Tokyo Street Fashion Prophets

For our feature Shimazu chose the "super brand" Under Cover, a product of the alternative Ura-Harajuku area of Tokyo. This season's Under Cover show featured twin models strutting down the runway, one in perfectly symmetrical styling and make-up, the other deliberately styled and made up in a way that stretched, ripped, and warped her companion's balanced look.

"When I saw that, I wasn't sure of the designer's real intention, but I did get a powerful sense of two complementary realities," Shimazu says. He continues, "The balanced, symmetrical outfit seemed to be the 'realistic reality,' the one you could wear anywhere, while in the unbalanced version, I sensed the reality of the mind. Japanese use the word futsuu (ordinary) a lot. They mistake it for reality. But everyone has different standards when it comes to what constitutes 'ordinary,' and each individual contains any number of complementary realities. That's what I wanted to show on this page."

photography by Takuya Uchiyama; hair by ABE (FEMME); make-up by YUKI (FEMME); model: Yana, location: Shinjuku

photography by Junji Hata (Bravo Brava); hair & make-up by Tomita Sato; models: Luke, Carolina, Jessica, Rihito; location: Yoyogi Park

Asking four of the most popular of these models to assist him, Sukezane chose flower motifs—this season's big trend—because, he says, "The world is as full of bad news as ever. The least we can do is keep fashion fresh, bright, and forward-looking." The four models assembled in a park with gentle sunlight filtering through the trees, wearing the floral motifs of their choice, seemed like flower children transported from another era.

photography by Shingo Wakagi; hair by ShinYa for Tomi&Emi (AVGVST); make-up by YUKI (FEMME); models: Vilma, Natalia; location: Hibiya Park

"It was around then that young girls in Japan started to like exposing their skin and doing themselves up in a glamorous way," Noguchi observes. "Adults gradually picked up the trend as well, and 'being sexy'—something that was never fashionable before—is now associated with fashion." So will the label Dsquared², now in its second season in women's wear, hit Tokyo street fashion with a new whirlwind of glamor?

Nagase, who has traveled and worked in many countries, says, "One thing I often sense in cities abroad is that things like the culture and religion developed in that place are very firmly rooted. I wouldn't be the first to say that Tokyo is a special city in this respect, crammed not only with Japanese culture, but full of culture and the latest trends, information, and products from all over the globe."

While some view this negatively, Nagase sees it differently.

"Looking at the state of society today, I think what we need is to do away with color because the world is all one. The attraction of Tokyo with its mix of world cultures is the energy and possibilities that emerge from the chaos." Photographer Muga Miyahara created a collage of Tokyo scenes. Nagase comments, "There's so much going on in Tokyo that it's hard to choose one thing. I want to focus on the bare minimum that is necessary." Accordingly, he chose for dancer Kaiji Moriyama a "colorless" whiter-than-white look that seems to radiate purity.

photography by Muga Miyahara (Image); hair & make-up by Kimiyuki Misawa (Plus); model: Kaiji Moriyama (contemporary dancer); location: various places in Tokyo