manipulations), scarifications and more.

In fact I’ve had my own body tattooed much to the chagrin of my mother (sorry mom, I think ink is cool!) and as such I’m a fan of applying personal expression to one’s own person.  Disclaimer:  As long as you can live happily with the results;-).

Anyway, what I think is sort of neat about the Bagelhead trend, is that its all about being bold with the way you look.   Having worked in the Silicon Valley now for many years,  I’ve gotten use to a more or less generic and continually reworked hipster style.

I’m afraid to admit this but style wise,  I’m more than a little bored by what we see.

This is why it’s so great to see some new fresh, exciting and sometimes scary ways people interpret personal image.

That’s why I want to salute the Bagelheads for bringing something interesting (and a wee bit disturbing) to the style table sans the lox and cream cheese, please;-)

Before I forget, I also want to throw a shout out to some of the awesome personal styles that have come out of Japan over the years.

I remember traveling to Japan for business in early 2000 and visiting a very well-known shopping district outside of Tokyo called Harajuku.

Wonderful shops, restaurants, historical landmarks and more.
It was there in Harajuku where I first saw period clothing, music, fantasy, anime and intense personal style all coming together to form a jaw-dropping, electric visual fashion firestorm that left you hungry for more.

To me Harajuku made the always interesting streets of New York pale in comparison.

The very year that I went, there was a prevalent gothic “baby doll” style that many young Japanese woman were representing  - and I thought it was one of the coolest style trends I had seen in a while.

Imagine packs of stylized Emo and Goth girls turned into giant, life-size baby dolls with platform shoes, lots of lace, big lollipops, pigtails, baby blankets and more.

Occasionally one or two girls would pass by as “dead baby dolls” complete with fake blood.

It was surreal to say the least.

For me, sitting in Harajuku watching fashion forward kids parading by was a dream come true.

As such I made it a point to eat my soba noodles for lunch outside in the market everyday just to see the cool kids walk by.  And I loved every moment of it.

So a big thanks to our Nicole for always keeping us updated on personal styles we love to see. Perhaps we’ll create our own Secret Sauce style.  We’ll see;-)

– Tim