Context the key at alt fashion fest

Oct 28, 2012

Context the key at alt fashion fest

Watching the Fashion Week Tokyo models pounding polished catwalks in the glitzy Hikarie building in shopping-central Shibuya, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Paris. However, since Mercedes-Benz’s debut as a major sponsor this time last year, now three seasons ago, designers ...

Louis Vuitton still going dotty

| Sep 11, 2012

Louis Vuitton still going dotty

Fans of French luxury brand Louis Vuitton are still seeing spots before their eyes. The brand’s latest collection with Yayoi Kusama comes after a string of highly successful artist collaborations that began in 2002 with Takashi Murakami. It really was only a matter of ...

Parisienne cool reaches Tokyo

| Aug 14, 2012

Parisienne cool reaches Tokyo

Isabel Marant, the queen of French haute-casual wear, has finally opened her first shop in Japan, right off of Tokyo’s Omotesando promenade. When it comes to French style, chic and sleek uniforms of black usually come to mind. Parisian designer Marant’s collections, however, are ...

The beautiful future of fashion

| Jul 10, 2012

The beautiful future of fashion

The “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” exhibition first showed at the Barbican Art Gallery in London in 2010 and traveled to the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2011. Highly acclaimed by art critics and fashion fans, the show is finally making ...

Totally wrapped in Joy

| Jun 12, 2012

Totally wrapped in Joy

Asked to name a seminal New York City-born musician with an intrepid preference for over-the-top fashion, and Lady Gaga would surely the first name to roll off the tongue. But there’s another female musician from the city who influenced global fashion with her unique ...

21st-century schizoid menswear

Apr 8, 2012

21st-century schizoid menswear

Never before has the creative schism at the heart of Japanese menswear been more evident than during the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. The official opening of the week may have been marked by the futuristically utopian Mercedes-Benz Presents show from Yuima Nakazato, whose ...

Chanel's little black jacket

| Mar 13, 2012

Chanel's little black jacket

Since 1983, Karl Lagerfeld has steered Parisian brand Chanel as the world’s reigning barometer of chic. Now he’s about to bring a little bit of that haute charm to Tokyo with a series of events beginning on March 21. First up is an exhibition ...

Stepping in the right fashion-forward directions

| Dec 13, 2011

Stepping in the right fashion-forward directions

Opening ceremony for Kenzo Kenzo is one of Japan’s most long-standing fashion houses, so it is understandable that it has undergone quite a few changes in its 41-year history — especially since Kenzo Takada himself retired in 1999. This year it is embracing another ...