Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and Gender in Contemporary Japan (Dress, Body, Culture)

Blurb: From Rococo to Edwardian fashions, Japanese street style has reinvented many western dress styles, reinterpreting and altering their meanings and messages in a different cultural and historical context. This wide ranging and original study reveals the complex exchange of styles and what they represent in Japan and beyond, contesting common perceptions of gender in Japanese dress and the notion that non-western fashions simply imitate western styles. Through case studies focussing on fashion image consumption in style tribes such as Kamikaze Girls, Lolita, Edwardian, Ivy Style, Victorian, Romantic and Kawaii, this ground-breaking book investigates the complexities of dress and gender and demonstrates the flexible nature of contemporary fashion and style exchange in a global context. Japanese Fashion Cultures will appeal to students and scholars of fashion, cultural studies, gender studies, media studies and related fields. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 INTRODUCING JAPANESE FASHION, PAST AND PRESENT Layers of Japanese aesthetic history Dress and gender Wearing gender in Japan Interlaced flows of culture: seeing Japanese fashion globally Reflections and distortions: representations as a source for study Tracing chapters 2 LOST IN A GAZE: YOUNG MEN AND FASHION IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN Reading men’s fashion: a brief history of Japanese men’s fashion magazines Japanese men’s fashion periodicals: past and present Neat, fresh and smart: Popeye , Men’s non-no and Fineboys The age of sensibility: men’s fashion magazines and defined age demographics A boy’s life The face of the magazines: first impressions of the encounter The pleasurable gaze: looking and being looked at Through the magic looking-glass: men and vanity Science versus the art of taking care of appearance Conclusion 3 BOY’S ELEGANCE: ALIMINALITY OF BOYISH CHARM AND OLD-WORLD SUAVITY Fusion of European and Japanese aesthetic senses The nationality of fashionable men In praise of youthful slenderness: preferred modes of male aesthetics in Japan With a 26-inch waist: slenderness as the flower of Japanese male beauty Elegant cowboys: D&G garments and stylistic transformations Boyish reinvention of the ‘Neo-Edwardian’ dandy style A marriage of the casual and elegant: popularization of elegance in contemporary Japanese men’s styles Boyish playfulness and old-world elegance: an aesthetic continuity and transformation of Milkboy Edgy, cute and suave: Milkboy as a candy-box of boys’ fashion aesthetics Dressing for time and occasion: negotiating romantic desires and narcissistic impulses Conclusion 4 GLACÉ WONDERLAND: CUTENESS, SEXUALITY AND YOUNG WOMEN * In the name of kawaii A liminal space of dreaming: Japanese concept of shoj o Alice’s voyage to the empire of the sun A Victorian girl with independence: Alice and a sense of autonomy Being Alice in Japan: music videos of Alisa Mizuki, Tomoko Kawase and Kaela Kimura A fairy tale without a prince: Japanese music videos and narrative themes Alice vs Barbie: sexualization of femininity in American music videos Too cute to be good: some criticism of kawaii Gloomy wonderland: darker sides of the Victorian girl A delicate kind of revolt Three stages of subtle revolutions The equilibrium of pastel and dark shades Conclusion 5 RIBBONS AND LACE: GIRLS, DECORATIVE FEMININITY AND ANDROGYNY The dress of a bisque doll princess: aspects of Lolita fashion Embroidering the romantic past: European dress aesthetics and Japanese appropriations Decorative femininity: praises and criticism A Lolita girl in the countryside: dress and Shimotsuma Monogatari Appearance says everything: dress and identity in Shimotsuma Monogatari Sweet reveries of the rococo: the rococo dreams of Momoko Frills for independence Valiant be the sweet maidens: girls propelling the narrative A romantic camaraderie of girls Performing masculin féminin Refashioning the ‘androgynous’ look Conclusion 6 AN IVY BOY AND A PREPPY GIRL: STYLE IMPORT-EXPORT* Through a Japanese lens Ivy goes to Japan Dressing up for school: variations of the school style Rugged suavity: Take Ivy and IVY Illustrated Preppy girls Conclusion 7 CONCLUDING JAPANESE FASHION CULTURES, CHANGE AND CONTINUITY NOTES REFERENCES INDEX From Rococo To Edwardian Fashions, Japanese Street Style Has Reinvented Many Western Dress Styles, Reinterpreting And Altering Their Meanings And Messages In A Different Cultural And Historical Context. This Wide Ranging And Original Study Reveals The Complex Exchange Of Styles And What They Represent In Japan And Beyond, Contesting Common Perceptions Of Gender In Japanese Dress And The Notion That Non-western Fashions Simply Imitate Western Styles. Through Case Studies Focussing On Fashion Image Consumption In Style Tribes Such As Kamikaze Girls, Lolita, Edwardian, Ivy Style, Victorian, Romantic And Kawaii, This Ground-breaking Book Investigates The Complexities Of Dress And Gender And Demonstrates The Flexible Nature Of Contemporary Fashion And Style Exchange In A Global Context. Japanese Fashion Cultures Will Appeal To Students And Scholars Of Fashion, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Media Studies And Related Fields.-- Machine Generated Contents Note: -- 1. Introducing Japanese Fashion, Past And Present2. Lost In A Gaze: Young Men And Fashion In Contemporary Japan3. Boy's Elegance: A Liminality Of Boyish Charm And Old-world Suavity4. Glace; Wonderland: Cuteness, Sexuality And Young Women5. Ribbons And Lace: Girls, Decorative Femininity And Androgyny6. An Ivy Boy And A Preppy Girl: Style Import-export7. Concluding Japanese Fashion Cultures, Change And Continuitybibliographyindex. Masafumi Monden. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.