The Formation of Women's School Uniforms in Modern Japan : Interrelationship between the Educational System, Students and Uniform Production

This article aims at reconsidering the history of women's school uniforms from the viewpoints of the educational system, students, and uniform production in modern Japan. Though the historical studies of school uniforms have focused on the control of students' bodies and clothing by schools, this article moreover notices the significance that women students realized in their uniforms, and the situation that their uniforms were made in the transition from Kimono style to Western style. The composition of this article is as follows. First, it gives an outline of the history of women's school uniforms from the Meiji era to the early Showa era. Second, it elaborates the process of wearing HAKAMA which women students longed to put on in the 30's of the Meiji era. And third, it considers the practical situation that the school uniforms were made, worn by students and controlled by schools. To conclude, in modern Japan women's school uniforms were formed as a culture by interrelationship among schools, students, and uniform production. Schools instituted uniforms for the realization of educational policy and the regu lation of clothing. On the other hand, women students created their original meanings and dressing in their school uniforms. And the school uniforms as a culture prevailed involving the changes of styles of living in clothing, for example, from Kimono style to Western style and from sewing at home to buying products in stores