Fashion Shooooooooooow.

So for the fashion show, I thought every group did a pretty outstanding job. For my group in specific, I feel as though we did a great job! We were the only group that had both a girl and a guy model, and although I felt super awkward being the only guy model I was glad that I was able to rep 210s finest with the guy clothing. While I wasn't looking like anything super flashy in particular, my outfit was an example of japanese-american dress that is realistic. Even though my outfit just looked like a regular outfit someone would be wearing, there was an actual story behind my clothing.

Headwear- New Era Fitted Hat/Japanese Headband.
Baseball fitted or New Era fitted is a popular American icon, integrating that with the Japanese headband.

Shirt- Flannel Button up
A popular “cowboy” dress or just a traditional American top.

Pants- GAP Japanese Selvedge Denim
Raw denim that is popular in both America and Japan, however Americanized by U.S. clothing companies such as GAP. While it has Japanese influence, it’s our version of selvedge denim.

Shoes- Vans Sk8 Hi Hosoi
Vans, a popular skate shoe, been around for years (since 1966) and related to American dress. With a Japanese influence of the “rising sun”, a common Japanese icon.

What type of person did you create this outfit for?

We created this outfit for the male Japanese-American teenager who wants to both tradition and culture in mind when deciding what to wear out. While this style is Americanized and somewhat popular among the Asian-American population, there’s a history behind every article of clothing that is included in our outfit. And even though not only Japanese Americans may wear this outfit, it provides a cultural background that doesn’t first meet the eye.

Is there a significance behind the color, shape, texture etc.

The colors weren’t too significant besides that the rising sun and headband were traditional Japanese icons, so we just happened to match the clothing together somehow without looking too tacky. The texture of the jeans is raw denim, a popular style in Japan and in America. The texture of the shirt is flannel, to keep warm in this cold SF weather!

What is the statement that you are making and why?

The statement that we’re making is that Asian Americans can dress, and can take their outfit back to their culture if they really wanted to. Also, we are trying to show that there are a lot of influences between Americans and Japanese and while we’re thousands of miles apart, we still have similar fashion choices. We are making this statement to show that although there may be a cultural barrier between Japanese and Americans, fashion is able to bridge the gap and eliminate the hyphen in “Japanese-American Style”.

Congrats to all! =D



-Vincent Santiago