Since 1970, the work of Japanese fashion designers has had an unequivocal impact on Western dress.
The artists highlighted in this article have offered a new and unique expression of creativity, challenging the established notions of status, display, and sexuality in contemporary fashion.
The cultural heritage of Japan played a crucial role in its rise in modern fashion, traditions like the tea ceremony or the use of the kimono characterize the aesthetic ethos, influencing fashion with a harmonious blend of tradition and innovation, embodying a cultural tapestry that transcends time.
Issey Miyake
Miyake did not want to be called either an artist or a Japanese fashion designer. However, from a Western perspective, he is both. One of his most groundbreaking contributions is the exploration of technology and fabric manipulation. An iconic example is the “Pleats, Please” collection, a line that utilized a unique pleating technique that allowed garments to maintain their shape while providing flexibility and ease of movement. (Today available under the brand Homme Plissé)
The “A-POC” (A Piece of Cloth) series further exemplifies Miyake’s commitment to innovation, it consists in creating entire garments from a single piece of fabric, allowing minimal waste in the production process. This sustainable approach reflects the designer’s forward-thinking perspective on fashion and environmental consciousness, providing a precedent for eco-friendly design practices in the industry.
What made Miyake’s designs special was the use of Japanese traditional work methods applied to innovative fabrics. Techniques like shibori (tie-dyeing), origami (paper folding), or sashiko (needlework), which also have a strong religious significance in Japanese culture, were first exported in Western fashion by Issey combined with high-tech fabrics.
Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto, a pioneering figure in Japanese fashion, has significantly shaped the industry with his avant-garde and innovative contributions. His style was influenced by his childhood spent in Tokyo destroyed by the war. Johji’s first joint collection with Kawakubo debuted in Paris in 1981 and completely ignored the standards of the time with new proportions and asexual looks.
A “deconstruction” of style was the term applied to these garments, symbolizing the breaking down of elements, traditions, and ideas in a fine art context. With his following shows the onslaught continued and this new concept of dress was referred to as the “aesthetic of poverty” due to the use of voluminous sizes, impressive layering, and predominance of color black.
When, during the 80s, Armani’s men’s suits became a masterpiece, Yohji deconstructed the traditional Western suit by creating a visual imbalance with misplaced pockets, lopsided collars, and contrasting fits.
He was able to apply his style both to haute couture, with a mention to the Homage to Dior collection, and sportswear with the Y-3 sports line which counts many collaborations with Adidas.
A fil rouge in his works is certainly the color black, characteristic of the samurais. As Yohji himself explained: “Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy—but mysterious. It means that many things go together, yet it takes different aspects in many fabrics. You need black to have a silhouette. It can swallow light, or make things look sharp. But above all black says…don’t bother me!”
Rei Kawakubo
Rei is probably one of the most influential designers of the past three decades and was able to create a solid link between Japan and the Western world. She founded Comme des Garçons in 1969 and entered the world of Parisian fashion in 1981, alongside with Yamamoto. The ambiguous figure of women in Japanese culture widely affected Rei’s style which showed no distinction between men’s and women’s clothes and was one of the firstcomers in gender neutrality. She dismantled and reconstructed garments, challenging the established structures of clothing design. This deconstructive approach often involved asymmetrical cuts, exposed seams, and deliberate disarray that blurred the lines between form and function.
Kawakubo’s concept stores also had a remarkable impact with the introduction of innovative and unconventional retail spaces that were as much about art as they were about commerce.
This futuristic idea was later enlarged in 2004 with the creation of Dover Street Market, a concept store that curated a continuing rotating diverse display of designers, brands, and collabs from different parts of the world, under one roof. Rei’s successful model was able to reach and connect a wide and different range of customers.
The next wave
This wave of Japanese innovation is now carried on by a second generation of established designers. Some interesting names were discovered by Rei Kawakubo. Juna Watanabe before starting his own fashion house in 1992, first worked as a pattern maker for Comme des Garçons. Tao Kurihara practiced under Juna before Kawakubo invited her to design her own collection in 2004. And lastly, Jun Takahashi’s 2002 debut catwalk in Paris with the brand Undercover was sponsored by Rei. A final mention to Chitose and Junichi Abe who are respectively the designers of Sacai and Kolor, founded in 1999 and 2004.
Challenging western traditions
The Japanese designers have had an unprecedented impact on other leading fashion creators throughout Europe, Britain, and America. The phenomenon of deconstructivism in fashion began with Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, who established themselves as leading avant-garde in Parisian fashion circles in the 1980s. Claire Wilcox, fashion curator at the V&A, states “Western fashion at the time was surprisingly conventional…they had a huge impact, creating a destruction of construction”
The first to bring deconstruction to European garments was the leading Belgian designer Martin Margiela, by creating art pieces that showed signs of the time. His inside-out bohemian designs react to traditional notions of dressing and sensuality, shouting at consumerist rituals by combining unconventional materials and torn-apart second-hand clothing.
Another collective who noticed that the agenda of Parisian fashion had changed with the advent of Rei Kawakubo in Comme des Garçons was the Antwerp Six, a group of designers who graduated from the Academy of Antwerp in the 1980s. These visioners incorporated elements of Japanese style into their work, introducing European fashion to asymmetry, oversized silhouettes, and a more experimental and conceptual approach to clothing. The influence of Japanese design philosophy, emphasizing a fusion of tradition and modernity, simplicity, and meticulous craftsmanship, became evident in the collections of the Antwerp Six.
You probably won’t be surprised by discovering that Dries Van Noten was part of this group.
All references and notions come from the book “Japanese Fashion Designers” by Bonnie English (highly recommended)