WONG:
Japan starts the week with a fashion show extravaganza, featuring many young and upcoming Japanese designers. Let's have a look at their latest 2009 spring/summer collection.
STORY:
It's Tokyo's fashion week. More than 40 brands, including ten newcomers will be shown this season. One of the first designers to hit the catwalk is Mikio Sakabe.
He and his Taiwanese co-designer have built their brand image based on the futuristic pop culture in Tokyo.
Their latest summer resort-themed collection includes a line-up of women's wear using nylons and cellophane-woven fabrics.
[Mikio Sakabe, Fashion Designer]:
"My intention was to make new Japanese fabrics look elegant. Japanese fabrics are interesting, but they look sportive and inorganic. I wanted to change that and make them more emotional so I also incorporated the resort theme."
Three years ago Japan's fashion industry began to stage a fashion week twice a year in a joint effort with the government. Their goal is to dress up Tokyo's image as a global style capital.
[Mikio Sakabe, Fashion Designer]:
"Japan Fashion Week has a potential to get really interesting. It still needs some work, but I'm really looking forward to it since more new designers will come out in the future."
Designer, Eri Utsugi, also reveals the latest collection of her brand "Mercibeaucoup". Utsugi started her own label three years ago. Now it has grown into one of Japan's most popular brands.
[Eri Utsugi, Fashion Designer]:
"I was inspired by water that I saw in India. Water changes into various things, like it turns into rain, it freezes, gets warm and it becomes snow. It's just so amazing and that's where I got the theme for my collection - 'changes.'"
According to government figures, Japan is among the world's biggest fashion markets, with 88 billion U.S. dollars spent on apparel in 2003.
While there is a wealth of home-grown talent such as Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake, the younger generation of Japanese designers is still struggling for recognition.
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