Ametora by W. David Marx

“A fascinating cultural history” (People) of how Japan adopted and ultimately revived traditional American fashion

A strange thing has happened over the last two decades: the world has come to believe that the most “authentic” American garments are those made in Japan. From high-end denim to oxford button-downs, Japanese brands such as UNIQLO, Kamakura Shirts, Beams, and Kapital have built their global businesses by creating the highest-quality versions of classic American casual garments—a style known in Japan as ametora, or “American traditional.”

In Ametora, cultural historian W. David Marx traces the Japanese assimilation of American fashion over the past 150 years. Now updated with a new afterword covering the last decade, Ametora shows how Japanese trendsetters and entrepreneurs mimicked, adapted, imported, and ultimately perfected American style, dramatically reshaping not only Japan’s culture but also our own.

W. David Marx is a writer on culture, fashion, and music. He is the author of Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change. A former editor of the Tokyo-New York street culture magazine Tokion, his work has appeared in Vox, Popeye, NewYorker.com, and Lapham’s Quarterly. He lives in Tokyo.