But the influence of Japan on fashion goes even further: The way we think about clothing follows the postmodern Japanese vision, where anyone can mix and match anything from any era, and authenticity is proven through reverence to older production methods rather than creation within the original communities. It was in Japan where consumers first understood clothing as floating signifiers, where once strict lines between “heritage,” “luxury,” “sportswear,” and “streetwear” collapsed into an inclusive melange.
