TOKYO — 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 like Kenzo.
اضافة اعلان
The loss of greats Kenzo Takada and
Issey Miyake
heralds the end of a fashion era, decades after Japanese design revolutionized
Parisian catwalks in the 1970s and ‘80s.
And the French capital remains a goal for emerging
talents like Bunka graduate Takuya Morikawa, whose streetwear-inspired
tailoring made its Paris Fashion Week debut two years ago.
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 told AFP 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.
‘Goosebumps’
Kenzo 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, according to Bunka president Sachiko Aihara.
“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, which has
a basement archive 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”, stressed Aihara, adding that it was now
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. She agrees, however, that the industry is
different now.
“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 district.
‘Create new values’
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 told AFP 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 explained.
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.”
Read more Fashion
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
