With the rollout of fashion week across the globe, Japan Fashion Week will be one of the first to start on September 1st. This oft overlooked event seems to be getting a push on the pr front to compete against its more high profile sisters in New York and Paris.
Whether or not the lack of attention is deserved since the more critically acclaimed designers tend to migrate elsewhere (Rei & Junya, Yohji, Issey, Kenzo..) is an issue for another day. But one of the more interesting designers that I always look to is Ato.
Ok, so his womenswear collection still seems to be finding its own. But his menswear, which I used to see on occasion selling in Paris is quite stunning, and this coming from a designer who professes no interest in menswear.
What's interesting to note is that Ato is one of the more established designers who shows regularly in Japan, but he's not a household name elsewhere by any stretch of the imagination. His core business remains in Japan, which may not sound like a lot. But considering that the small isle is still in the top ten of most populated countries, there are enough shoppers with disposable yen to keep any designer in business.
3 comments:
The first book I ever bought on fashion was a Japan fashion book.
Compared to Miyake, all other designers are "stylists".
This is an exaggeration of course, but...
Cute coincidence. There is a nice story about Patrick Robinson of Gap in the NYTimes.
When he worked at Perry Ellis, he said in an interview that PE (the person) was more of a stylist than designer. I sorta disagree, but I got his point.
The Times article says his looks for Gap look a lot like his work for Perry Ellis.
Sorry to comment on this late. Still have to read the article. Have heard Robinson is the nicest guy to work for in fashion, which says a lot. But not sure about all this public slamming going on against former bosses. Like Pilati against Ford? He must really despise the guy from the core of his being.
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