Forget about Paris.
Move over New York.
And thank you, Los Angeles.
Japan is on it’s way to be the world’s next fashion center.
It’s been a slow movement that started kicking up about five years ago, but the high fashion world is on its way to being controlled by Japan.
Early this month, Tokyo-based Fast Retailing Limited reported they are in the running to buy Barneys (www.barneys.com) New York for $896 million. This is serious because as all of us stylistas know, Barneys is the clearinghouse for high-end contemporary fashion. That’s why we rejoiced when we learned that Barneys Coop was coming to Rittenhouse Square.
In the last five years, Barneys top buyer Julie Gilhardt has put new designers Zac Posen, Stacey Bendet(of Alice + Olivia) and Philadelphia’s own $100+ T-shirt maker Neal Spearling on the radar.
Fast Retailing Ltd., is a subsidiary of Uniqulo which has a high financial stake in women’s clothing chain, Theory.
Creatively speaking, much of fashion’s cutting-edge developments seems to have its genesis in Japan. Within the last five years, beauty experts and cosmetologists have introduced hair straightening and creams women believe will help them stay young. They have introduced super expensive denim. (Try upwards of $500 for a pair of jeans). Yohji Yamamoto’s sportswear designs for Adidas are runway hits every season. There is even a new book: Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook: (Chronicle Books, $16.95 which talks about singer Gwen Stefani’s influence on fashion.
And every designer from Betsey Johnson to Coach has opened a store there.
Fashion is cyclical and just like styles who has control of it changes hands often. Even in fashion we are on our way to becoming solely consumers. The Japanese have figured out how to sell our own hype back to us at top dollar.
