The Diverging Fashion Styles in US and Asia: Consequence of American Racism against Asians?
Walking on the streets of America after more than a year of absence from permanent residence, I cannot help but notice that many of the fashion trends prevalent during my years in high school and college have not changed much. In fact, if anything, the trends have been greatly intensified. For instance, the most noticeable one has been the affinity of the American youth toward loose-fitting pants that are pulled down to the level of their butts. After all these years the pants seem to have only gotten looser and the level of the pants' waist have become lower and lower.
In contrast, the trends in Asia have moved in the opposite direction. The adherence to the American urban dress culture (loose jeans, decorated T-shirts, sneakers, etc) has been significantly altered along Asian tastes in the past few years. Jeans have been becoming noticeably tighter, T-shirts are becoming increasingly abandoned in favor of causal dress shirts, and the Asian love for black-rimmed glasses and baseball caps see little parallels in here in the States. The overall Asian "fashion sense" would be subject to much ridicule in America, and vice versa.
Partially, the increasing difference is a matter of differing attitude toward fashion. In Asia, one's fashion is a matter of expressing social conformity to established social norms of beauty and physical decency. While in the West, one's fashion is a matter of expressing individuality and more often than not for the youth, a rebellious deviation from the established social norms of society. Popularity is everything for Asian fashion while the case is not always obvious in the West.
But such difference in social attitudes cannot be the entire story behind the divergence. In an age when American fashion, based on widely available portrayal in fashion magazines and still popular Hollywood movies, the glorification of America should not be that quickly abandoned. Even though plenty now have doubts about living in America, American styles are still symbols of "coolness" widely admired among Asian youths. To entirely reject such an important component of American culture as street fashion would make no logical sense.
So, with the assumption that American cultural influence has not significantly declined among the fashionable youth, what can cause these youngsters to blatantly ignore the fashion trends across the Pacific? The answer, in my opinion, my lay in the increasing self-consciousness Asians are having with regard to the biological differences of the "Americans" and the Asians. They are gradually becoming more and more "aware" that the clothing that "fit" the "Americans" are not usually the most suitable ones for Asians.
America is certainly to blame for Asian's new-found independent views on fashion. Looking at the same magazines and Hollywood movies still so popular in Asia, how often are Asians depicted as cool beautiful young main characters sporting spotless fashion? Very rarely. And even when Asians are indeed portrayed by the magazines and movies, their looks are often so different from what Asians consider to be "Asian beauty" that their fashion sense often just become an extension of their physical ugliness.
American media's outright racism against Asians, portraying them as mostly incapable of "being fashionable," has led to a quiet but almost unanimous backlash among Asians against American fashion sense. Sure, American fashion look good on non-Asians, but American fashion would not be good on Asians. Otherwise, why would there be so few "cool" fashionable young Asians in the American celebrity scene? To such a question, most Americans really cannot say anything beyond words implying that Asians, especially the men, do not represent physical beauty in their eyes.
Ironically, prevalent plastic surgery in Asia still sees making people look more Caucasian (bigger eyes, higher noses, whiter skin) as a major goal. It shows that, with proper public displays, the aesthetic values of America and the Western world can still capture Asian hearts. With more young, Western-looking Asians sporting loose pants and T-shirts in American magazines and movies, perhaps we will be able to see a reversing convergence of fashion sense on the two sides of the Pacific.
In contrast, the trends in Asia have moved in the opposite direction. The adherence to the American urban dress culture (loose jeans, decorated T-shirts, sneakers, etc) has been significantly altered along Asian tastes in the past few years. Jeans have been becoming noticeably tighter, T-shirts are becoming increasingly abandoned in favor of causal dress shirts, and the Asian love for black-rimmed glasses and baseball caps see little parallels in here in the States. The overall Asian "fashion sense" would be subject to much ridicule in America, and vice versa.
Partially, the increasing difference is a matter of differing attitude toward fashion. In Asia, one's fashion is a matter of expressing social conformity to established social norms of beauty and physical decency. While in the West, one's fashion is a matter of expressing individuality and more often than not for the youth, a rebellious deviation from the established social norms of society. Popularity is everything for Asian fashion while the case is not always obvious in the West.
But such difference in social attitudes cannot be the entire story behind the divergence. In an age when American fashion, based on widely available portrayal in fashion magazines and still popular Hollywood movies, the glorification of America should not be that quickly abandoned. Even though plenty now have doubts about living in America, American styles are still symbols of "coolness" widely admired among Asian youths. To entirely reject such an important component of American culture as street fashion would make no logical sense.
So, with the assumption that American cultural influence has not significantly declined among the fashionable youth, what can cause these youngsters to blatantly ignore the fashion trends across the Pacific? The answer, in my opinion, my lay in the increasing self-consciousness Asians are having with regard to the biological differences of the "Americans" and the Asians. They are gradually becoming more and more "aware" that the clothing that "fit" the "Americans" are not usually the most suitable ones for Asians.
America is certainly to blame for Asian's new-found independent views on fashion. Looking at the same magazines and Hollywood movies still so popular in Asia, how often are Asians depicted as cool beautiful young main characters sporting spotless fashion? Very rarely. And even when Asians are indeed portrayed by the magazines and movies, their looks are often so different from what Asians consider to be "Asian beauty" that their fashion sense often just become an extension of their physical ugliness.
