Japan Night of FIDé Fashion Weeks has got to be the most colourful one. Different styles, different textures and structures represent the versatile and colourful Japanese Culture.
To open the night was veteran avant garde designer Junko Koshino. Her combination of silks and jerseys with latex, leathers and felt, together with silver and gold accents, her representation of women transcends all ages.
Junko Koshino has recently been commissioned to design Myanmar’s national team uniforms and will introduce her fashion collection and traditional costumes of Myanmar national races for the 27th SEA Games in mid-November in Yangon.
Straight after the Junko Koshino, Japan Creative Centre (JCC) presented a short segment to showcase the outfits designed by top six winners (three from Japan and three from Singapore) of the 3rd Sustainable Fashion Design Contest that was held in September 2013. The contest was supported by fashion schools in Singapore, Design Singapore Council and sponsored by All Nippon Airways, FIDE Multimedia, Japan Airlines, and Textile and Fashion Federation (Singapore).
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| Left: Ms Nagaiwa Emi, Ms Yuri Takagi, Ms Brenda Ling, Mr Chen Zhi Peng and Ms Josephine Quek |
Sustainability is very much linked to the Japanese philosophy of MONOZUKURI (craftsmanship). It is a tradition of producing things that are environmentally friendly, taking into account the fabric characteristics and the environment and made things that last with minimum wastage. As we are moving into an era which encourages us to protect the environment and to be sustainable in our living style, SUSTAINABLE FASHION is increasingly viable and rapidly gaining popularity.
This annual sustainable fashion design contest is held to create an opportunity for students from Fashion Schools in Singapore and Bunka Fashion School in Tokyo, Japan. It is to exchange and promote ideas on the growing importance of sustainability and responsible design within the Fashion Industry.
The outfits by the 6 winners were modeled by The New Paper New Face 2013 and each of them set down the runway interesting designs that were competitive with famous brands. I loved the whimsical one by Ms Yuri Takagi, it's young, spunky and the print is so unique!
By Ms Nagaiwa Emi
By Ms Yuri Takagi
By Ms Shihori Morisawa
By Ms Brenda Ling
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| By Mr Chen Zhi Peng |
By Ms Josephine Quek
Ten finalists from each country are currently exhibiting their garments at JCC until 19th October 2013. There will be a special “People’s Choice Award” to be awarded to the most popular garment exhibited chosen by the visitors, courtesy of TAfF after the exhibition.
For the 3rd show for the night, Japanese designer Yoshiki Hishinuma took he runway, sending his little elfs and goddesses to showcase his poetic collection. Dedicated to femininity and beauty through the use of hand-painted floral and fauna motifs on silks and chiffons, you will only see the true beauty when worn on the models. Hishinuma not only drafted the patterns, he also cut, sew and painstakingly hand-painted each garment!
Prior to the fashion show, he did not cast his models, not having their measurements in hand, but when the clothes were dressed on the models, not only did the pieces fit, they flatter and cajoled the curves out of the reed-like models.
And just when everyone was sitting on the edge of their chairs anticipating for the last show, Miyoko Shida was introduced and she began her act of balancing. First a feather, then a small carved stick, and yet another stick, then on one foot, and another stick and another, each time adding one slightly larger than the other until the climax of a gigantic ‘installation’ on her head. Her concentration did not once waver and she ended her act with a deft pull of the feather before everything collapsed to the floor. The audience was amazed and there was a roaring applause for this performing arts extraordinaire.
Woohoo! To close the night was Keita Maruyama’s rich kaleidoscope of contemporary fit-n-flare ensembles and pieces that were a wink and nod to not take fashion so seriously with his mix of unusual materials – silk embroidery with fringe, crochet with lace.
In his collection were hints of Asian influence like cheongsam collars and as Madonna’s “Take A Bow” was played, models took the runway in his last sequence and finale, almost like a lullaby to aptly wrap up the evening of spectacular collections from the Japanese designers. Totally not expecting an English song used for the runway that night...
