After successive seasons of canceled shows and virtual presentations, the largely in-person Tokyo Fashion Week returned with a mix of technicolor palettes, digital innovation and sculptural runway creations.
With 54 brands and 30 physical exhibits in attendance, the Fall-Winter 2022 edition of the event marked an optimistic return to form and the largest number of participants since the pandemic hit.
Designer Tomo Koizumi, whose flamboyant creations went viral after his show at New York Fashion Week 2019 and more recently at the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, performed in his home country , with Japanese celebrities among those who modeled his creations.
Hosting her intimate “red carpet”-themed show at Tokyo’s Edition Hotel, Koizumi expanded her repertoire of statuesque ball gowns with a frilly suit, worn by transgender actor and model Satsuki Nakayama, and a red jumpsuit with a gigantic cream skirt, modeled by actor and former pop star Yuko Oshima.
“It was hard to do and achieve,” Koizumi said of his collection, adding that he believed it could bring “new opportunities” and that he hoped to dress more Japanese stars in the future.
Tomo Koizumi was supported by Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo’s “by R” initiative, which supports Japanese fashion brands. “I think having your own signature style is more important than following trends,” he said of young designers. “You should try to make trends.” Credit: Courtesy of Tomo Koizumi
Some designers took advantage of the welcome return of larger audiences to showcase their creations in new and unexpected ways. Punk-inspired label Kidill performed a live concert (pictured above), dressing indie band Psysalia Hito in dresses of hypersaturated colors and tartan. Meanwhile, Yoshio Kubo, in what the organizers dubbed an “NFT presentation,” presented his sculptural works as an exhibition, with models wearing monochrome creations billowing into extravagant puffy dresses. The pieces were inspired by digital fashion, Kubo told CNN, where the possibilities are endless. “I used air to make (the pieces) big. When (attendees) saw the collection, they thought the clothes were really unreal.”
Kidill’s creations were worn by Japanese rock band Psysalia Hito, who performed live at their show, and the band’s guitarist is seen wearing the dress above. Credit: courtesy of Kidill
Yoshio Kubo, who founded his brand in 2004, took inspiration from traditional Japanese kites this season, as well as digital fashion. Credit: Courtesy of Yoshio Kubo
Covid-19 still loomed over the event, with attendees forced to wear masks and capacity limited to 200-250 people per show, less than a third of pre-pandemic levels. But Kaoru Imajo, one of the directors of the Japan Fashion Week Organization (which oversees the event), said organizers were “very happy” with the turnout, despite the absence of more foreign buyers and editors. international.
“We have wonderful designers coming up and international designers are doing shows,” Imajo said via video call. “But we wish we had more guests.”
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While Covid-19 has posed significant challenges, event organizers have also benefited from travel restrictions. Some of the more established local brands, which normally exhibit abroad, chose to participate in Tokyo this year.
The event also gave emerging designers like Shun Ishizawa a chance to shine. Ishizawa, who debuted his namesake label during the event, said the platform allowed him to “share my brand and world view with more people,” adding that Hokkaido, where he is based, has a smaller fashion network than Tokyo. . Inspired by the rebellious “yankii” subculture of the 1980s, his collection featured wide-leg pants as well as traditional Japanese iconography, such as denim jackets emblazoned with daruma dolls.
Cropped jean jackets were paired with wide-legged pants, a style favored by the subculture. Ishizawa said that the quest for “masculine” and “elegant” was central to his brand. Credit: Courtesy of Maison Shun Ishizawa
Daruma appears in a Maison Shun Ishizawa denim jacket. Credit: Courtesy of Maison Shun Ishizawa
While Japanese fashion has a strong global reputation, thanks to Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake, younger, less established brands are still overlooked internationally, said Imajo, the director. He believes the platform provides needed exposure, but says more can be done within the industry to help the country’s talent keep pace with young Korean and Chinese designers who he says are “going strong.”
