Western Fashion vs. Japanese Fashion
By Kelli Luu | 31 May, 2026

From LA athleisure to Tokyo streetwear, we examine how fashion reflects culture and why Japanese style often feels more intentional.

Kelli (00:01)

Hi everyone, my name is Kelli Welcome to the Gold Sea Podcast. Today I'm doing something a little bit different and I'm going to be starting a series about my recent trip to Japan.

I spent a little bit over a week in Japan. I stayed in Osaka, I stayed in Tokyo, and I was in Kyoto. And one of the biggest culture shocks I had while I was there wasn't the trains, wasn't the food, and it really wasn't even the language. It was the fashion. I realized almost immediately that people in Japan approach clothing completely different than us Americans do.

As someone who's been a stylist at Nordstrom for over six years I started to notice a couple of things that most other tourists probably wouldn't.

So when you get there, of course, you are going to notice how stylish everyone looks. And I'm not talking about influencers or models or actors and actresses, people who are dressing up in the famous fashion districts. I mean just the normal people. When I say I have never seen that many well-dressed people all in one place, I mean it. The people going to work, the students on the train, people who are just casually grabbing coffee somewhere, they all look more put together.

Together than the average American might on a night out. Honestly,

I've been working in American retail and fashion for quite some time, so I have a pretty good understanding of what Western fashion looks like. And I can understand what trends Americans are buying into and really what people are feeling confident wearing. A lot of the insecurities that Americans might have here, that doesn't exist in Japan. And when I got there, I realized that fashion operates under a completely different mindset. It's not better.

fashion or trendiness. It's not about getting what all the stores are putting on their models. It is about your personality. It is about your own creativity it's almost like people are answering a different question when they are getting dressed in the morning.

American fashion is often about comfort and just overall looking attractive objectively. And Japanese fashion feels more like creating art or creating an aesthetic identity. And the outfit itself becomes more a part of that. But the funny thing is, once you can see the difference, you cannot unsee them.

So I kinda wanna get into the specifics of this whole Japanese versus Western fashion thing.

In America, especially after COVID, fashion is just so casual. There's a whole movement of, it doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what you're wearing. You wear stuff for yourself and you wear stuff to make yourself feel comfortable. Athleisure is a a whole new category of clothing that includes leggings, hoodies, sneakers, something that you can work out in, but also go to work in. And that's become everyday.

Fashion.

In the United States and even living in Los Angeles, a fashion capital. I see this constantly. If you're a tourist, if you're not from Los Angeles and you come to LA, you would think you're going to see the best dressed people. It's a fashion city. You're gonna see the best dressed people. Everyone there is going to have their own unique style. But really, LA fashion is so lifestyle-based. People want that effortless, clean.

Clean girl look, they want to look rich, they want to look comfortable, they want to look healthy, just all at the same time. It's like a whole I didn't even think about my outfit. I just kind of threw this on. and honestly,

that certain look actually takes a lot more effort than you would think.

Since we're talking about Los Angeles, a lot of the West Coast fashion revolves around wellness culture too. We have the neutral colors, we have very minimal makeup, the trendy sneakers and activewear, oversized sunglasses. It's very influencer driven. ⁓ and even luxury fashion in Los Angeles tends to be much more casual than somewhere like in Japan.

Of course in America there are those cities that you will find.

More people in the fashion world similar to those in Japan. So, like New York City, for example. The fashion in New York City is changing completely. East Coast fashion, I would say, is much more similar to Japanese fashion. It's more structured and layered and more experimental than Los Angeles fashion. And I would think a lot of people on the West Coast would find East Coast outfits intimidating.

People in New York City, they're wearing sharper tailoring, they're layering things, they're wearing leather, they're wearing boots. New York fashion really gives you that cool look. If you are looking for something that's just so cool, you will find people that dress like that in New York. While LA fashion feels like you're just trying to look attractive.

without any effort. You need to look your best, but not put any work in to look like that. Whereas in New York, you can tell that these people are putting in much more thought, much more time into how they present themselves when they step out of their homes. But in Japan

It's much different from both West Coast and East Coast fashion. When I was in places like Shibuya and Harajuku, one of the biggest things I realized was how much detail everyone pays to their outfits. In America, fashion is

Very much emphasized to focus on your body. Fashion is designed to emphasize your body, emphasize your natural curves, show off your muscles, show off your body type, and really just almost have that sex appeal. Fashion in Los Angeles, especially, you need to have that certain sex appeal in order to be considered objectively attractive.

People in LA, they talk about looking snatched. They look they talk about how flattering something makes your body. But Japanese fashion focuses more on the outfit itself rather than you.

And the body underneath it. So you might see a lot of oversized everything. People in the United States, when we say oversized, oversized means something completely different in Japan. Oversized is seriously oversized in Japan. People want something that is going to be different. It looks so cool. These trousers are oversized. So it's not even just the oversized jeans. It's oversized.

Trousers, it's oversized slacks. It's these gorgeous jackets with wide silhouettes. They're layering jackets. They're putting zippers on jackets with buttons. They're putting loose tailoring on these long coats that have a snatched silhouette that still makes your waist look small. But it also has that extra long tailoring of a coat. We have the baggy shirts and all of this cropped outerwear.

And somehow all of these different aesthetics look so good in an intentional way together. So people in Japan, they are taking a pair of slacks, a pair of oversized slacks that somebody in America might only deem to wear them in the office. They're taking these slacks and they're mixing it with a super baggy oversized t-shirt. And maybe that t-shirt's even cropped.

