Affirmation and affect: A sociological account of kawaii fashion communities

Abstract

This thesis considers how kawaii fashion practitioners use clothing as a means to explore the self and to express their desire to be adored and admired. Associated with practices of femininity in Japan, 'kawaii' is Japanese for cute or adorable. Current studies of kawaii fashion have overlooked the significance of the subjective experience of the wearer when considering the meaning behind this mode of dress. This thesis investigates the personal significance of kawaii fashion to practitioners and the creative process behind their mode of dress. My argument begins with the observation that kawaii fashion practitioners have an affective experience of cute objects, and proceeds to show that they seek to take on the properties of these objects so as they might be affirmed by others. This thesis draws upon qualitative interviews conducted in Harajuku, Japan in 2013 and 2014 with participants of kawaii fashion communities who identify with style categories such as Lolita fashion, Fairy kei, Decora fashion and Hime Deko. In order to explore how clothing enables participants to explore the self, the thesis uses Donald Winnicott's ideas about play to show that participants try to adopt the properties of the cute object in order to resolve their underlying feelings of lack and thereby creating new potential for the self. Dorothy Smith's writings on the active text demonstrate that kawoii fashion practitioners play with feminine texts as active subjects through this exploration and performance of the self. Kawaii fashion practitioners perform this new self for others so this new self might be affirmed, a process which is illuminated by Erving Goffman's theories of self and performativity. Johan Huizinga's theorisation of play is used to argue that rules of interaction and 'social worlds', which non-participants are not privy to, are formed when practitioners come together. Ultimately, this thesis finds that affect and affirmation play a key role in creative the practices of kawoii fashion communities.