Designer Nozomi Mukai started MONJA last year November, so this is still a very new company. The Okayama based designer takes old kimono and creates dresses, corsets, bags and pouches. Some of the items attract elderly customers, but Mukai also creates lots of items perfect for street fashion.
Er Kodama is coming out with her brand new company at this rooms show. Her 17 cm long accessory dolls come with a short chain to attach them to bags or key chains, but they’d also look great as a necklace. They’re elegant and stylish and not at all like the usual key chain characters. Each one is a unique creation.
Nemu is the brain child of designer Megumi Yoshida, also known as Popoki. Yoshida creates what she calls room wear, comfortable clothing to relax in at home, some tops even feature tiny pillows on the shoulders to comfortably fall asleep. Nemu is actually derived from nemui, sleepy, she explains. But Yoshida’s creations are great for the outdoors, too. Playful and charming. She often uses a bear and a lemon in her prints. “They look cute together,” she says.
Bunka Fashion Graduate University
Selected 5 students graduating this March to display their creations at rooms. Especially three designers caught our attention. Shintaro Haruna (24), silkscreens a print on cotton using a liquid foaming binder. He then presses polyurethane on top of that and airbrushed this to create a material that somewhat resembles leather. The result is rather eye catching. Others we liked are Nozomi Ueda and Harue Nagamoto.
Shintaro Haruna
Shintaro Haruna
Nozomi Ueda
Nozomi Ueda
Nozomi Ueda
Harue Nagamoto
Harue Nagamoto
Harue Nagamoto
produces lots of bags with images of cats, bears, rabbits, parakeets and other animals. Even a piglet. We love their new pouches with these images.
participated again. JAPANESE STREETS is a great fan of their rattan art. Last September we introduced their rattan food creations, this year designers Mio Umekita and Keisuke Hosaka introduced stylish hats and interior decorations made with rattan.
is another company we introduced last September. We loved their Mocomoconoco, which they still carry. This year’s new items are mushroom inspired uncanny and custom dolls featuring unexpected items like a skull or brains.
was launched last September. The designs for the tights are created by about 13 Japanese artists. In total there are 37 designs, ranging from simple polka dots to intricate art work and even abstract creations. A great way to get some artistic creativity in your wardrobe.
has been around for a while already. Designer Hironori Yasuda launched the company in 1994. CUNE creates men’s an women’s fashion that is whimsical and cute, yet stylish and fashionable. The kind of thing you can wear both at the beach and a party. We also shot their SS 2013 fashion show last year, so you may remember some of the items below.
is another brand we love and covered last year. Nozomi Kakimoto makes her creations by hand. One of her recent creations features her drawings which she later dyed with tea, after which she stiffened it with glue. “You can fold it and put it in your bag when you travel,” she demonstrates.
was launched in 1976 as a company making headwear for children, but they have since branched out to adult headwear as well. The company is dedicated to keeping the trade alive in Japan. “Hat making is hard work,” explains press director Ryoko Toriyama, “so, few young people are interested in taking it up. But we want to continue making hats in Japan.”
TSURU by Mariko Oikawa
is the favorite shoe brand of JAPANESE STREETS at rooms. We have covered TSURU twice before and designer Mariko Oikawa always manages to come up with new gorgeous designs. This time, we especially like their spangle covered wedge sole short boots appropriately named Sparkie.
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