Why is the guy flaunting his stuff like a drag? Even so, I must say he’s so cool ..i like guys who are not afraid to flaunt it :P

Official venue and date has been set for the 6th Japan Fashion Week for 2008: -
Date:Mon, March 10 - Sun, March 16, 2008
Venue:Tokyo Midtown, LAFORET MUSEUM ROPPONGI and several other unconfirmed venues

For those of you who are into fashion, you will need to check this event out as it showcase the latest and upcoming designers and fashion. If you are a fashion designer and would like to showcase your work, be sure to attend the briefing session for Japan Fashion Week 2008 this coming 26th of October 2007 - for more information about the briefing go to JFW’s page.

Matohu’s Spring Collection for 2008 is already out:

The Tokyo Girls Collection staged its 2nd fashion show on September 2, 2007 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Shintoshin. This fashion show is very different because it is a show for REAL people. Unlike the usual fashion show that targets reporters and wives from the high society with connexions, this show targets teens and young people; so in a way, this direct marketing tactic is a brilliant concept, in my opinion! The theme is tagged as REAL FASHION FOR REAL WOMEN.

Most of the fashion presented on the show is affordable, smart and down to earth enough for the mass consumers appeal.

The Tokyo Girls Collection aims to transmit the clothes that Japanese youngsters actually wear to the rest of the world as a form of Japanese culture and to help boost the domestic fashion market. The festival attracts international media, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Japan External Trade Organization joined the list of supporters of the fifth event.

Twenty-one brands came together under the common theme of “supermix,” a word describing the current trend of mixing and matching items of varying styles. Most were domestic brands, such as VICKY, SmackyGlam, and Rich. The brands previewed their collections in three separate stages, dubbed “elegance,” “trend,” and “designers,” respectively. A total of 68 popular models stepped out of the pages of top fashion magazines and graced the runway in the latest styles amid shouts of “Kawaii!” (cute) and squeals of joy from the audience.

REad the rest here…

Surprisingly, I have a video of the montage for you from the Ele tra (Ritsuko Kato’s) label:

The fashion show was in March 16, 2007. If you want to know more about when the next fashion show is go to http://www.bespoketokyo.jp/.

Some people truly love the Shibuya fashion culture. They love it so much they’d drive 7000km to advertise Shibuya fashion in their little caravan, in Europe. Well, it’s an ad for a store in Paris name Shibuya, and it specializes in …pfft Shibuya fashion I suppose. Anyway, their road trip looks pretty interesting although I didn’t see much Shibuya fashion; there was only one japanese girl there.

Check this video out:

And check out the page here.

Source: Japan-Fashion

I’ve had a few things I wanted to mention on this blog, but none of them by themselves are worth one blog post…so here they all are mixed up into one:

Firstly, a response to this comment by Mel:

…Fashion weeks (around the world) mostly display collections by designers of high fashion. Unfortunately the typical Japanese street style does not always come into the high fashion category. This is simply because high fashion is usually unattainable by normal people and sometimes impractical. Madrid fashion week doesn’t always look Spanish, Australian Mecedes fashion week doesn’t look Australian and Paris fashion week isn’t always Parisan. This is because fashion designers get their inspiration from a variety of different things from Marie Antoinette to the post romantic era in history. The designers in Japan don’t necessarily have to base their designs on Japan itself.
…

There’s more but it goes on for a while, so it’s best just to go back and read it all yourself, if you like. Basically, it was in response to how disappointed and uninterested I was in Japan’s Fashion Week, because it didn’t seem very Japanese.

She’s right, of course. That was part of my disappointment. Fashion shows don’t even tend to show clothing that you would see people wearing on the street, let alone the street of a given country. I tend to get annoyed at fashion shows, because they’re a misnomer. They are art shows really. Art made out of fabric, make-up and hair spray.

But I write a blog on Japanese Fashion (occassionally, when I get around to it, heh) and the people who read it (yes, you) are probably reading this because you’ve heard about Harajuku and Shibuya street fashion. Or you love kimono and yukata and the image of geisha. Or, you’re an otaku and into cosplay.

