Lady GaGa Will Be The New Face Of Polaroid

MSNBC

Lady Gaga has an unexpected new collaborator: the instant-photography brand Polaroid, it was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the feisty pop sensation is scheduled to appear in person Thursday. Her newly developed title: creative director and inventor of specialty products.

"The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion /technology /photography innovation — blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era – and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand," Gaga, 23, said in a statement.

"Lifestyle, music, art, fashion: I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer and to — as my father puts it — finally, have a real job."

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1937, Polaroid hit its peak in the '60s with film that the consumer didn't have to send out to be developed, though modern digital cameras rendered the process obsolete. Last May, private equity firms took the company out of bankruptcy and plan to launch new products using the Polaroid name.

The campaign with Gaga, who is said to be a fan of Polaroid, will apparently see her star in the company's marketing campaigns as well as on social networking channels. In turn, Polaroid is expected to be a presence at her concerts.

Without elaborating, a spokeswoman for the company tells the Wall Street Journal that Gaga will help develop retail "imaging products" that span both the company's instant classic film category and its digital-imaging line.

Best And Worst Of The Decade

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This rocky decade of war, terrorism, global warming and economic catastrophe is at last drawing to a close. Such things aren't normally considered to have a profound effect on fashion, but fashion, like any art form, tends to reflect the period in which it is created. So the nutty amalgamation of attire that floated in and out the past 10 years is a reflection of the decade that was just as much as any news of the day.

Military conflict was said to have fueled the interest in buckles, boots, belts, epaulets and fitted jackets. Our growing concern over the environment spurred more eco-friendly fabrics and an interest in futuristic design aesthetics.

Is it a coincidence that designers and consumers sought comfort in post-World War II-inspired fashions and collections based on the clothing of the Great Depression era?

Automation now makes it possible to customize T-shirts (Zazzle.com), jeans (IndiDenim), shoes (Timberland), jackets (Ralph Lauren), ties and shirts (Thomas Pink) and jewelry (You Design We Create) from the comfort of your home and a computer keyboard.

Thanks to the "Project Runway" era and an active stream of DIYers setting up home boutiques on the amazing homemade shopping mall Etsy.com, consumers no longer had a take-it-or-leave-it relationship with cookie-cutter fashions.

This forced designers to adjust and work harder to make their products special.

And so we've enjoyed the rise of cheap chic.

Fashion drifted into a new era in which the social stratas were leveled. For the first time, scores of high-end designers were clamoring to dress the masses, not just the celebrities and the socialites. We became the target customers of Vera Wang, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo, Norma Kamali, Karl Lagerfeld, Oscar de la Renta and Comme des Garcon thanks to special collaborations with mass market retailers such as Kohl's, Target, Walmart, Dillard's and JC Penney.

This was the decade of high-low dressing in which it became more and more difficult to determine high from low. It made designers strive for more details and more luxury in their high-end lines, and it made lower-priced labels work harder to improve their style, fabrics and fit.

Overall, the decade has been a testament to the capricious nature of consumer whimsy.

How else can you describe an era with fashion so diametrically opposed that it swings from one camp pledging its allegiance to the Snuggie and rubbery slip-on comfort shoes and another holding fast to the 7-inch-high Jimmy Choo stilettos and Herve Leger's mummy-fantastic bandage dress.

So let's start this recap of the decade's fashions (which debuted on stltoday.com/stylefile) with the most infamous fashion item of the decade:

Crocs — I've run out of words to malign this particular piece of footwear most notable for being dishwasher safe. Instead, I found this testament ... perhaps, "ode" would be a better word, that offers an explanation of just what made the rise of Crocs possible. This comes from writer Greg Beato who writes about pop culture in Las Vegas.

