Tokyo Fashion Week

By Kjeld Duits

NOT even nature’s fury can stop Japan’s fashionistas. As Typhoon Wipha lashed Japan during the third week of October, Tokyo’s Fashion Week went on as usual. Since luxury car maker Mercedes Benz became the main sponsor in 2011, the event has been gaining stature. This year, the members of legendary rock band KISS even graced it with their presence. Their walk down Japanese fashion brand Christian Dada’s runway created enormous buzz and attracted a record number of media people.

Tokyo’s event is small compared with the more famous fashion weeks in Paris, New York and London. There are just a few dozen runway shows, mostly held at a single building in Tokyo’s youth fashion center of Shibuya. But what it may lack in size, it surely makes up for in its wide range of styles. There is everything from the sharp minimalist lines of Yasutoshi Ezumi to the exuberant designs of DRESCAMP and a little goth thrown in by cult brand Alice Auaa. Here are a few of the shows that Japan’s fashion lovers oohed and aahed over. tj

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