The Current Trend in Japan's Adaptive Fashion
text by Ai Kishino
Japan is widely thought of as a country with a strong public health-care system, where residents are less concerned about common illnesses and injuries than in other countries. Japan, however, has long lagged European countries and the United States in its awareness about services for disabilities. This awareness has been slowly improving over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of activists, the accomplishments of the athletes in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and popular TV shows that feature characters with disabilities played by well-known actors. Also drawing more attention to disabilities in Japan is adaptive fashion, which is seen more frequently on social media. We interviewed three people who have been studying the relationship between people with disabilities and fashion to find out what they’ve discovered by questioning how fashion should be.
Japan Persons with Disabilities Fashion Association Representative
Kei Hirabayashi
A “bottom’all” can be easily put on and instantly removed with a fabric fastener around the waist, showing off its stylish design. This highly functional and fashionable skirt-like bot- tom can be worn regardless of age, disabilities, and gender. It was produced by Kei Hirabayashi, who drew a lot of attention when releasing this product. Last year, he hosted a fashion show in Paris that featured models in wheelchairs. What is Hirabayashi’s vision for the future of adaptive fashion?
TJ: What inspired you to showcase the bottom’all at Paris Fashion Week?
HIRABAYASHI: In 2019, when I was having a meal with my friend, I was asked, “Did you know that a model in a wheelchair has never walked a Paris Fashion Week runway?” Back then, I was thinking that my mission was “to make people’s impression toward disabilities and the field of welfare brighter and more radiant through fashion,” so when I was asked this, I thought, “No way!” and I immediately did some research. Turned out, it was really true. The sustainable development goals were already popular in the media at that time, so I was shocked, and I thought to myself, “Wow, there is still such a gap between the goals set by the world and the true reality.” I also thought, “The world won’t change just by having a model in a wheelchair walk down the Paris Fashion Week runway.” Hosting a fashion show with designs that are fashionable just because they are in a wheelchair instead of being fashionable even in a wheelchair would create a reverse phenomenon in which disability itself becomes stylish and would lead to making a small change in the world. This will also make it meaningful for the model to challenge themselves, who sacrifice their time and lives. I immediately started working toward this goal the very next day, and in November of that same year, I established Japan Persons with Disabilities Fashion Association ( JPFA), and this is how it all started.
TJ: What was the process like to the day of the show?
HIRABAYASHI: First, I looked for people who could make clothes. I could picture what kind of clothes I wanted to make, but I had no experience in actually making them. Amazingly, people willing to support gathered around me. However, the next year was 2020, when we had to stop our project due to the coronavirus pandemic, so we actually started making clothes in 2021. We continued through trial and error. At the same time, we spent a year deciding on the site to host our show and we finally accomplished this last year. We struggled with our budget and planning of the location, almost giving up three times. I think it actually helped that we started without any knowledge about making clothes and Paris Fashion Week. I think we were able to have more than 100 people support our project because they sympathized with our passion and our will to move toward our goal even if we had zero knowledge of Paris Fashion Week and no experience in making clothes. Well, it might have been more like a worry that the supporters felt toward us, thinking, “Oh no, they don’t know what they’re doing!” Like parents concerned about their child.
TJ: Even though the coronavirus pandemic was unpredictable, wasn’t it frustrating to be forced to pause right when you were about to take action?
HIRABAYASHI: Now that I think about it, the time when we couldn’t do anything was also necessary. Until then, we were just forcing our way through, so during the pandemic, I was able to talk with the members involved in creating the bottom’all about how we should share our intention behind our project. This was when the concept that we still hold onto, Next UD (Universal Design), was produced. I felt that Universal Design typically focuses only on usability by providing designs that are accessible and easy to use by anyone. We believe that we can add more entertainment to bring on the next generation of Universal Design.
TJ: Could you share how you felt or what you discovered when you actually conducted the fashion show?
HIRABAYASHI: It was really fun. I went to Paris with the intention to turn zero into a one, but to be honest, I feel that we were only able to make zero into 0.1. We received great responses, but we felt that there was more to work on. But because of this experience, our current objective, which is to create the Next UD Collection, emerged as well. The Paris Fashion Week we participated in is one of the “Big Four” fashion events in the world, but I heard that there has still not been a fashion show that is dedicated to Universal Design. Achieving such a show, I think, is when we can finally turn the 0.1 we have produced into a one. We have already begun moving toward this goal. I cannot say exactly what we are doing, but we hope we can show you something fascinating.
The complete article can be found in Issue #282 of the Tokyo Journal.
