The opening reception for Isetan Mitsukoshi's pop-up store "NIPPONISTA," which will open in New York's SoHo on February 6th for a limited one-week period, was held on the 5th local time (morning of the 6th Japan time).

Designers and artists with close ties to Isetan, such as Anna Sui and Ryuichi Sakamoto, attended the party to celebrate their long-awaited reunion with Kansai Yamamoto, who participated as guest designer this time. Tokyo designers who participated this time, including Tamae Hirokawa (SOMARTA), Kunihiko Morinaga (ANREALAGE), Hiromichi Ochiai (FACETASM), Nao Yagi and Hokuto Katsui (both Mint Design), also attended and gave interviews to local media. The Isetan Mitsukoshi buyers selected items from brands with no prior presence in New York, with Morinaga of Anrealage noting, "This is the first time we've presented our work in New York since receiving the Avant-Garde Award at GEN ART in 2005" and Ochiai of Facetasm, Katsui and Yagi of Mint Design noting, "This is the first time we've presented our work in New York." Given the backdrop of the increasing number of job offers from New York at art-related events, according to Hirokawa of Somarta, it will be interesting to see how New Yorkers respond to this approach, which differs from the traditional presentation of Japanese modern art as a traditional craft. In the basement of the venue, there was also an installation featuring a dress by Daisy Balloon, the balloon art brand used as the key visual for the event, as well as Open Reel Ensemble, a group known for their work in Paris for Issey Miyake shows, and their first live demo in New York. Guests were treated to Japanese party foods and a selection of dresses.