These examples show how clothing and fashion generate and support the social construction of a particular reality in a certain historical period. The uniform of the Chinese people in the Maoist period was a factor in enforcing ideological perceptions in much the same way as the Japanese aristocracy promoted the idea of social status and class through fashion and appearance. The Maoist uniform was effective as a means of reducing class distinctions as well as other sexual and social differences, in order to enforce their essential role as workers in communist ideology.

Various examples from both Japan and China indicate that national identity was shaped partly by fashion in the progression towards the cultural ideal of the great nation- state. In a study of children's fashion in China, Children's Day: the Fashionable Performance of Modern Citizenship in China, Stephanie Hemelryk Donald states that fashion plays a major role in shaping...
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