Mar 8 2007

Japan Fashion Week A/W 2007-08

Little known on the western hemisphere, Japan Fashion Week spent its fourth season in Tokyo in March 2007. Marking a new stop in SHOWstudio’s fashion itinerary, Penny Martin was there to uncover the creative output of a country whose aesthetic legacy has informed some of the most striking evocations of form to be displayed on the global catwalk.

There goes my last show...
This was Mon Tsuki's first (mens) show at Japan Fashion Week and my last. Black nylon suiting with patent piping around the seams, brown,shiny 'thinsulation' fabric puffas and super tight trousers abounded (boy, do they like a contoured crotch in Tokyo, it seems!). Chocolate-coloured patent is not a common sight in fashion and let me tell you, it wasn't unwelcome.
Day V - final update

Welcome to Japan!
The first show of the week is by all accounts one of the highlights. Mercibeaucoup is one of the designers under the Issey Miyake umbrella (along with Tsumori Chisato who now shows in Paris) and as such is among the more established brands, stocking in Hong Kong, Taiwan and later this year, Bon Marche in Paris. Eli Etsugi's enigmatic show notes explained that as her inspiration for the collection had been 'connections', her motif was mushrooms (as in their spread). This was manifest in a lighthearted presentation of colourful knitwear featuring polkadots and said mushroom emblems, squeezy, nipple-like caps (much like those at Comme last week) and tulip-shaped skirts, caught up with rope belts. There was also cropped, puffa trousers and print hoodies for men. A special mention should go to Kamo's bobble hair and polkadot make-up: better known in Europe as the man who does Watanabe's hair, the stylist is fantastically imaginative. Had he, I wonder, seen Eugene Souleiman's hair for Peter Jensen's 'Cindy' collection, though?
Twice is Nice at Hisui
One of the journalists that travelled to JFW in Tokyo last year -Andrew Tucker- was right on the mark in advising me what to expect from a young fashion week like this one (into its 4th season in its present form, having been known as 'Tokyo Collections' for the previous 20 years). He said that for each designer showing in Tokyo, there is a London equivalent: an Elspeth Gibson, say, a Robert Cary Williams or a Caroline Charles. No designer likes to be viewed in terms of another, of course, and certainly we've already noted a rather singular mode of presentation at Mercibeaucoup. But for the sake of shorthand -and remember, I'm texting this with extreme jet lag!- you might say Hisui was exploring similar deconstruction vs draping territory as Preen has in recent times. Note also the penchant for tableaux, with pairs of models removing volumatic clothing -ruffled and pleated wool coats- and placing it on stands to reveal slashed and strappy jersey dresses and separates beneath.
Support Surface
Norio Surikabe previously worked for Romeo Gigli -and produced lines for Corso Como- before establishing his own line in 1999. What looked today like rather conservative, if well made, office wear from the front, turned out to be rather more interesting from behind. The narrow, rounded shoulders of the woolen coats had a curved line of ingenious pleats under the armhole (is there a name for those?) that gave the fabric subtle movement when the models walked. Support Surface needs the help of a stylist, though, if their (perfectly nice) classical suiting and knits are to appeal to an international fashion audience that are very well served on this front by the ubiquitous Emporio Armani.

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