Tokyo Designers Add Politics to the Fashion Statement

Thursday, September 14, 2006 Posted: 09:34 AM JST

(by International Herald Tribune) - One of the first to kick off the 2007 Spring/Summer Tokyo Collections was Ritsuko Shirahama, whose works combined a fragile femininity (crocheted lace on demure knitwear) with political undertones (tank tops imprinted with photographs taken by the former supermodel Helena Christensen).

Shirahama said Christensen is "an ideal" for Japan's working women, having morphed from a fashion icon into a professional photographer, while having children and maintaining a home in between.

In a culture where women are finding it difficult to juggle the personal with the professional, Shirahama's message carried relevance - if not reality - and was a prelude for what was to come. Read article

Keywords: fashion arts_entertainment culture_news

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