Street and sub-cultural styles – from the elegant and bizarre costumes called Kamikaze suits worn by members of Japan's notorious Speed Tribes to this year's Forest Girl look – occupy the third platform. The significance of kawaii (cute) culture in Japan, which will be debated at the museum's annual Fashion Symposium held on November 4-5, 2010, is demonstrated by the hyper-cute Princess Decoration style and famous Lolita brands such as Angelic Pretty and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright (the latter featured in the cult movie Kamikaze Girls), as well as Gothic Lolita fashions by brands such as Alice Auaa and Black Peace Now. Hirooka Naoto, the designer behind h.NAOTO, Japan's most successful Gothic-Punk-Lolita fashion empire (who has said, "I aim to be the most extreme and scandalous brand in the world") is prominently featured. A highlight of the exhibition is the clothes he designed for idol singers Hangry and Angry.
Extreme, even fanatical, attention to detail is characteristic of much of the best Japanese fashion. While some designers are drawn to novelty, others focus on the perfection of vernacular garments, including work wear and denim. "Utility products," including denim and footwear by Hiroki Nakamura of visvim, along with jeans and vintage-style military and leather jackets by brands such as Buzz Rickson (creator of the William Gibson collection), Freewheelers, and Mastermind, are featured in the street style section.
Finally, the clothing category known as Cosplay (short for "Costume Play") is featured on the fourth platform. Not really fashion, Cosplay is more a type of performance art, associated with anime and manga. Examples include outfits for the characters Madame Red and Oscar (the latter from the famous manga Rose of Versailles), as well as one of today's popular catmaid uniforms.
Japan Fashion Now is designed by Charles B. Froom, with graphic design by Jen Pressley of Mirror NYC. Additional assistance is provided by Assistant Professor of Communication Design C.J. Yeh and the FIT Media Design Club. Japan Fashion Now also features photography by Masayuki Yoshinaga, Ulfert Janssen (gannetdesign.com) and Kjeld Duits (JapaneseStreets.com) documenting the street and sub-cultural styles of Japan. Photographs of Japanese buildings featured on the walls of the gallery are by John S. Major.
Japan Fashion Now has been generously sponsored by Yagi Tsusho Limited, a global marketing and merchandising company specializing in fashion that has been introducing excellent brands from Europe and the U.S. to the Japanese market for more than 60 years, MONCLER and MACKINTOSH among the most recent.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
