Another great resource for the latest works from Japan - The Tokyo Collection. Unfortunately, the site is in Japanese... and I don't read Katakana. Nonetheless, here is the link.
www.cfd.or.jp
An article from '06 from t-i-forum.co.jp, for background:
The Tokyo Collection was first started by raising a tent in Yoyogi Park in 1985 in conjunction with the inauguration of the Council of Fashion Designer's Tokyo. At that time, it was held for a short period with a collective participation of designers. However, that form of the Tokyo Collection was terminated in 1991. After that, a show was held for each designer and for each apparel manufacturer and as a result, the period of the collection in Tokyo became more than 40 days.
Last year (2005) was the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Council of Fashion Designer's Tokyo and people put much effort in innovating the Tokyo Collection. In addition, not only the so-called 4 Big Collections (New York, London, Milan and Paris), but also collections in the form of fashion week in various cities and countries began to be held in places such as Singapore, Los Angeles, Australia, India, Dubai and Moscow. Then we thought, “Let’s revive the original Tokyo Collection in Japan focusing around Tokyo.” For this purpose, we thought, let’s make it a Collection Week, the world trendline (where many designers will intensively participate from morning till night for about a week), then we held the first Japan Fashion Week from the end of October till November last year.”
Although the Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo was started in a new form, I think it links to the Tokyo Collection from 1985 when we track its origin.
Showing up from various directions by bringing buyers from all over the world.
Why intensive work is good and why it will be held during this period of the year actually depends on how convenient it will be for the world buyers (people in charge of purchasing). They have a budget and a schedule. As there will be the New York Collection, the London Collection, the Milan Collection, and the Paris Collection without a break from September 8, it is very important to hold our Tokyo Collection prior to these collections. As they will be held intensively in a short period, the world buyers can come all the way to Asia. It is troublesome to come here many times in a year. Therefore, I think we have to make an appeal in a way that they would think coming to Japan during this period is significant.
When I think of the characteristic point of Tokyo for this purpose, how should we appeal to them? The first point is that Japan has the strongest consumption power in the world. Then there is the point that the world designers are paying attention to the street fashion in Tokyo. Japanese young people have a fashion that could never be imagined by designers. People in the world are looking at it as very innovative. It is an established way, not only for designers but also for people of this industry, to first go to Harajuku or Shibuya when they come to Japan.
It’s no mistake that Japanese daily fashion is attractive, they have severe eyes for products (they must be No. 1, severest in the world as ordinary consumers, not specialists) and they have characteristic points which can never be seen in other countries. We are still learning by trial and error, but I think it would be good if our collection would be united together with the general public eye, not only the eyes of specialists.
We want this event to link designers and industries.
We thought it would be a good idea if something can be generated from the collaboration of young designers, who present the collection, and creative manufacturers who supply materials to the first-class apparel manufacturers in the world, and we have been acting as a bridge between them from the first round of the collection. The other day, 40 material manufacturers and 50 designer companies gathered here as a meeting place. It was not a forced meeting, but some new creations were born there.
In addition, at a venue other than the Tokyo International Forum, historical “Fashion Grand Prix for New Comers” will be held as a part of JFW. It will be a competition in which everybody in the world can participate and there are tens of thousands of applications.
Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo is not a special fashion show that is detached from our daily life, but it is the presentation place for daily fashions, Japanese material industries and young people who aim to be designers and is also a place to assume total fashion. I will be thankful if all visitors, not only concerned parties, would understand the content of it, be interested in it and participated in it in various styles.
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