Japan seeks fashion coup

Press, 11 March 1983, Page 14

Japan seeks fashion coup

By

PEGGY MASSIN,

NZPA-Reuter, in Paris

Japan, always watching for new trade opportunities, is looking to the lucrative rewards of women’s ready-to-wear clothing. Japanese designers make up nearly a quarter of the firms showing collections at the annual autumn and winter displays in Paris. The official calendar lists 11 Japanese designers out of the 48 taking part in the shows in elaborate tents being set up in the grounds of the Louvre Museum. The French fashion houses, for long the bastion of the business, are not happy about the invasion, which has been building up in recent years. “The Japanese objective is eventually to sink both France and Italy. But it’s

preferable to have the wolf right hare in the chicken coop instead of letting him' roam around loose,” one leading fashion expert said. Jacques Mouclier, director general of the French Ready-to-Wear Fashion Association, told Reuters: “Paris must remain the world’s fashion capital. It is far better to have the Japanese sitting in our laps instead of showing at rival centres in Milan or New York,” Japanese firms have chalked up unprecedented sales with the professional buyers who flock to Paris for • the collections. Kenzo Takada, once known as Jap, was the second

Oriental to come to Paris back in the 19705. His far-out, youthful approach netted him a turnover of more than 517 million dollars in the United States alone last year. In France he is believed to rival the long-established houses of Yves Saint Laurent and Claude Montana for the largest turnover of women’s ready-to-wear. Hanae Mori started showing here just before Kenzo and she now has a multi-million-dollar world-wide turnover. Her Paris salon has a staff of 50 and her designs have found fame with a clever combination of magnificent Oriental silks tailored to

European silhouettes. Rei Kawakubo has elevated cheesecloth, potato sacking and other workaday fabrics into the higher echelons of fashion. Two of the wittiest creators from Tokyo are Issey Miyake and Kiinijima. Miyake features cosmonaut shoulders and effects based on the premise that “clothes should not fence you in.” Kimijima is a firm believer in the immortality of mini-skirts, and it is a sign of the times that a Japanese consortium has recently bought a 50 per cent stake in the famous Andres Courreges company, which was credited with launching the mini-skirt in the 19605.