Laforet Autumn 2001 by Nagi Noda (野田 凪)

An award-winning piece by Nagi Noda (野田 凪), a female graphic designer and artist, whose piece won the Tokyo Directors Club Member's Prize in 2001 for her innovative design for the Laforet brand in Harajuku, Japan. 

Her piece features a pun on the word “kau” which means to shop, so in this context, a “kau” girl would be a “shopping girl”. With western imagery, striking colors, bold photography, and wonderful lettering-- her piece invokes a sense of identity that one might aspire to have by shopping at Laforet. The detail of the braided lettering in both the Japanese and English text is splendid, and the multilingual aspect of the poster lends itself to the globalisation of fashion at this time. It meant something progressive to own or indulge in Western imported aesthetics, as it still does today.

Noda, active between 11/18/1973 and 9/7/2008, was a youthful and innovative art director whose legacy surpassed her. Her works derived influence from a majority of American art, culture, and fashion. She was incredibly successful, and worked with Laforet (as evident in this poster), Panasonic, and Nike. Alongside her work being revolutionary in the traditional sense, she was also revolutionary in the non-traditional sense due to the nature of her as a very successful woman in a field mostly dominated by male graphic designers. Her work embodies a sense of eccentric themes, bold concepts and ideas, and a sense of freshness. It is due to this initial work that Laforet opened the door to other upscale projects and bigger-name clients.