Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2009

On the last day of this installment of Fashion Week we visited Taito Designers Village for an event called “This is Fashion.” The last three shows of Mikio Sakabe, Akira Naka and written afterwards, along with some small art exhibitions, what made the waiting in between much more comfortable.

The spring/summer collection of Mikio Sakabe was very melancholic with many Grunge-elements, such as tattered tights, typical T-Shirt prints and of course the colour black. The collection was throughout very dark, but the last outfit, that was hold in very bright colours, was a kind of gleam of hope and maybe also a forecast to autumn/winter (?).

Also Akira Naka chose the combination black and white for the next summer. With much leather, rivets and golden zippers on the pants the designer created a look, whose toughness is ruptured by airy chiffon blouses.

What at first seemed to be jeans was after a closer look just a print. These and other art prints, which didn’t only decorate pants and tops but also shoes, were especially outstanding.

In the end, written afterwards gave a fabulous contrast to the previous shows.

With his “fashion show of the gods” designer Yoshikazu Yamagata created an unbelievable collection, which was especially affected by the fact that none of the dresses had even one stitching. Everything was knotted or wrapped around the models, so that it reminded you pretty much of togas or ascetic garments.

And, well, as gods are usually not perfect models, you could also see older gentlemen running down the catwalk.