JAPAN: Japanese designers inspired by modern themes strut their latest collection at the Tokyo Fashion Week.

Record ID: 197641

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese designers inspired by modern themes strut their latest collection at the Tokyo Fashion Week.
  • Date: 9th September 2006
  • Summary: (L!3) TOKYO, JAPAN (SEPTEMBER 5, 2006) (REUTERS) MODEL WITH CLOTHES ILLUMINATED WITH MOBILE PHONES AND LED LIGHTS ARRIVES ON CATWALK VARIOUS OF MODELS WALKING DOWN THE CATWALK WITH DESIGNS BASED ON ILLUMINATING MOBILE PHONES USING THE LATEST LED TECHNOLOGY CLOSE UP OF SIGN OF SONY ERICSSON ABOVE CATWALK (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) HIROAKI ISHIZUKA, DIRECTOR OF SALES AT SONY ERICSSON, SAYING: "Our latest mobile phones are designed to be illuminated and beautiful and we wanted to express that with this fashion show of light and beauty."
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Fashion,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA41S72BXDLPP3FXFJ3YANPWU7
  • Story Text: As mobile phones become fashion items, fashion is -- in Japan at least - become as high-tech as the phones.
    Global mobile phone company Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan lent its technology to the apparel world collaborating with four major Japanese design houses such as Theatre Costume History, DressCamp, MIHARAYASUHIRO, and Erina Kashiwabara.
    Using LED (light emitting diodes) technology is uses in its next generation mobile phones, wired and illuminated models were wrapped in various shades of light and darkness.
    The show, called 'beauty x beauty - light & color -, was part showcase for the next line in phones, part showcase for Japan's avant-guard designers.
    "Our latest mobile phones are designed to be illuminated and beautiful and we wanted to express that with this fashion show of light and beauty," Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications sales director Hiroaki Ishizuka told the fashionistas on Tuesday (September 5).
    However the collection was only a small part of a Tokyo major summer fashion event highlighting over 44 designers collections and hundreds of other smaller exhibitions.
    Though known for its trendy youth culture, brand obsessions and abundance of cutting-edge design talent, the Japanese capital has long lagged rivals when it comes to providing a glamorous forum to show off its wares to international buyers and media.
    Aiming to change that, Japan's designers with the Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo 2006, have transformed what has been criticised as an uncoordinated and overlong affair held by individual designers in venues all over the city into a shorter event in a single location.
    Japan is among the world's biggest fashion markets, with 88 billion U.S. dollars spent on apparel in 2003, government figures show.
    "Japan may be a small country but there is no other that produces and buys up so many clothes," said Yuko Murata, designer for 'io yukomura"ta'.
    And there is a wealth of home-grown design talent to match demand in a country that has its own particular style often very different from the west.
    "I think Tokyo fashion is very original and its definitely got a different feel from other countries," agreed Namiko Komatsu, a shop clerk in Tokyo who came to her favorite designer's fashion show.
    The likes of Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake boast devoted fans in many countries, with clothes that shun the overtly sexy in favour of an innovative style often termed "intellectual".
    But many of these established designers tend to prefer to present their collections in Paris, leaving Tokyo short of the big guns it needs to attract media attention.
    Nevertheless, many other smaller designers find fame and fortune thanks to their very fanatic fans and a very fashion conscious street fashion culture.
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