In an article called "Crocs on the Rocks," he wrote: "If Scott Seamans and his co-founders (of Crocs Inc.) had been Frenchmen, or Italians, or citizens of any other country where style is a major priority, you might not be reading this story right now. But they weren't. They were Americans, and in 2002, America was, more than anything, a country desperately in need of comfort. Battered by 9/11, frazzled by anthrax scares and Code Orange alerts, America wanted a shoe that provided more than just arch support. America wanted a shoe that nurtured it, cradled it, made it feel warm and safe and loved. While Crocs may have started out as a better boating shoe, they quickly became the bacteriostatic security blanket for our souls."

And, now, with less ado ... the best and worst of the decade, in no particular order.

Flyaway dress — Known by many names, this unstructured sack of a dress (reminiscent of baby doll frocks) was flouncing down runways and supermarket aisles for the middle part of the decade. And maybe it was an homage to Catholic school girl modesty that also ushered in a period of wearing pants under dresses.

Poncho — I've tried to forget, but we all remember Martha Stewart's infamous prison poncho and the mini-craze that ensued.

Gladiator shoe — The Greco-Roman footwear came back with a vengeance, and it was more fierce than ever with studs and buckles and towering 5-inch heels.

Sexed-up Velour tracksuits — Suburban moms united and adopted a uniform of comfort that still made them feel like a woman. I blame Madonna for making this look cool. The results I saw shopping for produce at the supermarket were not.

Shapewear — We ditched the mainstream corsets long ago, but thanks to form-fitting clothes and a nation that's steadily gaining girth, shapewear that trimmed the waist, hips and thighs and butts of men and women were among the most successful clothing introductions of the decade. Thanks, Spanx.

Butt slogans — The most egregious and distressing trend of the decade for me was seeing girls as young as elementary school and as old as cougar walking around in fitted exercise apparel — or worse, pajamas — in public with something written large and bold across their butt cheeks. Tres tacky.

Oversize purses — Handbags exploded into the most glorious, ridiculously elaborate contraptions designed for everyday wear. Chiropractors suddenly had more patients.

Ugg boots — Some Hollywood stylist thought it was a good idea to pair these cold-weather genuine sheepskin booties with a miniskirt, and a disturbing inconsistency was born.

Trucker hats — This flash was all to do with Ashton Kutcher, and we're glad it's a footnote.

Graphic tees — For some reason, a men's T-shirt designer thought it was really hip to see how many symbols they could put onto one shirt. Crosses, skulls, thorns, roses, eagles and words like, "love kills" were really popular. We have another word, "overkill." Sorry, Ed Hardy.

Belts-a-rama — Wide, skinny, medium waist jewelry layered over button-down shirts, jackets, coats and sweaters. Michelle Obama has become the poster girl for this look.

Shootie — Our love of high-heeled shoes and our love of boots are at last married into a single footwear item. The shoe boot now exists in many glorious incarnations, including open-toed, caged and buckled. The spectacle of the shootie with a cocktail dress or a flirty skirt is a thing of beauty.

Infinity scarf — This circular scarf entered at the tail end of the decade, expanding on the wave of scarf-loving men and women who adopted a wardrobe of neck wear as casual everyday apparel.

Black nails — Always a staple of the goth crowd. Black, or nearly black, nails became a staple for trendy cocktail looks that continues today in shades of red, blue, green and purple.

Spiky hair — Boys are mostly boring and conservative when it comes to fashion, but the silliest male-trend of the decade was that Bob's Big Boy hairdo (close cropped on the back and sides with an inexplicable meringue swirl or Pee Wee Herman crest in front), followed closely by the overmoussed Calvin & Hobbes look.

Untucked dress shirts — We blame this on the men of "Friends" who gained weight and no longer looked so youthful and cute with a tucked-in shirt. Yes, I'm talking to you, Joey and Chandler. It gave men of all ages license to untuck, so menswear designers had to adapt and create shirts that were more fitted and shorter so that they looked good untucked.

Robert Graham — The most notable company responsible for making men's button-up shirts that required a double-take since the 1970s era of prints and butterfly collars. The company's success spawned many, many copycats who now make shirts with so many details and contrasting fabrics that you'd lose count trying to detail them all.

