When Japan's beleaguered textiles industry belatedly
decided to invest in organizing a fashion week to rival the best of
Paris, Milan, New York and London -- and persuaded the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry to back it -- they hoped a slick new event
would garner valuable worldwide media coverage and help boost exports
in the face of competition from China, writes Martin Webb.
Dreamy headgear at JFW from designer Sunao Kuwahara, and a sassy look (below) from Yasuhiro Mihara. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTOS |
The development of Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo (JFW)
certainly hasn't been a smooth ride, given the dyed-in-the-wool
hierarchies, feuds and convoluted politics that have for so long
stymied the city's aspirations to become an A-list venue for movers and
shakers in the world of fashion. Only now, 18 months after the new-look
event was launched, can it claim limited success -- but it still
remains dogged by controversy.
In a move that has alienated many of Tokyo's top
style-setters, the third JFW was held from Sept. 4-8, putting it before
all the other showcases on the season's global fashion calendar, not
after the world's other main catwalk shows, as it always used to be.
That radical change broke a 20-year pattern of only getting down to
business long after the rest of the world's wholesale buyers and
fashionista editors had headed home from Paris -- the final stop on the
style circuit -- to finalize budgets and put magazines to bed. As such,
the organizers hoped to make an impact at the start of the season,
rather than be ignored at the end.
JFW spokeswoman Yayoi Suzuki said that by making it
more convenient for globe-trotting fashion folk, the new dates produced
a greatly improved result -- more overseas buyers (up to 50 from 20
last season) and journalists (up to 130 from 90). "We've definitely
succeeded in raising the profile of the event," she said, adding: "This
should pave the way for better results next season."
But a more mixed view of the shift in timing comes
from Miwa Goroku, editor at Fashion News magazine, which offers the
most comprehensive JFW coverage.
"If the question is simply getting the JFW name known
on a global scale, it does appear to be a success," she told The Japan
Times. "But the jury is still out as to whether the overseas media is
portraying the truly interesting stuff coming out of Tokyo, and the
extent to which the event is actually having an effect on sales."
Besides its new time slot, JFW also got a new venue --
abandoning its marquees in Aoyama for the Tokyo International Forum,
where many of the 44 brands on the official schedule presented their
Spring 2007 catwalk shows this September.
Perversely, though, despite the success of the new
time slot, next season's event will revert to its old position,
trailing the Paris collections, in what will surely again become a
final nonevent on the world fashion circuit.
Models in glam-rock facepaint bound down the runway at mercibeaucoup. |
The venue will be changing again, too. Although not
yet confirmed, next season's shows are due to be staged from March
12-16 on the site of the former headquarters of Toray Industries, one
of JFW's most generous sponsors, in central Tokyo's decidedly downbeat
and unhip Nihonbashi district.
But not all may be lost. Despite the bizarre
flip-flops over timing and choice of venue, JFW does appear to have --
to the surprise of many -- come up with some better ideas to attract
media coverage. Shows staged by Sony-Ericsson to launch a new cell
phone, and by Uniqlo to promote new lines by Tokyo catwalk hopefuls,
were snapped up excitedly in the international press.
This glimmer of global media hope has gone some way to
placating participating designers, almost all of whom are focused on
generating interest abroad. But JFW still has a long, long way to go
before it becomes a magnet for Japan's finest, who, intent on breaking
into overseas markets, instead take their shows to Paris.
So, all in all, with top labels -- including
mercibeaucoup, DressCamp and Han Ahn Soon -- making no secret of their
intention to show overseas as soon as their resources allow it, the
event already looks set to hemorrhage new talent faster than it can
uncover it.
At the mercibeaucoup collection, which visiting Time
magazine critic Andrew Tucker and Paul Flynn of i-D magazine rated as
their favorite, models with glam-rock face paint literally leapt down
the runway in between giant translucent balloon sculptures. The brand,
designed by former Frapbois maestro Eri Utsugi and backed by A-Net --
the company founded by J-fash pioneer Issey Miyake to promote his
proteges -- has the financial muscle to have opened six stores in the
last two months. Nonetheless, trade insiders believe Utsugi is almost
certain to follow A-Net stablemates Zucca and Tsumori Chisato to Paris.
