On the changing face of Japanese styling
Lifestyles and desires change and fashion has always adapted with the times, but with easier access to global influences, it has become more eclectic than ever. From casual looks to match a lifestyle, to fanciful art collaborations — Japan aims to please all.
Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo: Womenswear brands add an extra dash of cool to elegance
Japan Times fashion contributors select eight womenswear collections to look out for during Tokyo fashion week
The traditional kimono never goes out of style
The fusion of traditional Japanese culture with contemporary life isn't a new concept, but as trends change the results can vary greatly. On the runway, we are seeing sophisticated ideas that infuse new looks with time-honored tastes in subtle yet effective ways; while on ...
Matohu: Observing tradition in modern design
Design duo Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi have been making the case for the inclusion of Japanese aesthetics in contemporary fashion for more than a decade. Since founding fashion brand Matohu, the pair have championed Japanese tradition on the runway, which isn't easy in an ...
Designer Jotaro Saito seeks to free the kimono from the confines of tradition
Jotaro Saito has been showcasing his kimono brand at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo since 2006, almost a decade before the eyebrow-raising appearance of X Japan frontman Yoshiki Hayashi's Yoshikimono brand at the event last October. It's true that Matohu, from design partnership Hiroyuki Horihata and ...
Tokyo fashion week: Womenswear's mixed messages
The 2016 fall/winter womenswear collections that were unveiled on the catwalk during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo offered a wealth of cozy clothing that will likely appear in stores later this year. As has been the case in recent seasons, the designs were as varied ...
Avatar models, Sanrio menswear and disheveled clothing — fashion at its oddest
Louis Vuitton is being struck by Lightning Since the character designer Tetsuya Nomura took the helm for Square Enix's "Final Fantasy" series of games, his work has been surprisingly inspiring in the world of fashion — and we are not talking just cosplay (costume play). ...
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: breaking with tradition
There is an identity crisis at the heart of Japanese fashion. It has two contradictory faces that it would like to reconcile — both domestically and abroad. On one hand, the image of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu acolytes posing on the streets of Harajuku prevails ...
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: Invisible touch
Clothing that morphs into a person's body shape at the flick of a wrist sounds like something straight out of a science-fiction film, but such innovations were on display at the wonderful Anrealage show at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo last week. Designer Kunihiko ...
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo: Walking the line
The menswear schedule looked somewhat lacking on paper this season at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. The big names that would normally take the lead in international coverage — namely, Takeshi Osumi's post-Phenomenon project, Mr.Gentleman, or the internationally friendly Whiz Limited — were both ...
