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 In fashion
genealogy Mori's children -- Issey Miyake, Rei
Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto -- all came to
prominence in the '70s and flourished in the early
'80s. They still dominate Japanese design. They are
truly revolutionaries, eliminating gender and even
ethnicity from clothing. Miyake is one of the
greatest innovators in both shape and fabric. "I
want to make fuku (garments), not yofuku (Western
clothes)," he says. "Foreign fashion tends to be
tight-fitting, while I design outfits that are
loose and airy." Nor does he look consciously to
his own culture for inspiration. "I know the kimono
so naturally that it is expressed in my work," he
says. "European designers are using the kimono and
sari as motifs, but I can't. It's too
embarrassing."
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Kawakubo, whose label is
Comme des Garçons, is equally
emphatic in rejecting the kimono, pointing
instead to the use of wrapping and fabric,
most of it created in traditional textile
districts that once produced kimono
fabric. In truth, Kawakubo is both
intellectual and unpredictable; her
collections have ranged from garments that
look like witty survivors from some
ancient court culture to April-in-England
pastels. "I'm not interested in making
women look beautiful," Kawakubo says,
explaining that she shuns both trends and
tradition in order to create something
new. Yamamoto, who went to Paris with
Kawakubo in the early '80s, is perhaps the
most Westernized of the trio, famous for
his huge, luxurious coats and his
preoccupation with Victorian silhouettes.
Yamamoto's ladies could all walk the Lyme
Regis breakwater with the French
lieutenant's woman. He doesn't totally
reject the kimono, pointing out that "I'm
influenced by my culture so it springs out
of me naturally."
All these designers have
many boutiques in Japan, but the
well-dressed Japanese woman is nothing if
not eclectic in her taste and quickly
responsive to fashion. The point is not
lost on Condé Nast; the publisher
started Korean and Taiwanese editions of
Vogue this year. Italy's Prada, perhaps
the trendiest designer of all right now,
was the rage in Tokyo before she was in
New York -- or most anywhere outside
Milan. Chanel, whose suits inspired Hanae
Mori on her first trip to Paris, is still
a favorite. On the other hand, a popular
local designer like Hiroko Koshino does a
$100 million-a-year business. Koshino is
known for her clothes that are influenced
by Asian lines but use Western-style
cutting.
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