Bunka fashion college main building may 2014

is a Japanese

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious co ...

school specializing in

fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

and related disciplines. It is headquartered in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and has more than 70 branches throughout Japan.

History

The college was founded in 1919 by Isaburō Namiki as a small

dressmaking A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Not ...

school for girls called ''Namiki Dressmaking School'', at a time when European-style clothing for women was only available for affluent families.Shoji, Kaori
"Turning out the vanguard of Japan design,"
''International Herald-Tribune.'' August 2, 2005. Archived October 26, 2008. In 1936, the name of the school became ''Bunka Fashion College'', and it began publishing '' So-en,'' Japan's first fashion magazine. The Bunka Fashion College went through three major eras. First, it taught people and families how to make clothes. Then in the 1960s, designers from the school such as

Kenzo Takada is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kenzō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *賢三, "wise, three" *健三, "healthy, three" *謙三, "humble, three" *健想, "healthy, concept" *建造, "bu ...

(who enrolled in 1958) and designer

Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics. Yamamoto has won notable awards for ...

emerged in the international fashion scene and drove the rise of modern Japanese fashion. Since the 2000s, the school has aimed to develop a more global and

sustainable fashion Sustainable fashion (also known as eco-fashion) is a term describing products, processes, activities, and actors (policymakers, brands, consumers) aiming to achieve a carbon-neutral fashion industry, built on equality, social justice, animal ...

industry.

Alumni

Alumni of the school include (fashion designers unless otherwise stated): *

Tsumori Chisato is a Japanese fashion designer. Tsumori was born in Saitama, and attended Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College. She began work with Issey Miyake in 1977 under the "Issey Sports" line, which was later renamed "I.S. Chisato Tsumori Designs." With the ...

* Misha Janette (blogger) *

H. Naoto Naoto Hirooka, better known as h.NAOTO (born 1977) is a Japanese avant-garde fashion designer. H. Naoto's style of clothing and accessories could be classified under Japanese punk and Gothic Lolita, and he has been called the "most visible and suc ...

Takeo Kikuchi is a Japanese industrial and fashion designer. He designs such things as spectacle frames and chronograph A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an inde ...

* Asami Kiyokawa (embroidery designer) * Yoshiyuki Konishi * Mariko Mori (artist) * Nigo *

Naomi Nishida is an actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival and at the 25th Hochi Film Award for her performance in ''Nabbie's Love''. Personal life She married a Japanese shoe designer in 2005, and gave birth to ...

(actress) *

Peeco is a Japanese ''tarento'', fashion critic, journalist, and chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medi ...

(fashion critic) *

Sebastiano Serafini Sebastiano Serafini is an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and model. Serafini has worked in different countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Thailand – where he made an appearance as the final MC at the 2013 You2Play Awar ...

(singer/songwriter) *

Tomoe Shinohara is a Japanese singer, actress, fashion designer, producer and artist. She is notable for her flamboyant fashion sense and bubbly (sometimes goofballish) personality, as well as her distinctive squealing speaking voice. She is also a close frien ...

* Kenzō Takada *

Jun Takahashi is a Japanese fashion designer who created the brand Undercover. Early life and education Takahashi was born in Kiryū, Gunma. He attended Gunma Kiryu Nishi High School. In 1988, he enrolled in Fashion Education at Bunka Fashion College. In ...

Junya Watanabe Junya Watanabe (born 1961) is a Japanese fashion designer, a protégé of Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo. He continues to work for Comme des Garcons: His atelier is located on the second floor of its Tokyo headquarters, and he produces ...

"Yoji Yamamoto,"
''Women's Wear Daily.'' * Hiromichi Ochiai * Soshi Otsuki * Shingo Sato

Academics

Bunka has programs focusing on Fashion Design, Fashion Technology, Fashion Marketing and Distribution, Fashion Accessories and Textiles. In 2012,

Bunka Gakuen University is a private university in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school, a women's vocational school, was founded 1923. In 1952 it was chartered as a junior women's college. In 1964 it became a four-year college and it was named . In 20 ...

, the neighboring institute of higher education linked with the college, opened a Masters level course in Fashion Studies aimed at foreign students. This course is called the Global Fashion Concentration and is taught completely in English. Every year, new mannequins are created that reflect the average measurements of the students of that year, in an effort to work on realistic physical figures. All students are required to study the human body shape and how human bodies move. The Bunka school values the ''

Satori is a Japanese Buddhist term for awakening, "comprehension; understanding". It is derived from the Japanese verb satoru. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, ''satori'' refers to a deep experience of '' kenshō'', "seeing into one's true nature ...

'' and the ''

Kaizen is concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. ''Kaizen'' also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organ ...

'' in its education. One Master program is held in English. Students must pass a Japanese language proficiency test, and part-time jobs are not allowed. For oversea students who need to learn Japanese before enroll to the college. Bunka owns

Bunka Institute of Language Bunka Institute of Language is a language school for Japanese learning, located in Tokyo, Japan. It also offers courses for Japanese teaching and translation. The school is founded in 1980, and it is a part of Bunka Gakuen, which holds the fashion ...

for them. It is in the same campus, and also belongs to the same group Bunka Gakuen.

Main campus

Bunka has over 70 branches around Japan, but its main campus is in the western part of Tokyo's

neighborhood. The main building is 21 stories tall, and includes facilities such as a library, costume museum, and a resource center. The main campus is about an 8-minute walk from JR

Shinjuku Station is a major railway station in the Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo, Japan. In Shinjuku, it is part of the Nishi-Shinjuku and Shinjuku districts. In Shibuya, it is located in the Yoyogi and Sendagaya districts. It is the world's busiest rai ...

and about a 3-minute walk from the #6 exit of the Toei

subway station. The campus is shared with 4 colleges and universities from Bunka Gakuen. The other 3 colleges is

Bunka Fashion Graduate University was a after ''Kyōwa'' and before ''Bunsei''. The period spanned the years from January 1804 to April 1818. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 11, 1804 (): The new era name of ''Bunka'' ( meaning "Culture" or "Civiliza ...

and

Awards

* #2 Best Fashion School of 2015 by ''Business of Fashion'' * 2013: #7 in top 50 fashion schools in the world according to ''Fashionista''

References

External links

Official website

General courses

Business of Fashion's 2nd overall Fashion school
{{authority control Japanese vocational colleges Universities and colleges in Tokyo Bunka Gakuen University 1919 establishments in Japan Educational institutions established in 1919 Fashion schools in Asia Japanese fashion