Just Another Husband & Wife Fashion Show At The Game Center

Matt Hawkins
Nov 4 · 3 min read

Am a huge fan of worlds colliding, and anyone who follows the blog or Attract Mode on Twitter knows already that this includes high-end fashion and video games. Specifically, whenever high-end fashion designers & models swing by the game center.

Here’s just one exampleand anotherplus anotherand one more.

Well a couple ago was Tokyo’s fashion week, which was when the husband & wife duo of Mikio Sakabe and Shueh Jen Fang (who goes by Jenny Fax), who each run their own clothing labels, held their own runway shows at the same venue: Mikado Arcade, in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku.

Here we have footage of the Jenny Fax collection…

And here’s the Mikio Sakabe collection…

For those interested, one can get a closer look at FASHIONSNAP. Also worth checking out is Mikio Sakabe’s Instagram, which has plenty of additional pics…

… as well as some videos (like this one, and also this other one) which I wish I could embed, but they wouldn’t play nicely with the YouTube vids that I already have.

As someone who is super interested in fashion, I feel rather embarrassed by how little I know about the world as a whole. I mean, I do believe that I am somewhat of an “expert” when it comes to video game attire, but outside of my lane… there’s a lot I don’t know.

So I found Japan Times’s write-up of Tokyo’s fashion week rather intriguing, Specifically this part…

“The complicated narratives of both Mikio Sakabe’s brand and his wife Shueh Jen-Fang’s Jennyfax, were held as separate shows in the same location of Takadanobaba’s Mikado arcade, an area known for its exceptionally high level of competitive video gaming. Both shows screamed in-the-know pop-culture references sure to appeal to fans of brand Japan.

However, Jennyfax’s collection of orthopedic cast-wearing models in infantilizing ensembles had more than a hint of paraphilia than it perhaps should. For a subculturally inclined audience raised on the nuances of such depictions in Japanese popular culture, such subversion is a home run, but it would be a shame if others reduced it to just an edgy Instagram post.

Mikio Sakabe was clearly leaning in a similar direction with his collection. But while he maintained a Japanese pop zest, he toned down the sexual overtones to the point of neutrality that may prove an easier sale.”

BTW, the two photos of Shueh Jen Fan’s & Mikio Sakabe’s models at the top of this post are from H. P. France, which also has this close-up of the footwear that Sakabe’s perhaps most known for (they’re all over his Instagram); according to my wife, the real expert of J-fashion in our household, Nike has been apparently been stealing the design…

One more thing: thanks for the heads up @MimaSweets!


Originally published at blog.attractmo.de.

Attract Mode

Videogame Culture Collective

Matt Hawkins

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specializes in pinpointing, preserving, highlighting, advocating, and actively producing video game culture

Attract Mode

Videogame Culture Collective

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