Japan Fashion Week S/S 10

If the fashion world read the Tokyo catwalks like tealeaves, they might conclude that come next spring we’d be adorning ourselves with the actual leaves. Or dressed in homage to disco-going mermaids and Victorian rag pickers. Given this tendency towards playfulness and theatricality, those brands hell bent on offering yet another parade of skinny black pants were duly rewarded with a yawn. The best of the week, meanwhile, had spectators’ mouths gaping with anything but boredom.

Marjan Pejoski’s collection for Dress Camp (the house founded by Toshikazu Iwaya, now of Dress 33) served up a delicious ménage of cocktail dresses baked in a boudoir hothouse. Picture tulip-shaped minis, hotter than hot pants, and marbled prints of spring’s boldest hues, topped with kiss-shaped corset belts, feathers and gemstones. In contrast, Pejoski’s dandyish vision for men translated into chic (sheik?) white suits and beaded leggings. Held in the open-air plaza outside the ritzy Tokyo Midtown shopping complex (whose event hall served as the main venue) and broadcast on larger than life screens, the Friday night show made a public spectacle of the whole affair. Add to that a teasing invitation-only after-party in the same outdoor space (where nothing more than a velvet rope separated the fashionable elite from the plebeian crowds), and one got the sense that Japan Fashion Week had made up its mind to show off this season.

The 9th edition of the JFW officially started on Monday, October 19th with a 10am show attended by only the most dedicated followers of fashion. The rest of the industry rolled out en masse later in the afternoon for the Mint Designs show staged around the reflecting pool at the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures at the Tokyo National Museum. The duo of Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi, who have refined quirk to the nth degree, offered a collection of shimmering, airy numbers with a vaguely vaudevillian twist—seen in baggy trousers held up with suspenders, flat oxford shoes, and curtain-like headpieces. The following day, Somarta designer Tamae Hirokawa surprised by adding a particularly pretty stamp to her brand of moody, ethereal clothes. Delicate neutrals gradually made way for rich reds and purples as the collection of fairy-like ensembles swept past audiences. All in all, there were a number of indications over the week that Tokyo design had grown some ladylike legs.

While the main venue provided a white cube-like space, Saturday’s three show finale moved to the Taito Designers Village. Miles away from the city’s fashionable west of center home, this east Tokyo former elementary school now houses cooperative studios for young designers. Amidst much grumbling by guests asked to stand or—gasp—sit on the floor, shows took place in the gymnasium still marked by basketball court lines. During set changes, audiences could browse installations from the likes of irreverent art duo Chin Pom and designer Yuima Nakazato under the art meets fashion banner “This is Fashion?”

The final presentation of the evening seemed to take this questioning prompt to heart. Writtenafterwards designer Yoshikazu Yamagata staged a “Fashion Show for the Gods,” employing Zeus-like elderly male models, younger female ones disguised with mountains of frizzled blond hair, and a live cat. The questionable clothes consisted of yards of gauzy or iridescent fabric intricately knotted to form voluminous puffs (with occasional holes revealing provocative bits of the otherwise nude models). Experimental theater or sophomoric art school attempt, the presentation left audiences, and later bloggers, musing about the very nature of fashion and the institution of the catwalk.