Asia Girls Explosion with YOSHIKI and JayF.R.
Binding music and fashion in a seamless display, YOSHIKI and JayF.R. whipped up "The Anger And The Sorrow Of Asia Trapped Inside The Small Aquarium" into an event to span the decades, empowering women and restructuring conventional design with the help of VIOLET UK and X JAPAN.
YOSHIKI
On March 6, Yoyogi National Stadium welcomed ASIA GIRLS EXPLOSION, a collaboration between genius music producer YOSHIKI and unconventional fashion producerJayF.R. The day was uncannily warm as if to forecast the fever of the show itself. Cosplayers and X-Japan fans clad in tour t-shirts invaded the streets around the venue hours before the doors opened. The show started roughly one hour later than expected, but YOSHIKI’s fans, more than used to these delays, didn’t seem bothered by the wait. The venue buzzed with excitement and speculation as over 11,000 people anticipated what would soon come–after all, it’s not every day fans get to see X-JAPAN, Violet UK, Marilyn Manson and YOSHIKI’s kimono collection in one show.
As JayF.R. explained, A.G.E. (The Anger and the Sorrow of Asia Trapped Inside the Small Aquarium) was sparked by Tokyo Girl’s Collection but meant to reflect a combination of Japanese aesthetics with progressive western design paradigms to produce a line of unique, trendy but wearable pieces–all with plenty of rock’n’roll influences. Tokyo street fashion up-to-date was well respected, showing a retrospective of both Western and Japanese fashion trends of the past century: “Fashion trapped inside a fish tank where light and sadness come together, blue and red bleeding into violet.” These concepts became clearer and sharper as the show unwound.
Laura Cooper started photographing rock and jazz bands at university. While completing a degree in English Literature, she was literary co-editor of the York University arts magazine and held poetry soirees with comedy jazz bands. Laura wrote for the now defunct UK Goth magazine Meltdown, as well as edited for an occult/spiritual website while she lived in York and London. She disappeared into the mountainous depths of Japan in 2006 and is now based in Tokyo, capturing rock bands in action.
Diana Tome saw her life change when she came across X-Japan's Blue Blood. A big supporter of old school visual rock, she believes visual kei is a lifestyle and philosophy that goes beyond the clothing and the music. With a background in headhunting and psychotherapy, Diana completed her M.A. in Psychology from I.S.P.A. in Lisbon, Portugal. She now lives and works in Japan committed to keeping the VK/V-rock flame alive.
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