Cultural Analysis of Paris and Fashion

Exploring the trajectories of Japanese fashion designers in Paris through sociological and cultural theory.

Series Overview

Focusing on designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, and Yohji Yamamoto, this series examines how Japanese designers have been discussed, evaluated, and positioned within Paris as a field of cultural production, through the lens of sociology and cultural theory.

Introduction: Opening the Series

An alternative way of reading fashion.Read →

Part 1: Who Were the Japanese Designers Challenging Paris?

The structure of challenge through cultural capital and symbolic power.Read →

Part 2: “Japonisme” and the Allure of Japan

The historical relationship between Japonisme and fashion.Read →

Part 3: Foucault and the Gaze upon Japan

The politics of vision, power, and representation.Read →

Part 4: Kimono as Represented by Western Designers

Adaptation, quotation, and the boundaries of cross-cultural understanding.Read →

Part 5: Media and the Construction of “Japanese” Images

A discourse analysis of fashion journalism in the 1980s.Read →

Part 6: Discomfort with the Label “Japanese Designer"

Resistance to National Labels and the Assertion of Individual Creativity.Read →