Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Future of Japanese Fashion


all photos from Drop Snap

This month's Fashion News (magazine):
今月のファッションニュース:


The title reads, "Find the 'world standard' Japanese Brand! 95 brands to take note of". I've recently read an interesting article I found on Style Bubble from the New York Times. It points out that most Japanese fashion brands, even the popular and critically acclaimed brands are little known overseas, despite the increasing popularity of Japanese street style. Even though I live in Tokyo, I feel like there's a distance between Japanese fashion brands and consumers, especially the ones that are expensive. 
写真通りですが”世界基準のジャパニーズブランドを探せ!!注目の95ブランドはこれだ”ー日本のブランドの大特集です。そして最近ニューヨークタイムズで面白い記事を読みました。日本のスナップは海外でもよく知られていてるのとは逆に、国内で人気・評価の高いブランドでも日本以外では無名、というケースがほとんど。東京に住んでいる私でさえ日本のブランド(特に高めのもの)とは若干距離を感じます。

The magazine reads, "Find the 'world standard' Japanese Brand", I think Japanese brands have reached that (whatever they mean by "world standard"...). One thing that Japanese brands must do is take more advantage of the Internet. Japan is way behind when it comes to using the Internet to communicate. Twitter is slowly catching on (on a completely random and unrelated note, can you believe that the Prime Minister of Japan is on Twitter?!), but it hasn't been a huge movement like it was in the States, and online shopping is still a relatively new concept; no one around me shops online. I find it hard to find official sites, lookbooks, and overall information about Japanese brands online. Has anyone felt this too? I would love to hear your opinion--do you wish that more Japanese brands would expand overseas, are you interested in what kind of stores/brands are popular in Japan, do you have a favorite Japanese brand? Let me know what you think!
雑誌には”世界基準のジャパニーズブランドを探せ!!”とありますが、日本のブランドはその基準(というか世界基準とはどんな基準なんでしょうか...)まできていると思います。ただ日本のブランドはインターネットをフル活用してないと思います。Twitterも最近根付いてきたばかりだし(鳩山総理がTwitter使っているなんてびっくり!)、オンラインショッピングも結構新しいですよね。少なくとも私の周りには洋服や靴をインターネットで買う人はいません。インターネットを使ってコミュニケーションをとる、と行った面では完全に遅れています。ブランドのオフィシャルサイト、ルックブック、情報なども見つけにくい気がするし、あまりオープンではない気がします。皆様はどう思われますか?日本のブランドはもっと海外上陸するべきか、インターネットの使い方、ブランドの広報とか何でも!ぜひぜひ、皆様の意見をお聞きしたいです。お気軽にコメントでどうぞ!

And to end my ramblings, my favorite collections from the magazine:
この駄文をお読みいただき、ありがとうございます...雑誌から、個人的なお気に入りを:

You can probably tell from the photos, but I photographed my favorites from the magazine. 
雑誌の写真の写真を自分で撮ったものです。

Technical question: does anyone know why Blogger cuts off my pictures on the side? As you can see, both collages are cut off but it looks fine when it's on preview and also the thumbnails on Bloglovin'. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Update 1/15: Thanks to the lovely Sushi of Le blog de Sushi, this problem has been solved!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just looked through Vogue Nippon, I love that magazine. Unfortunately I can't understand any of the text, but I think it's such a cool magazine!

diamondsinchampagne said...

Omg I get so excited looking at these pictures. I cannot wait to experience Japanese fashion! The designs above are very inspiring.
I also can't wait to pick up a copy of Vogue Nippon

Anonymous said...

just discovered your blog! great post :) x

anna bu said...

always great inspiration!!

http://justbuit.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Great pics!! ;))

Madeline Veenstra said...

Gorgeous photos! I adore Japanese fashion :) Thanks for reading my blog!! I've added you to my blogroll :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment! I can't wait to go to Paris in May. I'll definitely be blogging all about my adventures (shopping and other) there! One of the main things I want to do is try to find a bunch of awesome vintage stores and markets. I'm already collecting adresses! My sister was in Paris a couple of years ago and she got some awesome vintage stuff and found some great stores so I'm getting those adresses off her. I'll definitely do a big post on vintage shopping in Paris after my trip! (and I plan to blog a lot during the time I am there too!)

phantom; said...

Thank you for your comment, I have also added you to my blogs list ^.^

I like this post, I can't believe the Prime Minister is on Twitter, how weird?!
Although it's sad that some brands never reach overseas, I think it's nice to keep things where they started sometimes, so that when people visit different places, there is a distinct vibe of that fashion, etc, otherwise it's no fun if we can all find the same things in our own places!

Ken said...

日本のブランドはもっと海外に上陸すべきか?
>私はそう思っています。私は現在、アメリカに住んでいますが、日本の商品・サービスは素晴らしいものがたくさんあると思っています(日本びいきなところもありますが・・・)安いポールペンひとつとっても機能性が高い(インクの出具合が絶妙)、デザイン性の高いものがたくさんあります。
ブランド単独で海外進出は資金的にも難しい、なんらかのアクションを行うまで時間がかかります。大手といわれる企業以外はなかなか難しい思います。
なので、6月に日本に帰って企業の海外進出をサポートする会社を設立する予定です。
「日本をもっと海外へ」微力ではありますが、すこしづつ実現していこうと思っています。

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