WP3 DRAFT
JK, Joshi Koukousei, means high school girls in Japanese. JK uniforms are mandatory clothes designed for Japanese high school girls. JK uniforms are becoming a fashion trend in China in recent years. People can see a lot of different ages young women wearing JK uniforms in shopping malls, playgrounds, and some other out campus places. Actually, people in China have some controversies about JK uniforms and the people who wear them. Do JK uniforms have a strong connection with Japanese animations and subculture? What is the difference between the fake and original JK uniforms in China? Is it reflect the problem of pedophiles? People in China like the cute outlook of the JK uniform and the subculture under it, while the JK uniforms also reflect an aesthetic under the patriarchal society that the men like the women who wear JK uniforms because it lets them feel more in control.
Japanese school uniforms first originated during the Meiji era, when the Meiji Emperor opened Japan to a number of western countries for trade and business. Japanese culture began to mix with Western culture as a result of the newfound influence from foreign countries. This mixture took many forms and resulted in a new variety of products, technologies, fashions, subcultures, and ways of life. One of the noticeable influences was the transformation of Japanese school uniforms. JK uniforms have some differences from school to school and change slightly in summer and winter, but they typically consist of a blouse with a sailor-style collar and a pleated skirt.
JK uniform is a specific uniform for high school girls in Japan, while it has changed in design and usage since it becomes popular in China. Japanese JK uniforms were designed by each high school with their own school badge. It usually includes a white shirt, sweater vest, skirt, a suit coat, and boots. The pleated skirt must extend beyond the knee. The most distinctive change is the purpose of JK uniforms. It is not a daily uniform for high school women because Chinese high school has their own uniforms. JK uniforms become a fashion style for young women, especially for those high school girls. They wear JK uniforms after school for entertainment such as shopping with their friends or taking pictures on social media. The change of the purpose also brings a difference in the design. Merchants add diverse colors and textures to Chinese JK uniforms and reduce the length of pleated skirts and sailor collar shirts to attract more consumers.
The change of design usually works for the market, and all of the changes in design reflect a phenomenon of Chinese people’s pursuit of pale, thin, and young. The main colors of the Chinese JK uniforms are bright colors with low saturation, which shows the pale and nonaggressive of young women. The size of JK uniforms is usually smaller than the other normal, daily clothes. In this case, women who want to wear JK uniforms will lose weight to fit them into the clothes. In addition to the original purpose of JK uniforms, JK uniforms satisfied all the definitions of beautiful. The Chinese men were attracted to the young women who wear JK uniforms because the nonaggressive young women with pale and clean skin make them feel docile and easy to control. Young women want to be attractive and popular in reality and on social media. So they start to imitate other girls wearing JK uniforms.
Based on the patriarchal cultural influence, the men represent the authority in a lot of fields. In China, there is a proverb “女为悦己者容”, which means women dress up for the men who like them rather than satisfied with themselves. In this situation, women especially young women were influenced by men’s definition of beauty. Also, the main consumers of JK uniforms are high school and college young women who still do not have a mature value system. Therefore, they are easy to influence by social media and outside views points. A lot of my friends who wear JK uniforms said they started to wear JK uniforms because they saw some beautiful women’s videos with JK uniforms on social media like Chinese TikTok and Bilibili (Chinese youtube). As a result, the popularity of JK uniforms was controlled under the patriarchal gaze.
In conclusion, the popularity of JK uniforms in China was influenced by a lot of factors such as Japanese animations and subculture. A lot of young women who wear JK uniforms were only attracted by their cute outlooks and design. They were imperceptibly influenced by the aesthetics of a patriarchal society, which is the pursuit of thin, pale skin, and a younger look. The definition of beauty should not be made by men and we need to dress up for ourselves.