Thick-rimmed eyewear — It's chic to look geeky.

Chandelier earrings — It was a classic look of elegance that started the trend of bringing evening wear items into daytime apparel.

Abbreviated jacket — Known by many names, this number was a throwback to the mid-century looks with wide-sleeve coats and jackets that stopped at the elbow coupled with long gloves for the ultimate in lady-chic.

Onesie — The jumpsuit has made reappearances in formal, casual and now sleepwear. It's actually a great look if you're 120 pounds and 6-feet-tall.

Lastly, denim deserves its own category because this decade, denim transcended all socioeconomic levels and became the most pivotal and beloved fashion element of the generation.

Premium denim — This was the era when people didn't bat an eye at $200 jeans, which meant that jeans gained a new acceptance worn with tuxedo jackets, party tops or sequined blazers.

Destroyed denim — This is destined to be short-lived, but people snapping up denim that looked like someone dipped it in battery acid and ran it over with a car was a curious phenomenon.

Low-rise jeans — The main culprit in the rise of the muffin-top (soft waist tissue spilling up and over the top of your pants) and the whale-tail (the unfortunate flash of a thong above the pants horizon).

Skinny jean — We've seen slim fitting pants before, but the new skinny jean was notable for the extra long inseam, the better for scrunching at the ankle. It was also best when skin tight and designed with the narrowest of holes at the ankle. It didn't seem to matter that it took 10 minutes to get the darn things on.

Jeggings — This is a combination of jeans and leggings. They are glorified tights that have fake seams and pockets drawn onto them so that there is actually less material between you and the world. We can only guess that they came about because skinny jeans just weren't skinny enough.

Katie Ermilio: Rising Designer

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The fabrics Katie Ermilio used in her spring 2010 collection are so soft the pieces appear limp on a rack of hangers in the family's Haverford showroom.

But don't let the languid pieces fool you.

She shows the same meticulous attention to detail as her dad, Bob, an internationally renowned fixture in the world of equestrian tailoring.

For example, a tomato red, silk-faille Katie Ermilio pencil skirt features a 7-inch, ruffled hem. The matching top is equally exquisite with a seductive open back Ermilio trimmed with the wavy ruffle.

It's the personal dedication to classic couture that has helped Ermilio begin to gain notice among New York fashion editors and on the red carpet. She's also turning into a darling of women on the Main Line who spend big and take their fashion seriously.

This kind of fashion is a completely different art form," Ermilio said from her father's Haverford studio recently. She's just 24, but as the fourth generation of a family steeped in fashion, she is sartorially wise beyond her years. "I want to translate it as best as I can to prêt-à-porter [ready-to-wear] garments."

In the post-recession fashion world, boutiques and specialty department stores are slow to stock sales floors with work by young designers. But because of that, it's an important time for them to continue to build their foundation.

Ermilio is doing just that. In October, she secured a coveted editorial mention in Women's Wear Daily. Her Spring 2010 presentation - a private showing in her New York studio/apartment in September - was attended by fashion editors from Harper's Bazaar, Glamour and Vogue magazines. Next month during Fashion Week, she'll show her fall 2010 collection there as well.

Two of Ermilio's dresses were photographed on the red carpet during the 2008 awards season: a backless coral sheath for actress Autumn Reeser and a smart cocktail dress donned by Julianne Hough of Dancing With the Stars.

Last January, Washington Post fashion columnist Robin Givhan chose Ermilio's sketch of a sleeveless forest-green gown as the winner of the paper's competition for Michelle Obama's Inaugural gown.

"The silhouette flatters a curvy figure," Givhan wrote "And the style is both youthful and grand. But it's the color that makes me applaud."

But, most importantly, it's Ermilio's clean, architectural look and couture flourishes that have won over the women who can afford to spend thousands of dollars a season on their wardrobe. (An Ermilio piece ranges from $750 to $4,200.)

