Japan Fashion Week, as always, was a busy affair with lots of running and tight schedules. But once again, we survived.

You can look over our shoulders and see a selection of photographs of this year’s best shows in Tokyo.

There were two underlying themes in this season’s shows that seemed to dominate: ethnicity and romanticism.

Hisui, Hiroko Koshino and even everlasting sprout to a degree were clearly influenced by ethnic lifestyles. Hiroko Koshino told me it was the Balkan that inspired her this year, while Hisui’s Hiroko Ito mentioned Mongolia as hers.

Romanticism was expressed in soft simple creations by Hidenobu Yasui, a modern view on Japan’s traditional kimono by Jotaru Saito, sensuality by newcomer Motonari Ono and old style glamour by YLANG YLANG.

What makes the Japan Fashion Week so completely different from the collections at Paris, New York and Milan is the inclusion of edgy street-style shows like h.Naoto and GUT’S DYNAMITE CABARETS. IZREEL is right in between these two shows and what you would normally find at a major collection.

Al together a good season with quite a few newcomers and lots of ‘go crazy’ fun as there should be in fashion, but is often missing at Paris, New York and Milan.

Tokyo really gets it!

ato (152 photos)
Chinami Kamishima (77 photos)
everlasting sprout (94 photos)
GUT’S DYNAMITE CABARETS (113 photos)
h.Naoto (192 photos)
Heath (52 photos)
Hidenobu Yasui (22 photos)
Hiroko Koshino (193 photos)
Hisui (125 photos)
IZREEL (71 photos)
Jotaru Saito (183 photos)
Matohu (92 photos)
Mikio Sakabe (88 photos)
Motonari Ono (85 photos)
THEATRE PRODUCTIONS (133 photos)
UNDER CASTLE (74 photos)
YLANG YLANG (140 photos)