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.