Really liked this piece! Initially, this statement did catch my eye: “While Ivy Style was passed down through parents, peers, and professors in the U.S., Japan lacked this crucial context. People were familiar with Waseda not Princeton, Todai not Yale, and Keio not Harvard. No such culture surrounding collegiate clothing existed.” After thinking about it, I realized the core point is completely true/structurally sound given that, as you already covered, Japan didn’t have multi generational pipeline for casual menswear, nor that same commercial culture as in the West. That being said, I think the specific phrasing of the last sentence (to me) read almost as implying a lack of culture itself? Whereas this is more of a case of lack of Western cultural awareness/cultural difference (which is what was already articulated). And also Japanese universities actually possessed a massive clothing culture related to academic merit/pride, and also student identity/modified uniforms, long before the 1960s Ivy influence. This article does such an amazing job of narrating how those two different worlds eventually converged in Japan. Really great read!
Really liked this piece! Initially, this statement did catch my eye: “While Ivy Style was passed down through parents, peers, and professors in the U.S., Japan lacked this crucial context. People were familiar with Waseda not Princeton, Todai not Yale, and Keio not Harvard. No such culture surrounding collegiate clothing existed.” After thinking about it, I realized the core point is completely true/structurally sound given that, as you already covered, Japan didn’t have multi generational pipeline for casual menswear, nor that same commercial culture as in the West. That being said, I think the specific phrasing of the last sentence (to me) read almost as implying a lack of culture itself? Whereas this is more of a case of lack of Western cultural awareness/cultural difference (which is what was already articulated). And also Japanese universities actually possessed a massive clothing culture related to academic merit/pride, and also student identity/modified uniforms, long before the 1960s Ivy influence. This article does such an amazing job of narrating how those two different worlds eventually converged in Japan. Really great read!