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March 29, 2025
 

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Samuel Thomas

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Samuel Thomas
Samuel Thomas is a fashion writer and lecturer in fashion media at Bunka Gakuen University. He regularly contributes to The Japan Times, among other publications, and provides consultancy services to industry clients.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 11, 2013
Prabal Gurung takes to the sky, Swedish style lands in Osaka and NukeMe creates turbulent fabrics
Prabal Gurung is being tapped to design new uniforms for All Nippon Airways group's 60th anniversary last year. ANA surely chose New York based-Gurung in a bid to show its global aspirations, and it helps that he is one of the hottest commodities on the market, as a young up-and-comer with some major...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 14, 2013
Retro makes a comeback, while subcultures seep into high fashion
Phillip Lim's new collection speeds ahead
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 30, 2013
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu on a mission to spread Japan's kawaii culture
'Cool' may have been the official buzzword, but if the chants of the 20,000 strong audience at a recent festival are to be believed, that word has been ousted by a new one: 'kawaii.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 30, 2013
Dempagumi.inc: Akihabara' kawaii-guru idols
Dempagumi.inc have become the faces of a new generation of Akihabara pop music, as well as a force to be reckoned with in the fashion world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 9, 2013
Fashion idols of all stripes rock it in Cool Japan
Marc Jacobs' playful sides goes on display at Idol
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 31, 2013
Fashion Week Tokyo: The menswear question — to be showy or simplify?
The February bankruptcy of Takeshi Osumi's seminal brand Phenomenon, and its departure from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo (FWT) before this season's March 17-23 shows, left a chasm apparent to all. And indeed, it's a mystery who may be able to fill the rather large shoes of the man who added such...
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 12, 2013
Plenty to enjoy as fashion week approaches
The Italian denim magnate Diesel and EDUN, the niche eco-friendly brand developed by musician Bono and his wife, have something in common — a love of Africa and its artistic scene. It makes sense then that last year they announced DIESEL+EDUN, a denim collection, "Born in Africa and worn by a new generation...
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 19, 2013
Mastermind moves on, American Apparel is at home in Japan and Primitive London takes a trip to Tokyo
It's a bittersweet finale for the famed Japanese fashion brand Mastermind, as it officially ends its 15-year run with the release of its 2013 spring/summer — and final — collection.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 8, 2013
Here comes Fred
This year will see the arrival of a formidable new force in the Japanese fashion market. Perhaps best known for being a go-to for Hollywood stars, Fred Segal is a trend-setting California clothing and lifestyle goods retailer, which in its 50-year history had never planned to expand beyond Los Angeles....
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 11, 2012
Fashion's Night Out hits Japan's second-largest city, with another all-star cast of names
The popular Fashion's Night Out festival — helmed by Vogue magazine and held in the top fashion cities of the world every September — is about to be replicated in Osaka, Japan's second-largest city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 13, 2012
Designer Cynthia Rowley hits the double digits
New York-based designer Cynthia Rowley celebrated her brand's 10th year in Japan with a special talk show and cocktail dinner for VIP guests during Tokyo Fashion Week. The Barrington, Illinois, native's name has long been on the lips of American sportswear fans with her bright and feminine takes on casual-to-cocktail-style...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 6, 2012
touchMe event puts fashion within reach of all
Just one week after Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo had drawn to a close, the capital's fashionistas were drawn back to the runway for a slew of shows that have been gaining in popularity.
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2012
Menswear looks hot to trot
Men were quick to put their best feet forward at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo, with a heavy concentration of light and minimalist sportswear that proved popular on the catwalks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2012
Context the key at alt fashion fest
Watching the Fashion Week Tokyo models pounding polished catwalks in the glitzy Hikarie building in shopping-central Shibuya, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Paris.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 9, 2012
Parco puts the spotlight on Shibuya's evolving youth culture
Department store Parco is aiming to fill the vacuum created by the rapidly declining gyaru (gal) culture that used to define the Shibuya area of Tokyo. By taking aspects of the otaku (geek) culture of Akihabara and re-imagining them through art and fashion in the context of a popular shopping district,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 11, 2012
Louis Vuitton still going dotty
Fans of French luxury brand Louis Vuitton are still seeing spots before their eyes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 14, 2012
Parisienne cool reaches Tokyo
Isabel Marant, the queen of French haute-casual wear, has finally opened her first shop in Japan, right off of Tokyo's Omotesando promenade.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jul 10, 2012
The beautiful future of fashion
The "Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion" exhibition first showed at the Barbican Art Gallery in London in 2010 and traveled to the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2011. Highly acclaimed by art critics and fashion fans, the show is finally making a pit stop in Japan, at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 12, 2012
Totally wrapped in Joy
Asked to name a seminal New York City-born musician with an intrepid preference for over-the-top fashion, and Lady Gaga would surely the first name to roll off the tongue. But there's another female musician from the city who influenced global fashion with her unique taste in stage costumes: Yeah Yeah...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012
Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award
Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Student suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Tourist submarine sinks in Red Sea of Egypt, leaving 6 people dead
The interior of a Sindbad submarine vessel at sea off Hurghada, Egypt, in August 2024, in this still image obtained from video.
Yellow sand blankets cities across Japan
The Meteorological Agency forecast the yellow sand to move away from eastern Honshu by 6 p.m. on Wednesday. But it will continue to cover parts of western Honshu and Shikoku until Thursday morning, it said.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.

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