Directory of Japanese Fashion Designers

Japanese designers changed the course of fashion in the late twentieth century, and archive pieces from their key seasons are now collected and studied like works of design. This directory introduces the names collectors look for and the eras that matter most. For the full story, with a visual glossary, an index and an encyclopedia, read The Fashionista Bible.

The Paris generation

  • Kenzo Takada. One of the first Japanese designers to build a house in Paris, opening his boutique there in 1970, known for colour, print and folkloric mixes. Essay · Collection
  • Issey Miyake. Founded his design studio in 1970 and is celebrated for technical pleating. The Pleats Please line followed in the 1990s, and Bao Bao bags have their own following. Essay · Collection
  • Rei Kawakubo. Founder of Comme des Garçons. Her Paris debut in 1981, with that of Yohji Yamamoto, introduced a new language of black, asymmetry and deconstruction. Essay · Collection
  • Yohji Yamamoto. Known for sculptural tailoring in black and for his Y's and Pour Homme lines. Essay · Collection
  • Hanae Mori. Joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1977 and is widely reported as its first Asian member, though accounts vary. Known for butterfly motifs. Essay · Collection

The Comme des Garçons family

Several designers began within Comme des Garçons. Junya Watanabe has shown under his own name with the company since the early 1990s, and Tao Kurihara and Fumito Ganryu also designed lines within the group. Labels inside garments, and the line names on them, help to place a piece.

Tokyo and Harajuku

  • Jun Takahashi. Founder of Undercover, whose early collections mixed punk, craft and storytelling. Essay · Collection
  • Takahiro Miyashita. Founder of Number (N)ine, whose archive collections of the 2000s are highly sought after. Essay · Number (N)ine · The Soloist
  • Chitose Abe. Founder of Sacai, known for hybrid garments that combine two pieces in one. Essay · Collection
  • Hiroshi Fujiwara. The figure behind Goodenough, fragment design and countless collaborations. Essay · Goodenough · Fragment Design
  • Nigo. Founder of A Bathing Ape and later Human Made, and a central figure in Harajuku street culture. Essay · Guide · Collection

The back lanes of Ura-Harajuku

A circle of friends opened small shops behind Harajuku’s famous street and made labels from records, motorcycles, uniforms and vintage. The map is in Ura-Harajuku: A Reader’s Guide to the Back Lanes and the Labels That Made Them; the founders are below.

  • Shinsuke Takizawa. Founder of Neighborhood, created in 1994, with its motorcycle, punk and military vocabulary. Essay · Collection
  • Tetsu Nishiyama. Founder of WTAPS, dated 1996 on the brand’s own page and 1997 by Highsnobiety. Essay · Collection
  • Hirofumi Kiyonaga. Founder of SOPH., established in 1998, and of the lines under it. Essay · Collection
  • Daisuke Obana. Founder of N.HOOLYWOOD, whose founding year is given as 2000, 2001 or about 2002. Essay · Collection
  • Nobuhiko Kitamura. Founder of Hysteric Glamour, launched in 1984. Essay · Collection
  • Atsuhiko Mori and Keiji Ishizuka. Founders of WACKO MARIA, whose first collection dates from 2005. Essay · Collection
  • Hiroshi Fujiwara and Jun Takahashi. The pair behind AFFA, conceived in 1994. Essay · Collection

The next generation

Kunihiko Morinaga of Anrealage, Junichi Abe of Kolor, Maiko Kurogouchi of Mame Kurogouchi and others now carry the tradition forward. They are profiled in Contemporary Designers and Brands to Watch, with dated entries in the Encyclopedia. See also Anrealage, Mihara Yasuhiro and Kansai Yamamoto.

Bags and leather

Yoshida and Co., maker of Porter bags, has made bags in Tokyo since the 1930s and works with designers across the world. Its collaborations are collected in their own right.

Collector notes

  • Labels changed over the decades, and label styles are a useful guide to dating a garment.
  • Japanese sizes run smaller than European sizes, so measurements are the safest guide.
  • Archive pieces from celebrated seasons command a premium, and the season is often recorded on an inside tag.

Related references

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