These women, most of whom define their sense of style as conservative with a twist, are more than stealth shoppers; they have the power to create a mystique around a clothier powerful enough to launch a career - as long as you get their express permission to mention names.

"Her designs are one-of-a-kind, and that's really great when you want to go to an event and stand out," said client Paula Yudenfriend Green of Haverford.

At last count, Ermilio had about 50 clients in New York, Connecticut and Florida, with about 20 in the Philadelphia area. She spent most of the holiday season completing fittings and sketching ballgowns for the crowd. Two of her gowns may show up at this month's Academy Ball, the annual gala and fund-raiser at the Academy of Music.

Ermilio, who originally wanted to be a journalist, can't deny that fashion is in her blood.

Her great-grandfather Anthony Ermilio ran a bustling tailor shop in Center City from the late 1800s through the 1920s. He was known for his use of European fabrics.

The shop moved to the Main Line after World War II. In the 1950s, her grandfather Arthur Ermilio designed the first Masters golf tournament jacket, creating the iconic green. He also designed President Dwight D. Eisenhower's World War II bomber jacket and Princess Grace Kelly's riding pants. Both Arthur Ermilio and Katie's father, Bob, dressed former President Gerald Ford.

"They never talk about who they dressed," Ermilio said. "The only reason we know [my grandfather] designed the Masters jacket is because of a handwritten letter. It just wasn't polite. We come from a long line of that tradition."

It's late December and Ermilio is fitting a shrunken jacket with a Peter Pan collar on Debra Guezlo of Paoli. Guezlo's husband, Allen, is a noted historian and the head of the Civil War Department at Gettysburg College.

After the fitting, Ermilio, wearing Phillip Lim trousers, sips a family favorite - Earl Grey tea - and tells her story.

She spent her Saturdays in the family's Haverford and Paoli locations. As a child, she dabbled in design. The first dress she made for herself was a charmeuse baby-doll dress in sea-foam green that she wore to her eighth-grade dance.

In 2006, she snagged an internship with fashion designer Tracy Reese. She landed a marketing internship at Women's Wear Daily, and, the following year, she designed a cream wool-crepe sheath with a low-scooped back that she wore to an interview for an internship with Vogue magazine. She got the job.

She worked for Vogue for a year, all the while designing on the side. In 2008, she graduated from New York University with a degree in visual culture and landed a job as a public-relations assistant in Teen Vogue. Her father sold her designs from his store and connected her with clients. After working the equivalent of two full-time jobs for over a year, she decided to open her own business with a financial boost from her parents.

Katie Ermilio was born.

"I thought about what I wanted to be doing 10 years from now," Ermilio said. "Designing is something that I was meant to do."

Sales vary. Some months she may sell two pieces for upward of $3,000 to $4,000. Other months, she may sell several pieces at $750. Right now, she says, everything is handmade and designed to fit each client's individual needs.

Ultimately, Ermilio wants to establish a ready-to-wear line sold in specialty boutiques and high-end department stores as well as offer her clients couture services.

Craigslist Removes Brittany Murphy Video

Contact Music

Rocker CHRIS CORNELL is reportedly fuming after video footage showing tragic actress BRITTANY MURPHY partying at his wedding surfaced online.

Clips from the Soundgarden star's 2004 nuptials to his wife Vicky, whose maid of honour was the late Clueless star, were said to have been put up for sale on Craigslist.

Cornell, who alleges the video was stolen, has threatened to sue the online ad site and even asked its owners to hand over the details of the person selling the tape, according to the New York Post.

A source tells the newspaper, "The video features behind-the-scenes wedding moments, many of Brittany Murphy."

The ad has since been removed.

Murphy died after suffering a cardiac arrest early last month

Spotlight On Designer, J.D. Elquist

SoJones

To dress for success is a little different than dressing for the skate park or a movie date. It involves clever scheming to execute on  cutting edge style that conversely, looks effortless and unplanned. For inspiration on this level, we turn to menswear designer J.D Elquist, who recently acted on a impulsive whim to move to New York, to ask him about what great things he has in store for the fashion world.

