Japans exalted status in the fashion department seems like a given noweven non-sartorially inclined folks likely know Japanese brands like Comme des Garcons and Uniqlo or could recognize the trendy look of the Harajuku neighborhood.
But perhaps less well-known is the fascinating decades-long dialogue between American and Japanese mens fashion that Marx skillfully explores here.
He expounds on everything from the Japanese menswear industrys single-person origin (a stylish and eccentric man named Kensuke Ishizu) to the prostitutes who introduced black-market shoppers to perfectly worn-in Levis (gifts from American GIs) to the explosive success of hip-hop-inspired Japanese streetwear brands such as Bape.
Its riveting to follow as men swap their austere student uniforms from Japans imperialist days for chicer garb, no longer ashamed to care about style.A
