Houses / Japan
Japanese fashion designers to know
Japanese fashion runs from the Paris pioneers (COMME des GARÇONS, Yohji Yamamoto, ISSEY MIYAKE) and the labels that followed (JUNYA WATANABE, sacai, UNDERCOVER, ANREALAGE) to Mame Kurogouchi, AURALEE, doublet, LVMH Prize winner SOSHIOTSUKI and the Tokyo hand-knit label pillings. Each profile lists what the label makes and dated milestones, every one with its source.
How this guide works
What counts, and what we leave out
This is an introduction, not a ranking. We chose twelve labels that between them cover the houses that took Japanese design to Paris, the generation that followed, newer labels and hand-knit craft, and that have a public record we could check.
Paris facts come from the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode’s official men’s and women’s calendars for every season from FW24 to SS27, which we read ourselves, plus the January and June 2023 menswear calendars where a label’s earlier record mattered. On the FW24 to SS27 calendars, Japanese labels showing or presenting included Yohji Yamamoto, Y-3, Issey Miyake, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, Junya Watanabe MAN, sacai, UNDERCOVER, Kolor, AURALEE, doublet, TAAKK, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro, Kidill, White Mountaineering (to FW26), Sulvam (FW24 and SS25) and, for SS27, SOSHIOTSUKI in menswear; and Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, sacai, UNDERCOVER, ANREALAGE, Mame Kurogouchi, CFCL, Ujoh and Junko Shimada in womenswear. Tokyo facts come from Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo’s official brand pages, and museum facts from The Met, the V&A and the Kyoto Costume Institute’s digital archive. Where sources disagree on a date, the profile says so.
Facts were checked on 22 October 2026. If you represent one of these labels and see something out of date, send us a correction.
At a glance
The labels at a glance
| Label | Designer | Since | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMME des GARÇONS | Rei Kawakubo | 1969 | Ready-to-wear: sculptural womenswear that questions conventional ideas of beauty and fit |
| Yohji Yamamoto | Yohji Yamamoto | 1972 | Ready-to-wear: avant-garde tailoring in oversized, straight-cut shapes |
| ISSEY MIYAKE | Founded by Issey Miyake (died 2022); collection design by Satoshi Kondo | 1970 | Ready-to-wear: clothes developed from the idea of “a piece of cloth”, and garment pleating |
| JUNYA WATANABE | Junya Watanabe | 1992 | Ready-to-wear: technical, pattern-led reworkings of familiar garments, from honeycomb pleats to tailoring |
| sacai | Chitose Abe | 1999 | Ready-to-wear: hybrid garments that splice contrasting fabrics and familiar pieces into new shapes |
| UNDERCOVER | Jun Takahashi | 1990 | Streetwear and contemporary: punk, street culture and art, carried from Tokyo’s underground to Paris |
| ANREALAGE | Kunihiko Morinaga | 2003 | Ready-to-wear: concept-led clothes that combine handcraft with technology, such as laser-cut “low-resolution” fabric |
| Mame Kurogouchi | Maiko Kurogouchi | 2010 | Ready-to-wear: womenswear drawn from memory and nature, made with Japanese craft workshops |
| AURALEE | Ryota Iwai | 2015 | Menswear: quiet, material-first clothes built on researched yarns and fabrics |
| doublet | Masayuki Ino | 2012 | Streetwear and contemporary: everyday basics given an odd, conversation-starting twist |
| SOSHIOTSUKI | Soshi Otsuki | 2015 | Menswear: precise tailoring shaped by Japanese classical performing arts |
| pillings | Ryota Murakami | 2020 | Textile heritage: hand-knits made with Japanese hand-knitting artisans |
Profiles
Who they are and what they make.
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo and Paris
COMME des GARÇONS
Rei Kawakubo
Rei Kawakubo, born in 1942 according to The Met, began making womenswear under the Comme des Garçons name in 1969, incorporated the company in 1973 and added menswear in 1978, the Fédération records. The first show was in Tokyo in 1975, a Paris company followed in 1981, and she still leads the house. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds an Autumn/Winter 1983 knit ensemble cut largely from one straight panel. In 2017 The Met’s Costume Institute gave her its first monographic show on a living designer since Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. The womenswear, and Homme Plus menswear, showed on every official Paris calendar we checked from FW24 to SS27; the company also houses Junya Watanabe and Noir Kei Ninomiya, Kei Ninomiya’s label since 2012.
