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Japanese Street Fashion and its Significance Aimee GlandtOutside: Your Self in the WorldChadron State CollegeAbstractThis paper discusses five articles about Japanese street fashion, including what it is, its origin and location, as well as the cultures that go with it and why it is significant. Each section discusses a different article, and in turn, a different aspect of Japanese street fashion. I will be looking at the history of Japanese street fashion, the different styles, the subcultures, and its significance in Japan, including why it’s different from traditional Japanese views and its impact on youth.Keywords: Street fashion; Japan; culture; stylesIntroductionJapan and its people is known for being quiet and polite. So when someone looks up Japanese fashion, why does colorful hair, platform shoes, wonderland-like dresses, and unique makeup come up? This is Japanese street fashion. In this paper, five articles about this fashion will be discussed. With each article, a different part of Japanese street fashion will be looked at, as follows:The History of Japanese Street Fashion and why it’s DifferentThe Different Styles of Japanese Street FashionThe Subcultures of Japanese Street FashionJapanese Street Fashion and GlobalizationJapanese Street Fashion and FeminismAn overview of each article will be given as well as a review as to if it did what it set out to do. The History of Japanese Street Fashion and why it’s DifferentJapan is often viewed as a very quiet and polite country. Japan follows a “group mentality” in that they think about others before themselves. For example, trains are fairly quiet in Japan. People do not speak loudly on them because they do not want to disturb others. In Japan, one does not want to draw attention to themselves. It is a formal and conservative society. However, something completely different rose from this.In the 1980s, the Japanese economy was hugely prosperous, but was soon followed by a long and hard economic recession. Jiratanatiteenun, Mizutani, Kitaguchi, Sato, and Kajiwara in their article, “The Transformation of Japanese Street Fashion between 2006 and 2011” suggest that this triggered a change in Japan’s societal views, mostly in Japan’s youth. “Teens saw the assertion of individual identity as important and meaningful, and exhibited this through revolutionizing fashion.” (Jiratanatiteenun, Mizutani, Kitaguchi, Sato, and Kajiwara, 2012). This trend in fashion spread throughout each district in Japan. The styles were categorized according to the shopping district in Tokyo, the most well-known of these being Harajuku. “Each area exhibited a different kind of fashion and lifestyle identity.” (Jiratanatiteenun, Mizutani, Kitaguchi, Sato, and Kajiwara, 2012). With each style and identity, comes a whole following that has their own culture in a sense. These fashion styles often have online communities and meet-ups, as well as their own terms. Popular enough styles even have their own magazines and international brands that have stores all over the world. This particular fashion and it’s culture is like no other. For the purpose of this review, in this section I mostly focused on the history that is discussed in “The Transformation of Japanese Street Fashion between 2006 and 2011” by Jiratanatiteenun, Mizutani, Kitaguchi, Sato, and Kajiwara. However, this journal could have been the only focus if allowed. It covers the history of Japanese street fashion, the characteristics of the fashion, and how it has transformed. It also included drawings that exemplify the characteristics of each style, and also some photos at the end of different people dressed in the different styles. This journal did the best job of showing what Japanese street fashion is now and its history.The Different Styles of Japanese Street FashionThere are many, many different styles of fashion when it comes to Japanese street fashion. For example, Lolita fashion, (not to be confused with Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita) has at least ten different sub-styles that each have their own following in addition to the followers of the fashion as a whole. The article, “Fashion Subcultures in Japan: A multilayered history of street fashion in Japan” by Inga Valdimarsdo?ttir, discusses the main styles. This includes Gyaru, Lolita fashion, Visual Kei, Mori Girl, Decora, and Fairy Kei.Gyaru, “…could be defined as a rebels… [it is] rebelling the traditional beauty standards…” (Valdimarsdo?ttir, 2015). In Japan, up until the 1990s when many street fashion styles became popular, the beauty ideal was pale skin, black hair, and being modest. Gyaru sets out to do the opposite and features tan skin, bleached blonde hair or wigs, and relatively sexy clothing. There are substyles that go for even more extreme make-up and fashion, including Ganguro, Yamanba, Age-jo, and later Manba. Lolita fashion is based on Victorian and Rococo aesthetics. Poufy dresses, lace, frills, ruffles, bloomers, and parasols are all just parts of this. This fashion is all about modesty, and shoulders and knees are covered. The aim of it is to look doll-like and cute, almost like royalty.Visual Kei is based on the style of Japanese Rock stars, featuring elaborate hairstyles and lots of black. It could be seen as similar to punk in America. Mori Girls set out for a very simple, natural look, (Mori means forest in Japanese.) Lastly, Decora and Fairy Kei are about the opposite, and both feature lots of pink and pastels and lots of layers. The difference is Decora can have more bright colors and is all about how many accessories one can wear. “Fashion Subcultures in Japan: A multilayered history of street fashion in Japan” by Inga Valdimarsdo?ttir sets out to, “discuss the possible causes of why and how the Japanese street fashion scene came to be into what it is known for today…whilst using Japanese society and culture as a reference.” (Valdimarsdo?ttir, 2015). Valdimarsdo?ttir details what each chapter of the journal will be about and how it will mostly be about the history of certain styles. Through good descriptions of the styles and discussion on how each one has a substyle, this journal does well at looking at the fashion and its culture in Japan as a whole. More could have been written about the history of the fashion and its impact, as it focused a lot on Japanese school uniforms and their impact on youth. I would like to know more as to