The caption reads, “Japanese construction workers didn’t need to wear their pants so tight,” and a yellow face compliments a breath of air. In the picture Accompanying the publication on Instagram we see a line of Japanese workers, impeccably dressed in their work clothes. Eight more photographs follow, all of them provoking a curious fascination with the pants that are wide in the leg and tight at the ankle that distinguish the country’s workers. More than 12,000 people have already expressed their amazement at the uniform by giving a heart (and writing some fire flames). But how is it possible that a uniform designed for working on a construction site awakens such magnetism?
It is possible if we take into account several variables. First, the photographs are from Matsuda Tadao, a Japanese cameraman who has been immortalizing construction workers from different trades in his country since 2014 in images of powerful aesthetic sensitivity. Second, for the Japanese, work uniforms are not just uniforms. These represent something bigger than themselves, something to be proud of. Nowhere else in the world will you find such an influence of uniform culture as in Japan, deeply rooted in the country’s cultural values such as formality, professionalism and attention to detail. For a Japanese, his uniform is related to his belonging to a community, with a sense of unity and shared goals. They are a feature of his identity and, even more, a symbol of his professionalism. And that is why his uniforms are as aesthetic as they are functional.
“These types of pants with a loose morphology but tight at the ankles are still popular among construction workers in Japan,” he comments. S Fashion Federico Antelo, plastic artist, textile designer, and teacher in the areas of art and design at the European Institute of Design in Madrid. “This garment has been evolving and finding different variables, but its essence is still there. The curious thing is that, although we can consider that these pants are traditional, since their popularity in Japan dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, the origin of this garment is linked to the first Dutch immigrants who settled in New York during the 18th century. . Then, this type of pants arrives in Japan where they are very well received, particularly in the construction field,” adds this expert in Japanese culture.
Although there are different variants of the Nikkapokka, which is what these pants are called in Japanese, they are completely recognizable: “Their main characteristics, because there are a large number of variables, are: a firm waist, wide legs, and a clear and marked adjustment at the ankles. At first, this wide silhouette and this excess of fabric may seem impractical and not at all appropriate for the work environment, much less in relation to construction, but it is, and very much so! Since this garment allows free movement of the legs, and simple, everyday gestures such as going from standing to squatting are simple and natural, the same as climbing or descending, for example, from scaffolding. At the same time, tight ankles prevent snagging on equipment or tools, limiting the risk of accidents,” adds Federico Antelo.
In an interview with the magazine Nippon, Matsuda Tadao talks about the ‘Tobi’ high-rise construction technicians who perform especially athletic movements to climb buildings and for whom a model of nikkapokka was invented with even wider legs and lengths to the ankles: “It is said that the flapping of the legs helps the tobi detect the presence and direction of the wind, their greatest enemy at height. There are also those who maintain that the excess fabric protects them because through it they notice protruding objects when they walk through narrow spaces. I’ve even heard the crazy theory that nikkapokka help cushion workers’ falls by allowing them to glide through the air like flying squirrels. Personally, I think that, as fans of popular festivals and flashy clothing as they are, tobi wear wider and longer pants than the rest just to attract attention,” says Matsuda, laughing.
Like any garment that survives the passage of time, the Nikkapokka have done so by adapting to different aesthetic trends, including a wide variety of fabrics, from the most organic to the most technological or sophisticated. “The key is to maintain its essence: a silhouette baggy to some extent below the knee, and a relentless fit at the ankles. These are the signs that must have remained unchanged so that we can continue recognizing a Nikkapokka pant as soon as we see it,” explains Federico Antelo.
The fascination with the silhouette, beyond fashion, has to do “with very deep, atavistic issues of our cultures,” appreciates Federico Antelo. “In short, I am inclined to think that behind these differences there are two very different ways of understanding the body, how we relate to our own physiques and how the concept of functionality varies from one culture to another and, of course, how all this translates to design. Obviously, in the West we relate functionality to garments that act as a second skin, in the sense that they adhere to our silhouette, “which are one” with our bodies. While the East incorporates the concept of “air” between garment and body. This air frees movement by establishing a loose space between the body and the tissue itself.”
It is strange, because although their origin is external to Japan, it is true that their silhouette is absolutely similar to Japanese aesthetics, and, according to Federico Antelo, “therefore it is not surprising that Japanese fashion has incorporated them into its most recognizable typological catalogue. Names like Yamamoto, Miyake, Kenzo or Junya Watanabe have revisited, to varying degrees, this silhouette. It is even well known that Margiela has paid tribute, on more than one occasion, to this aesthetic. Their iconic Tabi Boots (Jita-kabi) are proof of this.”
Precisely in the tip of the shoes of the Japanese workers is the other amazing element of this uniform: The Nikkapokka are often combined with footwear Jikatabi, a more resistant variation of socks tabi with open toe. This type of toe cap separates the big toe from the others, allowing for a more flexible grip on the ground. And while nowadays safety shoes with iron toes predominate on the construction site, for professionals who work at the height of scaffolding such as Toby The touch of the sole of the foot is very important, hence the tabi either Jikatabi stay in vogue.
These are, says Federico Antelo, “a traditionally Japanese and ancestral element. So much so that the origins of the tabi toe date back to the end of the Heian Period, between the 8th and 12th centuries, when the toe of this sock was divided to facilitate the anchoring of the shoe strap. Later, in the 20th century, the Ishibashi brothers (founders of Bridgestone) were, in theory, responsible for its next evolution: adding a rubber sole to this split-toe sock, making it suitable for outdoor use. From this first Jika-tabi of 1922 by the Ishibashi brothers to the tabi boots from Margiela, there is only one step,” says Federico Antelo.
Indeed when the Tabi boot first appeared in fashion in 1988, it left a mark forever. Martin Margiela took his models to parade with this hoof shoe that today has become a cult piece: while in Japan it is part of the uniforms for scaffolding, in the West it distinguishes everything that wants to convey the world that is part of the intellectual elite of fashion. “The boot tabi “It is the most important imprint of my career,” the designer told his first distributor, Gert Bruloot, during an exhibition at the MoMu in Antwerp in 2015. “It is recognizable, it is still valid after 25 years, there are no others [así]”.
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