Japanese designers' collections now online

(courtesy of Japan Fashion Week)

While Japan Fashion Week was officially canceled following the earthquake and tsunmai disaster, many designers rescheduled or downsized their shows, or published lookbooks instead. All collections are now available online on a central website.

The site, accessible through Japan Fashion Week's offical webpage, states: "The Great East Japan Earthquake has had a massive impact on the fashion industry. But, Japan's designers are remaining positive and continuing their creations with the mindset that we cannot let the fashion industry fall into decline. We are bringing you messages from them that convey the feelings they are infusing in their creations."

These messages included battery-operated light tubes worn as headpieces at Mint Designs, for instance. According to a local correspondent on Racked.com, "Tokyo is on energy-watch now, so it was both fashionably innovative and symbolic at the same time."

Mint Designs was selected by the blog as one of the top three shows during the scaled-down fashion week, as well as the manga culture-inspired label Mikio Sakabe and Anrealage, whose collection drew on low-resolution computer graphics.

Apart from that, major trends of Tokyo's fall/winter collections corresponded largely with those seen at Western shows last season: 1960s color block and 1970s overalls were strikingly popular, as were 1990s plaids and grunge-inspired pieces.

See the full collections at http://www.jfw.jp/en/the12th/collection.