Story and Photos by Kathleen Gasperini and Tom Wallace The flurry of fashion trade shows in Las Vegas from February 12-15, 2012 bring with them a diverse angle of what’s taking shape in fashion from a wide spectrum of genres particularly in the United States. While we mostly concentrate on youth culture influences, including streetwear, […]
Fashion is full of ironies especially when it comes to American youth culture fashion movements. One of the most prevalent is the growing movement of slow fashion, often thought of as local, handmade, bespoke apparel, which ironic as it sounds, is actually producing products (often on the leading-edge of trends) that come out faster than […]
Capsule tends to follow a theme which gives the show a cohesive, particular flair. Brands featured provide latest insight on leading-edge men’s contemporary, particularly what you’ll see in top boutiques next season.
Designers & Agents is a show that takes place in what’s called Fashion Corner in downtown Los Angeles between 9th Street and South Los Angeles St. at the intersection of several buildings including the New Mart, Cooper Building, Lady Liberty, and California Mart–all filled with designer showrooms and contemporary brands ranging from top denim labels, to eco-friendly fashion, footwear, and accessories. Each season, Designers & Agents show takes over the 8th floor of the Cooper Building with a clean and inspiring presentation of select brands from nearby showrooms that come to showcase their collections that has over the years, attracted buyers from around the world.
The differences with fashion in youth culture markets vs. older markets (those 26 ) is that trends often come from the bottom-up, rather than from the 26 top-down. What we mean is that young people tend to pick up their ideas for fashion from each other, from utilitarian means, out of necessity, from the streets, grassroots word-of-mouth awareness, or their surroundings in general, rather than from the latest trends dictated by fashion houses, advertising, or marketing efforts on TV as a prime example.
The prime locations for seeing the top designs of Harajuku Girl street fashion are obviously in Harajuku, an area of Tokyo between Shinjuku and Shibuya, and can be seen the minute you step out onto the train platform at Harajuku Station on your way to Takeshitadori -a narrow street packed with young people buying up various kinds of apparel, footwear, and accessories.