Fashion Speaks: A Process Paper for WEARING JAPAN, an installation of fashion art

Abstract

Japan and the U.S. share a history of pulling in “outsider” ideas to reinvent their cultures. In the mid-to-late-nineteenth-century, Japan ushered in a market economy and American technology while the West developed an obsession with kimonos, woodblock prints, and anything "oriental." More recent cultural exports like anime, sushi, and kawaii (cute) fashion continue to shape American culture while America continues to influence Japan. Because both countries have powerful consumerist economies, their contemporary interactions produce vibrant cross-pollinations. I created an installation of fashion art to show what this looks like, and position globalized fashion as theatrical and wearable. As the world engages in international trade, and as cultural aesthetics are blended and reinterpreted, national and individual identities may shift. In an interconnected world, how do we fashion ourselves?