Fashion in the 1990-2000's. + Conclusion

The last step in the evolution of Japanese fashion is in the 1990's-2000's. During this time we see two major changes, the first change is the growth and major marketing that street culture/fashion is developing. The amount of subcultures and street fashion groups that are currently existent is very high, and could have easily been its own final project for this class. The other major change is that 'spank culture' is still prevalent but has an added twist: Modernity and sophistication.

Something simple such as this(80's fashion): 

Now is something more like this:(90's-2000).

 Conclusion:

Throughout japans history, we see an interesting change over the course of 50 years. We start out with an average female figure from the 50's and we may find:

After 50 or so years, fashion has evolved into: 
What we can conclude from these differences and changes is that Japanese fashion has changed what it tells people(its message) and also what its effect on people is. It started out as a message of fertility(wanting to get married),  youth, and the hope of a successful future and has evolved into a medium of expression and creativity. Instead of simply being functional it is now a way to identify with others and be who you want to be. With the ever growing street cultures and sub-cultures, japans fashion industry has a unique group for just about anyone(ganguro, goth, Lolita, nerds).
The evolution of Japanese fashion is not only the growth of an industry, its also the growth of a separate medium that allows anyone to become who they want to become.

Fashion in the 80's

The 1980's fashion movement in japan was strongly influenced by avant-garde, which by definition: is A group active in the invention and application of new techniques in a given field, especially in the arts (Dictionary.com).

In other terms it focuses on being unique different and artistic expression, this can be strongly contrasted with some of the first qualities mentioned that were present during the 50's and 60's. Things like obedience, loyalty and submission were no longer qualities of women's clothing during the 80's and may lead one to believe that those qualities were no longer expressed through fashion.

The 1980's were clearly different in fashion trends. There was strong emphasis on sexuality, independence and flamboyance.

Pictured below is a photo shoot aimed at recreating 1980's fashion by a magazine which was exploring the explosion of avant-garde style clothing.

A current example of 80's clothing is the brand/style of 'spank'.

Spank aimed at recreating the style of clothing that was so popular in the 80's. As the name suggests the clothing was sexual in nature and aimed at grabbing someones attention, as opposed to sending a message or portraying some sort of character. 

Looking back, from 1950-1980 there have been some massive changes is just about every aspect of fashion and clothing. We started with traditional clothing and now find ourselves at flamboyant, sexually oriented clothing.

Fashion in the 70's

At this point in fashion history we stand in a modest place, where many men and women try to display their good wife/husband qualities to possible future counterparts.
In addition to this we are beginning to see an influence from america on how people dress(so far its affected the men more so than the women)

In the 70's it should be noted that fashion was doing very well and was growing faster than ever. This can be attributed to three main reasons:
-Japans economy had begin to thrive in the 70's
-Japans fashion industry had been growing rapidly since the late 50's
-People care about how they look and what others think.
 In the 1960's american culture had begun to influence the fashion in japan, and they the 1970's it had increased, yet again, to a new level. Many fashion designers, including Issey Miyake(below) had moved previously to america, and now back to japan to further their careers and spread what they had seen over seas.
Now with this new integration there was a sense of "east meets west" style, which had traditional parts of both cultures.

Pictured below is an example of an Japan/America mix of clothing:


This is the first change in fashion that tells us quite a bit about the culture in japan. As stated before the 50/60's seemed to have tradition focus and also an appeal to possible life partners. As time goes on we now see a different side of japan. one now focused on art and style. This is not to say that men and women no longer care if they are appealing wive's or husbands; but rather try to convey a different message which is moving closer towards personal expression and artistic value.

Fashion in the 60's

The 60's had significant effect on fashion for Japanese men and women. For the first time it was apparent that another culture was strongly influencing the way people were dressing.
As stated in the 1950's post, consumerism and fashion were becoming massive industries in japan, and by the 1960's and changes were obvious.

For women the changes in general wife-clothing was not terribly different or altered from the 50's styling, but what was different was the increase and beginning of street fashion. It had not yet become what it is today with Ganguro: but it did begin to gain a following and a market.

For men the changes consisted of a western influence, largely influenced by american attire.
The term take ivy refers to a Japanese movement(male) towards more preppy clothing that was focused on and aimed at what american ivy league men/boys where wearing. The "ivy League"  school stereotype was spreading to the younger(15-30's) generation in japan and wouldn't stop being popular until the later 1970's.

Example:

These trends lead us to believe that women were still attempting to portray a strong "wife' characteristic and that men were attempting to portray a strong male (perhaps husband) figure in what they wore.
This suggests that both men and women were attempting to show their husband/wife qualities in what they wore from day to day; how this evolves into todays fashion is in the next few posts.

Fashion in the 50's

In japan, Fashion began to become more and more popular, many historians view the fifties as a time of massive fashion growth, especially for women, who at the time were attempting to express their feminine qualities.
Onnarashisa is a common term coined towards women in the 50's, the reason the term is useful is because it contains many different meanings. For instance Onnarashisa women would be considered modest, independent old fashioned and loyal. The idea behind dressing that way was to portray and obedient, lovable  woman with good wife qualities.


Above is pictured what may be considered an Onnarashisa.
By studying fashion and noticing certain qualities, you can identify changes in fashion over a period of time and draw conclusions as to what these changes mean in the larger scope of things. It would also be fairly safe to assume(at least from the research I have uncovered) that there is not nearly as much research done on males as there is on females.

Pictured above is a poster from a Samari movie that was made in 1955, in the middle you see a bold, straightforward women figure which reinforces the Onnarashisa characters prevalence in the 1950's.