Follow me to Tokyo

On the street the consumer culture is stunning, watching teenagers in crisp school uniforms tote Louis Vuitton bags and Ralph Lauren high socks or businessmen on crowded train platforms mopping their brows with Burberry handkerchiefs.

The retail experience in Japan is like no other; in large department stores there’s a constant chorus of ‘shi mase’ informing the shoppers that the staff are here to help is reminiscent of a one sided game of Marco Polo.

While watching a purchase being gift-wrapped leaves most travellers in awe. This fast passed city is trend obsessed with an incredibly rapid turnover. Everything is available; every style, every colour, every hour. This environment produces both a clear trend portrait and incredible individual style.

The enviable fashion of stylish Tokyoites, their use of accessories and their immaculate presentation, pulls together a look that is otherwise largely imported. They ace the relaxed layering of the tres chic Parisians, the darker elements of British punk youth all-revolving around classic American preppy pieces.

Although, like the Japanese to English translation, ala lost in translation, the fashion cross over is never perfect and in this imperfection something newer and cooler is born than the original style.

The men mix prep pieces with more bravery in colour and style than even the most adventurous Ivy League dandy. The obsession with a western look is taken to incredible heights.

In the beauty department much emphasis is given on making the eyes look larger and more western. This foreigner sat slack jawed watching a woman apply her makeup in the subway as she drew from her bag an inconspicuous tube and proceeded to glue her lower eyelid to her upper, using the crease to make her eye bigger.

Contact lenses are also available with the dark ring around the iris to replicate a western look. This may be extreme but it demonstrates the sheer power of fashion.