Israelite of fashion, meet your Moses.

SoJones: What are you up to right now?

Elquist: Just working on the website, working on the blog. We did another photo shoot for our bow ties and ties, so we’re editing that and getting ready to put that stuff up, so yeah! …I don’t know if you saw, I just got a  feature  in the New York magazine fashion blog, “The Cut”.

SoJones: I did see that; I was just about to ask about that. You were in the lookbook section…

Elquist: I was in the lookbook section, yes. What happened also is they took the lookbook post and did a brief synopsis of it, then they put it on “the cut” blog which is a bigger deal than the lookbook so it was just awesome for exposure. I got a couple emails from different blogs and people who were just like, “Oh I saw you on the lookbook, love your style, what are you about?” so its all very exciting.

It’s kinda crazy since I been in New York, this kinda thing has gained so much steam you know? it’s just really taken off in the right direction, which I’m super thankful for; moving out here was kind of a risk to be honest with you. I moved to New York kinda on a whim. I had this cool job lined up but, it’s New York City! Either I take off and do my thing or I could absolutely just blow it and… so far so good, so I’m super thankful for that.

SoJones: Where did you move specifically and why the move?

Elquist: I moved to New York because I was in San Francisco working for Brooks Brothers at the time. I was supposed to open the Black Fleece store which is an invention by Thom Browne, and it got pushed back so I just decided I can hang out and wait for the store to open and work for Brooks Brothers, or I can go and take it to the next level and try to make myself in New York. So I just literally up and moved on a whim, just because I felt like it was a right move. I had really nothing to lose in San Francisco at the time. I was just like “now or never”. I could do it now, when I have a lot less to lose, then later on down the road when I’m a little more established, where I’d have a lot more to lose if I just up and left so…I just went for it, and here I am doing it.

SoJones: How do you find time and creativity in your workday?

Elquist: It’s all day long. I feel like I’m constantly creative, I always look at things a little bit differently. When I walk down the street, I’m paying attention to the color palette. It sounds super cheesy but I’m looking at the way everything is working together in front of me. As I walk down the street I’m taking mental notes, or on my cellphone or on some paper. The things that I see are things that inspire me and then I literally do not stop thinking about what it is that I’m trying to do and how everything around me can tie into it. So it’s a nonstop wave of creativity.

Obviously, there are times where it works together to create something beautiful, and there’s times where I get nothing all day long but… I’m always hunting for something to inspire me, to drive me, to try something new and step out of the box.

SoJones: Looking ahead over the next year or two, what themes/looks/styles do you see your brand gravitating to?

Elquist: I think at this point, whats going on with my blog is that I have a distinct image. The brand has a very distinct image at this point, and I don’t know if that’s necessarily capturing the full image that my brand is gonna be about. I think people see this brand as edgy, Americana…which is true, but there’s also this sense of timelessness that I want to capture, you know what I mean?

We just had a great meeting with a clothing manufacturer, to talk about the manufacturing of suits and shirts for the first collection. If that happens that takes us to the ballpark of really exquisite handmade beautiful clothes. At this point it’s just spontaneous bow ties, but I see us transitioning into a whole set; a men’s clothing brand where our heart and soul is put into suits, shirts, and ties. I don’t think people get that right now, but as you’ll see the blog will start to transition into a little bit more elegant, a little bit more tasteful, refined almost. And that’s kinda what will be for the next year or so. Once that launches, you’ll start seeing lifestyle groups, so you’ll see more of the casual wear, and you’ll see more of the stuff we’re talking about right now on the blogs.

