Source: Quartz
| Author: Marc Bain
| Published: July 21, 2022
Japanese designers were described as “the coolest” in coverage of the 2022 Paris Fashion Week, attracting attention for their originality and avant-garde aesthetics.
Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto introduced conceptual and avant-garde expressions in the 1980s, while also showing a certain consideration for commercial lines from the 1990s onward.
Their evaluation can be attributed to their success in sustaining both art and commerce within a productive tension.
Source: Vogue Japan
| Authors: ITOI KURIYAMA, MAYUMI NUMAO
| Published: March 14, 2026
The collection presented a fusion of Japanese cultural elements—such as Katsushika Hokusai and Wajima lacquerware—with Western garment construction.
It evoked earlier practices from the 1990s, when kimono-inspired garments gained global attention while avoiding simplistic exoticism.
In Edward Said’s terms, this can be interpreted as a resistance to the orientalist gaze that seeks to fix and essentialize “the East.”
Source: Vogue Japan
| Authors: ITOI KURIYAMA, MAYUMI NUMAO
| Published: March 14, 2026
Half a century after the “shock of black,” the collection reinterpreted black—symbolizing rebellion—through delicate materials such as lace, tulle, and georgette.
It appeared to restage, in a contemporary form, the radical impact of 1981 when anti-couture confronted the couture establishment.
From a Bourdieusian perspective, it can be read as a practice that destabilizes the existing order within the “field” of fashion.
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Source:RUSSH
| Authors: Cassandra Dimitroff
| Published: March 1９, 2026
A new generation of Japanese designers is receiving international recognition, expanding their presence within the global fashion field.
Japanese fashion is being reconfigured not as a single trend, but as a field in which multiple positions coexist.