- Since
- 1969
- Makes
- Womenswear and menswear, including the Homme Plus line shown in Paris
- 1969 Rei Kawakubo starts making womenswear under the Comme des Garçons name. Source ↗
- 1975 Holds its first show, in Tokyo. Source ↗
- 1981 Sets up a company in Paris. Source ↗
- 4 May 2017 The Met opens Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between, on view until 4 September 2017. Source ↗
- 3 October 2026 Shows its SS27 womenswear on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
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Born in 1943, Yohji Yamamoto works between Tokyo and Paris, the Fédération notes. It dates his label to 1972, while the Museum at FIT dates his company to 1977 and his first Paris show to 1981. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds a Spring/Summer 1983 cotton ensemble cut with decorative holes, from the early Paris years. Y-3, his line with adidas, began in 2002, and the V&A’s 2011 retrospective was the first display of his work to include menswear. He showed men’s and women’s collections on every official Paris calendar we checked, from FW24 to SS27, and Y-3 presented on the menswear calendar from SS25.
- Since
- 1972
- Makes
- Womenswear and menswear; Y-3 with adidas since 2002
- Trained
- Law degree, Keio University
- 1981 Shows in Paris for the first time. Source ↗
- 2002 Y-3, his line with adidas, is founded. Source ↗
- 12 March 2011 The V&A opens a Yohji Yamamoto retrospective, on view until 10 July 2011. Source ↗
- 25 June 2026 Shows SS27 menswear on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
- 2 October 2026 Shows SS27 womenswear on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo
ISSEY MIYAKE
Founded by Issey Miyake (died 2022); collection design by Satoshi Kondo
Photo: Hsinhuei Chiou, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Issey Miyake set up the Miyake Design Studio in 1970 and presented his first collection in New York in 1971; the house still builds its clothes from his idea of “a piece of cloth”, starting with its own materials. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds the moulded plastic bodice that closed his Autumn/Winter 1980 Paris show. Pleats, first shown in 1988, became the standalone Pleats Please brand from Spring/Summer 1994. Miyake died in Tokyo on 5 August 2022, aged 84. Satoshi Kondo, formerly lead designer of Pleats Please, has designed the main collection since Spring/Summer 2020, and the Fédération lists the IM MEN menswear line as designed by a team. Both showed on every official Paris calendar we checked, FW24 to SS27.
- Since
- 1970
- Makes
- Womenswear, IM MEN menswear and lines including Pleats Please
- 1970 Issey Miyake establishes the Miyake Design Studio. Source ↗
- 1971 Presents his first collection, in New York. Source ↗
- 1994 Pleats Please Issey Miyake starts as a brand of its own with the Spring/Summer 1994 season. Source ↗
- September 2019 Satoshi Kondo is named womenswear designer; his first show, for SS20, is set for 27 September in Paris. Source ↗
- 5 August 2022 Issey Miyake dies in Tokyo, aged 84. Source ↗
- 2 October 2026 Shows SS27 womenswear on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo
JUNYA WATANABE
Junya Watanabe
Born in Fukushima in 1961, Junya Watanabe joined Comme des Garçons in 1984 after Bunka Fashion College and started on its Tricot line in 1987. His own womenswear label, launched within the company in 1992, showed first in Tokyo and a year later in Paris, and Junya Watanabe MAN followed with the Spring/Summer 2001 season. He won the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix in 1993 and 1999, the Fédération notes. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds an Autumn/Winter 2000 dress with a heat-cut honeycomb ruff, and The Met an Autumn/Winter 2015–16 ensemble in collapsible honeycomb pleats. Both lines showed on every official Paris calendar we checked, FW24 to SS27.