why youth in Japan used fashion to rebel and how street fashion came about to do this. However, Valdimarsdo?ttir does cover the history, and the main point was to focus on certain styles, which is done.The Subcultures of Japanese Street Fashion“Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion” by Yuniya Kawamura is a study of social aspects of Japanese street fashion and the various subcultures formed by the teen consumers that are a part of it. Kawamura gives a background of street fashion, her methodology of how she got her research data, and the proceeds to discuss the different subcultures. As mentioned before in this review, each style has a many different substyles to go with it. They could be thought of as branches of styles. Each style has their own culture, and to tell the difference between the branches, one must be part of that culture, or at least be knowledgeable of them. This is one part of the subcultures. Another that is discussed by Kawamura is how these teens who are a part of Japanese street fashion have also had an impact on the fashion industry as a whole. The whole culture of Japanese street fashion, (dressing differently, walking around the different fashion districts, and being part of a distinct style), has created brands that will cater towards certain styles, including brands that now have physical stores, sometimes even worldwide. Artists have gotten jobs because designers are needed for brands and magazines have been created that are centered around different styles. Japanese Street fashion is very much a culture of its own because of its huge influence on different areas, and has many different subcultures within it.Japanese Street Fashion and Globalization“Transcultural Flow of Demure Aesthetics: Examining Cultural Globalization through Gothic & Lolita Fashion” by Masafumi Monden was part of a collection of articles in volume 2 of New Voices: A Journal for Emerging Scholars of Japanese Studies in Australia. It touches more on the substyles of Japanese street fashion and their cultures. Monden discusses how while each fashion could be seen as simply globalization because they are mostly derived by Western aesthetics, each fashion has become uniquely Japanese, and aspects of both aesthetics are uniquely incorporated. Moreover, many Japanese street fashions are worn worldwide and are accepted as uniquely Japanese. This is especially so for Lolita, the fashion most discussed in this article. This article discusses Lolita and Globalization but goes off into a tangent about the Lolita communities in other countries as well as online, which didn’t seem like it had as much to do with globalization. However, it still covered the topic well and gave a great in depth look at Gothic & Lolita Fashion. Japanese Street Fashion and FeminismAs mentioned earlier in this review, Lolita is a style of Japanese street fashion. It is a major part of street fashion and is known worldwide. There are Lolita “communities” in almost every country, even if they are small. “The Lolita Complex: A Japanese Fashion Subculture and its Paradoxes” by Kathryn Hardy Bernal, is a thesis that describes the fashion and many aspects of it. For the purpose of this review, I will focus on one particular chapter, “Lolita as a New Form of Feminist Resistance”.Hardy Bernal discusses that the traditional Japanese view of women is that they should be “lovely and kind” and in the past, like many cultures, their main purpose was getting married and raising a family. While Lolita very much so keeps the “lovely and kind” aspect, it is Hardy Bernal’s belief that Lolita fashion , “…encompasses nonconformist, even antiestablishment social behaviors and as such is a women’s revolution.” (Hardy Bernal, 2011). Throughout history and in many cultures, women have been seen as something to desire or as sexual objects. Even the term “Lolita” is most commonly known as a sexualized little girl because of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel. However, because Lolita fashion is all about modesty and not at all about being sexy, women are taking back the term and making it their own. Hardy Bernal sums it up in a well-written statement: “…for women in Japan, Lolita is a positive feminist force simply because it is not about men. Nor is it about housekeeping, children, mothers-in-law, dead-end part-time work or the national obsession with raising the birth rate. Lolita is about and for women.” (Hardy Bernal, 2011). Hardy Bernal backs this up with information about what Lolitas do and what they believe in. She covers the topic well and makes a good argument as to why Lolita is a new form of feminist resistance. This relates to my topic because it shows how something as seemingly insignificant as a fashion can change views in Japan.ConclusionThere are many aspects of Japanese street fashion. There are many different styles which each have their own cultures and also their own substyles. Japanese street fashion and its huge departure from traditional Japanese views and fashion arose because of youth’s want of change and individualism. It has had a huge impact on the fashion industry as a whole and has created its own communities and place in the world. These five articles discussed different parts of Japanese street fashion and each gave a good background and explained the different aspects well. Japanese street fashion is colorful movement that is growing bigger each day, from the streets of Harajuku to the streets of Paris, it is a impactful culture of its own. ReferencesHardy Bernal, K. A. (2011). The Lolita Complex: A Japanese Fashion Subculture and its Paradoxes (Unpublished master's thesis). Auckland, New Zealand/AUT University. doi:, A., Mizutani, C., Kitaguchi, S., Sato, T., & Kajiwara, K. (2012). The Transformation of Japanese Street Fashion between 2006 and 2011. Advances in Applied Sociology, 02(04), 292-302. doi:10.4236/aasoci.2012.24038Kawamura, Y. (2006). Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion. Current Sociology, 54(5), 784-801. doi:10.1177/0011392106066816Monden, M. (2008). Transcultural Flow of Demure Aesthetics: Examining Cultural Globalisation through Gothic & Lolita Fashion. New Voices, 2, 21-40. doi:10.21159/nv.02.02Valdimarsdo?ttir, I. G. (2015). Fashion Subcultures in Japan: A multilayered history of street fashion in Japan (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Iceland. doi: ................
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