FashioninJapan.com
fall 2009

FashioninJapan-publisher about scouting, keywords, privacy

In October 2009, the Japanese street fashion magazine FashioninJapan.com announced the launch of the 'Season Report' focusing on leather wear for women and men. Since April 2001, the magazine keeps subscribers updated with Japanese fashion trends. They come rich illustrated with pictures from the streets, storefronts and with shop-inside views. The publication is respecting the privacy of the photographed people with an anonymizer over the face that has become in the meanwhile a quasi-trademark of Fashioninjapan.com

fig.: Portrai Loic Bizel. Loic Bizel is the creative mind behind the magazine. He speaks about the founding idea, the editorial concept, trend scouting, archiving trends, his method to elaborate keywords, the difference between men's and women's wear, and the privacy of photographed people.

Question: FashioninJapan.com gives a good insight into the Japanese Fashion Style from the street, stores, which colors are worn by the people on the streets, etc. When have you founded FashioninJapan.com?

Loic Bizel, FashioninJapan.com: We started in April 2001. The concept was to bring a C to B (Consumers to Business) website, where companies like designers, brands, buyers, makers,... would subscribe to have access to the 800 monthly updated streets and stores pictures. From February 2008, we decided to open www.FashioninJapan.com to the public, making it free access and selling advertising. Since then, we have 2,5 million pages views per month and over 12,000 subscribers to our monthly newsletter.

Question: How are you selecting the stores and people on the streets; when some new would come to FashioninJapan.com, how would you instruct the photographer?

Loic Bizel: Before starting taking pictures, I watch and observe for about 30 minutes to spot the most popular trends. Then I choose the most representative people in term of total outfit from apparel to shoes, bags and hats.

Question: Do you archive the photographs on FashioninJapan.com; or in other words: is it possible to look back in time to find out when trends have changed?

fig.: Screenshot www.FashioninJapan.com, 2009

Loic Bizel: There are over 800 pictures per month so we do not offer the back numbers, but a book will be published in the near future, retracing the evolution of the fashion in Japan since 2001.

Question: On your website as well as in the monthly Trendsletter, you are publishing keywords. Where do you get the keywords, or what’s your method to collect them? Are you analyzing the photographs and list the most important like in your current Trendsletter “lambskin vest, leather rider blouson, black jacket, …”? How often are you doing that?

Loic Bizel: I use the fashion magazines and the stores and brands catalogues for the keywords, then I compare them with fashioninjapan.com pictures before publishing the newsletter every month.

Question: You differentiate between men’s and women’s keywords. What are the most important differences between men’s and women’s wear?

Loic Bizel: Women fashion trends are faster to emerge and fade as a total look, while men’s trends are more evolutive with a mix of different trends or styles.

Question: The photos are of a very good quality. Which camera are you using?

Loic Bizel: I am using a Nikon D3000 for the streets pictures and a Nikon Coolpix D80 for the stores pictures.

Question: Fashioninjapan.com is respecting the privacy of the photographed people. Would you say that the anonymizer over the faces has become in the meanwhile a trademark of Fashioninjapan.com?

Loic Bizel: Many visitors are asking me not to hide the faces but the advertisers can not place their ad banners if the site does not respect the privacy and image rights laws.


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