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Avant-Garde pieces from Japanese Boutique Harajuku Freak!

Posted by Jamie Nicholson on Wed 28th July 2010 at 07:30 AM, Filed in Fashion Designers, Hot News, Industry News, Sites We Like

I’ve always wanted to travel to Japan to experience their culture and fashion. There is something very unique and awe-inspiring about their clothing and style. The quirkiness and creativity draws people into the unfamiliar. I see so much attention paid to London Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and all the other European events but I’m surprised to see that not much attention is given to Japan Fashion Week. This is all going to change though and the first step is the Japanese Boutique Harajuku Freak! It stocks designers from Japan Fashion Week not found anywhere else in the west and has already caught the attention of Jay-Z and The Black Eyed Peas!

Japan Fashion Week

Expect rare, limited and avant-garde pieces on this new online fashion boutique from designers such as Garconshinos, whose pieces have been worn by actress Chiaki Kuriyama, from Kill Bill fame, and rapper Kid Cudi. One of the most successful Japanese models, Anna Tsuchiya, is a fan of designer Motonari Ono who is also featured on the site.

Each piece featured on the site is so beautifully contrasted with the use of an array of materials, from the traditional fabrics such as silks and chiffons, to the rather unusual like the coating of an iPhone touch screen being featured on some of the garments – truly unique!

Clothes and accessories for both men and women are available and prices range from around £200 to a staggering £1,000 – but you would expect that for avant-garde pieces. Jason Brar is the man who launched Harajuku Freak earlier this year and I must say I am rather pleased to see Japanese Fashion making its mark here in the UK. He came up with the idea after working for the likes of Fred Perry and Yohji Yamamoto. He said –

“I worked in merchandising for Fred Perry, which originally gave me the idea of working with Japanese brands, looking at rare and niche clothing, as Fred Perry had been recently bought out by a Japanese company. Due to their love of classic English tailoring, the Japanese requested many limited edition releases which were only available in Japan. I then worked for Yohji Yamamoto, which furthered my resolve to work with niche, luxury brands, known for their impeccable design and production quality. While they’re not for everyone, they are followed religiously by those who are advocates of such style.”

Jason has carefully selected a number of boutique brands from the Japanese market which are gaining interest on this side of the world as a lot of people are looking for innovative designs. The clothing may not be to everyone’s taste, but I think there is a definite place in the market for these luxury pieces here in the western world! So what does Harajuku Freak have in store for the future? Jason says –

“I’d like to keep bringing in more and more brands which are making waves in Japan or any other cutting edge fashion scenes and encouraging collaborations with European brands. I’d also like to open boutiques in major fashion cities and introduce a more personalised service where loyal customers get first choice of collections, and launch an interactive service where customers can communicate with the buyers to place orders straight off the catwalk as soon as the collections are released.”