Economic Downturn, Japan Fashion Week Forced Pformation

Zhou Zheng, a Japanese fashion maker in Tokyo, is facing a pformation from government funding to funding.

The downturn in the Japanese economy has been a blow to the foreign luxury giants, but it has created an opportunity for local young designers.

Does this imply the future of other Asian fashion weeks?

The Eleventh Tokyo fashion week (Japan Fahion Week in Tokyo) 2011 spring summer series was held in from October 18th to 22nd, and more than 40 brands participated in the T release.

In the five days of fashion week, some Japanese Cenozoic designers have come to the fore, some of which have been broadcast live on a large screen in the downtown area of Tokyo.

But unlike previous years, some famous Japanese designers, especially men's designers, have chosen to move the show to the outside world, and only a few brands have been selected in the official venue of the fashion week in Tokyo.

The total number of spectators who participated in the fashion week fell from 17774 last season to 15311 this year. The organizing committee attributed the reason to "many brands chose smaller venues".

For example, in recent days, Japanese popular brands, Everlasting Sprout and Aguri Sagimori, chose static exhibitions instead of spending a lot of money on T shows. Some experienced brands such as Junko Koshino and Dress Camp quit the fashion week.

On the other hand, the Japanese Fashion Week continues to foster the tenet of young and avant garde designers, presenting a more populist feeling this time.

Organizers are trying to broaden their horizons, instead of focusing on high-end luxury brands, and shift some of their attention to Japan's unique and vibrant street fashion.

The main brands of Shibuya 109 department store are Liz Lisa and Vanquish (both shops are priced at moderate price in Shibuya 109 building of Japanese parity fashion department), and even the highly commercialized brand "Tokyo girl" has joined fashion week for the first time.

"In order to make Japanese fashion week more distinctive and strong, we have gathered more unknown young designer brands to join, and they have a continuous stream of inspiration in street costumes," said Nobuyuki Ota, chairman of the Japan fashion week project committee. "Younger fashions are more important in Tokyo than in other cities."

It can be said that since the "Tokyo Fashion Week" was renamed "Japan Fashion Week" in 2005, the important activities of the Japanese apparel industry are undergoing a pition and pformation period.

The Organizing Committee of fashion week will increasingly tighten its budget to pay for the travel expenses of its buyers. It will no longer pay the news reports of Tokyo's major news agencies as they used to do.

This decision is bound to affect the quality of news reports in fashion week.

The Japanese government's Ministry of industry and commerce, which has been supporting the event, has reduced its financial support in this season, and there are rumors that it will withdraw from fashion week in the next session.

It is also true that Japanese fashion week has commissioned IMG Fashion of the United States to take full responsibility for its sponsorship and management rights.

The Japanese government invested a total of 335 million yen (about 27 million 300 thousand yuan) to finance the current and next fashion week, which is 2/3 lower than the total amount applied in Japan fashion week.

Ota predicts that the actual output of this fashion week will be basically the same as that of last spring and summer.

However, the economic downturn has also had a positive impact on the local fashion brands in Japan.

In the past ten years, businesses have been feeling the decline. The mall operators are concerned about Japanese brands. After all, European brands are more expensive.

As a result, department stores began to dig for moderately priced and uniquely designed products.

The eleventh Japanese fashion week was held in from October 15th to 24th. Besides the Tokyo series, which was held from 18 to 22, there was also a static exhibition.

From the overall trend, Japanese fashion designers show more elegance and sweetness in the process of blending the trend culture between the East and the West.

Fresh wave spots, sweet lace, hazy water powder and watermelon red are the popular elements of this season. It is worth mentioning that umbrellas have become the new accessories frequently appeared in many shows.