Tokyo Fashion Week opens with burst of butterflies, kisses

Fashion Week Tokyo was in full swing Tuesday after it opened in a burst

 of colour and bold prints, with butterflies, kisses, and geometric patterns dominating the first shows.

Hanae Mori, one of Japan's most internationally acclaimed fashion houses, showcased its first collection by in-demand young designer Yu Amatsu, which featured swarms of butterflies printed onto classic pieces such as shift dresses, jackets and shorts. Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, known for her avant-garde style, attended the show which opened the 2015 Spring-Summer collections on Monday, with Colombian designer and close friend Haider Ackermann.

Amatsu said: "The name Hanae Mori is very important to me. I simply express what I see myself, through my own filter. "The main theme for this collection has been butterflies. Albeit there are many types of butterflies, I focused on the Danainae rather than the Swallowtail."

He added he wanted to express the "powerful daintiness" of the Danainae type of butterfly best seen when they swarm, rather than the larger Swallowtail, which he said "represented gracefulness". Amatsu, who previously worked with Marc Jacobs, will showcase the new collection from his own brand A Degree Farenheit later on Tuesday.

Another opener of the week was Dresscamp, which rolled out a pop modern collection with lots of kissmarks and geometric patterns on Monday. "This season's inspiration is from the artist, Ultra Violet. I started by thinking what are the rules that Ultra Violet has, and built up this collection from that," said designer Toshikazu Iwaya, referring to a French-born artist who worked with Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.

Tokyo Fashion Week runs until Sunday, with 48 brands participating, the bulk of them Japanese. (AFP)