The “made in Japan” words on the label, for many people, have always been a guarantee of high quality. Even after the economic downturn and natural disasters, Japanese still keep their quality and try their best to differentiate themselves through the attention to details. Their perseverance, loyalty to their country and respect for their traditional culture, have always been their strength.
Unfortunately, today’s fashion industry pursues speed and high productivity. Thus, Japanese’s persistence seems to be easily overlooked. Although this is an irreversible condition in a money-orientated world, there are still some people who appreciate and value the spirit of the craftsmanship in Japan.
Despite the fact that Japan is a modern country focusing on economic development, Japanese also focus on the pursuit of spirituality. There are Buddha followers, but also those ones who believe in gods behind the natural elements, such as mountains.
In terms of geography, 70% of land in Japan is hill and mountains. Since the ancient times, fishermen regarded the hills as navigation coordinates. And for people who lived in the mountains, they saw mountains as resources for their lives, harvesting and hunting were their major activities to live on. Through worship of mountain gods, Japanese express their fear of nature as well as pray for peaceful life.
Today, the Japanese government still shows respect towards mountains. In 2016, the government announced the Mountain Day, 11th August, as public holidays providing a chance for people to get closer to the mountains via hiking.
Functional and practical with bright and unique colors
Whenever a craze sweep the country, Japanese will always concoct and create the relevant peripheral products and accessories. As a result, the “mountain fashion” was developed, which is the so-called Yama Style (Yama means mountain in Japanese), referring to the clothes that is suitable for hiking.
Yama style emphasizes on integration with the natural environment, usually designed in gray black, dark green, yellow-brown and other earth tone colors. Additionally, it comes with an oversize coat or shawl in relatively bright color, to create a unique style.
Integration of Art and Technology
On the other hand, while Korean pop culture has been in the limelight internationally in recent years, the Japanese brand is still leading the world due to a number of Asian representatives who have a pivotal position in the high fashion.
Since the 1980’s, Japanese have established a position in the international fashion trend, rooted their perception of fashion and influenced over the global fashion industry deeply.
Due to the fashion industry values on materials, design, and details, Japanese fashion style still has their charm, followed by a lot of people around the world. Thus, many international fashion brands still love to work with Japanese brands, and launched a series of collaborations.
In the recent years, Loewe, which has been known for its excellent quality, also seems to be paying tribute to Japanese culture and tradition. The new “Eye/Loewe/Nature” menswear series is inspired by nature, offering a range of clothes designed for outdoor activities with both practical and functional features as their selling points.
Obviously, the design deliberately takes the ideas from the Yama style. Not only replacing the traditional outdoor clothing’s dark color with bright colors, but also having a great variety of styles and different layers. Thus, customer may easily match their outfit with different kinds of clothes and practice different outdoor activities.
In terms of accessories, the brand even changes the place of production from Spain to Japan, in order to combine their traditional craftsmanship with advanced technology.
Undoubtedly, they see the advantages and market in the Japanese Yama style to feed fashion industry with a new touch.