- Since
- 1992
- Makes
- Womenswear and Junya Watanabe MAN menswear, within Comme des Garçons
- Trained
- Bunka Fashion College
- 1992 Launches his womenswear label within Comme des Garçons, shown first in Tokyo. Source ↗
- 1993 Shows in Paris for the first time, and wins his first Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix. Source ↗
- 2015 The Met acquires an ensemble from his Autumn/Winter 2015–16 collection. Source ↗
- 26 June 2026 Junya Watanabe MAN shows SS27 on the official Paris menswear calendar. Source ↗
- 3 October 2026 Shows SS27 womenswear on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo
sacai
Chitose Abe
Chitose Abe founded sacai in Tokyo in 1999. The Fédération describes its signature as hybridisation: contrasting textures, such as knit set against very fine woven fabric, and reworked patterns that turn familiar garments into unexpected shapes. In July 2021 Abe became the first guest designer of Jean Paul Gaultier’s haute couture, a show announced in 2020 and postponed by the pandemic, W Magazine reports. The label was on the official Paris menswear calendar every season from FW24 to SS27 (with a presentation rather than a show for SS26), and on the womenswear calendar in every season we checked except FW26.
- Since
- 1999
- Makes
- Womenswear and menswear
- 1999 Chitose Abe founds sacai in Tokyo. Source ↗
- July 2021 Designs the Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture collection, the first in the house’s guest-designer series. Source ↗
- 28 June 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris menswear calendar. Source ↗
- 5 October 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris womenswear calendar. Source ↗
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Streetwear and contemporary · Tokyo
UNDERCOVER
Jun Takahashi
Jun Takahashi started UNDERCOVER while a student at Bunka Fashion College; the Fédération dates the label to 1990, and the Museum at FIT records his first collection in Tokyo in 1994. Encouraged by Rei Kawakubo, he first showed in Paris in 2002, with the collection “Scab” for Spring/Summer 2003. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds looks from Autumn/Winter 2001 and Spring/Summer 2007. On the official Paris calendars from FW24 to SS27, UNDERCOVER moved between runway shows and presentations: its last runway in that span was womenswear FW25, on 4 March 2025, and it has presented, by invitation, since.
- Since
- 1990
- Makes
- Womenswear and menswear
- Trained
- Bunka Fashion College
- 1990 UNDERCOVER is launched, according to the Fédération. Source ↗
- 1994 Jun Takahashi shows his first collection in Tokyo. Source ↗
- 2002 Makes his Paris debut with the collection “Scab”. Source ↗
- 4 March 2025 Shows FW25 womenswear as a runway show on the official Paris calendar. Source ↗
- 2 October 2026 Presents SS27 on the official Paris womenswear calendar. Source ↗
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo
ANREALAGE
Kunihiko Morinaga
Kunihiko Morinaga, born in Tokyo in 1980, studied social sciences at Waseda University while learning design at Vantan Design Institute, and launched ANREALAGE in 2003; the name is coined from “real”, “unreal” and “age”. Its collections combine handcraft, conceptual shaping and technology: the Kyoto Costume Institute holds an Autumn/Winter 2011 coat laser-cut into a pixel mosaic and assembled without needle or thread. The label won the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix award for a new designer in 2011, moved its shows from Tokyo to Paris in 2014, and was an LVMH Prize finalist in 2019. ANREALAGE showed on the official Paris womenswear calendar every season from FW24 to SS27.
- Since
- 2003
- Makes
- Womenswear, plus the anrealage homme line
- Trained
- Social sciences at Waseda University; fashion design at Vantan Design Institute
- 2003 Kunihiko Morinaga launches ANREALAGE. Source ↗
- 2011 Wins the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix award for best new designer. Source ↗
- 2014 Starts showing collections in Paris. Source ↗
- 2019 Named a finalist for the LVMH Prize. Source ↗
- 29 September 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris womenswear calendar. Source ↗
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Ready-to-wear · Tokyo
Mame Kurogouchi
Maiko Kurogouchi
Maiko Kurogouchi, born in Nagano in 1985, studied at Bunka Fashion College and spent three years working with Issey Miyake before founding her company in 2010. She showed at Tokyo Fashion Week from Spring/Summer 2011 and first presented in Paris in 2018. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds a dress from that season, Autumn/Winter 2018, whose plant motifs were woven, dyed and embroidered by specialist workshops in Hokuriku, Kyoto and Kiryu. In 2021 the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum marked the label’s tenth anniversary with an exhibition, and in 2023 it opened its first flagship, in Aoyama. Mame Kurogouchi showed on the official Paris womenswear calendar every season from FW24 to SS27.
