There's no Recession in Fashion 10/09/2009
 There may be a recession, but that doesn't mean that we can't afford style, thanks to some Japanese brand concepts which seem to blossom even more now that others draw back from the market. Five companies especially attract buyers in Japan and are worthy a little insight: Uniqlo, Tsuru, Brooks Brothers, the Art Convenience Store and Barneys New York.
Japanese suit that fights flu 10/07/2009
 Haruyama Trading Co., a major men's clothing chain operator, has announced that it will soon release an "anti-swine flu" business suit. The surface of the wool suit is coated with titanium dioxide photocatalyst, which is a common ingredient in toothpaste and cosmetics. The effect is expected to last even after the suit is washed more than 20 times.
 L.A. based shop Kitson, known as the stomping grounds of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, has arrived in Japan. The first shop opened in the Lumine department store in Shinjuku on March 8th, the launch was marked by a huge fashion show the day before. Now on September 6th a second store in Harajuku opened to please its customers.  The Japanese sense of aesthetic and sense of humour comes to fore despite the onset of flu season as well as the outbreak of the new flu (influenza virus). Manufacturers catering to the Japanese market have come up with different lines of designer flu masks and gauze mouth covers. Flu masks — that most fashionable accessory for hay fever sufferers and during influenza time has taken a turn for the kawaii, with cutesy pink lace masks and purple butterfly-design mouth covers.
Art meets baggage - Murakami for Vuitton 07/29/2009
 Japanese Popart artist Takashi Murakami who is frequently called the Japanese Andy Warhol opened up his exhibition at the Musem of Contemporary Arts in Los Angeles in late 2007. The most interesting thing about it was propably a temporary pop-up store from Louis Vuitton in the museum which sold a limited sortiment of Vuitton Monogram bags finished with special Murakami artwork.  Louis Vuitton seems very inspired by Japan and everything Japanese. After Murakami the brand now follows Kawakubo’s fantastic new concept of underground guerrilla stores which pop-up as mysteriously as they disappear, leaving fans clamouring for more Thus LV recently opened their new temporary underground store in Tokyo, located in the Seibu department store of Ikebukuro.
Excellent start for FOREVER 21 in Tokyo 05/27/2009
 After H&M in 2008, Forever 21 had a very strong start in Tokyo at the end of April 2009. The first Japanese store for the US apparel chain opened on the first day of Golden Week, about 2,000 to 23000 people queued hours prior to the actual opening. Forever 21 was hopelessly crowded all day, 4 weeks after store opening still long queues are seen in front of the store. Security is warning those joining to expect a three hours wait. “It’s a big market in the world so it’s a place we want to play,” Larry Meyer, executive vice president of Forever 21.  TOKYO – Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), which drew long lines with its first Japan store, is hoping to repeat that success with its second shop opening Saturday with collaborative designs from fashion icon Rei Kawakubo. Swedish clothing retail chain H&M, which operates 1,700 shops in 32 markets, used to be little known in Japan. All that's changed after its arrival two months ago in Tokyo's Ginza. Queues of bargain-hunting shoppers snaked around for blocks, estimated by H&M at about 8,000 people a day. The lines, although significantly shorter, are still there — two months later. The response was so strong that H&M — Europe's No. 2 clothing chain — scrambled to fly in employee help. Some customers were disappointed to have waited hours only to find nothing in their size, company official Nils Vinge said Thursday. "Sales in Japan have been overwhelming," Nils Vinge (H&M) | Welcome to
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