Cover story draft #1

I did the first draft of the cover story! it took some time, effort and a LOT of google to pull off, and i will definitely link my sources.

I feel happy enough with this draft to use it, I'll probably make minor changes before I include it in the end.

So, here it is:

To say the Tokyo street style is incredibly diverse is far from an understatement. The style of the city's 9 million citizens is almost as unique to each as their fingerprint. With the city rising as one of the modern fashion capitals, its unique style and aesthetic has begun to set global trends. One of the most prominent of these trends, however, has undoubtedly been the rise of Tokyo's minimalist movement.  

The movement, conceived in the early 2010's by designers like Yohji Yamamoto and pioneered by brands like Commes De Garçons, has been propelled into the limelight by its increasing prominence in the stage of events like Tokyo Fashion Week and since been adopted by the streetwear culture of the city.

Its popularity is no small feat, as Tokyo's fashion scene, much like the city, has been praised around the globe for being bright and eye-catching. Thus, the emergence of a minimalist fashion movement in Japan, and more specifically in Tokyo, could serve to be extremely indicative of what is to come in the trends of global fashion and streetwear, especially as it rises in popularity in the west. With this in mind, I headed to Japan to analyze the rise, prominence, and implications of the movement on Japanese, and global, street fashion.

The primary concept I kept in mind throughout the trip was the "fight", if you will, between minimalism and complexity in the Japanese fashion world. Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo (Founder of Commes De Garçons) have stressed for years, "easy" fashion does not compare to that which is as high-concept as it is high-fashion. However, Naoki Takizawa (Design director of UNIQLO) maintains that to stand out without the need for bold statements is, in her words, "intrinsically Japanese".Keeping that conflict in the back of my head proved crucial to understanding different forms and iterations of minimalist fashion within Japan, because as I would soon realize, those who love Japanese have perfected a marriage between the concepts.

Minimalism, as I came to understand during my stop at Shibuya, largely took off after the debut of the style in the main commercial centers of the city. The appearance of subtler fashion, coupled with it's relative lack of expense, took of as Japanese millenials with a taste for fashion and a keen eye for an Instagram-worthy aesthetic flocked to stores across the nation to construct their own take on minimalist fashion. It was this exploration that gave the movement its defining features: monochromatic colors or black/white looks, straight lines and a clean aesthetic, the undersized/oversized clothes. Each detail was born out of these experiments with the aesthetic, ultimately birthing the hallmarks of the movement.

After it was popularized among teens in these high-fashion urban centers, it wasn't long until different parts of the city began to develop different substyles within the larger minimalist movement. In shibuya, it's dark, subdued, and simple, the opposite of the streets so often crowded in the famous Shibuya Crossing. Meanwhile, in Akihabara, a more vibrant and colorful way of employing minimalism is found, mimicking the nightlife and eccentricity Akihabara is known for. Conversations with locals who identified their style with that of the minimalist movement were happy to explain that in each corner of Tokyo, a different form of Minimalism can be found not because there doesn't exist some set of rules or conventions in the movement, but rather because the way in which minimalism is employed is all about personal, cultural, or local expression. In short, the movement, while having norms, is not monolithic and those who express themselves using minimalism can express anything, from their personal character to the character of their District within Tokyo.

I capped off my journey near Mt. Fuji. The serene, untouched landscape not too far from Tokyo itself is a perfect metaphor of the movement. Incredibly simplistic at first glance, however, one is quick to realize how rich, layered, and complex that simplicity can be. At first, one is confused, but later, they are at awe. Like Mt.Fuji has been for decades, the minimalist movement has become a symbol of Japanese culture for the world, a symbol the world is entranced by. But as this dive into the movement has shown me, minimalism, much like Mt. Fuji is and will continue to be an evolving ecosystem that's more than meets the eye.

-Let's get this bread