And then there's a beautiful structured jacket layered on top. And on top of that, you get all the accessories. They have different hats, they have different socks, they've got belts. Everything in Japan was just so detailed. All of these outfits that I'm seeing on the street.

So many layers, so many details. The jewelry, the the chains hanging off of a belt, just it all comes down to these small details. So again, like I said, it's all intentional too. It's not just, I threw this on and I look so cool. In Japan, you can tell exactly how much time and how serious these people are taking the way that their outfit is portraying them.

You'll see these crazy looking shoes that they have on. Platforms super in in Japan. I saw so many girls with platform shoes and so many stores that were selling the platform shoes. And it could go like boots, it was sandals, it was normal tennis shoes. The platform is very, very in over there.

Another huge difference that I saw in American and Japanese fashion is logos and branding. American fashion culture is so obsessed with branding, status symbols, luxury clothing. You see designer belts, you know exactly what brand it is based off the label. You see these designer bags, you see different hype sneakers that are reselling for hundreds of

dollars. Fashion in America is so consumption focused. People dress so that others know how much their outfit costs. If one of the pieces that you're wearing is not designer, it's not that cool

in industry standards in Los Angeles. But in Japan

What I notice is that people care much more about styling the actual outfit than labels. I did not see a single person there with a shirt or jacket that had a whole Louis Vuitton monogram all over it.

It's just in the details again. A purse's silhouette. The silhouettes are completely different in Japan. The way that the garments even move while you're walking is different. It flows more. The purse hangs a little bit better.

The styling of the outfit is just beautiful. They just are not afraid to look different. Whereas here in America, we're so afraid to stand out. We're so afraid to do something that's not trending. We want to.

Do the things that are trending, but in Japan, they want to be different. I think they would be caught dead if they saw somebody with the same jacket as them.

Most of the jackets that I saw the girls wearing, they were all cropped. another thing that I noticed a lot amongst the Japanese girls there is that the skirts are a huge thing.

A lot of the Japanese girls that I even talked to that they told me that they like to wear skirts because they like to show their legs because it gets a guy to talk to them, and that's what they're looking for. These girls they want a boyfriend, so to try to draw attention, they wear a skirt. Sometimes they'll wear leggings under the skirt, sometimes they won't have leggings under the skirt. But I saw so many girls, they're wearing a little mini skirt, they're wearing some platform shoes, and they're wearing a cropped

jacket and that was a pretty common thing that I saw.

Their clothes are just so unique and so interesting, so different, that it's so hard to make something identical. Whereas here we see something on TikTok and we want that exact item.

Here you have a bunch of girls in Los Angeles, and they're all wearing a matching set, they're wearing a matching set from DFYNE and they are all basically kind of your regular normal gym outfit.

I I really think that Japan has influenced global fashion way more than people realize. It's

not as popular as it as I wish it was here. I think a lot of people need to start being more open and going out of their comfort zone, wearing stuff that you wouldn't usually wear, wearing stuff that you might think looks weird here. I bought so many different clothing items from Japan and when I wear it here, it looks a little odd. It looks like out of place almost.

It kind of just is obvious I did not get this jacket here. And, I really like that idea. Now, after being in Japan, like I do not want to buy this matching ⁓ workout set that this girl has on TikTok because I want to find something else to work out in. I want to find a different outfit to work out in so that I am not looking identical.

And that's what people in Japan love doing. They love finding their own style.

Some of the most influential designers in the fashion industry came from Japan. We have Ray Kawakubu, we have Junya Watanabe, we have Issey Miyake so many different designers that have shown the world shape tailoring and the different constructions.

But for some reason it gets overlooked by the clean, aesthetic, effortless look here in Los Angeles or even in the United States in general.

I think in the US with the trends, they move so fast. Everything is changing. What people are wearing is constantly changing in the United States, but in Japan, they seem to have more of an appreciation for the way things are made and the quality of fabrics. And just overall timeless pieces. One of the most popular jackets that I had seen over there was a trench coat. And quite almost every woman that I saw there had a trench coat on.

It's classic. Here in Los Angeles, no one would ever wear a trench coat, even when it's raining. You don't need a trench coat here in Los Angeles. In New York, it's definitely more of a popular clothing item. you definitely need a trench coat in New York, which is why I would say the fashion in New York is much more similar to those in Japan.

The people in Japan just have that natural swag. They have that natural eye that puts an outfit together perfectly.

I don't think one culture dresses better than the other, but I think that the different fashion truly reflects the culture of America and Japan. American culture, again, we value convenience, we value comfort, we value trends. Whereas Japanese fashion, they like precision, presentation, and aesthetic harmony.

After visit after visiting Japan, it completely changed the way that I look at fashion. Even though I've worked in fashion for years, I have gotten I've worked in fashion for years and I have totally gotten comfortable to what is selling in America. I know exactly what to pull for somebody that will make them feel safe. And I don't know, something about being in Japan reminded me that fashion can still be so creative.

it's not great to be afraid of that. Fashion is so artistic. I think if we all shifted the mindset to I want to present myself in the best way possible every single day, whether that's with your fashion style or not, I think it would be a much better mindset to have.

And I think that's why so many people will visit Japan and suddenly feel feel inspired by the fashion because it really just gets you away from all the trends. It gets you away from everything that you see here in America. In Japan, it's not about what's trending, it's just about how thoughtful you are and the way that you're styling your outfits. And I think that's a very good mindset to go about when it comes to getting dressed every single morning.

I think that's definitely a much healthier mindset to have rather than just feeling like you are in a routine every day. Getting dressed can feel intentional instead of just automatic. And I think when you stop chasing trends, you can really find your own style and find what suits you the best.