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During the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there started to be a shift in the perception of beauty in Japan. As globalisation seeped into Japanese society, the concept of beauty was no longer restricted to traditional Japanese styles. Beauty standards of theWest were acceptable and gradually could be considered attractive. The Japanese became more receptive of new ideas and there was a change in mindsets of a certain group of people. Girls started to break free from the restrictions of the old world and began to have their own voices. They no longer dressed in conservative kimonos but instead donned dresses, applied westernised makeup, smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, made merry and led independent lifestyles that were considered wild. These Japanese counterparts of theWestern ‘flappers’ were labeled as modern girls. The images of the Japanese modern girls in the 1920s fascinated me. Despite being dressed in radical fashions and painted faces to match beauty standards in theWest, these girls are ultimately Japanese. Their distinct facial features are completely different from the sharp
features ofWesterners. Interestingly, some of the visual references even reflected ‘modern girls’ that were outfitted with traditional Japanese accessories like paper umbrellas and fans. I find it amusing and ironic that even though these girls are trying so hard to break free from the bounds of the society, there seem to be an invisible force that holds them back from doing so. They are tied to the culture they are brought up in, and it shows in a way or another. Thus, I am inspired to create a ty peface that is just like the modern girls. The ty peface might take on a modern look upon first glance, but as the viewers take a closer look, the details will reveal an Asian and traditional look, just like what the modern girls intrinsically were. I aim to extract elements from the fashion styles, accessories, makeup and other superficial aspects the modern girls used to package themselves. By creating a more Asian-looking, traditional ty peface from these elements, I am attempting to scrap away theWesternized and modern, shallow wrap, leaving the most genuine part of the modern girl behind. 3
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10 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 12 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 14 The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 18
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
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A Nao mi fo r
The Social Butterfly 12 Naomi
The Oriental Beauty
The Student
every o c casio n
The Best Friend
The IndependentWoman
The Seductress
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Nowadays, it’s fashionable for women to make summer kimonos out of organdy, Georgette, and cotton voile. But Naomi and I were probably the first to use these fabrics. For some reason the textures were very becoming on her. We weren’t interested in conventional kimonos. Instead she made the material into narrow-sleeved kimonos, pajama suits, and robes that looked like nightgowns.Sometimes she’d wrap a bolt of cloth around her body and fasten it with brooches. 16 Naomi
Dressed in one or another of these outfits, she’d parade around the house stand in front of the mirror, stand and pose while I took pictures.
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“Who’s there?,” “It’s me.” The door flew open with a bang, and a large black shape like a bear burst into the room from the darkness outside. Whipping off a black garment and tossing it aside, an unfamiliar young Western woman stood there in a pale blue French crepe dress. The exposed arms and shoulders were white as a fox. Around her fleshy
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nape, she wore a crystal necklace that glowed like a rainbow;and beneath a black velvet hat pulled low over her eyes, the tips of her nose and chin were visible, terrifyingly, miraculously white. The raw vermillion of her lips stood out in contrast.
“Good evening,” she said.When she took off het hat, the first glimmer of recognition flashed across my mind. As I studied the face, I finally realized that it was Naomi.
I know it sounds strange, but that’s how much Naomi’s appearance had changed. It was her face that deceived me most. Through some magic, her face was utterly changed, from the color of her skin and the expression of her eyes to the profile and features themselves. Even after she’d removed her hat, I might still have thought that this woman was some unknown Westerner if I hadn’t heard her voice. Then there was the terrifying whiteness of her skin. Every bit of rich flesh protruding from the dress was as white as the flesh of an apple. Naomi wasn’t as
dark as Japanese women go, but she couldn’t have been this white.When I looked at her arms, exposed almost to the shoulders, I simply couldn’t believe that they were the arms of a Japanese. Once when I saw a brass band opera at the Imperial Theater, I was captivated by the whiteness of the Western actresses’ young arms. Naomi’s arms were just like those-in fact, they seemed even whiter.
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