As regular followers of Japanese fashion can attest, the industry can be seen as somewhat flirtatious, dallying with new debutantes, another sister brand, another collaboration, another short-term ¡°limited shop¡± or another retail concept that makes the news but doesn¡¯t really change the game.
It is tempting to focus on the frippery, even if we are aware that the clothes we deck ourselves in are on a fundamental level more similar than different as we drift from season to season. So why not take a moment to meditate on the retail and marketing concepts that have subtly changed our relationship with fashion?
There have been shifts exemplified by the likes of shopping mall Parco¡¯s unexpectedly innovative new Parco_ya store, which opened in Tokyo¡¯s Ueno district on Nov. 4. It might not have had the fanfare of an entry like the city¡¯s new high-end Ginza Six building, but it marked a fundamental departure for Parco¡¯s series of stores that are resolutely self-defined as ¡°fashion buildings.¡± Despiteits cool underscore, Parco_ya is surprisingly traditional, or rather ¡°neo-traditional,¡± given that Edo Period establishments couldn¡¯t possibly have been quite as clean or glassy. Still, judging from the kamon-like (crest) logo to the bevy of traditional washoku cuisine eateries ¡ª a far cry from the allusions to the West favored by the Shibuya flagship ¡ª Japanese tradition is on-trend, even at a trailblazer like Parco.
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