Mame Makes Rapid Advancements in Womenswear, Visvim Gains in Menswear

In the “Ranking of Most Creative Designers Leading the Current Times”, selected by the buyers of influential speciality stores as well as directors of department stores in Japan, the number of votes for Maiko Kurogouchi, who is responsible for designing Japanese womenswear brand Mame, has jumped up rapidly.

In the ranking for the domestic category of womenswear, Chitose Abe, designer for Sacai, remains in first place, winning overwhelming popularity since 2009 when the survey was first commenced. She has taken a commanding lead in the percentage of votes, leaving a significant gap with the percentage of votes won by the designer in second place.

Of course, Abe is still the most popular designer in the most recent survey. However, the situation has changed slightly from before. Kurogouchi of Mame is winning votes at a pace that is gaining on Abe.

Buyers’ appraisal of Mame has improved rapidly to date. Some comments include, “Mame’s production, which incorporates traditional Japanese techniques, is beautiful. It fuses a unique strength and delicacy, compelling us to take note”, and “We can feel it evolve each time. We anticipate mame to lead Japan’s fashion industry forward from now on”.

Sales performance is also good. The brand began working with The News Inc., a showroom in New York, from spring/summer 2016 .

In addition, brands by young designers, such as Akane Utsunomiya and Akira Naka, are also becoming increasingly well-recognised on the scene, and the expanded breadth of Japanese designer brands in this season is practically palpable. With regard to Sacai, comments such as “clothing around the world is moving toward the sacai trend” and “fully achieved global standards” stand out in particular.

In the domestic category for menswear, Hiroki Nakamura of Visvim has risen rapidly in the rankings, moving from the previous ninth place to third place in the most recent rankings. With his strong commitment to materials and detail, he is regarded as a designer whose “quality is improving from year to year”.

Other designers ranked in the top for menswear remained unchanged from before, with Junichi Abe of Kolor in first place, Chitose Abe of Sacai in second, and Yosuke Aizawa of White Mountaineering in fourth. Hiromichi Ochiai of Facetasm, who took one of the top ten positions for the first time in a while, gained even greater recognition with his Milano menswear collection for spring/summer 2016, launched in June as part of Armani’s support programme.

The line-up for the international category has remained largely unchanged since the previous survey. Hedi Slimane of Saint Laurent took first place for menswear for two consecutive seasons, and ranked in fourth for womenswear. Some buyers named him the “leader of the fashion world today, who has moved beyond the field of designers”.

Stores that participated in the survey　221 RESTIR / ADELAIDE / ADDITION ADELAIDE / AMERICAN RAG CIE / AQUAGIRL / BEAMS / CROON A SONG / DAIMARU MATSUZAKAYA DEPARTMENT STORES / DESIGNWORKS / EDIFICE / ESTNATION / HANKYU DEPARTMENT STORE / INTERNATIONAL GALLERY BEAMS / ISETAN MITSUKOSHI / IZA / IENA / MAISON DE CONCENT / MATSUYA / OPENING CEREMONY / PARIGOT / RAY BEAMS / RESTIR / RON HERMAN / SOGO&SEIBU / STRASBURGO / SUPER A MARKET / TAKASHIMAYA / THE SECRETCLOSET / TOMORROWLAND / UNITED ARROWS / VIA BUS STOP / VULCANIZE LONDON