When Japan's beleaguered textiles industry belatedly decided to invest in organizing a fashion week to rival the best of Paris, Milan, New York and London -- and persuaded the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to back it -- they hoped a slick new event would garner valuable worldwide media coverage and help boost exports in the face of competition from China, writes Martin Webb.
The development of Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo (JFW) certainly hasn't been a smooth ride, given the dyed-in-the-wool hierarchies, feuds and convoluted politics that have for so long stymied the city's aspirations to become an A-list venue for movers and shakers in the world of fashion. Only now, 18 months after the new-look event was launched, can it claim limited success -- but it still remains dogged by controversy.
In a move that has alienated many of Tokyo's top style-setters, the third JFW was held from Sept. 4-8, putting it before all the other showcases on the season's global fashion calendar, not after the world's other main catwalk shows, as it always used to be. That radical change broke a 20-year pattern of only getting down to business long after the rest of the world's wholesale buyers and fashionista editors had headed home from Paris -- the final stop on the style circuit -- to finalize budgets and put magazines to bed. As such, the organizers hoped to make an impact at the start of the season, rather than be ignored at the end.