Japan's Ogawa among New, Hopeful Faces at Fashion Week

NEW YORK (Agence France-Presse)—With big ambitions and plenty of anxiety, Japanese designer Akiko Ogawa came to New York to put her fashions on display and make a name for herself.

Presenting alongside giants like Calvin Klein, Donna Karan or Ralph Lauren, Ogawa hoped that a show of her work at New York's Fashion Week could be a stepping stone to bigger things.

Her clothes had sold in a dozen boutiques in Japan since 2001, but the Tokyo-based designer had yet to venture into the export market until her passion for evening wear drove her to make the leap.

"Japan doesn't have such a big evening market. Hanae Mori is one of the few (who made evening dresses). At the beginning in Japan people all thought I was a 50-year-old designer!" said Ogawa, 32, a petite woman dressed in cropped pants and wedge heels.

In an immense loft in the city's garment district, Ogawa's elegant pieces hang after their turn in the fashion parade under the tents at Fashion Week. Coat dress, gray-blue velvet gown, cashmere suit: she dresses today's femme fatale, inspired more by Jean-Paul Gaultier than Japanese masters Yohji Yamamoto or Issey Miyake.

New York's main fashion event holds a strong attraction for young, unknown designers like Ogawa looking to break into the international market.

"They're all coming here!" said Stan Herman, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
The New York show offers the spotlight of the world's media and possible sponsorship by Fashion Week organizers, fashion magazine Vogue or CFDA.

"It's also the fact that we are big business here, that if you make a success here it happens sooner," Herman said.
A few tales of success feed the dream. Designer Zac Posen was discovered at the age of 20 and now, four years later, he was one of the week's biggest attractions.

"Zac is kind of a miraculous example. He's 24 and he's able to fill one of the biggest tents," said Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

"He's talented, he has also a lot of business savvy, that has helped him get backers and get connections."

The key to success is timing and patience, she said.

"It's a tremendous competition. It's tremendously expensive, and you have to do it for at least several seasons before anyone even begins to pay attention usually," she said.

Ogawa decided to take the plunge, bringing 120 pieces from Tokyo and four assistants, for a show essentially self-financed thanks to her secondary line sold in Japan. In total, it cost her tens of thousands of dollars for a 10-minute show in front of some 200 potential buyers and journalists.

"It was bigger, more exciting than expected. I was very nervous, even worried about empty seats, but it was packed," she said.

Some of those who looked at Ogawa's designs in the showroom concluded the prices were a little steep. But the young designer said she was patient. She was already planning her collection for the next season's show in New York.