At Tokyo’s prestigious Bunka Fashion College, students concentrate in silence that is broken only by the sound of scissors and sewing machines as they strive to emulate the global success of alumni such as Kenzo Takada.
The loss of greats Takada and Issey Miyake heralds the end of a fashion era, decades after Japanese design revolutionized Parisian catwalks in the 1970s and 1980s.
The French capital remains a goal for emerging talent such as Bunka graduate Takuya Morikawa, whose streetwear-inspired tailoring made its Paris Fashion Week debut two years ago.
Photo: AFP
Morikawa, 40, hopes his shows at the industry’s top event will lead to “an amazing future, beyond my wildest dreams.”
Before launching his label TAAKK in 2013, Morikawa spent eight years at Miyake’s studio, where he worked on runway collections and the famous “Pleats Please” line, but also harvested rice and made paper to learn about traditional craft methods.
He said he was saddened by Miyake’s death this summer, but implored younger designers not to feel disheartened.
“We need to do our best to not let these designers’ deaths impact the fashion world. If that happens, it means we’re doing our job badly,” he said.
One of the big names picking up the baton is Nigo, who shot to fame in the 1990s with his streetwear brand A Bathing Ape.
The designer, who also studied at Bunka and whose real name is Tomoaki Nagao, was named artistic director at Kenzo last year, after founder Takada died of COVID-19 in 2020.
Another Japanese label enjoying international success is Sacai, founded in 1999 by Chitose Abe, who was tapped as the first guest couture designer for Jean Paul Gaultier.
Takada and textile visionary Miyake became hugely influential by pursuing their passion in Paris, as did haute couture trailblazer Hanae Mori, who died in August.
Left holding the torch are Yohji Yamamoto, now 79, and 80-year-old Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons, who shook up the fashion establishment in the early 1980s.
New challenges, including the vast range of styles now available for every taste, have made it harder for emerging designers to grab global attention, Bunka president Sachiko Aihara said.
“The world was shocked” by avant-garde Japanese design, she said, recalling how her students began to dress in black after Yamamoto launched his first monochromatic clothing line.
“But we no longer live in an era where a designer presents a collection and everyone wears it,” she said at the school, whose basement archive is packed with valuable garments that students and teachers can study.
This is because of the explosion in diverse types of clothing, “not a decline in talent,” Aihara said, adding that it was also essential to study business to start a competitive brand.
Designer Mariko Nakayama, who worked as a stylist in Tokyo’s fashion scene for decades, also remembers “feeling goosebumps” wearing Comme des Garcons for the first time.
However, she agrees that the industry is different.
“Looking at Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton, for example, I feel that now is an era of edit,” with designers making modern tweaks to classic shapes and patterns, she said at her boutique in Tokyo’s upscale Omotesando area.
Working in Paris, London, New York or Milan is still seen as key to succeeding for Japanese designers, said Aya Takeshima, 35, who studied at Central Saint Martins in the British capital.
Takeshima’s recent show at Tokyo Fashion Week for her brand Ayame featured women wearing sheer blouses and embossed dresses, while male models donned delicate dresses.
She said she had chosen to study abroad to “learn what I needed to become an independent designer,” adding that the experience had helped her understand different perspectives.
“Honestly, I think it would be difficult” to succeed internationally while only working in Japan, she said.
“In Japan, it felt like technique was drilled into you first, while ideas and concepts ... were secondary,” but it was the other way around in London, Takeshima said.
Bunka college recognizes these benefits and plans to offer a scholarship for studying abroad as part of its 100th-anniversary celebrations next year.
For 21-year-old Natalia Sato, a student at Bunka, Miyake and the old guard of Japanese designers “brought a great deal of Japanese and Eastern values” to the world, including techniques inspired by “delicate” traditional craftsmanship.
“I’m worried that the foundation they built might be destroyed by their passing,” but “at the same time, this is a turning point” that could provide new creative opportunities, she said.
“It’s a chance for me to think about how we can create new values,” she added.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS