Tokyo men stay one step in style
Print Edition
Feminine glamour may turn the most heads at fashion weeks in New York or Paris, but in Tokyo it is the style-conscious men who set the sartorial trends.
From sharp futurism to wool-and-denim casuals, the finale of Tokyo Fashion Week put the spotlight largely on menswear, aiming to promote the most dynamic area of Japanese clothes design.
“What happens here is probably the future of men’s fashion,” said Antonio Cristaudo from Pitti Immagine, a collection of fashion industry events in Italy.
“There’s individuality, they want to be different,” he told AFP. “It’s important for all the fashion world to see what’s happening in Japan.”
Such innovation is nowhere more evident than on the streets of Tokyo, from the vintage and skater styles of Ura-Hara to the slick suits of the Marunouchi business district.
With sharp tailoring and eye-catching accessories, from hats and bags to shiny shoes, the get-up of Tokyo gents is striking to the first-time visitor.
“The menswear is just so much more exciting than womenswear here,” said Misha Janette, an American fashion journalist based in Tokyo, who suggested the tendency for women to cover up meant their clothes could be “a bit shapeless.”
For the men, meanwhile, “it’s ok to do your hair, be into fashion, use skincare,” Janette said. “They like to be proper in Japan.”
Although Tokyo’s dandies shine at home and start trends that travel abroad, the success of Japan’s own designers has been limited overseas.
The industry is now trying to change that with the new Tokyo Fashion Awards, backed by the city government. The awards jury chose six brands, predominantly menswear-focused, which were seen to have international potential.
They ranged from the “sheep boy” theme of the brand Factotum, designed by Koji Udo and inspired by a Haruki Murakami novel, to the futuristic colour-popped creations of John Lawrence Sullivan, a label by Arashi Yanagawa named after the 19th century American boxer.
“These are brands already very popular in Tokyo but they now have to start going overseas,” said Akiko Shinoda, director of international affairs at Japan Fashion Week Organization.
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