Rakuten FWT: Sentimentality reigns among emerging names as global ties continue to strengthen

As the demand for Japanese designers grows, it is no wonder that a similar fate has befallen the country’s local fashion week, where the roster continues to expand as the born-and-raised talent make the shift between European presentations and home shows in greater numbers. Over the course of March 11 to 16, Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo (FWT) returned to once again convey its message of global connection, bringing with it 43 brands and one international label under headline sponsor’s annual ‘by R’ project, this year’s being Marimekko.

Newcomers remain at forefront

While the fashion weeks of Paris and Milan tend to revolve around luxury houses with decades-long histories, Tokyo appears as more of an opportunity platform for emerging names and, as such, there is a sense of deep loyalty among those that have already presented here before. This dedication also means that, season-after-season, outsiders are able to get a detailed overview of how these newer brands are developing and evolving their identities, with a schedule that puts them on a pedestal for the world to see.

Mikage Shin, for example, a brand now in its fourth year of participation, was intentional about extending a storyline that has been in place since its birth. The collection’s theme, entitled ‘Game Changer’, was established to be a “life-long proposition” and this year saw the designer “break away from the brand’s shell” through an expansion in materials and techniques. Another to return to the spotlight was Hidesign, a collective of design professionals that are also now in their fourth season, who this time round celebrated their first steps into the commercial market, an avenue not yet explored. The result was a 60 piece collection inspired by uniform, but with added and exaggerated elements of workwear details to upgrade the look.

Kanako Sakai was also highlighted as a notable returnee. As the recipient of the JFW Next Brand Award 2024, a support programme launched for the first time by the Japan Fashion Week Organisation (JFWO) last year, the label was recognised for being a “new talent with the potential to become active in the global fashion industry”. The eponymous designer’s collection looked to tackle the confines of “femininity”, a construct that she had avoided her whole life. Instead, through her designs she faced the concept head on, incorporating lace catsuits, heart-shaped cut-outs and silky, sparkly pieces with a more androgynous undertone.

Tokyo Fashion Award winners to continue Parisian ties

This emphasis on global stardom also extended into winners of this year’s Tokyo Fashion Award, which is now in its ninth edition and continuing the mission of backing Tokyo-based designers in their pursuit of international growth. Among the eight selected for 2024, were FAF, Kota Gushiken, Shinyakozuka, Soshio Tsuki, Haengnae, Mister It, Photocopieu and Tanakadaisuke, each of which will take part in JFWO’s Paris-based showroom for the respective men’s and women’s AW25 season next year. Next to this, there also seemed to be a common string for sentimentality and worldview perspectives across the honourees collections.

Photocopieu, for example, drew inspiration from the relationship between Scandinavian design master Alva Aalto and his wife, Aino, for an installation that referenced the theme ‘Love towards things that are easily overlooked’. FAF, meanwhile, looked to the past to inform on design and patterns, “recirculating” various garments’ essences for what was the brand’s first runway show. For her own collection, Anna Sui of Haengnae brought together her personal perspective of Japanese craftsmanship, New York expression and European haute couture to formulate a series of elegant gowns and eveningwear. These incorporated elements of corsetry, padding and exaggerated gathering, which traversed the runway to the sound of live cello music.

The award winners’ participation in next year’s Paris fashion season was just one of the ties to the European fashion city evident in Tokyo this year. Such efforts to connect with the French capital also came in the form of a press conference held by Paris Fashion Week’s official tradeshow partner, Tranoï. The organisation announced that, through a new partnership with JFWO, it would be entering Tokyo under the newly formed Tranoï Tokyo, with the first exhibition to take place September 4 to 5, coinciding with the next edition of Rakuten FWT SS25.

Connecting with the more global fashion industry has been among the core focus points for JFWO and the fashion week’s headline sponsor Rakuten, which has helped the event shift into more of an incubator platform to catapult local names onto the rosters of international fashion events. This mission has only further been cemented by ties to Italy’s Pitti Uomo and JFWO’s Paris showroom, where brands exhibiting Japanese artisanal skills have already been present.

