Japanese Style

So why Japanese style.. it was obvious really... 12 months after conceiving our first capsule we realised that there was more influence from Japanese style than any other, you could argue that a lot of their style has been appropriated from US & European heritage military, work wear & sporting activities, but what isn’t influenced by the past & improved on which is exactly what Japanese clothing companies have done particularly in the last 50 years..

As it’s a bigger subject we decided to do this across 3 parts to keep the edit short readable & with references if you want the longer read.. 

Thanks need to go out to author W. David Marx who wrote Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style, this book was discovered (& devoured) by us during the research of this edit along with the usual wikipedia rabbit hole. Ametora btw means American traditional with an Anglo influence..

Part 1

The sartorial beginnings.. during the 1850s the countries leaders Emperor Meiji & government were forced by the US navy to open their trade barriers which in turn pushed through a new thinking in how to adapt to the outside influences of America and the US without complete capitulation to colonialisation.. modernisation of all aspects of life, moving from the elitist feudal system to a more western socio political which filtered though to the western types of clothing available to all rather than only the silk wearing samurai elite..

Jump forward to postwar WW2 where US soldiers occupied the mainland the Japanese were exposed to American culture & styles daily, uniformed, soldiers, pilots, naval personnel & off duty at their leisure. To entertain some of the military personnel were Pan Pan girls, ladies of the night who dressed like their American counter parts for further attraction, sometimes these girls were paid in clothing as well, the first jeans imported into Japan..

The 50s came around & with it teddy boy rock & roll with the ubiquitous quiff, this wasn’t really the start of a style revolution as the Japanese were deeply traditional & conservative in their views to fashion & culture, it really took until the baby-boomers started to come of age before a style revolution could really take place..

Kensuke Ishiku was at the forefront of that, although not a baby boomer he had always had an eye for style through his life having suits tailored more in the British style, he kicked off a brand called VANs which was heavily influenced by Ivy style (collegiate East Coast preppy) - Aibii which is the Japanese word for Ivy which is 100% phonetical  interpretation. Along with the VANS brand there was a magazine called Mens Club which celebrated the Ivy Style which documented the few people who could afford the Ivy Style clothing then a  photo book called Take Ivy by Teruyoshi Hayashida.

1964 brought the Olympics to Japan & more than a bit of handwringing from the older generation that Ivy style was for degenerates & juvenile louts, so clear them off the street in time for the Olympics, ironically they gave the job of dressing the the Olympic team to.. Kensuke Ishiku the Ivy style leader who dressed up the team in preppy style with a red blazer & white trousers from then on Ivy was something was more at eye level for the nation... meanwhile quietly GI Pants or jiipan (Denim) were ganging popularity due to them being cotton, perfect for the hot Japanese summers & tough hard wearing..

Part 2

The rise of denim..