Who is the designer of harajuku

But elegant lines from the likes of Tadashi Shoji and Yu Amatsuand also lend a subtle femininity to the scene. Culture Trip charts iconic names along with the new wave of Japanese fashion brands of note.

The late Kenzo Takada will be forever remembered as the visionary behind international fashion powerhouse Kenzo. His chaotic, colourful designs famously featured jungle print and cultural dress inspired by his travels — be it folk costumes or kimonos.

After moving to France in , Kenzo became the first Japanese designer to make a name on the Paris fashion scene, with his runway debut in Her work shocked critics on the Paris runway in and is now sold across the world. The designer quickly established himself as an avant-garde talent with a flair for pattern manipulation, conceptual designs and innovative cutting techniques.

Watanabe presented his first collection to great acclaim at Paris Fashion Week in and now produces four major international shows a year. If elegant evening womenswear is your thing, check out Tadashi Shoji. The designer works from a belief that all women should feel confident, regardless of their size and shape.

Using techniques such as draping and ruching, as well as plenty of tulle and stretch jersey, his designs make their wearers feel fabulous. They were designed by the late Kansai Yamamoto, who revelled in creating bold pieces that incorporated traditional Japanese designs.

His work, which launched in New York in , explores the relationship between the body and the cloth that covers it, featuring his typical layered, wrapped look. Award-winning designer Hanae Mori has broken barriers in the Japanese fashion world. She is one of only two Japanese women to have had collections on the Paris and New York runways.

Her work combines Japanese flowers and motifs with western couture techniques and is sold across the world.

Other claims to fame include costume designs for Evita and Madame Butterfly. Street fashion icon Jun Takahashi is best known for his cult Japanese label Undercover. Takahashi founded the brand with Bunka Fashion College classmate Nigo in and produced his first show at Paris Fashion Week in His popular activewear for both men and women features obscure culture references and is influenced by the punk scene, featuring ripped T-shirts and leather jackets with patches.

Tsumori Chisato cut her teeth in the fashion world working as an apprentice to Issey Miyake on his sports line. Many of her fun prints are hand painted and inspired by modern art, cats and Japanese culture.

After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, Yuki Hashimoto showcased his ability to keep his Japanese culture and contemporary high fashion intertwined with his impressive first collection. Combing traditional fabrics and tailoring with rugged modern charm and meticulous embroidery, his unique style propels him far ahead of his peers—a young force to be reckoned with, Hashimoto brings together East and West to form a concoction of pure genius.

Eponymously named after the 20th century Irish-American heavyweight champion, John Lawrence Sullivan is the brainchild of ex-boxer Arashi Yanagawa. Known for fusing fabrics of Japanese origin with subcultural inspirations, Yanagawa aims to epitomise modern masculinity in its most liberal sense through boxy designs and durable looking shapes and materials.

His mother, an apprentice dressmaker, also created clothing out of paper, and this had a huge influence on her son. He first discovered his very unique style when he left the Japanese capital and went to study at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Back in his home country, the designer launched his namesake label in , and three years later won the Tokyo Fashion Award. The result? Minimalist and sculptural silhouettes that offer the perfect balance between artistic demand and modern wearability.

Yohei Ohno is considered to be one of the most promising Japanese designers, and as well as creating fashion pieces also creates handmade art objects. Fashion-enthusiast friends passed on the fashion bug to Chika Kisada, a former professional ballerina.

Before launching her namesake label in , she established Japanese fashion brand Rekisami. She was presented with the Tokyo Fashion Award in Feminine elegance paired with punk attitude: Chika Kisada loves that her creations combine opposites such as rough and smooth materials, or playful and minimalist details. Her designs take inspiration from tulle and tutus and are worn by cosmopolitan women who are always on the move and looking for a new definition of high quality.

Today, her designs reflect her passion for the dance style. Takeshi Kitazawa was 24 years old when the owner of a second hand shop asked whether he wanted to open a new shop with him. Although he had no experience at all of the fashion industry, he said yes and ultimately started designing some of the clothing himself. Once the young Japanese designer had decided he wanted to launch his own label, he spent some time living in London, where he found not only the necessary inspiration but also the courage to move forward with it.

Takeshi Kitazawa has devoted himself to creating minimalist unisex collections, as he has found dividing his fashion into genders and sizes to be too stereotypical for his label.