Takuya Angel

Last month I shot at a Takuya Angel party in Tokyo. Takuya Angel is one of the wildest street fashion brands in Japan. It is neo-japanese (also called 'neo-japonese') at its best.

Takuya Angel is a wonderful mix of old and new, East and West, fake and real. Bright colors combined with somber black. Material like Cupra (Cuprammonium Rayon) combined with cotton twill. Designer Takuya Sawada is not inhibited by what is right and what is wrong and what can and cannot be done. He is 100% self taught and as matter of policy leaves all pattern-making to someone else.

Many of Takuya Angel designs are inspired by clothes that Samurai wore in ancient times. Sawada deliberately uses the Japanese terms: ‘hitatare, haori, hakama, kyahan, geta’. It is quite a departure from the modern Japanese habit to give an English moniker to everything that must appear new. Even if there is a good Japanese word for it.

Sawada never makes these ancient clothes exactly as they were. He adapts the shape to the needs of modern life, and uses modern materials whenever possible: cupra, polyester, gabardine, velvet, fake fur. Often he incorporates parts of antique kimono in his clothes. This means that almost every item is different, because it is impossible to find more than one kimono of exactly the same design. His creations are also inspired by anime and manga.