Japanese Fashion

JAPAN FASHION NOW

Find two images of Japanese fashion and discuss them - describe, analyze, discuss why the image/fashion interests you.

I like the Japanese fashion trend of layering. I feel like the trend stems from modesty, however I think it has a certain charm and cuteness to it. It allows women to wear skirts and dresses even in cooler/winter weather, which is really cute and not typically seen in America. Someone wearing long sleeves under a dress would get strange looks here, but in Japan and representations in media, the trend seems to show up time after time. Something like wearing a t-shirt and jeans under a sundress seems awkward, but ends up working very nicely as an everyday look for almost any Japanese women. The trend doesn't seem to abide by any kind of tropes or subcultures, but instead seems to be common street fashion. This trend extends even to very loose fitting clothing, varying the lengths and concealing the shape of the body in a kind of fashionable tent. This can even be done with two dresses, leaving on unbuttoned on top of one worn normally. This layering technique can be used in all sorts of fashions, from dresses, to flowing clothes, to outdoor wear; it adds a certain flair and chicness to a basic fashion trend as well as adds functionality when accounting for colder weather. While these two images of layering only show a small window of the possibilities, there are actually many many different ways to layer using clothing other than dresses, shirts, and pants together.

Sontag

The Effect of Photography

1.  What is your main takeaway from Sontag’s essay?

My main takeaway from this reading was the importance of photos as a medium to impartially convey the atrocities of war and suffering. The point is emphasized that a single image can capture a moment, and in that moment a thousand different things can be felt in an emotion that cannot be evoked through word or video. The image has nothing to say other than what it presents, no backstory or narrative, only the plain truth of what is shown. It can be interpreted in many different ways, and tell a story that cannot otherwise be articulated without being seen.

2.  Give at least two smaller takeaways from the essay.  Things that you found to be of particular interest.  This can include things that surprised you or provoked some thought.

One smaller takeaway I noticed was the discussion on how captions can affect how someone views a photo. Much like the photo series by Beato that we viewed and discussed in class. While those photos were clearly staged to present a specific idea or show, the war photos discussed in this reading wipe the slate clean and instead presented raw facts. However, when a caption is introduced it can skew the ideas presented much in the way Beato's photos were carefully crafted to show a specific idea or belief. This made me think more about images that I have seen or been shown, and how an applied context changes the way I interpret the photo.

Another takeaway I got was how these photos can be twisted into propaganda or even desensitize people to this kind of suffering if the victims are successfully branded as "the enemy". With such heavy exposure to horrors like this, some people learn how to not look at it, to become numb to the destruction. As media indulges in the "shock factor" that some images create, many times the message that these images would send fall on deaf ears, or blind eyes in this case. However, there are some photos that are just so raw and chilling, such as the ones not shown in the news and are instead tucked away in small folders, that can actually make a serious difference in people's views no matter how they are painted.

3.  Upload an image of pain/suffering to your blog and discuss it.  You can be straightforward about this, or you can take a well-known image that you may look at differently after reading Sontag.  

I scrolled through the entire album (somehow), and this photo struck me the most. While I don't think the reading affected the way I look at it, the information in the reading brings to my attention how much a photo like this conveys without any words or context. Something is going on with every one of these soldiers, and all of it is awful. The faces of every man is deranged, either sick with grief, stunned in death, mad from war, or simply blank and numb. There are so many emotions that are evoked for me, because every one of these expressions is so charged with suffering and the way war twists people's minds into mangled husks of humanity and civilization.