Top stars and collaborations in Japanese fashion

This month, fashion in Japan is coming at you with collaborations involving two major artists, one of the musical persuasion and another that might just break the internet. Meanwhile, one of Japan’s homegrown fashion stars celebrates an anniversary with one of the best runway shows Tokyo has seen all season.

H&M Japan has teamed up with Namie Amuro, one of the country’s most iconic singers, for an exclusive capsule collection.

Amuro rose to fame in the early 1990s, pushing out hit after hit of upbeat pop music and providing an undeniable cool factor to the J-pop genre. She was equally popular for her personal sense of style, which helped define the street fashion of Shibuya in the ’90s.

Girls who dressed like Amuro were called Amuraa, and they usually wore urban-inspired, dance-ready clothes. But the fiery icon and 25-year music veteran has since grown into a woman who is more about stylish comfort, and this is reflected in this H&M lineup of easy, breezy summer clothes. Titled Blue Sky, the collection is a nod to her birthplace of Naha, Okinawa, featuring big floral patterns (main picture), beach robes and sailor stripes. It’s not quite a throwback to her Shibuya-kei days.

French artist, illustrator and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude has teamed up with Spanish brand Desigual for a capsule collection that is brimming with wild personality. Goude, known for his charisma, as well as his partnerships with a legion of style icons since the ’70s, rose to fame with a series of album covers and films produced for Grace Jones. His work recently caused ripples with the infamous “break the internet” Paper magazine cover featuring a champagne-popping Kim Kardashian.

Story from the Japan Times