So when I read about the Japan Fashion week, I was excited until I saw the photos. There was nothing terribly Japanese about it, despite the name. It is exactly as Mel said: just high-end fashion/art that takes it’s inspiration from all sorts of places. And that’s not what I wanted to see.

While amusing, this photo that Taro uploaded isn’t the kind of fashion that I like to follow.

This was an outfit from the recent Tokyo Fashion Show. This next photo is Kurara Chibana who was runner up in the Miss Universe pageant this year. Her costume is a little bit kitsch but it is unique and definitely makes you think “JAPAN!”.

So yes, you’re completely right Mel, Fashion Shows are for high-end designers/artists who take their influences from everywhere. Which is what I find disappointing. I’d love to see a fashion show that was all about the various trends - past and present - in Japan. That would be pretty spectacular!

But yes, thanks for commenting, I didn’t take your comment as criticism :) It sounds like you actually saw the Fashion Show yourself, so you would have much more knowledge on the matter. I’ve only seen photos.

Hmm, that rant did actually kinda make up one blog entry. Hooray!

This isn’t really Japanese news…but it’s related and it’s on a personal note for me so just grin and bear it, ok?

Manifest is the Melbourne Anime Festival and my annual anime stomping ground. Every year they have a cosplay contest but this year they’re changing the rules a little bit.

From the website:

This year we have planned a special “FRuITS Fashion Competition” for the Friday of Manifest.

“The “FRUiTS look” could be summarized as combining traditional Japanese styles of dress with an irreverent approach to modifying and combining elements of clothing, accessories, and technology.”

Why?
Seeing as we only have Cosplay competitions on the weekend of Manifest where only Japanese anime/manga and video game characters are allowed, we wanted to take into account and support the ever growing Japanese fashion and acknowledge the hard work that some of our attendees go through to look good.
This competition is mainly for fun and hopes to relieve some of the pressure the weekend Cosplay Competitions may have.

What can be entered?
For our competition we are allowing any form of “Japanese pop culture fashion” This includes, but isn’t limited to, Visual Kei & J-rock (take for example Mana) J-pop (Morning Misume) Elegant Gothic Lolita, Sweet Lolita, Ama-loli (basically any of the “lolita” styles), traditional Japanese clothing (kimonos and yukatas), school uniforms (fuku) Japanese punk styles, Harajuku, Decora, Kogal, “Fruit” style and many more. Own creations are encouraged, we understand that there are some people that can purchase beautiful garments from Japan @_@ but this will be greatly taken into account when judging.

If you read my ramblings regularly, you’ll know that I am a huge fan of the FRUiTS magazine and books so this is going to be great fun for me. I’ll be taking along my camera to take lots of pictures on how Australians interpret Japanese street fashions. Stay tuned in October!

Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo is the first public-private joint fashion initiative. A total of 52 brands are participating in the collections held at two tents set up especially for the event in the outer gardens of Meiji Jingu shrine.

Source: Japan Today.

I am completely unexcited by this. I don’t know why, but I expected the Japanese Fashion Week to be jaw-droppingly….japanese. But instead it looks like any other fashion week around the world. Everything from the models to the clothes themselves. It seems like the Japan wants to amalgamate with the West, rather than showcase their insane, decorative, beautiful fashions that the country has been famous for, for centuries.

What a shame.

A side fact: the Fashion Week will be held biannually from now on, every Autumn and Spring.

T-Shirts in Japan are a fashion accessory taken way beyond the “classic” status that they hold everywhere else around the world. There are shops dedicated to T-shirts and many designers display them like pieces of art (which, to be fair, some are). The designs printed on them are befuddling, artistic, kawaii, colourful and sometimes just plain weird.

Recently, there has even been an exhibition entitled T-shirts as Media (link found through Jean Snow). In fact, the whole website (www.tshirtsasmedia.com) is worth perusing (all in Japanese though).

Most of the designer T-shirts you’ll find in shops are mens but hopefully there’ll be a few baby cut womens tees as I plan to acquire some!