Misha Janette

Early life and education

She was born Michelle Janette Fleming in Spokane, Washington.

Janette graduated from Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo in 2007. "I was apprehensive about going to New York because it actually seemed so... stereotypical. If I was going to be working from the dirt on up anyway, I decided I might as well start somewhere really left-field and make it interesting."

Journalism career

She started her career as a fashion journalist after graduation, working for The Japan Times as lead fashion writer. She has also contributed to Kyodo News, Numéro Tokyo, Vogue Girl Japan, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Wallpaper, CNN Travel, and covers Tokyo Fashion Week for style.com.

Fashion career

She is known for her highly particular taste in edgy, avant-garde fashion. This has led to her working as a stylist for celebrities including actress and musician Nicki Minaj, actress Rinko Kikuchi, and philosopher Shimoda Kageki. She has hosted the television show Kawaii International on the NHK World network since 2012. In 2012, she owns and designs a wig brand called Plumb.

Since 2013, she has written a monthly column, "Life in the 2.5 Dimension" in the Japanese fashion magazine Soen. She is also asked to DJ at fashion events and clubs, such as the Opening Ceremony third-anniversary event in Tokyo. She has collaborated with Furla on the #candycool project, making a bag and documentary video.

Online career

Janette started a blog Tokyo Fashion Diaries, in 2011 following the Great Hanshin earthquake; the blog is written in English, Japanese, and Chinese. It is a platform for her artistic fashion photo shoots she styles as a fashion director, and as a journalist, she follows both Japanese and Western fashion with a leaning towards avant-garde runways and independent designers. "At the beginning, I was thinking about creating a blog to introduce Japanese fashion to people outside Japan. But the information on young designers that I write about in my blog are often not covered by Japanese magazines, and I wanted Japanese people to know about them too, so I decided to make my blog bilingual." She has since risen to become one of the most prominent fashion bloggers in Japan.

Blog accolades

Her blog was chosen as one of Tokyo's top-ten fashion blogs by Vogue Japan and she was awarded with a window display at Isetan department store.