Japan Fashion Now
September 17, 2010 - January 8, 2011


Japan Fashion Now explored how Japanese fashion has evolved in recent years. Japanese fashion today embraces not only the cerebral, avant-garde looks associated with the first wave of Japanese design in the 1980s, but also a range of subcultural and youth-oriented styles, such as the Elegant Gothic Lolita style and the Cosplay phenomenon. In addition, Japanese fashion often has a strong component of realism and an obsessive interest in perfecting classic styles. Contemporary Japanese fashion is globally significant precisely because it mixes elements of realism, such as high-tech fabrics or creating a perfect pair of jeans, with both the avant-garde and pop cultural elements, especially those associated with electronic media, such as manga (comics), anime (animated cartoons), and video games.