Dress sense of the Japanese

This may be a well-worn subject, but any searches I tried didn't come up with much. Now that I've been immersed over here for nearly 3 weeks now (I'm in my final week, sniff), I can't help notice that the dress sense of young Japanese (15-25) and in particular young ladies is quite odd. I'm not going to comment on it further, but I wonder what Japanese adults think of this. Is it a case 'it's just a phase they'll grow out of', or do they despair of them going out in public wearing dayglow orange thigh high stockings and the like. Or do they not really care either way?

Are you complaining because they're dayglow or thigh high??

I think you'd need to be more specific about what's getting to you.

I have no particular issue with the way they dress. It just looks odd to my eyes and I can't believe that parents are looking at their children going out in the morning with the way some of them dress and going 'yep, that's fine.'

Maybe I'm just being a futzy old guy, but it just seems odd and wild compared to the way most middle aged Japanese dress, and it seems to be me that most adults must have an opinion on how young people dress.

Adults have traditionally had an unfavourable opinion about how the younger generation dress. I think it's called getting old...:-)

Wouldn't it be stranger still if young teens dressed like middle-aged folk??

The bottom line is each country has its own fashion sense. It is up to you to call it unique or odd.

As mentioned, "odd" is different on every person. To me, most cities around the world have their fair share of odd-looking youth. You have to be more specific about what you find odd and what you are comparing it with. Btw, I don't have a problem with my 17 year old, except for the odd English he's got on his shirts like "inpact wise water takes a great."

when i was in japan i loved seeing teens and young adults wearing clothes i've never seen wore in the US...i thought it was Hot, Cute, Sexy, and Intersting...i dont get to see that at home...plus every city in Tokyo (Shinjuku,Shibuya,Harajuku) had there own style of fashion...maybe you are just to old fashion...well anyways thats just my 2 cent and to Uco "inpact wise water takes a great" i have no idea what that means and im pretty sure i never will...but if you know what that can be translated to...let me know...

"inpact wise water takes a great."

Is that Shakespeare...?

Maybe I'm just being a futzy old guy, but it just seems odd and wild compared to the way most middle aged Japanese dress, and it seems to be me that most adults must have an opinion on how young people dress.

What I find more shocking is that in all this time that you've been posting I thought you were a 20-25 year old girl from the UK. Maybe I'm getting your name mixed up with someone else.

I find that some of the young Japanese wear clothes that are absolute work of art...truly amazing... check magazines like Fruits for girls and Tune for men...
http://www.fruits-mg.com/xnew/e/index.html

Practically no US young people have such a sense of style, except for a few punks and goths..and even then..

Youth is when one can be bravely bold, at least about clothes.. In Europe, in the late 1950s, I was the only boy in my big high school wearing US army surplus clothes and Hawaiian shirts...instead of the black or dark blue dress pants/ white or dark plain shirt everyone else wore.
I was able to get away with it because 1-I was one of the top students and 2-my dad was a police detective with such a stern look even teachers.were afraid to talk to him (he actually was kind hearted but hid it well..).

He did complain a couple of times about my clothes until his mom showed us what HE was wearing at the same age... acorns don't fall far from the old tree..

If you can show me a Western country where girls and ladies of any age up to 65+ dress with such elegance, style, femininity and creativity, send me your address and I'll send you $100...

I'm in my mid-40s and I look at some young girls in town, and my eyes almost pop out at times at the sight of I-don't-know, those leggings or whatever, I mean, do they think they have proper pants on, they look like they are wearing only a long fluffy blouse over chopped-off sheer stockings, without wearing any skirt or pants lol.

But I'm sure my own parents thought the way I dressed *when I was young* weird as well. Each to her/his own :)

Slightly off topic, but AK's comment reminded me of something. I personally don't have any problem seeing girls wearing thin skirts over leggings as long as they're leggings. But I once happened to be in a public run hall where several middle-aged ladies were participating in an aerobics class and one of them was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of tights. Thick stockings, that is...just that. I suppose she didn't understand the idea of leggings or spats. And I just didn't have the courage to tell her we all know the color of her underwear.

I think AK's post came closest to my feelings. I come from a small country (and a small town in that country) and most of the time, it has been a case of 'oh dear she appears to be still wearing her pyjamas.' I guess I'll just have to accept that I'mn the wrong side of 35 and young people today with their ipops and their drugs and their hpf hpf hpf music.

There does appear to be an abundance of skin, though, am I right?

yllwsmrf: What I find more shocking is that in all this time that you've been posting I thought you were a 20-25 year old girl from the UK. Maybe I'm getting your name mixed up with someone else.
I'm not a 25 year old girl from the UK, but I sometimes play one online ;)

Those leggings are from Madonna in 80's. Nothing new. I have no problem with them as I was there 20 something years ago!:)

"An abundance of skin"
On the contrary, I thin that young japanese women show less skin than europeans... For example, even if it`s still quite hot now in Tokyo, a lot of young girl wear these high socks or leggings, while in france, we just go with bare legs...
And they also wear often thights with these blouse/shirts things, wich can be seen as "short", but we don`t see their skin at all...

I'm a 22-year-old English girl and - before I came to Japan - had the idea that lots of people would be walking around in Harajuku/lolita/gothic clothing, distinctive hair and make-up or conservative long skirts and long-sleeved tops

However, the reality is much more varied than that. Just as varied in England, but in a different way.

_:_:_

The thing that surprsied me the most when I first came here was that girls could wear skirts of ANY length [Sometimes, if a girl lay down or sat in a certain way, I could make out what her knickers looked like] but shoulders and bust were considered rude.

Back home, I'd normally expose my bust over my legs [Would you rather see lots of bare large boobs or bare thunderthighs and saddlebags?!]. One of my trademarks is to wear boobtubes with jeans, with nothing over the boobtube as I overheat too easily and find boobtubes very comfortable.
However, after having heard "Samukunai?" a bit too often on a warm spring day (and an explanation from a housemate), I learnt to cover up a bit more. It's frustrating when it's so hot your back's dripping sweat yet I feel like I HAVE to wear a jacket because I'd be seen as whorish otherwise.
Luckily I also love wearing skirts/shorts with long socks or tights!!

I agree with younggirl's post, BTW.

P.S. For my final year oral presentation for university, I'm talking about decency in Japan and England throughout history, censorship and pornography.

This topic's really interesting and useful to me and I hope there'll be more replies where this one came from ^_^

Regarding “an abundance of skin”

I totally agree with younggirl and selbydate16. In summer in America, I see people show more skin than Japanese women. I especially see many women wearing tops that show their belly/tummy. I don’t see much bare belly in Japan.

Would you rather see lots of bare large boobs or bare thunderthighs and saddlebags?!

I'd rather see neither, as neither are very nice.

Also… boobtubes? do people still wear those? and if so, WHY? I remember them being popular in the 90's (when I was a teenager) but they are awful, especially for 'larger' boobs, although I've always found 'larger' women tend to be more likely to show flesh… I don't get it, no-one wants to see that.

But anyway… I think compared to some places in England I'd take Japanese fashion any day ^_^