For a long time, underwear was a taboo topic in the world of Japanese fashion - lingerie simply wasn't discussed in the same way as clothing.
But "inner wear," as Tokyo women referred to it, wasn't really private. After all, the garments were chosen to please boyfriends and lovers (the skimpier and more revealing, the better) or worn to correct the posture and tuck in unseemly bulges - again, to please the demanding Japanese male.
Most Tokyo women have at least one bad underwear story that involves an unexpected date and the wrong set of lingerie - and almost all admit to an ongoing, love-hate relationship with their "inner wear" drawer.
"It was a matter of pride," says Miki Taniguchi, who has worked the counter at the lingerie shop Amo's Style in the Odaiba neighborhood for the past six years. "Many women were convinced that comfortable underwear was an aesthetic turn-off and so bought the push-up bras and skinny thongs, but I think that in the innermost recesses of their souls, these women just wanted to relax."
In the past year, however, Tokyo women have become increasingly attuned to concepts like comfort and eco-friendliness without ignoring their sensuality. "I know women who would have died rather than wear cotton underpants that measured more than half a handkerchief," says Yuka Ohkubo, a stylist. "But the same women are now opting for common-sense designs and plain-Jane stuff - simply because they feel sexier this way."
The newly available ranges of functional but visually pleasing lingerie are made from washable domestic silk, linen or imported organic cotton. These additions to the ¥400 billion, or $3.7 billion, Japanese underwear market generally sell for ¥3,000 to ¥6,000.
Muji, for a long time the only name brand with the audacity to make functional cotton underwear, has come out with a new selection that doubles as yoga or fitness wear.
Zucca, designed by Akiyoshi Onozuka, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new lingerie collaboration with the German underwear manufacturer Schiesser. Sold only at the Zucca flagship shop in the Aoyama neighborhood, the black-and-white tops - which cost ¥5,000 - and the panties are described as being designed for physical and spiritual comfort, reflecting the brand's subtext of Zen aesthetics.
And FRAMeWORK, a Tokyo brand with 11 outlets scattered across Japan, is working with a design team specializing in organic cotton and has come out with tank tops and camisoles that work as inner and outer wear, priced at ¥6,500.
Yukari Shimojyo, an avid customer, says that their look and feel "makes me feel like a woman again."
Until two years ago, Shimojyo, an information technologies engineer at an electronics manufacturer, spent most of her waking hours encased in slimming girdles. But a bad skin rash awakened an interest in organic cotton and in lingerie that helped her skin to breathe, rather than forcing her body into shape. "I used to think that I wouldn't be a woman unless I was thin, but now I realize that being feminine has so much more to do with feeling good in my skin and being connected to the environment," she said.
At FRAMeWORK shops, customers are told about the process of making organic cotton and about how designers like Katherine Hamnett embraced the material years before others were aware of the dangers of pesticide-drenched cotton fields.
Some shoppers come with boyfriends in tow, like Naomi Soma, 25, who thinks that men should be more attuned to "what women really want and need from clothing."
"It's become a bit ridiculous to equate sexiness with thongs and lacy, heavy bras," she said. "To me, a sexy woman is a happy and comfortable one who knows how to pamper herself in ways that reflect her store of knowledge and her personality."