We really want to hone it and master the art of clothing and really bring back a sense of pride in handmade goods, cause in this day and age with men its all about top shop, it’s all about H&M, all about “I wanna buy something I can wear two or three times and then that’s it”. That doesn’t make sense to me as a designer; what makes sense is to create something that you can hand down over the generations. Something handmade that will only become better with time. Down the road I would love to have someone out shopping vintage and find one of my sports coats 50 years from now, and just be stoked on it. Stoked that they found this J. Elquist sports coat from back in the day.

Someone has to bring something new to the table, and I think we can do that.

SoJones: What themes/looks/styles do you see your brand moving away from?

Elquist: It’s interesting because if you see from that New York magazine post, people are saying “oh this will get played” which…honestly it kind of is. I look around and the look I’ve been doing for a couple years now is all of a sudden a trend. It’s trendy to be geek sheik, bowties… and it’s all super freakin’ trendy. I don’t want to be recognized as a fashion brand, I want to be recognized as someone who’s creates beautiful timeless things. I want to be in the breath of Levi Strauss, of Brooks Brothers…quintessential American brands.

I want to be forever, and so I’m trying to steer clear of being in the trend. I want to create something maybe people wont expect from me right now, so you’ll see me start to steer clear of stuff like the small bowties and everything that’s trendy. I’m trying to branch out from that so people can associate J. Elquist the brand as something that’s gonna be around for years. It’s gonna be forever. I have a lot of love for brands like Thom Browne but it’s too edgy, it’s too much and I’m trying to steer clear of that.

SoJones: What has been a surprise fashion hit over the year that you’ve noticed?

Elquist: I was in a sneaker store over in Brooklyn with my friends, and we were talking to the shop owner. She mentioned how UGG boots are about to get bigger than ever, especially with men. I guess UGG boots are coming out with a  boot for men. I think that’s ridiculous. UGG boots for men is nothing you should mess with. It’s the farthest thing from masculine there is, and I think even UGG’s  for women is played, so for her to say it’s just getting started terrifies me (laughs), so I’m saying “uh oh!“

SoJones: Are you wearing one of your bowties right now?

Elquist: Right now I’m not. I’m kinda casual, but every time I suit up or go out the door, I always have a tie on, either a bowtie or one of my neckties, and it’s just an amazing feeling. This is all brand new to me; to be able to wear my own goods with my name in it, it’s like…I just feel like I finally got there. But on the same aspect as much as I’m finally here, I have so much more work to do. With success only comes much more work  in building this thing up to its full potential.

SoJones: Who is your fashion inspiration and why?

Elquist: I’ve been talking a lot about quintessential fashion heads: the Fred Astaire’s, the Carrie Grant’s, the Clark Gable’s…I like to quote Gianni Agnelli [the late Italian industrialist] a lot, just because I think he represented what I want to represent the best. He was a guy who would take the suits and make it his own. Everyone wears suits; you walk around Wall Street, everyone is in a suit. But its like, “who is doing it for themselves? Who was rocking that suit to the fullest extent?

And I think that Gianni Agnelli did that; you’d see photos of him back in the day wearing a perfectly tailored Italian suit and then he would have Timberland-esque boots on. You just don’t do that. But him, he just did that to say “this is who I am”. You would see him wear a tie over a sport coat, flopped out; that was just “him”. These are things that, the more you figure out who you are style-wise, these are things you can pull off and no one questions it.

…Fred Astaire; You look at Fred Astaire, he always inspires you. He’s a walking mannequin, that’s what they called him. But you don’t look at him and question it; you go “oh that’s Fred Astaire.” Those are inspire me are those that are 100% themselves, who are recognized for that.

SoJones: What celebs or well known figures do you envision J. Elquist exemplifying in the future?

Elquist: …if a celeb starts wearing my clothes in the future that’s awesome. [However] What I see is the men who write the paychecks for these celebrities…let’s say Brad Pitt does a film for one of the big film studios: the guy who runs the studio, that’s who I see wearing my suit, that’s who I want to wear my suit. the guy who has that taste level and all this money and has created this thing, and wants to wear the very best; I want him to wear my suit.