While Utsugi's cute and quirky designs brim with an
originality that could only emerge from Tokyo, the more predictable
frills-and-flounces glam of fellow high-flyers DressCamp and Han Ahn
Soon is less likely to compare favorably with European peers.
While the former brand goes from strength to strength
on the back of tieups with watchmaker Piaget and sportswear brand
Champion, Osaka-born Korean designer Han Ahn Soon presented a series of
voluminous evening dresses, including a stunning all-gold floor-length
number, in her first runway show for three seasons after finding an
ambitious new backer. Despite skepticism over their chances of
achieving critical acclaim, both labels have publicly declared their
intention to shift their shows to Paris at the earliest opportunity.
One of the rising stars of JFW; Osaka-born Han Ahn Soon's runway return featured stunning evening dresses. |
But it's not all bad news for JFW. To its credit, the
event's organizers have managed to persuade Yasuhiro Mihara -- who
scored with a sneakers line for Puma, but who quit Tokyo's catwalks in
2004 in favor of Milan's menswear event -- to reprise the all-gray
collection he presented in Italy in July. Accompanied by tap-dance star
Kazunori Kumagai performing live, the show included sharp and slinky
looks for ladies, as well as the deconstructed tailoring that has won
him many male devotees.
Despite this minor coup, Tokyo's powers-that-be failed
to persuade top-ranked menswear outfit Mister Hollywood to show under
their banner. Along with much-hyped womenswear label Green, it paraded
the latest creations from its N. Hoolywood line -- a series of
dressed-down formalwear looks -- in the week following the officially
sanctioned time frame.
Also doggedly refusing to have anything to do with the
suits behind JFW was Limi Feu, the brand headed up by Limi Yamamoto,
daughter of dark and deconstructed design paragon Yohji.
Likewise, the venerable fashion houses of Jun Ashida,
Yuki Torii and Yukiko Hanai also spurn JFW -- but in their cases it's
because of their concern that their aging but high-spending clientele,
many of whom are invited guests at their catwalk shows, may be averse
to them changing their long-standing timing to suit foreign visitors.
But cozying up to the JFW executive can certainly
yield rewards. Regular on-schedule participants Theatre Products and
menswear label Iliad were both hooked up with a deal to create "capsule
collections" of just a few items for apparel giant Uniqlo, which will
retail them at extremely affordable prices through its 730-store
nationwide retail network.
Certainly, the injection of cash earned from this
collaboration was put to good use at Iliad, whose designer Gentaro Noda
was inspired by medieval court costumes to create by far his best
collection to date.
But in total contrast, the duo behind Theatre Products
paraded an excruciatingly ugly lineup of girly dresses in sickly pastel
shades on a paltry five models, who were clearly drafted in on a
shoestring budget.
A formalwear-inspired look from the highly-rated menswear brand N. Hoolywood. |
The yawning gap between the quality of those two
productions follows an established pattern that is opposite to the
global norm: namely, that Tokyo brands catering to style-conscious
males achieve more success than those producing apparel for women.
Consequently, along with Iliad, brands like Mister Hollywood and John
Lawrence Sullivan look set to replicate the success of labels like
Number (N)ine, Mihara Yasuhiro and Kiminori Morishita by winning
lucrative wholesale orders from major retailers overseas.
While international buyers' interest in womenswear
brands was limited, design duo Mint Designs, who debuted four years
ago, finally elicited attention from several top overseas stores with a
lineup dominated by huge basket headgear and kitsch prints. Dubai
super-boutique Villa Moda, and Singapore's classy Club 21 store, are
both said to be showing an interest in stocking the latest collection,
which was arguably the brand's best to date.
So while several labels whose international debut is
long overdue got a favorable outcome from the new time slot, with next
season's JFW returning to its trailing spot on the world's
fashion-shows calendar, as apparel industry daily Senken Shimbun editor
Takuro Ogasawara says, the long-term future of their deals remains in
doubt.
"More and more designers are realizing that moving to
Paris is the best way to reach an international audience," he says.
"There's a distinct possibility that JFW, and the Tokyo collections as
we know them, will cease to exist."
So much for JFW's vision -- and the hard work put in
by so many to turn around Japan's fortunes in the big wide world of
fashion.
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