While JFWO and Rakuten have seen some success in delivering European fashion cities homegrown names, the duo are also eager to encourage Japanese designers to return to Tokyo in a bid to bolster the fashion week’s reach. Last season, this saw streetwear giant BAPE take to the event with a show supported by the ‘by R’ initiative, a concept that continued this season with Marimekko in a further attempt to draw in international eyes. The idea has evidently worked, however, as evidenced by the return of Shinepi Goto’s Masu, which had previously presented in Paris. This year, Goto was the recipient of the Fashion Prize of Tokyo 2024 award, presented by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and JFWO, which saw him stage an exhibition for his ready-to-wear collection of sparkly numbers and teardrop jewellery.

Childhood wonder and reflecting on time at heart of trends

Ties with the west weren’t only visible in collaborations and initiatives. European design values were also intertwined with some of the collections presented during the fashion week. Alongside embellished netting and crystallised suits, Tanakadaisuke, another Tokyo Fashion Award winner, brought in a “European-like” soldiers jacket to offset a more pastel colour palette, a look that was paired with a full skirt reminiscent of 1800s fashion. Naoki Tomizuka, the creative director for Queen&Jack, on the other hand, drew influences from southern Italy for his own collection. The designer, who notably worked at French fashion house Marc Le Bihan, referenced the Italian essence through an academia aesthetic, present in layered outerwear and knitwear.

A similar sense of childhood wonder was one of the core trends for Tokyo designers overall. It was particularly central to Viviano’s ‘What’s New?’ collection, consisting of both garments and scenery that derived from the designer’s youth and present life. Designs ranged from floor-sweeping lace gowns that covered the head to denim two-pieces with traditional Chinese frog fastenings and heart-printed fluffy coats. In a more literal sense, Chika Kisada got children involved in the presentation itself, bringing in young ballerinas that appeared alongside models adorned in layered tulle bustles and crochet dresses. The brand was another to return to the schedule following a stint under the ‘by R’ initiative for the AW23 season.

A feeling of nostalgia could also be seen in the collections of Kamiya and Tokyo Fashion Award winner Shinyakozuka, both of which explored the concept of time through their respective collections. Following the theme ‘Time is Blind’, Kamiya set out to express the “dual nature of the passing of time in fashion” through a menswear offering that held a sense of Y2K flair. The brand’s ideology was only further rooted in the show’s surroundings of Shibuya Hyakken-dana, an area that has remained true to its past despite the modernisation going on around it in the present.

For its first presentation, Shinyakozuka, meanwhile, touched on time as well as people and space. These were then combined with the designer’s memories of diving into a swimming pool, an activity he resumed following the pandemic and was then reflected in his choice to hold a presentation in a pool-like space. The collection itself held strong references to the winter season, through an array of outerwear such as duffle coats, padded vests and fleece, many of which were embellished with child-like prints that traversed their silhouettes.

Tech, AI and a digital presence

Rakuten FWT extends beyond just runway shows, however. The event’s attempts to establish a global audience also flows through outside initiatives that hope to bolster reach. This was only confirmed for this season with the introduction of the ‘Digital Voice’ project, with which JWFO set about making an “effort to have more people feel the ‘real’ of fashion week”, by inviting both groups of influencers and photographers to descend on venues and capture the shows via their own viewpoint. The result of the project is the ‘My Runway Gallery’ concept, where guests and visitors can share their content on an open platform.

Technology does continue to be important for the fashion week, too. 2024 marked the first year that the event fully utilised artificial intelligence (AI) for promotion, with the technology used to depict its year-round theme ‘Open, Fashion Week’ and this year’s concept of the coexistence between people and nature. The key visuals for the fashion week show the faces of actual models in a digitised setting, putting to use facial learning to challenge new possibilities between modelling agencies and fashion weeks.

To build on the use of AI, Tokyo AI Fashion Week was also announced alongside the official schedule, with a contest and exhibition designed to essentially test the use of the technology as JFWO looks to steadily introduce it in a positive manner for the wider fashion week. Glimpses of what could be were already present in an exhibition installation of Sync Fabric Studio held at the Tokyo National Museum, where kimonos of Japan’s Edo period were studied by generative AI to create futuristic haori – short Japanese overgarments – that focused on the “no waste structure” of the original design.