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 avant-garde vision was likely lost on some of the corporate sponsors, but as the week went on it was clear that conventional street and outdoor clothing was going to rain on the parade of experimental, forward-thinking fashion the organizers might have hoped to project as Tokyo's image.
Throughout Fashion Week Tokyo, the stark contrast between these two forces proved central, and doubtlessly it is going to be the main hurdle Japanese menswear faces in defining its identity internationally.