Covid accelerated dress code de-formalization - true or false?

[dieworkwear]

 

[pasadena man]

I'll repeat this once more: Japan is changing too. The officewear industry is shifting heavily towards more casual, climate-sensitive clothing:

Japanese men's business wear industry revamps to fit 'new normal'

As suits lose favor, Aoyama and others push telework-easy casual look and masks

asia.nikkei.com

Don’t doubt that Japan is also affected by these US and Western European secular trends.

Casualization potentially a step forward for Japanese comfort, perhaps a step back for Japanese aesthetics. I am struck when watching Japanese crime movies that the Yakusa often seem better dressed than contemporary Hollywood stars on the red carpet.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Casualization potentially a step forward for Japanese comfort, perhaps a step back for Japanese aesthetics. I am struck when watching Japanese crime movies that the Yakusa often seem better dressed than contemporary Hollywood stars on the red carpet.

Having had minor run-ins with junior yaks during some of my research in Tokyo, my experience is that they dress significantly less well IRL than their movie counterparts and their manners are terrible... however the stereotypical bubble-perm was definitely still a thing, at least in the 2000s.

 

[Stylewords]

Is this confusion of class with being rich and famous an American thing?

 

[pasadena man]

Having had minor run-ins with junior yaks during some of my research in Tokyo, my experience is that they dress significantly less well IRL than their movie counterparts and their manners are terrible... however the stereotypical bubble-perm was definitely still a thing, at least in the 2000s.

Sounds like there are some interesting, untold, stories on the research.

 

[pomor]

Is this confusion of class with being rich and famous an American thing?

Which brings to mind - when people describe something as "classy" to mean "elegant" what is the etymology there? At one point, "classy" meant "conservative" or "upperclass"? Or yes and yes?

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Which brings to mind - when people describe something as "classy" to mean "elegant" what is the etymology there? At one point, "classy" meant "conservative" or "upperclass"? Or yes and yes?

No serious etymology. 'Having class' is used as shorthand for elegance, courtesy, etc. In other words, mannerisms associated with the upper class. 'Classy' is a kind of adverbial spin-off from that.

The upper class anywhere, however, is not universally conservative. In fact, most tendencies in that area tend to come from more middle class people, IME. A lot of what we'd find 'progressive' today had been commonplace amongst that social strata for decades if not centuries - though perhaps not talked about much.

This is why associating CM or formal dress codes with conservatism or regressive thinking is a mistake, IMO.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Sounds like there are some interesting, untold, stories on the research.

I've done research on security issues in red-light districts in Tokyo off and on for years... so yeah, quite a few stories, but most of them rather depressing. The stuff you get told that tourists don't notice: the girls who beg you to get them out of there, the pumped-up dimwitted yaks, the *much* more scary Russian mobsters, schoolgirls selling their used underpants from a shopping bag and buying dubious E's off even more dubious eastern Europeans, the police doing absolutely nothing about any of this...

 

[Panama]

I dined out at Harry's in Knightsbridge mid week. The two Albanians next to us were in football shorts, sneakers and at least one stained t-shirt. Admittedly they drove off in Bentley SUV. The two female Russians on the other side were in yoga gear.

 

[Panama]

On another note, the ubiquitous backpack is now worn by practically all strata of society: whether you're a mom pushing a stroller, a young man with big headphones, an older lady with hiking sticks, a businessman rushing off the subway, a homeless begging on the street corner, a kid getting on the bus - even a lawyer in a courtroom (!) - I think of the backpack as the one thing that has democratized us all in the past 30-40 years. The backpack is no longer seen as strictly belonging on a college campus or hiking equipment but THE mode of carry for practically all situations. Comfort over style has clearly won here.


Covid has stranded most of us in our respective places, but when I used to travel the only places I saw more briefcases were Tokyo and downtown Stockholm. La Defense in Paris, Manhattan and the City of London have all succumbed to the backpack.

When I had a lunch box filled with sandwiches, I use to carry a brief case. Now, that I get my lunch from Pret etc. I have gone with a back pack. I recently upgraded to a leather holdall but it's so heavy...

 

[pasadena man]

I've done research on security issues in red-light districts in Tokyo off and on for years... so yeah, quite a few stories, but most of them rather depressing. The stuff you get told that tourists don't notice: the girls who beg you to get them out of there, the pumped-up dimwitted yaks, the *much* more scary Russian mobsters, schoolgirls selling their used underpants from a shopping bag and buying dubious E's off even more dubious eastern Europeans, the police doing absolutely nothing about any of this...

And I reckon the junior Yakusa might not have 100% approved of your research, had they been aware of it.

I drove a night shift cab a few times a month in college. As Jim Croce noted, the South side of Chicago is the baddest part of town; our garage had 50 cabs and averaged about an armed robbery per week. When Taxi Driver came out, the typical review started out: “A searing account from a violent, apocalyptic, seething, nocturnal, urban netherworld.” In contrast, my reaction was “Nah, it’s just the Night shift”. A lot of bad things happen to good people in big cities after dark.

That said, researching that Tokyo milieu must have been emotionally demanding, and occasionally wrenching.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

That said, researching that Tokyo milieu must have been emotionally demanding, and occasionally wrenching.

For me, Tokyo is *a lot* safer than the average American city. Having said that, there was a Japanese investigative reporter doing work on some of these areas a couple of years before I started, and his body was found floating in the Sumida river, without a head.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

From dress codes to Japanese mafia. God I love this thread!

 

[pasadena man]

From dress codes to Japanese mafia. God I love this thread!

To go where no (sartorial) man has gone before.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

To go where no (sartorial) man has gone before.

and then beyond!

captain: Scotty!
Scotty: yes captain?
Captain: you look fabulous in red!