The impact of rising levels of austerity and radicalism is being felt in the most unlikely corners – even high fashion. The Japanese minimalist movement, which radicalised and democratised the fashion world in the 1980s, is poised to make a comeback this year.
When the designers Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons, became the toast of Paris fashion week in the early 1980s, their relentlessly monochrome, asymmetric and intellectual vision of clothing was a revelation.
In 2011, with an overview of their archives on display at the Barbican, a definitive retrospective of Yamamoto's work at the V&A in London in March, and even Marks & Spencer citing them as an influence for spring, they are set to reshape our wardrobes once again.
It is 30 years since the first Japanese minimalists upset the status quo by throwing reams of black cloth over the glitz of Studio 54 and the colourful frills of new romanticism. It quickly trickled down to the masses – and soon everything, from jackets to coffee tables, had to be matt black to be chic.
"It wasn't until the 80s and the Japanese that people really wore black," said Prof Wendy Dagworthy, head of fashion at the Royal College of Art. "Before that it just had beatnik connotations. Now, it makes you feel safe."
A whole generation of modernist architects and artists, attracted by its raw, unbranded, anti-fashion status, adopted a look that destroyed established dress codes and created a logo-free, democratic – albeit often expensive – ideal of style.
As Yamamoto says: "I will never ever wear a tie – not even if I am invited to see my emperor! I made that decision long ago."
Now the flowing, monastic-influenced aesthetic is seeing a revival. "The Japanese look is very versatile," said Neil Hendy, creative director at M&S. "You can wear an oversized black jacket with opaque tights and Dr Martens or, in a more sophisticated way, over a tube dress. What we've been doing at M&S is look at the fluidity of form."
And while V&A curator Ligaya Salazar has been careful to incorporate colour and print within the 90 outfits in the forthcoming Yamamoto exhibition, it's not the florals worn by Elton John for which we know the Japanese designer best. It's the black stuff.
"Yamamoto believes that black is the only genuine colour," said Salazar. "It's what everything else plays off; it's his essence."
Fashion is a great cultural signifier, and these straightened times chime with the uncompromising and dour looks of Japanese fashion in the 80s.
"The current recession is pivotal to this revival," says Andrew Groves, director of the fashion design degree course at the University of Westminster. "It's a fundamental realignment of fashion's core values, and a reaction to wearing short, sexy and symmetrical clothing. In times of recession, skirts lengthen."