In a move to increase international exposure of young Japanese fashion designers, the Japan Fashion Week organization presented a handful of labels at New York Fashion Week last month [read more]

Japan has always been poised to show the rest of the world the allure of shadows and blackness; to remind us that as stars cannot be seen in the day, it is darkness that gives form to light [read more]

Lica and Naka of the fashion labels 20471120, Tokyo Recycle Projet and Zechia on how fashion can change the world  [read more]

Bringing together two of Japan’s most visionary and free spirited women, an installation from SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima for Comme des Garçons has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo [read more]

Continuing until the end of this week at the Centre For Cosmic Wonder Tokyo: original prints from the Cosmic Wonder Free Press Sunday Edition [read more]

A few other highlights I haven’t already mentioned … [read more]

There are those who would say ‘The Fashion Show of The Gods’ might be an ambitious thing to call your own fashion show – but the smoke, Nico Muhly soundtrack and senior men in volumes of white fabric and hair had us all convinced last night at writtenafterwards [read more]

Yesterday the BBC reported a new tiny dinosaur species had been identified from fossilised remains, measuring 4 inches in height. Go science! Meanwhile in parallel Tokyo fashion world the young label Tiny Dinosaur unearthed their SS10 collection ‘dreamtime’ in a somewhat tiny space just off Omotesando. We were invited to peer into a temporary bedroom setting where we saw some beautiful tailoring, shirts-turn-skirts, and boots with toes [read more]

The knitwear mastermind Keiichi Muramatsu unveiled his ‘Colour Theif’ collection for everlasting sprout last night, under a suspended web of white garments waiting for stolen colours… [read more]

Notes from day 2 of Japan Fashion Week: as the Japanese turn their backs on the frenzied consumption of handbags that require mortgages, it’s exciting to see a new generation of designers for whom the aspiration of luxury is irrelevant [read more]

A few years ago a certain mademoiselle named Yulia stated popping up more and more frequently on the Tokyo electro scene and in the street fashion press like FRUiTS. Her perfect blue or purple bob is now ubiquitous [read more]

For his AW09 collection Elizabeth or Spain, Dress 33 designer Toshikazu Iwaya used elements from Elizabethan England (remembered as the Golden Age of England, 1558–1603) and the height of the Spanish Empire (Spain’s so-called Golden Age, 1521–1643). [read more]

With their mind-boggling tailoring and cute cute cuteness, designer Eri Utsugi’s clothes are surprisingly laidback and wearable when they’re off the runway (basketball-sized fur mittens optional of course) [read more]

Nagi Noda’s death on September 7 2008 robbed the world of an unbridled imagination that fed on surrealist pop and hilarious, super-kawaii fantasy. Lest we forget. Not that we could even if we wanted to: everything she touched became infused with her idiosyncratic, candy-coloured exuberance, leaving a vivid impression on all who were exposed to her work.

A film director, graphic designer, toy maker, art director and fashion designer, Nagi was born in Tokyo and spent 5 years in New York before returning to Japan in ‘87. She worked as a multi-disciplinary new media artist for various projects and exhibitions; created ad campaigns for clients including the La Foret department store in Harajuku, Nike and Coca Cola; started a fashion label with artist Mark Ryden, and made countless music videos for the likes of Cut/Copy, Scissor Sisters and Japanese pop star Yuki [read more]

Hidenobu Yasui is more comfortable with the term ‘shokunin’ (traditional Japanese craftsperson) than ‘fashion designer’. After graduating from Central Saint Martins he set up a label in London, but soon found himself drawn back to his homeland where he eagerly embraced traditional Japanese textiles and techniques. “When I produce my work as a Japanese shokunin I am passionate about opening up new ways to perceive the world with sense of Japanese beauty, honour and sensitivity that are passed on from the past,” he says. Incorporating high-quality natural fibres, refined tailoring processes, neutral tones and sculptural forms, he produces gender ambiguous clothing that aims to “bring the focused strength and delicate beauty that arises from the ephemeral.” Shokunin or fashion designer, we are official fans. [read more]

So we haven’t done a rap about our love for Rei Kawakobu but that doesn’t mean there’s not an abundance of love (and rapping skills) here. Not only has she revoutionised fashion with her eccentric and uncompromising vision, she’s nurtured a whole new generation of designers under her mummy wings. Another Kawakobu protégé, Nozomi Ishiguro worked as a design assistant for Junya Watanabe at Comme des Garçons for 12 years before forming his own label in 1998. The simple philosophy behind Nozomi Ishiguro Haute Couture is “there is no such thing as going too far” and his designs are always reaching new heights of vivid exuberance and hilarity. Do I feel a rap coming on? [read more]

Tokyo, August 3. High up on the 5th floor of Shibuya store Cannabis. The ksubi collective have erected a bright blue plastic home away from home. Inspired by the hand built shelters of the homeless people of Tokyo’s streets, the installation Home honey, I’m hi! reflects both the Japanese obsession for material comforts and our desire for a simpler hassle-free existence. Post exhibition, the installation became ksubi’s first “pop n shop” pop up store [read more]

“But you are still thinking in terms of a life with a real face. The mask does not deceive and is not deceived. How about putting on a new mask, turning over a new leaf, and starting another life?”

(Kobo Abe, The Face of Another)

A look back at a look book from 2006, marking the first collection from Fugahum; a fashion label which frequently crosses over into the realms of  visual art and  instillation.

After 6 years as a designer with Yohji Yamamoto, Asuka Yamamoto formed Fugahum with Akiyoshi Mishima, an artist, art director, graphic designer, film director and VJ. Their work together is based on the notion of a fictional nation named ‘Fugahum’, and their aesthetic nestles somehwere at the boarders of street and fantasy; gothic and futuristic; macarbe and beautiful [read more]

In the traditional, highly refined Japanese artform of banraku puppetry, the three men required to manipulate each puppet are in clear view to the audience. Because the art and the labour are exhibited simultaneously, the artiface of it because an integral part of the performance rather than something to disguise. In a similar way, this film makes no attempt to appear natural and is self-conciously highly constructed and stylised [read more]

Risa Nakazawa works as an artist coordinator and marketing manager for GAS Japan. As a company, GAS does so many things that we feel slightly dizzy writing them down. Through the GASBOOKS publishing arm, CALM & PUNK GALLERY and 20,000,000 fragments (20MF) fashion label, GAS provides a platform for artists all over the world to showcase their work to a wider audience. Recently, GAS also started workshops that connect kids with artists to hopefully “make world little bit happier with the creative mind-set”. Risa took time out to chat briefly with us about the latest GAS projects [read more]

Created by Taku Satoh Design Office, this campaign for Issey Mikaye’s latest Pleats Please collection is giving us hungry eyes [read more]

After graduating from Bunka Fashion College in Knit Design, Keiichi Muramatsu worked for Italian yarn manufacturer Lineapiu. He returned to Japan and founded Everlasting Sprout with Noriko Seki in 2005. With a focus on colour, texture and layering, their unbridled imagination and optimism makes their spun yarn creations utterly free of cynicism. As Muramatsu, says, ‘We want to produce things with the sense of reaching toward hope like sprouts grow toward sunlight’ [read more]

Get your geometry sets out: function follows form in these sculptural garments by Anrealage. With utter disregard for the contours of the human body, designer Kunihiko Morinaga has based his last few seasons on the most elemental of shapes: spheres, cubes and pyramids [read more]