Tokyo Fashion Festa Report

February 19th, 2010

Before the Tokyo Fashion Festa, Japanese street fashion shows existed only within conventions and the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright store opening in San Francisco. But last February, the Fashion Institute of New York co-sponsored a fashion show featuring Lolita, gothic, and gyaru fashions as an extension of New York Fashion Week. The show features designs from Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Alice and the Pirates, a SoHo gyaru boutique called Madame Killer, Black Peace Now, Angelic Pretty, and MiELette Toutou.. FIT also coordinated in part with Indivisual and Sync Music Japan, helping support Japan's Culture Exchange Program, directed by the Foreign Ministry. The participation of the Japanese government was evident in the special guest appearance of "Kawaii Ambassador" Misako Aoki. FIT also produced the show as a promotion of their upcoming museum exhibit, Japan Fashion Now. This exhibit, which opens in September, will feature the various eccentricities of avant-garde and unconventional Japanese street fashion and its evolution throughout the years.

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After a few words focusing on the excitement of the fashion show collaboration from the FIT director, the director of Sync Music Japan, , and Misako Aoki, visual kei duo, VY appeared onstage wearing outfits consisting of h.NAOTO sub-brands to open for the fashion show. Moa, the vocalist, modeled a stunning dress from gramm, while Rio, the DJ, rocked out in an outfit by the sixH.

I thought that VY would perform before the show, but they actually continued to perform in the background of the stage while all the models walked out. VY's music had an upbeat electronic tone, but Moa's vocals had a somewhat ethereal feel, making it a perfect fit for the fanciful theme of the fashion show.

Baby the Stars Shine Bright's cute, but somewhat classic, line-up of dresses came out first. Baby the Stars Shine Bright's portion of the show had a spectacular finish with a model dressed in their stunning "Le mariage de la princesse" dress, which was a collaboration with visual kei musician Kaya for his latest single. Once the model entered the stage, audience made an audible, collective gasp. The pictures hardly do it justice-the chiffon skirt was encrusted with crystals, and the model clutched one of Baby's signature bunny-bear dressed in a matching outfit.

Next was Alice and the Pirates, Baby's more gothic, pirate-inspired sub-brand, progressed from a cutesy look to the more gothic dandy and Lolita looks. Compared to Baby the Stars Shine Bright, they utilized more historical, striking, and unconventional design elements. Particularly, the neck ruffle, Renaissance-inspired red ensemble, patent leather accessories, and peep-toed knee high boots. Then, local gyaru boutique Madame Killer showed off outfits that consisted of the Japan's more popular and casual trends, commonly referred to as "gyaru" or "girl." These looks focused on mixing patterns such as gingham and stars; combining bold, contrasting colors like purple and yellow, and lots of layering.

After Madame Killer, the fashion show took an intermission while Indivisual presented a video of an interview with Hirooka Naoto, the man behind h.NAOTO, followed by videos from a band based on Hangry & Angry, one of h.NAOTO's sub-brands. A montage of PV's and live footage featured songs such as Kill Me Kiss Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHhJCGA0wJE) and, from their latest single, Top Secret. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTqEzQdetqk)

The show continued with Black Peace Now, which comprised of many structured Gothic Aristocrat and Lolita outfits that depended on construction as the main design element, instead of relying on fabric design. Angelic Pretty's line-up consisted of many pastel-colored dresses accentuated with rhinestones on the skirts. Angelic Pretty is known for over-the-top, fanciful design, which was very evident in their Easter-themed duck print and jelly hat.

MiELette Tautou featured a more natural Lolita dresses in neutral colors and a-line skirts instead of bell or cupcake shaped ones previously shown by Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty. At the very end, Misako Aoki came out in an adorably innovative dress that used blouses to decorate the skirt; she held the hands of three fashionable little girls, finishing the main part of the show.

Sync Music Japan compiled a variety of music videos to illustrate the assortment of talent among Japanese musicians. First, they played some clips from a GLAY concert, then a Morning Musume PV. Their video focused on more mainstream musicians, most of which I had never heard of before.

Morning Musume - Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3rW5fX2PzQ)
Bennie K- Monochrome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKKh2lf688)
Bennie Becca - Dreamer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOQypO0vDr4)

Next, they played some clips from a live video of MUCC, then the music suddenly became dramatic and the video showed a huge h.NAOTO fashion show, which had several runways going into a gigantic audience. The montage returned to music, with Rocket Dive and Pink Spider by hide. Pink Spider was interrupted by a model with gravity-defying hair, standing in front of the projection screen, wearing a yukata with the same yellow and red, heart-print pattern as his guitar. The show ended abruptly after a line-up of several models wearing yukata and obi from hi-ho, a fashion line inspired by hide.

The disjointed and at times unexpected sequence of events could be considered to be inconveniences in the program, but instead it felt like they unintentionally ended up matching the unpredictability of Japanese street fashion. Still, the show should have had a much grander ending, perhaps with all the models coming out at once. Overall, Tokyo Fashion Festa represented a wonderful range of the many different types of unique street fashions-Lolita, Gothic Aristocrat, and gyaru; however, I was disappointed by the lack of more mainstream coverage of the event as a whole. Considering how much effort and how many resources must have been poured into Tokyo Fashion Festa, I would have expected some established fashion journalists to at least do some coverage. While the endeavors of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to spread their fashion culture through their "Kawaii Ambassadors" are certainly admirable, they should have taken advantage of all the media opportunities available at Tokyo Fashion Festa by inviting many journalists to help expose the true ingenuity of Japanese fashion to the general public and to the fashion industry.

Written by Megan.