American media's outright racism against Asians, portraying them as mostly incapable of "being fashionable," has led to a quiet but almost unanimous backlash among Asians against American fashion sense. Sure, American fashion look good on non-Asians, but American fashion would not be good on Asians. Otherwise, why would there be so few "cool" fashionable young Asians in the American celebrity scene? To such a question, most Americans really cannot say anything beyond words implying that Asians, especially the men, do not represent physical beauty in their eyes.
Ironically, prevalent plastic surgery in Asia still sees making people look more Caucasian (bigger eyes, higher noses, whiter skin) as a major goal. It shows that, with proper public displays, the aesthetic values of America and the Western world can still capture Asian hearts. With more young, Western-looking Asians sporting loose pants and T-shirts in American magazines and movies, perhaps we will be able to see a reversing convergence of fashion sense on the two sides of the Pacific.
Sorry gotta disagree completely here...at least on the diverging fashion part.
ReplyDeleteAt least where I'm at, the trend is wearing tighter jeans as well (even amongst many of the folks who live in the baltimore projects...though perhaps not to the extent it is in korea). But the baggy jeans of the 90s has certainly been out-of-style for a while. Black rimmed glasses have been making an appearance in American fashion too. (http://www.teen.com/celebrity-style-geek-chic-glasses/ --- that was circa 2010).
And a walk into H&M shortly before i went to korea had a bunch of clothes that was similar to what many of the girls in korea wore (the retro, somewhat-romantic styled clothes). The plaid button-ups that were popular in Korea were in style in California for a bit too last year.I think its probably more a geographical thing... For instance, even in the US, Californians have a distinctively different style of dress than East Coasters... Or take my friend, who came from the deep South. He told me that whenever he wore a plain V-neck shirt, his friends would say he's metro... whereas such a shirt is pretty commonplace where I'm at. haha. Or some of the trendiest, most expensive fashion names these days are Asian designers as well. Vera Wang, Anna Sui, and Jimmy Choo immediately comes to mind. So likewise, I believe that the style of dress in Asia or even in Europe differ from the US due to those regional and cultural values rather than some anti-racism. The lack of "cool" fashionable young Asians in American media is probably due to more the difficulty of minorities to get major roles in Hollywood and other media outlets. Kind of similar to the roles blacks had in Hollywood a few decades ago... But you may be right on one part... The idea of "good looking" Asians in Hollywood differ from what is good looking in Asia. Take, say, Lucy Liu for example. Not saying she's bad looking...but she looks very different from your Asian Asian celebs. Just my two cents :)
hmmm...you are definitely right on the regional variations for fashion in the States...I am (still) seeing A LOT of baggy pants and T-shirts over here....I suppose I am hanging out with outdated people? Havent seen any black-rimmed glasses over here so far either, among Whites or Asians...
ReplyDeleteAs for Asian designers becoming popular in the States, I wonder if they are appealing to the entire population or specifically targeting a certain niche market...from their marketing strategies it does not seem like they go for certain people, but by the clientele certainly must have certain limitations to certain groups...I need more research on that one.
The rationale behind " the difficulty of minorities to get major roles in Hollywood and other media outlets" is the fundamental question that I am asking here. I definitely does not attribute the relative lack of Asian actors to Asians' lack of acting skills. There are plenty of third-, fourth-generation Asian Americans who identify solely with American values and speak only American English. There has to be another reason.
And I think that looks, above anything else, plays major role. Even likes of Lucy Liu cannot appeal to all non-Asians and there are certainly not that many Lucy Lius out there. Fashion is of course, the part of overall physical looks. I am repeating my point here, but if there are few good-looking Asians out there in the American public, it just does not make sense for the Asians in Asia to follow the fashion sense of even Asian American celebrities.
those Asian designers I think appeal to, for the most part, a particular group of people. But they are part of the haute fashion group so a lot of their ideas, designs, and such will eventually find their way to the masses.
ReplyDeleteas for looks... it's probably one factor (but a big one nonetheless). I think though looks and fashion are two separate issues/variables and should be treated as such. You can be a famous actor or actress and still have poor fashion sense.
But you're right... the truth of the matter is that looks does matter. Even with The Wire show I recommended to you. It got lot of rave reviews and such but never won a major award... and many people believe this was due to (among other things) a cast filled with unknown actors and, more importantly, a cast that was predominantly-black.
But if you take a look at movies from even a few decades ago, you'll have to admit that the roles of minorities in film and media has changed... there are greater amounts of Asian actors in the movies. While they may be, to some extent, still stereotypical or type-cast roles, it still is an improvement from white-actors playing negatively-stereotyped asian characters (take Mickey Rooney's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's). Hopefully as time goes on, Asians (and other minorities) will get increasingly larger roles, similar to how women have gotten greater roles in media, politics, and business.
Yeah, Asians still have a long road ahead to really make it big in the Western media. Like you said, the Asian celebrities of today, even though they are more prominent, still play stereotypical roles (kung fu, samurai, smart-nerd type with heavy accent, you know the rest), and for the new Asian celebrity-wannabes to make it in America, they still have start with those stereotypes (case in point: Rain in Ninja Assassin)
ReplyDeleteI think a better way for the Asians to be really noticed in America for being "cool" "fashionable" and "good-looking" would be cultural trends that start in Asia. I think Korean Wave, although still very much ridiculed in parts of Western psyche, is a good start. By introducing the unique yet non-stereotypical modern way of seeing Asian pop-culture and fashion to the Western audience, it is slowly destroying many of the stereotypes Westerners have about Asia.
And maybe one day, far far in the future, the rise of Asian cultural power will be noticed over here just as her economic and political power. When that day comes, may be it will be the non-Asians converging toward Asian fashion and not the other way around...