Nihon New York – Episode 03: Oshare – Japan Fashion Now

Nihon New York took the time to visit FIT’s current exhibition entitled Japan Fashion Now running September 17, 2010 through January 8, 2011. We also had the opportunity to talk to the curator of Japan Fashion Now, Dr. Valerie Steele about the creation of the exhibit and the past, present and future of Japanese Fashion. The Japanese "fashion revolution" of the 1980s dramatically transformed the world of fashion. Avant-garde Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion to the catwalks of Paris. Utilizing innovative textile technologies, together with aspects of traditional Japanese clothing culture, these designers were instrumental in creating a new relationship between body and clothes, a new attitude toward the beauty of imperfection, and a new appreciation of avant-garde fashion as "art." Japan continues to be on the cutting edge, maybe even the bleeding edge, of fashion. However, Japanese fashion today embraces not only the cerebral, avant-garde looks associated with the first wave of Japanese design in the 1980s, but also a range of youth-oriented street styles. Indeed, contemporary Japanese fashion remains significant globally precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic envelope at the level of "high" art) with aspects of subcultural and street style. Equally significant, however, is the Japanese obsession (not too strong a word) with perfecting classic utilitarian garments, such as jeans, sneakers, and leather jackets. Extreme, even fanatical, attention to detail is characteristic of much of the best Japanese fashion. Japan Fashion Now is the first exhibition to explore contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity.