Ametora
How Japan Saved American Style
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Beschreibung des Verlags
The story of how Japan adopted and ultimately revived traditional American fashion
Look closely at any typically "American" article of clothing these days, and you may be surprised to see a Japanese label inside. From high-end denim to oxford button-downs, Japanese designers have taken the classic American look—known as ametora, or "American traditional"—and turned it into a huge business for companies like Uniqlo, Kamakura Shirts, Evisu, and Kapital. This phenomenon is part of a long dialogue between Japanese and American fashion; in fact, many of the basic items and traditions of the modern American wardrobe are alive and well today thanks to the stewardship of Japanese consumers and fashion cognoscenti, who ritualized and preserved these American styles during periods when they were out of vogue in their native land.
In Ametora, cultural historian W. David Marx traces the Japanese assimilation of American fashion over the past hundred and fifty years, showing how Japanese trendsetters and entrepreneurs mimicked, adapted, imported, and ultimately perfected American style, dramatically reshaping not only Japan's culture but also our own in the process.
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In this wholly intriguing study of the American influence on menswear in Japan, cultural critic Marx carves out a lucid example of the cyclical interplay between cultural identity and globalization by mapping Japan's rise to prominence in the fashion the world, beginning with the appropriation of American trends after WWII. Japan's first obsession with American style was called, simply, Ivy (aibii). The term referred to the Ivy League, specifically the style of students walking across the Princeton University campus in 1959, when intrepid Japanese fashion entrepreneur Kensuke Ishizu decided to visit the campus for inspiration. Ishizu was the first of many magazine editors, designers, store owners, and trend setters who would define Japanese style over the next few decades by appropriating and redefining iconic American style (as well as archiving it). "The story of Japan's embrace, reappropriation, and exploration of American style thus stands as a highly illustrative episode of how culture globalizes," the author writes, nearly understating the significance of his project. The book's tales of scrappy entrepreneurs combine to make an important contribution to readers' understanding of cultural authenticity, the use of branding in media to sell consumer goods, and how representations of masculinity and rebellion evolve in the consumer marketplace. B&w photos.
