Flowers through the Fog

Hey Friends! How are you? So I'm happy to say David and I have finished the 4th chapter of our book and are offically 90 pages into it! Woot woot! So I have a video to share with you today that David shot in Tokyo and I just finished editing. It is from the Fur Fur Spring 2012 presentation. It was an incredibly beautiful and spontaneous show. The models wore a mix of dark and light colored garments with flowers on their heads. We learned later from our friend that the styling of the show was mori girl. Mori girls are basically like forest wandering girls. We really loved the concept. There was really trippy, creepy music playing all through it. From time to time, some of the models would all stand up and slowly walk around and then, all at once, find a different seat and sit down. The motion and coordination of it all was really something to behold. We hope you like the video!

A Drawing in the Dark

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Hi everyone!
So we have been super busy, but I'm glad I can get some drawings up.
This one I did on the plane in almost complete darkness on the flight to Tokyo. Haha
It was kind of crazy, but I really like the style of it. What do you think? I hope you are all having a great week! :)

Happy Halloween from Christian Dada!

Happy Halloween!
We thought the Christian Dada collection would be a perfect post for tonight as the show was the darkest and eeriest of Tokyo Fashion Week. The lighting was very dramatic and intense as was the collection. It had a certain something that reminded us of The Cell, a movie by Tarsem, the director of The Fall, which is a favorite movie of ours. There were life size bird cages, metal-work face masks, long flawy dress, and an elk antler wedding dress. We really like how the pictures turned out!!! Do you think they are Halloween spooky?!

Ambell Spring 2012 Tokyo Fashion Week

Ambell was a really mellow, fun show that happened in the evening later in the week. As we were generally so busy during Tokyo Fashion Week, it was a nice change of pace. It was held upstairs at the Mercedes-Benz Connection, the same venue where the Vantan & Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe Presentation had been. Everyone gathered upstairs and grabbed drinks at their leisure and then wandered in and out among the other viewers and the mannequins donning the collection. We had the pleasure of meeting Bunzo Kadono, the designer for Ambell. He was very nice and said that the 1920s was a big inspiration for him in this collection and that he liked the era because it was a time where a lot of innovation was happening in women's fashion. We, of course, loved this, as this has always been one of our favorite eras as well. The collection consisted of some bright, colorful floral prints as well as intricate lace work and also classic cuts with white and navy blue stripes. And obviously, the bouquet hats were very fun :) We hope you are enjoying the Tokyo Fashion Week photographs!

A Degree Fahrenheit Spring 2012 JFW

So A Degree Fahrenheit was a very cool show with some great dresses. It was the first show on Tuesday the 18th at Japan Fashion Week Tokyo. The show had wonderful ambiance with eerie ambient music with crackley percussions and creepy pianos playing as fog floated across a dark runway. The models emerged through the fog one by one, each revealing a new garment, each one equally as beautiful as the one that proceeded it. They had very intricate lace work in the garments as well as tights that matched the patterns. We hope you like the photos :)

Matohu Spring 2012 Tokyo Fashion Week

Matohu had a very intimate show set at the designer's store in Shibuya during Tokyo Fashion Week. There were stools set around a small cobblestone walkway that led up to the store, at the back of which was the photographers pit. Guests were seated around the shop as well as in the walkway with another group standing along a narrow alleyway that brought one towards the back of the store. The models began in the shop and exited through the front door to pause just outside the entryway as the cameras snapped away like fire crackers. They then proceeded down the alleyway around to the back of the shop. The collection was our first (though we did not know it at the time) introduction to wabi-sabi (more on wabi-sabi later). It was very minimal and chic in a traditional Japanese fashion. Very clean, simple, elegant lines. And the shoes! The shoes were beautiful. Nice two-toned flats with a gradient that started at the toe and faded back.

G.V.G.V. Spring 2012 Tokyo Fashion Week

The show started with a flash of lights and a blast from the speakers, and the first model was out of the gate and down the runway donning a look that was a stylish throw back to 1950's in California. The models wore their hair in an updo with rounded sunglasses that come into a point at the top corner, giving one the slight impression of a cat. The dresses were slim fitting with clean lined collars and belts worn over them. They were accompanied by some fun, dancy, 50's beach rock. There was a fun, bright assortment of pastels in the collection and an essence that boasted a well founded confidence. It was definitely enjoyable. We hope you like the photos!

