Tokyo has secured its place as the fifth stop on Fashion Week’s global tour.  Anna Dello Russo and Lady Gaga are among those heralding Tokyo Fashion Week, which thrives on kitschy Japanese street culture, almost forty burgeoning designers with innovative points of view, and a historically rich aesthetic past (one which has been referenced innumerably by its Western fashion week counterparts).

Designer Hiromichi Ochiai of Facetasm set the tone on Day 1 with a collection filled with patchworked tartan plaid separates.  Anarchic cutouts also gave this collection a punk vibe when placed over the knees of checked trousers, or best, when used to add some sex appeal to a would-be sterile trench.   As the shows continued, the trend of “peasant grunge” seemed to emerge, perhaps most literally at Jun Okamoto’s debut show. Billowy tops and shoulder exposing dresses were realized in plaid cotton gauze and jersey featuring slender laces for fastenings.  Courtney Love would definitely have approved (remember that iconic dress from the 1994 Reading Fest?).  Ne-net designer Kazuaki Takashima combined mismatched flannels to much success especially when worn with a flouncy maxi skirt featuring a bucolic print.  Phenomenon’s designer Takeshi Osumi modernized the 90’s micro-floral print by using bright psychedelic hues to elevate cliché to pastiche.  That print really stood out when deftly employed on the collar and yoke of a loosely tailored camo button down: a personal favorite in an overall stellar collection.

 by Michael Costa