Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style Hardcover – December 1, 2015

I discovered japanese made clothing through forums and websites. I got to know the brands through some fanatics jeans and also scanned magazine pages, which showed me a totally new universe. Since then, access to products from Japan rose sharply. Brands that previously operated only in the japanese market began appearing in stores all around the world. I also had the opportunity to know the country and see a bit of it all. But how they got to that point was still a mystery to me, why couldn't it be like that in Brazil too?What Amora does is unify all this information through very extensive research. E. David Marx tracked many important figures and obscure clues to trace a narrative that explains the evolution of men's fashion industry in Japan, through the consumption behavior, creation, and content. Reading is light and the build up makes a very exciting plot. The book has less than 300 pages that talk about the Ivy style in Japan, the US denim reproductions, vintage culture, workwear, the avant-garde, and streetwear concept brands.One of the most interesting things in the book is how it describes the role of men's style magazines. These magazines, written by enthusiasts, took on the function of describing the "rules" of American clothing, encoding all styles in categories such as "Ivy", "Heavy Duty", etc. If a Japanese wanted to use Ivy League clothes in the early '60s, he had no older as a reference point and so had to resort to the media to tell you what to buy and how to use. The American style in Japan was not a copy, but more of a filtered version by through the eyes of "influencers"These authors were mainly inspired by catalogs, and as the Japanese rew more confident, magazines decreased the"cake recipes". I found this to be a very interesting aspect because we're in a similar boat here in Brazil. There are no references in our society for those who want to dress well, or those like a style in Brazil. Brands are pretty much all the same, and follow the same ideas. There is no diversity of styles... you can't find ivy, you can't find workwear, you can't find high fashion, at least not easily and without huge import duties. If a brand wants to introduce a new product it needs to explain how to use that product, show references, creates "rules", fight backslash of consumers, etc. We are still at the stage of how to tie a tie, not to ride your custom Harley wearing flip flops, etc. Even new creative brands do not have many resources because of operating costs, or access to knowledge and expertise to go beyond the surface of their inspiration. Sounds very much like the Japan in the early stages of "Ametora"! Unfortunately we do not have magazines and people creating content so cool, but fortunately we have the internet and books like this one!I highly recomend it even if you're not into fashion and clothes. Read it for the history, cultural aspect, and thrilling story of some cool entrepeneurs.

I found this book to be well written and cover a fascinating ongoing chapter of fashion history that I wasn't aware of until now. Even if you're not into fashion, this book is a worthwhile read!

As someone whose decision to pick up this book had more to do with Japanophilia than an interest in fashion, I was relieved to find that Ametora packs enough entertaining anecdotes on culture, history, and economics to interest even the dowdiest readers. This brisk and highly enjoyable read is at its best when it tells the stories of the eccentric, sharply-dressed Japanese entrepreneurs who innovated their own country’s fashion by carefully replicating America’s. The well-connected, bilingual author W. David Marx has expertly chronicled a topic few others would be qualified to tackle. His crisp prose is frequently broken up by photographs, allowing even those with limited fashion lexicons to follow along with the styles that progressed (and deliberately regressed) through the decades.

This was a page-turner even for me, a guy who isn't all that into Fashion or Style. And yet Marx captivates the reader with this excellent and amazingly well-research journey from the influences of American "style" in postwar days to modern, everyday style in Japan.Though I lived in Japan for many years and speak the language fluently, Marx delved much further into a level of detail and origins of "American Traditional" and its broad influence on so much of Japanese business and casual wear than I ever knew. If you lived in Japan in the last 70 years, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how and why Japanese fashions evolved in each decade, and why they are what they are today.My only nit to pick is what appears to me to be Marx's shoehorning in of street/"bape" fashion fad into the narrative, which would at best be described as Amekaji, not Ametora -- and at worst described as, well something much worse.That aside, it is still a remarkably fascinating story that fits the subtitle well -- "How Japan Saved American Style."マークさんへ、よく出来たな！

A real page turner for anyone obsessed with Japan, Japanese history and Japanese pop culture and fashion. I have read a lot of books like this, on Japanese baseball -- Gotta Have Wa -- and tons on Yakuza and bozozuko -- Speed Tribes is really great. But this one is really well written and tells a great historical story. Learn how Harajuku became what it is today, about the greasers dancing nearby in Yoyogi park, about the history of product fetish magazines, and how Tokyo youth wearing Ivy --Ivy league clothing -- really had no idea of its origins. Most of all, the book teaches that Japanese fashion trends imitate more than blaze new trails -- indeed, that Japan itself, as a whole, since Meji, is a studied imitation of the West. Well done.

Thorougly enjoyable read! A real page turner! A fascinating journey through decades of developments! I can’t wait for David’s next book

Ametora's introduction features a quote by William Gibson- fitting, since it was his twitter where I first heard of this book.Anyone can make a nonfiction book informative, many can make them entertaining- and some deeply thought-provoking. But Marx manages to do all three with his fascinating history of the Japanese obsession with American fashion, from black market blue-jeans to young Americans rediscovering classic collegiate style in the painstakingly researched pages of Take Ivy, and all the subtle adaptations along the way. A must-read for anyone with an interest in fashion, economics, history, or cultural interchange.

Only halfway through, but I appreciate the readable account of the influx (and shaping) of American fashion in Japan, especially after WWII. The author draws on a lot of primary sources (impressive research) but forms a very readable narrative about how Japanese companies and entrepreneurs interpreted, presented, and then reinvented US clothing styles. Very good read!

Recebi o livro até que relativamente rápido. Veio embalado com a embalagem da Amazon padrão para livros.Mas, para minha infelicidade, o livro estava sem plástico e com claros sinais de que havia sido devolvido ou que ficou um bom tempo no deposito.Apresenta sinais sujeira na capa, ainda mais evidente por ser da cor branca. O livro foi comprado como novo, mas com aspecto de livro usado. Ja vi livros em sebos mais limpos e cuidados do que o que me foi enviado. Infelizmente por ser um livro antigo importado, não ha muitos exemplares no Brasil disponíveis.

Un excelente libro!!! 👌🏻

Viele und gute Infos, zum empfehlen.

Un libro que es un must para todos los fanaticos del denim y del americana menswear. La historia de la fascinación japonesa por el estilo de vestir americano tras el fin de la IISGM y su adopción en los 60 hasta convertirlo en un estilo propio qué más va más allá y da nombre al libro.