photo: Comme des Garcons Fall 1999 ©firstVIEW 1999.

Kawakubo Rei (1942~ ) The designer behind the Comme des Garcons label, Kawakubo studied philosophy at the prestigious Keio University in her native Tokyo. She founded her company in 1973 and presented her first show in Paris in 1981. The collection was dubbed 'Hiroshima chic' for its use of dark colors, in particular black, which was not popular at the time. It also refused to obey accepted notions of silhouette and bodyline, with lumps protruding to create dramatic and innovative designs. Though originally known for her works using a dark palette, she later started to use brighter colors. She said "Black is no longer strong and has become harder to use." Comme des Garcons designs include such elements as a mix of bright and dark colors, whimsically placed or upside-down pockets, de-emphasized shoulders and extra-long sleeves. Kawakubo won the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prize in 1983 and was honored by the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1987 as one of the leading women in 20th-century design. Her academic background is perhaps behind her rather cerebral approach to design and she has worked with dance groups and wide range of photographers.     A protoge of Kawakubo, Watanabe Junya has also established a name for himself since going it alone in 1994.

Miyake Issei (1935~ )
Known abroad under his label name of Issey Miyake. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture and a graphic design graduate of Tama University of Arts, he won the Mainichi Design Award in 1976. Miyake is known for his unconventional designs and reinterpretations of traditional textile designs in various modern materials. He creates these fabrics together with his assistant Minagawa Makiko.

From 1966~68, Miyake worked for Guy Laroche and Givenchy in Paris and the following year he worked for Geoffrey Beene in New York. In 1970, he opened the Miyake Design Studio and in 1971 he established Miyake International Inc. Miyake showed his first collection in 1971 in both Tokyo and New York, and in Paris for the first time in 1973. He established a design company in France in 1979, and in the United States in 1982.

Miyake's work is often seen in the theater or in museums. For example, an exibition of his work was held at the Musee des Arts decoratifs in Paris in 1988 and in the same year he designed costumes for the Frankfurt Ballet. Since that collaboration, his designs have featured many kinds of pleated fabrics. Since 1990, one of his popular brands has been Issey Miyake Pleats Please.

Of his work, Miyake says "These clothes are no wrappings. You can understand them the way you want, you can wear them the way you want."

 Among many other awards, Miyake has won the Mainichi Newspaper Fashion Awards three times (1977, 1984, and 1996), the Neiman-Marcus Award (1984) and the Best Collection by a Foreign Designer at Les Oscars de la Mode in Paris (1985). He is also a guest member of Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris.

Mori Hanae (1926~ )
Internationally famous for her striking fashion designs, Mori has also designed uniforms for public officials in China, costumes for film directors Kurosawa Akira and Mizoguchi Kenji and clothes for Princess Masako. Perhaps the first Japanese designer to achieve international recognition, in 1977 she became the first and only Japanese member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the governing body of French fashion.

Born in Shimane Prefecture, Mori was a student at Tokyo Women's Christian University until the she was forced to help the war effort by working in a factory. After the war, she married into a family in the textile industry and attended design school. She started a company making clothing for private customers and for theatrical companies. Following a chance meeting with Coco Chanel in Paris in 1960, she decided to pursue a career in haute couture.

After training in the US, Mori held her first collection of ready-to-wear designs in New York in 1965. Shortly after, she opened a boutique in Tokyo. Her designs bridge the gap between western and oriental themes. Touches like kanji characters used in a pattern, kimono-style sleeves on an evening gown or a Mao collar on a jacket are typical

photos: Kenzo, Spring 1999 ©firstVIEW 1999.

Takada Kenzo Takada was one of seven children and developed an interest in fashion through reading the magazines of his sisters. Born in Himeiji City, Hyogo Prefecture, he quit Kobe University to try to become one of the first male students at Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin). His parents did not approve of his career ambitions and he had to work part-time in Tokyo to support himself while he did evening prep courses in design. After some six months, he was finally accepted to the prestigious college and the kind of determination that got him there was to serve him well in the future. In 1964, Takada moved to Paris and started at the very bottom of the fashion industry ladder. After making enough contacts, he worked as a freelance designer and opened his first boutique 'Jungle Jap' in 1970. Takada's first work borrowed heavily from traditional Japanese styles but it was his 'big silhouette' designs which drew worldwide attention. His designs made him something of a trendsetter for young fashion. In Japan, he is highly regarded as a pioneer who introduced Japanese fashion design to a world audience. Always very selective of his fabric, Takada in recent years has moved into the design of furniture coverings and household items. In September 1999, he announced that he was handing over the reins of his fashion house to his assistants.

photo: Yohji Yamamoto Fall 1999 ©firstVIEW 1999.

Yamamoto Yohji (1943- ) Born in Tokyo and a graduate of the prestigious Keio University and Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin), Yamamoto is a keen harmonica player and fan of Bob Dylan. In 1970, he began designing women's clothing. Two years later, he set up his own company, Y's and he showed his first collection in Tokyo in 1977. His 'pauperism' style attracted a growing number of followers and he finally achieved greater recognition after showing his spring/summer collection in Paris in 1983. Yamamoto's use of a simple palette - black, navy and white - with occasional splashes of color and a style that is at once sophisticated and plain-looking creates clothing for both men and women that instantly become timeless classics. "People of my generation were ripped off by economic success: during our youth, the industry kept pumping out new products we couldn't believe in, because we knew, come tomorrow, they would be out of style. So we became the first generation to wear second-hand clothes." Yamamoto is the only Japanese fashion designer to have been awarded the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres. He was the winner of the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prize in 1986. Today, his company earns more than a hundred million dollars a year and creates, apart from his Y line of clothing, opera costumes and ballet sets for some of the most important companies in the world.

photo Nanjo Masafumi Daily Yomiuri photo: Keita Maruyama Spring-Summer 2000 ©K2m international co

Maruyama Keita A graduate of Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin), Maruyama has had a fascination with fashion since childhood. After working as a freelancer designing clothes for entertainers, he debuted as an independent designer in 1994 and has his first show in Paris three years later. Maruyama's designs are quite different from those of the older established Japanese designers. In this sense, he is not so readily recognized as a Japanese designer in Europe. He uses more obviously Oriental motifs and "introduces the essence of the kimono" into his designs. He would like to increase the popularity of the kimono among young Japanese, and launched a kimono collection in the autumn of 1999, although he is aware of its limited practicality in modern life. Maruyama's clothes are designed to "end up in an antique shop rather than a museum", being passed on rather than simply consumed. Abroad, his designs are available in the US and Europe as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan.