Tokyo trend tradition

TOKYOTRENDTRADITION 2012/07/17
Uniforms
By Manami T.
Looking back on the history of school
uniforms in Japanese education, the standard style
for female students was "hakama," a type of
traditional Japanese long skirt. This particular style
spread across the country around the beginning of
the 20th century, and quickly became a symbol of
female Japanese students. Originally, the female
school hakama used to be colored purple, but this
was later changed to "ebichairo," or brownish-
crimson, as purple in Japan was considered a noble
color. However, the hakama style of clothing
happened to be too expensive for young women who were interested in competing with each
other in fashion and their appearance. Also, when it came to washing, the girls had hard time.
For these reasons, female school clothing gradually shifted to Western-style outfits.
Sailor-style uniform
Summer Winter
One of the first uniform styles that came into Japan was the
sailor-style uniform. It was originally introduced in Fukuoka
about 90 years ago. At the time, all the girls wore
Japanese-style clothes, which were restricting their
mobility. So, this style of uniform that allowed girls to move
easily became popular across the country, and turned into
a major fashion style in Japan. Its standard was dark blue
cloth, a dark red necktie, three stripes of dark red on the
collar and the cuffs, and a white anchor mark above the
chest. Now, some essences of this standard still remain in school uniform. In addition to that,
as it was in the past, there are seasonal variations for summer and winter: sleeve length and
fabric were adjusted accordingly.
Blazer-style uniform
After the sailor-style uniforms were imported into Japan, the blazer and checked
skirt were taken into the school system. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with
boating jacket or sports jacket. That is why blazers are often made with naval-style metal
buttons, reflecting their historic boating club association. Japanese school added emblems of