| Popis: |
In this study, we will consider how the denim fashions seen within Japanese street fashion have changed from the postwar period to the present, with the goal of making clear how the meaning and significance of denim have transformed. When considering fashion phenomena, it is useful to grasp how, as an item of clothing is adopted and eras pass, the meaning of that item changes. This is useful because fashion itself is not the only thing that changes ; it is necessary to pick up on the ways in which, in each period, the various frameworks surrounding fashion, such as the values and technology of society and the people who enjoy fashion, also change. In order to consider such issues, we have endeavored to delineate who has worn what kinds of denim items, and when and how they wore them, all while taking into account the historical background of each era.It is well known that jeans, which are made of the material denim, were a kind of practical clothing worn by laborers and cowboys. However, they were adopted by certain specific groups of young people ― the rockers of the 1950s, mods of the 1960s, hippies of the 1970s, and others ― as a means of expressing their own stance as rebels who rejected adults and society. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, denim has become something worn by everyone regardless of age or gender, and it is now synonymous with casual fashion. On the other hand, denim's function of signifying the attributes of the people who wear it, and the identities associated with wearing it, have faded. It has become difficult to judge the values and positions of the wearer by their denim alone. The expression "so-and-so's denim," whether it refers to, among others, "the laborer's denim," "the hippy's denim," "the young person's denim," is no longer applicable to present-day denim fashions. And, in 2015, there has been a denim boom like never before in Japanese street fashion. Not wishing to stand out, everyone is wearing denim, resulting in this unprecedented boom. The cautious attitude of the youth aside, the way in which the meaning originally carried by denim has transformed is a decidedly unusual one. |
