Japan has experienced countless revolutions in its material culture since the opening of Japan to the West by Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853. Before Perry visited the nation on behalf of the Fillmore administration, Japan was pure, isolated, and left to its own devices in terms of aesthetic development. In 1854, the Treaty of Kanagawa confirmed the opening of Japan to the West and marked an irreversible change in Japan’s development of style, industry, and values.
Since Commodore Perry’s visit, Japan has persisted through tumultuous shifts—from the fall of the emperor to the post-war economic miracle. These shifts have resulted in an aesthetic culture which is inventive, bold, and voraciously hungry for the next and the new. This appetite for invention was perfectly captured in the moment of the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s: a decade which dramatically shaped international fashion. For the first time, Japanese fashion was lauded around the world for its brilliance as a modern object—not as an element of Japonisme or Oriental fascination. The eighties were a time in which Japanese clothing was judged for the first time primarily by its stylistic, not cultural, factors.
The 1980s saw the rise of influential and radical Japanese designers like Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo. Their legacy has also paved the way for the evolution of Japanese fashion now. The country still breeds innovative designers whose works are inimitable and brilliant. Japan is an undeniable voice in concepts of contemporary dress, and Tokyo is far above the simple concept of a fashion capital.
Japan Fashion Now, the current exhibition at the Museum at FIT, is the first exhibition to explore the full output of Japanese creativity from the 1980s boom to today. Two large galleries explore the roots of modern Japanese sartorial invention: an introductory gallery is dedicated to the 1980s revolution, including asymmetrical, architectural pieces by Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo as well as radical styles by Issey Miyake. The first gallery also displays more traditional-minded, “Oriental” pieces by Kenzo and pop-culture jumpsuits by Kansai Yamamoto.
The second, larger gallery features a dramatic series of designed environments which individually frame the trends which have dominated Japanese fashion in more recent years. Primary themes include ideas of construction/deconstruction, the influence of anime and J-pop, punk, and the cult of super-Kawaii cuteness. Popular themes of Japanese street fashion are also present here, and the represented designers include Junya Watanabe, Tao Kurihara, and Jun Takahashi.
Japan Fashion Now is also mindful of the contribution of Japanese designers to the field of menswear. A large portion of the exhibition is dedicated to displaying the work of a number of Tokyo’s top current menswear designers, including Arashi Yanagawa of John Lawrence Sullivan, Daisuke Obana of N.Hoolywood, Koji Udo of Factotum, Yasuhiro Mihara of Miharayasuhiro, Takeshi Osumi of Phenomenon, and Yosuke Aizawa of White Mountaineering. The display of menswear is particularly symbolic of Japan’s balance on the cutting edge of design and its fanatical attention to detail and tailoring.
A large number of the looks on display are those found in street and sub-cultural styles. Different named and referenced styles include the Kamikaze suits worn by bike gangs to the looks of “Forest Girls” who dress like modern urban pixies. Lolita and Gothic Lolita looks also get their own display, represented by brands like Angelic Pretty and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. These girly, innocent baby doll dresses are deceptively bold, inventive, and even radical when viewed through the lens of Japan’s cultural history. Lolita fashion is clearly marked by its Victorian influence—what does it mean when a nation is stylistically married to the period in which they were ripped from their isolationist stance?
The recurring theme of the exhibition is Japanese fashion’s domestic significance and global reach. In no other country are so many people aware not only of fashion, but also of the avante-garde, of the deconstructed, and the perfection of utility. Now, more than ever, people are fascinated with Japanese cultural output, its exploding subcultures, its radical appetites for the new.
Now on view through April 2, 2011, Japan Fashion Now surveys the past 30 years of Japanese fashion with a comprehensive and breathtaking light.