What I wanna do is capture these men who are up and coming, who are gonna be the CEO’S and CFO’s of these huge corporations and creative groups. That’s who I want wearing my stuff. I don’t care about the faces out there in the media. I care about the guys writing the checks.

SoJones: How was your brand started?

Elquist: It’s always been something I wanted to do. Fashion has always been a huge interest of mine, but it hasn’t always been clothing. It hasn’t always been this “suit, shirt and tie” thing, but I think what really honed it in was the first time I walked into a men’s clothing shop. I believe the first one I walked into was Mario’s in Seattle when I was younger. I walked in and I just saw these men… I saw these suits and these shirts and these ties and it just felt…it felt like home. It felt so rich and so powerful and so masculine but also so personal that I was just blown away.

So as I worked retail, what really launched it for me was the beginning of my days at Ralph Lauren, when I was able to really capture and understand what men want and why they go out and why they buy suits, why they buy certain designers and certain styles of a suit, like double breasted vs. two button vs. three button. To figure out why these guys were buying it and how it was working for them, that’s what got me interested in the clothing business and made me wanna do it right.

Clothing should be handmade; it is art. When you make a suit, it’s art. There’s a crazy amount of hours that go into it, a crazy amount of hand stitching that people don’t understand. That’s what I want to bring back. I want to bring back the art of clothing and make people understand that you don’t need to buy 10 suits, you need to buy one suit that will last you forever. That’s what I think buying the Ralph Lauren Purple Label exemplifies, you buy that suit cause you appreciate what went into it, and that’s what I’m trying to create.

SoJones: Lastly, what inspires you to wake up in the morning?

Elquist: What inspires me to wake up is the fact I live in New York City, bottom line. I wake up every morning and I walk out the door, going North South East West…I’m in a whole new world. I love the different walks of life. Men and women everywhere doing exactly what I’m doing. They are out here just grinding, hustling. Some people are already there, some people aren’t even close, but the fact of the matter is, in New York everyone is doing it together, and I definitely feel that. That inspires me to keep going because when you are around people who don’t have the same drive and energy as you,  it can definitely hurt you. So that drive is what keeps me waking up in the morning; I have to go out, I have to make a name for myself.

I want to be mentioned amongst the names of the finest designers, a quintessential American brand. Being in New York City is the only way that’s gonna happen.

Paris. Milan. Tokyo. Tokyo?

NY Times

Japan’s trailblazers of street fashion are the envy of Western designers, spawning Web sites filled with snapshots of Tokyo youngsters in the latest distressed jeans or psychedelic stockings.

 With city sidewalks as their catwalks, young Japanese flaunt carefully layered tops and thigh-high boots sporting labels like Galaxxxy, Phenomenon and Function Junction.

But most of Tokyo’s clothing designers have not figured out how to cash in on the city’s fashion sense. Only a handful of Japanese brands, like A Bathing Ape or Evisu Jeans, have gained traction beyond the nation’s shores. Chic local labels like Fur Fur and Garcia Marquez Gauche remain mostly unknown outside Japan.

Experts say that the nation’s fashion industry is too fragmented and too focused on the domestic market to make it overseas.

“For much of this decade, fashion trends have started in Japan and gone global. But Japanese brands don’t even realize that,” said Loic Bizel, a French-born fashion consultant based in Tokyo. Japan “generates trends and ideas, but it stops there,” he said. “Many brands are not even interested in going overseas.”

So each season, Mr. Bizel takes fashion industry buyers from America and Europe — mass clothiers like Hennes & Mauritz of Sweden and Topshop of Britain — to buy up bagfuls of the latest hits. The designs are then whisked overseas to be reworked, resized, stitched together and sold under Western labels.

In that business model, there is little financial gain for Japan. In 2008, Japan’s clothing and apparel-related exports came to a mere $416 million, dwarfed by the $3.68 billion exported by American apparel companies, and a tiny fraction of China’s $113 billion.