This may be partly due to language barriers, he added, saying that Japanese designers are comparatively “not very good at speaking English” and could be “shy” as a result, leading to communication problems with journalists and buyers. . “I think Japanese designers have more potential, but they (can’t) show it,” she said.
Tokyo Fashion Award-winning designer Harunobu Murata, whose modern approach to womenswear this season was exemplified by relaxed tailoring and reinterpreted cloche hats, also sees a need to define “the character of Japanese designers.” . It’s a goal that events like Tokyo Fashion Week are critical to achieving, he added. “We need to figure out the right value of a Japanese designer, what kind of value can we give to international buyers,” he said in a video call.
“We need to define that. We need to have a clear message (about) who we are and what we are presenting, which we can only do from Japan,” she said.
Below are some of the trends emerging from the catwalks.
deconstructed garments
Featured cutouts on this Seivson look. Credit: Courtesy of Seivson
Pillings reinvented knitwear in his Fall Winter collection. Credit: Courtesy Pillings
Deconstruction was a prominent trend at Tokyo Fashion Week, with brands breaking up and mixing fabrics, creating negative space with prominent cutouts. Both toile and gray versions of a cutout dress from Taiwanese brand Seivson (above, left) appeared on the runway. Pillings pushed the boundaries with knitwear, creating an oversized red sweater, which featured a great cut and a mix of knit styles. Nisai’s collection also played with patchwork, with a denim shirt becoming a set of different shades and frayed edges.
Gender fluid menswear
Peien’s models appeared in mesh knit dresses. Credit: Courtesy Peien
Yellow flowers adorn this look from the Tanaka Daisuke collection. Credit: Courtesy of Tanaka Daisuke
Gender-fluid menswear was also seen in many collections, in keeping with broader conversations about masculinity taking place in the fashion industry. Peien featured his male models in mesh knit dresses, Kidill dressed Psysalia Hito’s band members in vibrant, splashed dresses and headbands, while Tanaka Daisuke took a softer approach to menswear, sending a model in a floral print suit.
relaxed suit
Base Mark’s version of a casual suit. Credit: Courtesy of Base Mark
The altered version of Koizumi. Credit: Courtesy of Tomo Koizumi
Harunobumurata wanted to create a collection that embraces elegance.
Relaxed suits were a recurring trend throughout the collections, as designers swapped sharp, figure-hugging tailoring for looser silhouettes, perhaps a response to the changing attitude towards workwear that has developed during the pandemic. Designer Harunobu Murata explained that he was inspired by the “freedom” of Jacques Henri Lartigue’s photography and wanted to create a collection full of “elegance without being too serious”. Meanwhile, Base Mark brought tangerine tones to a casual suit, which featured flowing, wide-leg pants and contrasting shades of blue. Even Koizumi brought his own touch of ruffles to the silhouette, creating a loose-fitting blazer with an eye-catching ruffled lapel detail.
sculptural silhouettes
Kubo’s collection was digitally scanned and sold as NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Credit: Courtesy of Yoshio Kubo
Black Tiered Dress from CFCL. Credit: Courtesy CFCL
Some designers moved away from everyday wearable items and instead created sculptural outfits that would look right at home in a museum. Designer Yoshio Kubo’s collection featured giant inflatables and this harness frame, which featured functional pinwheels. At CFCL, experimental silhouettes gave knitwear a modern look, as seen with this little black dress.
bright, bold
Non Tokyo designed this voluminous hot pink dress with a mesh balaclava. Credit: Courtesy Non Tokyo
The Pays des Fees collection featured bright colors and eclectic patterns. Credit: Courtesy Pays de Fees
Punk-inspired looks at the Pays des Fees parade.
While last year’s collections were full of darker “anger and sadness,” according to Imajo, this season more designers expressed joy through vibrant creations. The Pays des Fees show was filled with bright neon motifs and patterns, the brand’s designer Lim Asafuji saying in an email that his design explored “fantasy in the modern age, when electricity and science have made make it harder to dream”. And NonTokyo featured outfits full of juxtaposition, like one that included a pink dress, headgear and balaclava.
Source: www.cnn.com