“Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO (hereinafter indicated as Rakuten FWT) 2023 A/W” (governing body: the Japan Fashion Week Organization, hereinafter indicated as JFWO), welcomed its first day today, opening with a runway show by the TOKYO FASHION AWARD 2023 award-winning brand, IRENISA (11:30～).
 

 
This year, as the world remerges from the slumber of the pandemic and begins to move again dynamically, being freed from the feeling of being cooped up, we will be appealing the existence of the fashion week in Tokyo further, world-wide, with a sense of liberation. As the beginning of the dawning of a new fashion week, opening the first day of this 23 A/W season term as the top batter, IRENISA presented a show. After the show presentation, an opening ceremony was held.
 


 
Along with Ms. Neru Nagahama, who continually supported the fashion week during the corona pandemic as a SDGs reporter, the Secretary-General of JFWO, Mr. Komoda, expedited the ceremony. In the ceremony, along with a comment from the designer of IRENISA, special guests such as TFA judge Mr. Nick Wooster (left), actor, Mr. Shuhei Uesugi (middle), actress and model, Ms. Airi Matsui (right), made an appearance wearing IRENISA collection pieces.
 

In the ceremony, the Secretary-General spoke of the up-coming fashion week, and at the end, presented a kagami-biraki (traditional celebrative opening of a sake barrel using a pestle) of “Dassai”, the Official Sponsor. Guests participating in the ceremony mingled pleasantly with the Official sake “Dassai” in hand. With this, the Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO 2023 A/W season term was opened.
As expressed in the 23 A/W seasonal key visual concept of “Wearing Tokyo”, in its the powerful message of “what will Tokyo show the world”, rather than restricting to a narrow interpretation of fashion, we intend to appeal the “now of Tokyo” through Rakuten FWT as an existence representative of Tokyo culture.
 

From the left_Japan Fashion Week Organization　Senior Director : Hiroshi Komoda, 『SULVAM』Designer : Teppei Fujita, Asahi Shuzo Co., Ltd. CEO : Kazuhiro SAKURAI, Japan Fashion Week Organization　Board chairperson : Masahiko Miyake, Actress and TV personality : Neru Nagahama

 
●Show by “YUEQI QI”, an attention gathering, first-time participant from China (14:00～)
Shortly after the brand’s launch in 2019, chosen as a semi-finalists of last year’s LVMH prize, the attention gathering YUEQI QI (designer: Yueqi Qi) presented a show at Tokyo fashion week as a first-time participant.
https://youtu.be/Jg1372u6fvQ

 
●TOKYO FASHION AWARD winning designer, KHOKI, presented there very first show at the Official venue of Shibuya Hikarie（18:00～）
“KHOKI”, a design team based in Tokyo, creating under the concept of “items in which you can see the hands of people creating them” since the start of the brand. Their key word of 2023 A/W is “FANTASY”. Residents of an alien world appeared on the runway.

 

 
●The last runway presentation of the first day was by Chika Kisada, participating through ‘by R’
Gracing the runway with the last physical presentation of the opening day of the 2023 A/W season was the brand, Chika Kisada, by the designer, Chika Kisada.
https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp/contents/fashionweek/trend/2023aw003/?l-id=brn_fashionweektop_contents_all_37
 
●Digital presentation by “EZUMi” (20:00～)
EZUMi by the designer, Yasutoshi Ezumi, presented a collection with fashion cultures of the Edwardian era, later years of the Victorian era between 1880～1910, as a source of inspiration. Like the female knights who first wore tailored jackets and thereby powerfully cut open a sensibility towards a new era, it was a collection in which a mannish and dignified new female image could be experienced.