Meanwhile, Japan’s domestic apparel industry is on the decline. It shrank 1.3 percent, to 4.37 trillion yen ($48 billion), in 2008, and is expected to post a steeper decline for 2009 as recession-weary consumers and an aging population cut back sharply on spending.

“Japanese fashion might be considered cutting-edge, but overseas markets have been largely elusive,” said Atsushi Izu, an analyst at the Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo. “Japan’s fashion industry is very fragmented, and most companies lack the resources and know-how to bring their brands to foreign markets.”

The government is trying to help. Earlier this year, the Foreign Ministry dispatched a group of suit-clad officials to Tokyo’s hip Harajuku neighborhood to survey the latest trends, part of an effort to promote Japanese fashion overseas. After interviews with shoppers and sales clerks, the ministry came up with a battle plan: to appoint three young trendsetters as “ambassadors” of Japanese chic, charged with extending the industry’s reach overseas and piquing interest in Japanese brands.

One ambassador, Misako Aoki — a model known in Tokyo for her Lolita look of frilly Rococo-inspired dresses paired with platform shoes — has been dispatched to France, Spain, Russia and Brazil, where she has attended expos and hosted fashion talk shows in her trademark floppy bow tie and frilly smock.

“I hope that Lolita fashion and Japanese fashion in general will raise your interest in Japan,” Ms. Aoki said in São Paulo, Brazil, in November after starring in a Lolita fashion show organized by the Japanese embassy. (Although Lolita style is a reference to the Vladimir Nabokov novel “Lolita,” its look is more covered-up Victorian schoolgirl than skin-baring teenage vixen.)

The trade ministry has also helped revamp the twice-yearly Tokyo Collection and started inviting foreign journalists to come on the government’s dime. For the first time this year, the collection, renamed Japan Fashion Week, sponsored a splinter fashion event in New York to showcase Japanese designers, and it has planned another runway show in New York in mid-February.

“Japanese fashion has so much global potential,” says Kenjiro Monji, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Public Diplomacy Department, who oversees Japan’s cultural push overseas.

But the government’s efforts have won it few fans in the fashion industry. Besides Ms. Aoki, the two other fashion ambassadors chosen by the government are a woman who likes to dress up in cute high school uniforms and another who mixes and matches secondhand clothes. Promoting such niche tastes does little to help the wider fashion industry, many say.

And Japan Fashion Week remains a relative nonevent filled with relatively obscure designers like Motonari Ono and Kazuhiro Takakura. Ambitious young designers hoping to follow in the footsteps of Japanese greats like Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo may have to do what they did: pass over Tokyo’s shows for those in Paris.

Meanwhile, local favorites like Fur Fur — a new brand that mixes airy cotton frocks with distressed trench coats — have neither the expertise nor the resources to market overseas. Despite rave reviews from industry insiders, it has only one small store in Tokyo.

“Of course, taking my brand overseas is a dream,” said Fur Fur’s designer, Aya Furuhashi. “But to be honest, that’s really beyond us right now.”

What Japan’s fashion industry needs is more concrete help in marketing and setting up shop overseas, experts say. The government could also play a larger role helping Japanese labels protect their intellectual property rights, they say.

There are some promising signs. With government support, the start-up Xavel, which runs fashion shows that let women order outfits in real time using their cellphones, has opened shows in Paris and Beijing.

Fast Retailing, which sells the Uniqlo brand, has also been flexing its muscles overseas. Uniqlo, Japan’s answer to Gap, has roots in suburban outlets and does not have the level of respect among young fashion fans that many of Japan’s hipper brands do. But with ample funds and aggressive pricing on its fleece jackets and shirts, Uniqlo has expanded, with 92 stores worldwide.

Tadashi Yanai, chief executive of Fast Retailing, has said he hopes to build it into the world’s biggest apparel company, with sales of 5 trillion yen in 2020.

“We are part of a global economy,” Mr. Yanai said at a recent forum. “We cannot look inward.”