@toooo wins AMEKAJI
- 1Simple, not simpler.
- 2Let the materials do the work.
- 3Beauty that only comes with age.
Colors
- Dark Navy#151E3D
- Black#000000
- Dusty Blue#72A0C1
Aesthetic composition
Subjective; contextual
AMEKAJI ran from Sep 22 to Sep 28. Members entered 3,243 outfits, 20 reached the final and 553 votes were cast. @toooo, posting from Antony, France, won with 57 votes, 6 ahead of @npc_01.
The Brief
Amekaji is the Japanese abbreviation for American casual. The term covers the workwear, military surplus, and denim that entered Japan in the postwar period, and the culture that formed around studying and reproducing it. Over time, garments that had been ordinary or utilitarian in the United States became objects of extraordinary scrutiny in Japan, where small differences in fabric, construction, proportion and age were treated as meaningful.
There is a profound idea inside this. What happens when you look at something ordinary for long enough? What first appears generic begins to separate into details: the density of a fabric, the shape of a pocket, the difference between something made quickly and something made well. Amekaji suggests that to look closely is to reject the idea that ordinary things are without depth.
So this week, choose simple, but not simpler. Denim, canvas, cotton, leather, navy, brown, ecru. Clothes whose beauty is not immediately visible, but accumulates the longer you look.
The other finalists
