Lica and Naka met in the early 90s when they were at art school together in Osaka. They launched their first fashion label 20471120 (the name referring to the date when Naka believes “something will happen”) in 1994, establishing boutiques in Tokyo and Osaka the next year and quickly developing a cult following amongst Japan’s flourishing street fashion scene.

By 2000 they were experimenting more and more with reused clothing and embarked on a new venture called Tokyo Recycle Project. During fashion week in Tokyo that year, instead of putting on a show they sent empty cardboard boxes to all the local fashion journalists, with a note inside requesting they send them back a garment from their wardrobe which they no longer wore. After gathering information from each person about their lives and their memories of the clothes they had sent, the designers set about deconstructing and reassembling all the garments they had received, making them into new, more desirable pieces to return to their owners.

The project caused quite a stir in Japan and the designers soon found themselves set up with a Tokyo Recycle Project centre in Harajuku, where anyone could come to see them with their old unwanted clothes and have them remade into something new on site. It was read as a critique of Tokyo’s hyper-consumerist culture, and it encouraged people to form more meaningful relationships with their material belongings, something which Lica and Naka believe is lacking in contemporary life.

In 2001 the pair presented a Tokyo Recycle Project collection based on the reuse of pre-existing garments from UNIQLO (the Japanese mega-brand specializing in cheap mass produced clothing), including a dramatic red dress which was assembled live on their model, as a performance piece (see last image below). Shortly after, they embarked on a trip along the Silk Road from Italy to Kyrgystan, making exchanges for used clothes along the way and eventually releasing a special collection called Silk Road Remix Recycle.

In recent years they launched Zechia, a more orthodox fashion label which still retains the irreverent spirit of Tokyo Recycle Porject and 20471120. Lica (who is also a licensed aromatherapist and has worked as a chief designer at Cacharel) does most of the designing while Naka (who is a practicing artist – some examples of his work above) looks after their graphics and related art projects.

For Spring/Summer 2010 they started the new eco sister line Zechia Hearty, which was shown a few weeks ago at Japan Fashion Week. Using organic and recycled cottons, it features T-shirts embellished with simple messages like “Love Family” and “Keep The Earth” or Naka’s hand-drawn graphics of endangered and extinct species. The duo appeared utterly free of cynicism as they humbly explained to me that they continue to see fashion as offering an unparalleled opportunity to communicate a message, and to change the way people live their lives.

Naka (Masahiro Nakagawa) has a solo exhibition at Gallery Venue in  Denmark next year, including works from the Tokyo Recycle Porject and 20471120 archives.

T-shirts from the new Zechia Hearty line (Spring/Summer 2010).

Tokyo Recycle Project fashion show at The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (2005).

Tokyo Recycle Project dress assembled from pre-existing synthetic UNIQLO garments (Spring/Summer 2001).

There were a few askance glances at fur fur where designer Aya Furuhashi celebrated making a real mess of things, but it was once of the most enjoyable shows of the week. Furuhashi started FUR as a project for “hand-made one offs and action-painting” in 2005, launching it as an independent fashion label the following year. In 2008 the brand name was changed to fur fur and they have quickly established themselves as a favourite amongst Tokyo’s more progressive fashionistas.

A few other highlights from JFW I haven’t already mentioned …

Lots of blue and green with no colours in between at matohu.

White light from the self-trained Junya Tashiro

Bare feet and strong silhouettes at jazzkatze

Menswear included the masculine lace and trimmings from new label ODRADEK (above), and preppy sophstication from HEATH (below).

In other news, a fascinating exhibition of samurai art and armour has just opened at Gallery Shingendo, showing some interesting parallels with the elaborate layering, bold colouring and sculptural forms of contemporary Japanese fashion. I am in love with this ensemble and feel it would be equally suitable for fighting battles in the mountains and drinking strawberry milkshakes in Harajuku, and therefore perfect for my lifestyle.

[Samurai image courtesy Gallery Shingendo. Runway images courtesy Japan Fashion Week Organization]

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.

‘Travelling back in time, when the gods were holding the very first fashion show for the world’s kingdom inhabited only by animals.’ That was apparently the concept behind it all, and it made for a memorable and somewhat hilarious closing show for Japan Fashion Week.

It was held on the sports court of the Taito Designers Village, where the innovative and ever-playful label had also set up a beautiful instillation featuring a miniature scene of animals watching the gods on the runway, as well as lace globes and globe bags …

Photos by Amelia Groom.

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.

Photos by Amelia Groom.

Japan Fashion Week has just kicked off, amidst interesting circumstances. The industry’s continuing struggles came to a head a fortnight ago when one of J-fashion’s biggest heroes, Yohji Yamamoto, filed for bankruptcy (with company debts exceeding US$64 million). It came as a shock to many, but was only the latest in a series of blows.

Late last year, for example, as Japan’s high end fashion market drastically dwindled, Louis Vuitton announced it had cancelled its plans to open a new (much hyped) 12-story store in Ginza; and just last week Versace declared it would close all its Japanese stores.

Once the home of thousand dollar melons and Hermès accessories for dogs, Japan’s status as having the world’s most avid luxury shoppers – often been cited as the land where a whopping forty per cent of the world’s luxury fashion has been consumed – is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Meanwhile business is up-and-up for cheap franchise clothing stores like Uniqlo and H&M, and the trend towards second hand clothes continues to grow with chains like Rag Tag (recycled designer wear) and Hanjiro (super cheap vintage and used clothes) opening new outlets left, right and centre.

So what does it all mean for Japan’s young fashion designers? Just two days in to fashion week and it’s apparent they remain full of ideas, energy and optimism. Highlihts so far include the toxic waste mutants of Toshikazu Iwaya’s Dress 33 line  who were decked out in sickly synthetic colours and textures with Gaultier-esque exuberance…

Lots of custom-embellished Asics bike pants for men from Dress 33.

Also a favourite, mintdesigns presented another breath of minty fresh air at an off-site show, this time in the gorgeous al fresco surrounds of the historic Tokyo National Museum at dusk. The brainchild of Nao Yagi and Hokuto Katsui, mintdesigns seems to embody all the best of Japanese fashion: originality, humour and socks, really really great socks …

Another highlight has been THEATRE PRODUCTS who presented their latest eclectic and eccentric ensembles at Vacant in Harajuku last night. Basing their brand’s philosophy on the pursuit of theatre within daily life, Akira Takeuchi and Tayuka Nakanishi’s original vision and ongoing collaborations across various fields of visual art, design and performance have earned them a devoted following …

Tributes to Bombay Sapphire ran throughout the THEATRE PRODUCTS show, as we sipped on their gin cocktails.

So today’s lesson is that the death of luxury is not the death of fashion. The industry is redefining itself and 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.

On a final note, all of this makes an interesting context for the new fashion exhibition Luxury Reconsidered, to be opening shortly at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Examining luxury and fashion in light of our changing times, it will feature around 100 garments from the collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute (as well as a special instillation from Comme des Garçons and SANAA! More on that soon).

Photos by Amelia Groom.