ブルゾン
Borrowed from French 'blouson' (the same word used in English fashion). In Japanese, the word is firmly established as a clothing-category name, alongside other French loans like カーディガン ('cardigan' — actually English) and trench-coat names.
USAGE:
ブルゾン is the everyday Japanese term for any jacket whose body is loose but is gathered or banded at the waist, typically reaching to the hip. Common subtypes include:
- MA-1 ブルゾン: the classic American military bomber
- スウィングトップ: the Harrington-style jacket
- スカジャン (sukajan): the Japanese souvenir jacket with embroidered designs
- ライダースジャケット: the leather rider's jacket — sometimes counted as a ブルゾン, sometimes treated separately
It is the standard category label in clothing-store websites and fashion magazines: searching for メンズブルゾン or レディースブルゾン on a Japanese e-commerce site will return all jackets of this style.
The word does not include longer coats, suit jackets, or blazers; for those, ジャケット, コート, or ブレザー are used instead.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- ブルゾンを着る: to wear a blouson
- ブルゾンを羽織る: to throw on a blouson
- ブルゾンを脱ぐ: to take off a blouson
- 薄手のブルゾン: a lightweight blouson
- 厚手のブルゾン: a heavier blouson
- レザーブルゾン: a leather blouson
- ナイロンブルゾン: a nylon blouson
- ミリタリーブルゾン: a military-style blouson
- メンズブルゾン: men's blousons
- レディースブルゾン: women's blousons
- フライトブルゾン: flight jacket
- スカジャンタイプのブルゾン: a sukajan-style blouson
SIMILAR WORDS:
- ジャケット: jacket — the broader category, including suit jackets, blazers, denim jackets, tailored coats, and so on. ブルゾン is one specific type of ジャケット.
- ジャンパー: jumper, windbreaker — an older term for a similar style of short casual jacket; nowadays often replaced by ブルゾン in fashion vocabulary, though still used informally and on workwear.
- ブレザー: blazer — a tailored, lapel-and-button jacket, very different in shape and formality from ブルゾン.
- パーカー: hoodie, parka — refers to a hooded sweatshirt or hooded jacket; not the same shape as a ブルゾン.
- ライダースジャケット: rider's jacket — a leather motorcycle jacket; close to ブルゾン in length but with a distinctive asymmetric front zipper.
CULTURAL NOTE:
In Japan, ブルゾン became a household word in the late 2010s in part because of the comedian {ブルゾンちえみ}, whose stage name (literally 'Blouson Chiemi') was inspired by her signature jacket. Outside fashion talk, the word is mostly used by adults shopping for outerwear; younger Japanese speakers often use ジャケット or アウター more loosely.