- Since
- 2010
- Makes
- Womenswear, plus the Mame Kurogouchi Basics line
- Trained
- Bunka Fashion College; three years working with Issey Miyake
- 2010 Maiko Kurogouchi founds Kurogouchi Design Office. Source ↗
- 2018 Presents a collection in Paris for the first time. Source ↗
- September 2020 Opens the digital SS21 Paris Fashion Week with a film shot in Nagano. Source ↗
- 2021 The Nagano Prefectural Art Museum holds the tenth-anniversary exhibition “10 Mame Kurogouchi”. Source ↗
- 29 September 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris womenswear calendar. Source ↗
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Menswear · Tokyo
AURALEE
Ryota Iwai
Ryota Iwai, who comes from Kobe, worked as a pattern maker and designer for other Japanese labels before founding AURALEE in Tokyo in 2015. Each collection starts from materials: the Fédération stresses yarns researched and sourced in Japan and abroad, and Wallpaper* cites fibres such as Peruvian alpaca and Mongolian cashmere. AURALEE presented on the official Paris menswear calendar in January and June 2023; Wallpaper* dates its move to runway shows to January 2024, and it has shown on the calendar every season since, including SS26 at the Archives Nationales in June 2025.
- Since
- 2015
- Makes
- Menswear and womenswear, shown together on the Paris menswear calendar
- Trained
- Pattern maker and designer for other Japanese labels before AURALEE
- 2015 Ryota Iwai founds AURALEE. Source ↗
- 17 January 2023 Presents FW23 on the official Paris menswear calendar. Source ↗
- January 2024 Moves to runway shows, starting with FW24 in Paris. Source ↗
- 24 June 2025 Shows SS26 at the Archives Nationales in Paris. Source ↗
- 23 June 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris menswear calendar. Source ↗
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Streetwear and contemporary · Japan
doublet
Masayuki Ino
Masayuki Ino, born in Gunma in 1979, led shoes and accessories at MIHARAYASUHIRO before setting up doublet with the pattern maker Takashi Murakami. The LVMH Prize gives the founding year as 2012; the Fédération’s house page gives 2016. The label starts from standard, basic garments and makes them feel slightly strange, and Ino’s stated aim, the Fédération notes, is clothes that get people talking. doublet won the LVMH Prize in 2018. It showed on the official Paris menswear calendar every season from FW24 to SS27, as it did in the January and June 2023 calendars we also read.
- Since
- 2012
- Makes
- Ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories
- Trained
- Tokyo Mode Academy; then head designer for shoes and accessories at MIHARAYASUHIRO
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Menswear · Japan
SOSHIOTSUKI
Soshi Otsuki
Soshi Otsuki, born in Chiba in 1990, studied menswear at Bunka Fashion College, attended the Coconogacco school at the same time, and launched his label in 2015. His interest in Japanese classical performing arts feeds a tailoring-led reading of Japanese tradition. His second collection made him an LVMH Prize semi-finalist in 2016; he won the Tokyo New Designer Fashion Award in 2019 and the Tokyo Fashion Award in 2024, and on 3 September 2025 he won the LVMH Prize itself. After showing as guest designer at Pitti Uomo in Florence in January 2026, SOSHIOTSUKI appeared on the official Paris menswear calendar for the first time in the seasons we checked, with an SS27 show in June 2026.
