Japanese Streetwear

Japanese streetwear did not start in a design studio. It started in Yokosuka in 1946, when American sailors asked the tailors near the base to embroider their flight jackets with dragons, and the tailors, who had been embroidering kimono for centuries, obliged. The sukajan was born, and every piece on this page grew around it: a hundred and four pieces, one strong graphic per outfit, and everything under it kept plain. That rule, one graphic, is the whole grammar of Tokyo street style, and it is the reason a sukajan and a pair of black cargo pants look right together and a sukajan over a printed shirt does not.

What Japanese streetwear is, and what it is not

It is not a logo. Western streetwear is built on the brand across the chest; Japanese streetwear is built on the motif across the back. The dragon, the tiger, the koi, the crane, the great wave and the kanji do the work a logo does elsewhere, and they do it once per outfit, on one garment, usually the outer layer. Under that outer layer the rules are borrowed from workwear and from the kimono: loose, layered, cropped clear of the shoe, and cut to move. The style has names, Harajuku, Shibuya, Ura-Hara, that describe streets more than looks, and it has a history that runs from the sukajan through the 1990s vintage-Americana obsession to the oversized silhouettes of today. What it shares with traditional Japanese clothing is the fit: nothing tailored, everything worn loose, the body suggested rather than shown.

The sukajan, the souvenir jacket the world kept

The sukajan is a satin bomber, reversible, with a large embroidery across the back and a smaller one on each side of the chest. The name is a contraction of Yokosuka and jumper; the jackets were souvenirs, and the first ones were embroidered on parachute silk. Ours are satin with contrast sleeves in beige, red, champagne or green, or all black with striped ribbing, and the motifs are the classics: a white tiger and a red phoenix, twin grey dragons over gold peonies, a nine-tailed fox, Raijin the thunder god with his ring of drums, a koi leaping through cherry blossom. Beside them sit the flight-jacket bombers in matte nylon, embroidered with the wind god or a dragon head, and a washed-denim trucker embroidered with a koi. Forty jackets, sized to 3XL, all built to be worn over a plain white tee and nothing else patterned.

Shirts, pants, shorts and sneakers: the rest of the outfit

The camp-collar shirts are the summer version of the sukajan's idea: one print, worn open over a tee or buttoned once, in ukiyo-e portraits cut into pop art, sake labels, a skeleton riding a shark, two embroidered geese. The pants follow the loose-and-cropped rule: cargo pants with flap pockets and hanging straps, joggers with a crane embroidered up one leg, wide-leg pants with a dragon panel, pleated corduroy workwear with kanji bands at the waist. The shorts are denim cut at the knee, washed, patched, frayed, set with rhinestones or printed with a spider. And the sneakers finish it: chunky utility shapes with straps, sock-knit high tops, low skate shoes with a dragon on the side panel, platforms on a wavy sole. Every one of these is cut unisex, and every product page says whether it runs small.

Three Japanese streetwear outfits that follow the rule

The sukajan. Black sukajan with a dragon across the back, white tee, black cargo pants cropped at the ankle, black chunky sneaker. The jacket is the only thing with a picture on it.

The summer. A camp shirt printed with sake labels, open over a white tee, faded denim shorts at the knee, a low skate sneaker. The shirt is the graphic; the shorts are washed, not printed.

The crossover. A kimono jacket with a crane in gold line, white tee, wide-leg pants with a plain leg, a court sneaker. This is where Japanese streetwear and traditional Japanese clothing meet, and it is the outfit that looks most like Tokyo.

Sizing, washing and keeping the embroidery sharp

Read the centimetre measurements on each page; most pieces are cut to Asian sizing, about one size smaller than US or EU, and the page says whether to size up. Sukajan sizes run S to 3XL, pants and shorts M to XXL or by waist, sneakers in EU sizes with the US equivalent listed. Wash cold and inside out: embroidery holds its edge through washing far better than print does, which is why a ten-year-old sukajan still looks sharp and a ten-year-old printed tee does not. Hang the sukajan, fold the shirts, and never put satin in a dryer. Everything is made to Japanese designs in Asia, in the fabric stated on each piece, and we say so on every page.

Japanese streetwear: the questions we are asked

What is a sukajan?

The embroidered satin souvenir jacket, made in Yokosuka after the war for American servicemen. Reversible, with a large motif across the back and smaller ones on the chest, usually a dragon, a tiger, a koi or an eagle. It is the founding garment of Japanese streetwear.

Is a sukajan the same as a varsity or bomber jacket?

Same silhouette, different animal. A varsity jacket carries a letter or a logo; a bomber is plain. A sukajan is embroidered front and back with a Japanese motif, and it is reversible. If it has a dragon across the back, it is a sukajan.

How do I wear Japanese streetwear without looking like a costume?

One graphic per outfit, everything else plain. A sukajan over a white tee and black trousers is Japanese streetwear; a sukajan over a printed shirt and printed shorts is a costume. Keep the trousers loose and cropped clear of the shoe, and let the sneaker show.

Do the sizes run small?

Usually, by about one size. Every page gives the garment in centimetres and says whether to size up. Compare with a jacket you own rather than trusting the letter.