'A turning point': Japanese fashion after Kenzo Takada and Issey Miyake

Models display creations from the Ayame Spring/Summer 2023 collection by Takeshima at Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

At Tokyo's prestigious Bunka Fashion College, students concentrate in silence that is broken only by the sound of scissors and sewing machines as they strive to emulate the global success of alumni like Kenzo.

The loss of Kenzo Takada and Issey Miyake heralds the end of a fashion era, decades after Japanese design revolutionised Parisian catwalks in the 1970s and 80s.