- Since
- 2015
- Makes
- Menswear
- Trained
- Menswear course, Bunka Fashion College; also Coconogacco
- 2015 Soshi Otsuki launches SOSHIOTSUKI. Source ↗
- 2016 Named a semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize. Source ↗
- 3 September 2025 Wins the LVMH Prize at the final at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Source ↗
- 15 January 2026 Shows in Florence as guest designer of Pitti Uomo 109. Source ↗
- 27 June 2026 Shows SS27 on the official Paris menswear calendar. Source ↗
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Textile heritage · Tokyo
pillings
Ryota Murakami
Ryota Murakami, born in 1988, started his own label after the Tokyo school coconogacco; first called RYOTAMURAKAMI, it was renamed pillings in 2020. Its collections centre on hand-knitted pieces made with Japanese hand-knitting artisans, and the label counts passing those skills on to a new generation as part of its purpose; Murakami also runs a knitting school, AMIt. The LVMH Prize traces the idea to the jumpers his mother knitted for him as a child. pillings won the Tokyo Fashion Award in 2022, was an LVMH Prize semi-finalist in 2025, and showed its SS27 collection on the runway at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo in September 2026.
- Since
- 2020
- Makes
- Womenswear built around hand-knitted pieces
- Trained
- coconogacco, Tokyo
In person
Where to see Japanese design in person
Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, run by the Japan Fashion Week Organization, is the home stage: its SS27 edition ran 31 August–5 September 2026, mainly at Shibuya Hikarie, and pillings showed there on 2 September. The AW27 edition is listed for 15–20 March 2027, and our Tokyo Fashion Week guide explains who runs the week and who it suits.
Most labels here show in Paris, at men’s week in January and June and women’s week in late February–March and late September–early October; the fashion week calendar has the dates, and Asia’s fashion weeks have their own page. For museum pieces, the Kyoto Costume Institute’s online digital archive includes work by Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi, Kunihiko Morinaga and Maiko Kurogouchi.
For the wider market, see our Tokyo desk; for Japanese denim, pleats and shibori, the Japan style guides; and for agencies and how to apply as a model in Japan, the Japan modelling guide.
More designer guides: South Korean fashion designers to know · Indonesian fashion designers to know · Malaysian fashion designers to know · Thai fashion designers to know · Vietnamese fashion designers to know · Mexican fashion designers to know · Brazilian fashion designers to know
Sources
Sources
Each milestone above links its own source. These are every page we relied on, checked on the date shown.
Represent one of these labels and spotted an error? Send a correction with a link to the record.
Quick answers
Japanese designers, answered
Which Japanese designers show at Paris Fashion Week?
- On the official Paris calendars from FW24 to SS27, Japanese labels in this guide included Comme des Garçons (with Homme Plus in menswear), Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe (with Junya Watanabe MAN), sacai and UNDERCOVER in both men’s and women’s weeks; ANREALAGE and Mame Kurogouchi in womenswear; and AURALEE and doublet in menswear. SOSHIOTSUKI showed on the menswear calendar for SS27 in June 2026, its first appearance in the seasons we checked.
Who designs Issey Miyake now?
- Issey Miyake died in Tokyo on 5 August 2022, aged 84. Satoshi Kondo, formerly lead designer of Pleats Please, has designed the main collection since Spring/Summer 2020, and the Fédération lists the IM MEN menswear line as designed by a team.
Is Junya Watanabe part of Comme des Garçons?
- Yes. Junya Watanabe joined Comme des Garçons in 1984 and launched his own womenswear label within the company in 1992, showing in Paris from 1993; Junya Watanabe MAN followed with the Spring/Summer 2001 season. The company also houses Noir Kei Ninomiya.
Which Japanese designers have won the LVMH Prize?
- Of the labels in this guide, Masayuki Ino’s doublet won the LVMH Prize in 2018 and Soshi Otsuki of SOSHIOTSUKI won on 3 September 2025. ANREALAGE was a finalist in 2019, and pillings a semi-finalist in 2025.
Which museums hold work by Japanese designers?
- The Met in New York staged Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between in 2017 and holds a Junya Watanabe ensemble from Autumn/Winter 2015–16. The V&A in London held a Yohji Yamamoto retrospective in 2011. The Kyoto Costume Institute holds pieces by Kawakubo, Yamamoto, Miyake, Watanabe, Jun Takahashi, Kunihiko Morinaga and Maiko Kurogouchi.