Research Notes
How Street Fashion is Shaped in Horie, a Commercially Regenerated Area
2008 Volume 60 Issue 5 Pages 443-461
Details
2008 Volume 60 Issue 5 Pages 443-461
The main purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of street fashion in Horie with special focus on the interrelationship between spatial regeneration and urban culture which young people produce.
First, I examine the varieties of shops observed in Horie in 1964, 1997, and 2003 and trace the changes in land use during the period. Second, I present and analyze the data which came from an interview I carried out with the editor of Cazi Cazi, a local fashion magazine in the Kansai. Third, I examine the interview data which young passersby in Horie provided. The informants consist of 14 young people.
The main points of the paper are :
(1) I have discussed the change of land use in Horie using Figs. 2 to 4 and concluded that Horie spatially transformed itself to a new fashionable area, especially between 1997 and 2003.
(2) Based on the interview with the editor of Cazi Cazi, I have implied that young people would not like to learn about the latest styles from ordinary fashion magazines but to learn directly from the real situation on the streets.
(3) I have reconstructed on the basis of the narratives collected from young people in Horie how young people dress themselves and how fashion is produced and reproduced there. Young people observe carefully others’ appearances and evaluate or criticize them accordingly. If others’ fashions are judged to be ‘cool’ enough for them, they are imitated, causing a slight adjustment of the current fashion. In a similar way, young people sample styles in magazines and tailor them to match themselves.
(4) Young people improve their fashion by combining clothes and accessories in a unique way, thus suggesting alternative styles of fashion for others in Horie. These practitioners form and renew the street fashion in Horie in a dynamic manner.
(5) Street fashion gives a unique character to Horie, which demands that youths dress more smartly than others. It makes Horie different from other major shopping districts.
