Ivy fashion, folk music and the Japanese perception of American college culture in the 1960s

This article examines the popularity of Ivy fashion in Japan in the 1960s to analyse the ways in which Japanese businesses and consumers domesticated American culture. Ivy fashion, together with folk music, represented the idyllic American college life and the affluence of American society, while at the same time, marked the rapid economic growth of Japan and the youth and optimism of Japanese baby boomers. Businesses that promoted Ivy fashion idealized Ivy League students, identifying them both as the privileged elite Americans as well as the appropriate role models for young Japanese men. Consumption of Ivy fashion provided young men who lacked role models domestically with a means to define a generational and gender identity by misappropriating American culture.