Also, we had the pleasure of meeting and sitting next to Misha at the show. She was very sweet and filled us in on local trends and style concepts. We really enjoyed talking with her.

fur fur Spring 2012 Tokyo Fashion Week

So fur fur was one of our favorites at Tokyo Fashion Week. It reminded us of the first time we went to a Rachel Antonoff presentation and didn't know what to expect, but left with big smiles on our faces. The collection was totally dreamy. Both the collection and the presentation were based on the concept of improvisation and spontaneity. Basically like the concept of arranging flowers. The flowers are all unique and there is no set formula on how to arrange them, but you look at them and place them almost instinctually next to one another. We were told, that in the spirit of that theme, the models in the show all showed up and chose the garments they wanted to wear from the collection. There were dresses of both white and purple and the girls were seated on chairs on a circular platform around various tables with flowers and miscellaneous objects. They all had elaborate floral headpieces of green and pink, and there was a foggy mist drifting through the room. Rather creepy music kept time for the mesmerizing dance that consisted of the models, sometimes a few, sometimes all, getting up and walking about until they came across an empty chair and gracefully sat down again. It was, I suppose, like a dream one might have after watching The Fall, Alice in Wonderland, and Memoirs of a Geisha one after the other. There was also something very bridal about the white gowns. Don't you agree?

We hope that the photos capture the ethereal, dreamlike quality of the actual experience. More collections from Tokyo Fashion Week to come soon!

p.s. We were given an interesting Tokyo fashion insight from Misha who informed us that the style of the fur fur show was that of forest girl. Essentially it consists of rather flowing garments tattered on the edges, as though a girl had been lost in the forest and then wandered around endlessly afterwards. We were rather enamored by the concept : )

Everlasting Sprout Spring 2012 JFW

Okay, so we love this designer. His past collections are so great, and this show was right in line with those. The show started with a musical quartet, one of whom had a large instrument neither of us had ever seen before. It looked like a wood wind flute, except it started at the ground and went all the way past his head. The mouth piece for it then came back down to his mouth. It was crazy!
They began to play and then the first model appeared. Her hair was curled and she was wearing semi nerdy glasses. The colors of the collection were very pleasant pastel greens and blues and yellows, as well as some nice black and whites. There were tons of fun shoes and socks also. One thing that has stood out to us during Tokyo Fashion Week is the meticulous detail that obviously went into the designs. You can tell that a lot of care went into it and the collections really standout as a result. Everlasting Sprout did not disappoint. We loved the very playful feel of it all. Simply wonderful!

We will be posting more images from this collection soon : ) Have a great day!

So Far, Tokyo Rules

After the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe Premiere, we walked around Roppongi, the district of Tokyo where the Tokyo Fashion Week main stage is, and we went to a store called Restir. The ground floor had some amazing cameras, as well as really clean looking watches and tech devices. There were also some high quality books, including a Tim Walker photo book that I'm going to go back and buy later. Also, my friend Satoru bought me a cool sketchbook there! We then headed up the stairs and browsed the clothes. There was a pair of grey boots that caught my eye as well as a pair of wood framed sunglasses that David was scoping out. After that, it was off to lunch!

Vantan & Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe Presentation Tokyo Fashion Week

After Motonari Ono we went to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe Presentation which show cased the Vantan Design Institute Fashion. They are best fashion school of Tokyo and we are looking forward to seeing more of their designs later in the week. The models walked around a matte black coupe showcasing both the collection and the car. which was matte black and looked phenomenal in that color, I might add : )
Afterwards there was a Q & A with CEO of Mercedez-Benz Japan, Nicholas Speeks. He said something we rather liked, "Mercedes is in the Fashion Business. When you buy a car you are making a statement about yourself."

As you may know, Tokyo Fashion Week had to be cancelled last season as a result of the March 11th earth quake and all of the devastation that followed. This is Mercedes-Benz first time sponsoring Tokyo Fashion Week, and it is nice to see their company come along side of Japan in their efforts towards recovery and expanding their fashion designers reach to a global market. It's definitely been a great honor to be a part of it so far. We really hope that more people see the great designs coming out of Tokyo Fashion Week and make the trip out here to support Japan in the future. It is well worth it : )

We hope you are all doing well and are enjoying our coverage of Tokyo Fashion Week thus far!

Motonari Ono Spring 2012 Tokyo Fashion Week

We just saw the Monotari Ono show. Very cool! It had a very Moulin Rouge feel to it, which is awesome, as we are both big fans of that film : )
They had four models sitting on chairs in a very Chicago (the musical) way at the beginning of the runway.
My favorite dress had very bright, colorful print and great lines. It was so beautiful!
The hair styling was also really fun. All in all, it was a great start to our Tokyo Fashion Week experience.

Everyone here has been so wonderful. We love everyone we have met. They are all so kind and cool and polite. What a great experience! Also, I was just got interviewed for Japanese television which was such an honor! I never thought that would happen! And we also met Hirofumi Kurino who was super nice, and we are going to check out one of his shops in Harajuku later in the week. Looking forward to that!

We hope you like the pictures from the show : )