"Whimsy", mint green, & instagram fashion: mapping Kawaii to mass culture (video essay)
Hi fashion girlies.. My first fashion video essay! on japanese kawaii, contextualizing online fashion trends such as“whimsy” and mint green, and the dangers of depoliticizing “girl” aesthetics. Subscribe for more of these videos from me, I had so much fun researching and drawing all sorts of connections (Precious Okoyomon, Canelle, *Charles Baudelaire, Rian Phin, Jung, Audre Lorde). Thanks for watching, as always ⋆˙⟡♡ Subscribe for cross-disciplinary video essays about fashion, psychology, sociology, quantum physics... etc etc :)
0:00 Introduction
2:55 Mapping Kawaii Fashion to Mass Culture
3:01 Kawaii in early Japan
6:19 Kawaii as a feminine aesthetic
7:43 Schoolgirls and sukeban style
10:15 Harajuku girls, gyarus, fashion magazines, fandoms
15:34 Ke ai (cute) in China: jirai kei, boudoir chic
17:40 Sandy Liang
19:09 Instagram fashion, plastic accessories, Ashley Williams, why is it so Asian-coded?
20:08 Asia and Value: Made in China, Chinamaxxing, Chinatown brands
22:34 New Mass Aesthetics
25:34 Drawing connections: nostalgia, aesthetic mutations, taste slop
28:08 Final remarks: cultural anxieties, self-oppression, art
33:38 "Girl" as a collective affect
36:18 Conclusion
Credits:
Written, produced, edited by Ashley Dodo Jiao
Title slide gif designed by Shreya Balaji
Camera equipment courtesy of the New School provost office's Student Research Award fund, advised by Dr. Dyese Matthews. Thank you for making this work possible through your funding.
Photos and videos used in this video courtesy of their respective creators.
love you x
instagram: https://instagram.com/ashleydodojiao
substack: https://ashleydodojiao.substack.com
0:00 Introduction
2:55 Mapping Kawaii Fashion to Mass Culture
3:01 Kawaii in early Japan
6:19 Kawaii as a feminine aesthetic
7:43 Schoolgirls and sukeban style
10:15 Harajuku girls, gyarus, fashion magazines, fandoms
15:34 Ke ai (cute) in China: jirai kei, boudoir chic
17:40 Sandy Liang
19:09 Instagram fashion, plastic accessories, Ashley Williams, why is it so Asian-coded?
20:08 Asia and Value: Made in China, Chinamaxxing, Chinatown brands
22:34 New Mass Aesthetics
25:34 Drawing connections: nostalgia, aesthetic mutations, taste slop
28:08 Final remarks: cultural anxieties, self-oppression, art
33:38 "Girl" as a collective affect
36:18 Conclusion
Credits:
Written, produced, edited by Ashley Dodo Jiao
Title slide gif designed by Shreya Balaji
Camera equipment courtesy of the New School provost office's Student Research Award fund, advised by Dr. Dyese Matthews. Thank you for making this work possible through your funding.
Photos and videos used in this video courtesy of their respective creators.
love you x
instagram: https://instagram.com/ashleydodojiao
substack: https://ashleydodojiao.substack.com