Land of the rising sun, where blooms of the sakura attract thousands of viewers from all around the world, a place were traditions and modern views easily coexist. We are in Japan. It is impossible to imagine culture of the modern world without Japan’s gifts of karaoke, sushi, anime, ikebana and much more. Also, I guess many children were raised or at least have seen the Pokemon or Sailor Moon cartoon TV series, including me. Although Japan was an isolated country for a long time, the first cultural tsunami wave had reached western world in 1862 after International Exhibition in London, which caused appearance of the phenomenon Japonism. Japanese influence spread everywhere, from interior design to art, especially in French impressionism, and even affected Van Gogh’s work. To the fashion sphere, it brought traditional Japanese attire-kimono and geisha image.

The most popular Japanese traditional garment is the kimono; result of long evolution from short-sleeved shirt kosode, influenced by Korean and Chinese clothing tradition, developed in the Heinan period and completely formed as we know it now in nineteenth century. The “thing to wear” - that is how it translates from Japanese - was worn both by men and women; where the male variant was simple and light, the woman’s kimono was layered and complex, bright and colorful. Kimonos had their own wearing etiquette, colour and print were chosen according to event and season, representing a close connection between human and nature. For example, November to February was a time of shades of plum blossoms-white robe with red inside; spring was a time of blue palette and spring of red. In the Momoyama period, kimono patterns and embroideries became more sophisticated and complex, for instance, spectacular garden compositions were portrayed on a silk canvas.

The kimono become popular partly because of the Geisha image, which became very familiar for people worldwide. Educated entertainer and conversation companion, countless times geisha-style was interpreted by designers. The brightest example is John Galliano, who very often used Japanese traditional costume motives, especially geisha gown references, in many Dior collections which he created. Colourful, bold and very extravagant, multi layered Japanese traditional inspired fabric and kabuki-like make up in Dior Couture collection of 2003; even after Galliano left the creative director position, Dior retained its admiration for Asian culture. It was proved in the elegant and vibrant Spring 2013 collection, with its mix of a modern reading of Dior’s ’50s new look silhouette and a slight touch of kimono and obi-like belts theme. Furthermore, a very memorable Japanese-themed show was the Spring-Summer 2013 Prada collection, where Miuccia Prada presented a new view on the well-known geisha image; the collection was playful with cherry blossom print and architectural lines; and another bold Japanese styled item was Olympia Le-Tan (S/S'16), orange tights, unusual make up and kimono and obi combination. What is really unusual is that inspiration can come not only from the Japanese past, but also from the present and even future; it was proved by the recent spring Louis Vuitton collection. Its mix of cyberpunk, anime and futurism looked very like Japanese street style; the modern subcultural fashion stream has become an independent and recognizable all-around-the-world style. It’s only proving the amazing ability of this country to combine ancient traditions and extremely new ideas.

Relaxed cutting, wide sleeves and crossed collar with variations of obi belt was a very popular trend in the Spring-Summer 2015 season, and it is no wonder, this piece of cloth is not only beautiful and carries with it fleur and costume traditions of Far East, it's very comfortable and easy to wear in summer; for example, different variations of kimono and hapi were demonstrated on Hermes, Carolina Herrera and Marni.

In opposition to the feminine and elegant side of Japanese culture, another symbol of the country is the noble and strong warriors, Samurais; the easily combined practical and comfortable options of their clothes. They wore hitatare attire: a two part costume that consisted of hakama wide pants, kimono jacket and wide waistband; made from only simple dark-coloured fabric. Armor and winged shoulders became a key feature of many designers’ creations. My favourite samurai-inspired collection is Givenchy Couture 2011, where white-coloured laced fabric harmonically combined with edged winged shoulders and a massive samurai kabuto helmet. Fashion has also illustrated the female samurai onna-bugeisha image shown in Herve Leger’s recent spring collection. Although the samurai class disappeared many years ago, they are still a symbol of nobility, courage and loyalty. We always can seek for inspiration in immortal Akira Kurosawa masterpieces; that’s exactly what George Lucas did while creating jedis. Japan gave us an amazing costume heritage, presented us with such desingers as Mori, Kenzo, Yamamoto and Kvakube, who, surely, changed fashion and made the avant-garde stream more diverse and significant. Now, with absolute admiration of Japanese spirit and heritage, we learned the term "mono no avare", we can say arigato and go back to the mainland, or more precisely, to the Korean peninsula