Tokyo Street Style Looks You Probably Missed But Would Love to See
PC: Vogue Japan, Momo Angela
I have long admired Tokyo Street style for its over-the-top creativity. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the visual impact of a girl in frilly socks, a polka-dotted blouse, a multi-layered skirt, and bright pink hair. I grew up admiring the women who so proudly wore what they wanted in a conformist country. It was their way of rebelling—turning to fashion to form an identity for themselves.
I think of Tokyo fashion as existing on a spectrum. You can find everything from the most pared-back, minimalist styles (which the Western audience tends to focus on in Japan) to the flashiest of ensembles (think gyarus and Harajuku girls).
Most modern women exist somewhere in the middle. The “salary women”, or corporate girls as well call them, wear a standard uniform consisting of wide-leg pants and blouses with puffy sleeves. Those working in more grunge industries wear the kind of streetwear that the world has come to love Japan for.
At Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo (or Tokyo Fashion Week), you get a mix of everything. The fashion is, however, so distinctly Japanese and unlike what you find at any other fashion week that you can’t help but admire their ability to remain authentic to their own styles. Even in a hyperconnected world where trends cross borders on a screen, Japan has remained distinctly itself rather than succumbing to the influence of the rest.
While there is a noticeable sameness from Paris to Milan to New York (despite some distinctions), Japanese fashion shares far less overlap with these cities. And while some might argue that Japan’s trends don’t evolve and stay more or less the same over the years, I like to think of it as a timelessness and a sureness in their own artistic expressions. There is no need to one-up themselves and others at all times. So even when the world says minimalism is in and points to Japan, hailing it as the king of minimalism, the stylish showgoers come to fashion week dressed like this:
Best Looks from Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo
