Week 3

Week 3
Fara Suiza
ASA141
May 12, 2019

I cracked but I only bought one thing, and the last piece of clothing I bought myself was one hoodie back in November 2018, so I don't feel bad about the purchase although I am slightly disappointed that I failed the challenge because, in general, I really DON'T buy clothes.


However, I thought that I might as well make the purchase worthwhile and connect it back to topics we read about in class and, more recently, about the whole idea behind the reading "Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion", because as someone who used to be fully fascinated by Japanese fashion trends as a younger pre-teen to someone who now follows chic Asian beauty bloggers who--more often than not--emulate the current trends in Korea, I think that the difference between the two, but also the similarities are worth thinking about. (Small note: I bought a hoodie to support a Korean artist I love)

In the reading pertaining to Japanese fashion amongst teens, one of the key points revolved around how youth culture not only influenced fashion trends amongst other trends and young adults (something that was not created by a brand or corporation), and how fashion is used as an expression of themselves as individuals in order to set themselves apart from the "normal" group, which often refers to the traditional ideals of the older generation.

In contrast to that, Korea's fashion trend at the moment revolves around streetwear that, when compared to Japanese street wear, is much more duller, commercialized, and very on-brand (i.e. less "unique" local pieces that are not mass produced)... I watched a documentary about how Korea has a large market for fake luxury goods because items such as SUPREME can't be bought in Korea and must be exported from Japan by resellers, further driving up the cost. So it's really interesting to me how one country's youth prefers to collect clothing items that are unique from their peers whereas one chooses individuality through uniform clothing.

WORK CITED

Kawamura, Yuniya. “Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion.” Current Sociology, vol. 54, no. 5, 2006, pp. 784–801., doi:10.1177/0011392106066816.

"Counterfeit Culture | Seoul: A Look Inside Korea’s Fake Fashion World." Youtube, uploaded by Highsnobiety, 24 August 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BALbGfjjsbc