For several years now Rei Kawakubo, in Comme des Garçons art, has exclusively dedicated to clues, atmospheres and evocation her own representation of the ongoing collection. Emancipated of any kind of obligation towards the expectations of the global audience, the Japanese designer delights with her exhibitions that are closer to the art world rather than the sector of belonging.  The runway is not dedicated to garments but to textile provocations, architectonic structures that surround the sacrificed bodies of models lend to carry oversized sculptures, deliberately cumbersome and disproportionate compared to the available space.

Impossible not to ask yourself why or what is the plausible message content in this artistic drift. Maybe a self-granted freedom of expression, against the monotonous limits forced by the reality of the female body, or a subtle provocation versus a star-system hat becomes increasingly uncritical and exhibitionist. Certainly the dialog has not the purpose of selling. The pared garments are indeed extraordinary pieces of contemporary art that belong in museums or wealthy collectors. The runway show is an idea, a suggestion of the inspiring motif of the season which will be found later translated and much wearable in the development in the show-room. For Autumn/Winter 2016-2017 we witness then poetic collage of antique fabrics, floral tapestries that catapult the public in the XVIII century, the Age of Enlightenment, the rematch of reason over ignorance and superstition.

Rei Kawakubo, however, is not nostalgic and well-mannered, the collage is held together by metal snap buttons, by cuts and raw seams, diagonals that fragment the decorative harmony of time, implying elements defined by herself  as Punk, in the most provocative meaning of the term.

Synthetic leather, studs, constant asymmetries  and details that can be observed in the motives sewed on skirts, in the curvatures of the nodal points of the joints, reinforced as if they were textile armatures. And extensions, adjustable connecting rings, a flexibility in disassembling and reassembling, a continuously adjustable area in lengths and a delicate balance between order and disorder. It is not said that we can return to the original reconstruction, that many the alternatives are. Modernity and tradition, they also alternate in the processing, the ancient Japanese knowing collaborates with the most daring experimentations of the multi-layerd polyester cloth with rayon, cupro and cotton panels, in an encounter that observes how the material determinants and imposes the final shape of the piece, whether is a jacket, skirt or coat.

Needless to assume how Rei Kawakubo, in preparing an original and personal temporal syncretism, punk and Enlightenment, thinks of women determined to stay in their own time with the vigor and exuberance of who has a critical and imaginative independency

Junya Watanabe Spring/Summer 2016 runway details, Dazed & Confused dazeddigital.com.

(Dress and necklace coming soon.)

We always brought to light the Junya Watanabe’s peculiar interpretative ability in establishing, in the form of dress, the predominant stresses of our time. Post-modern, cyber-punk, tailor-philosopher of an age crossed by very fast transformations, where, from collection to collection, plastics and brand new materials, parts of abandoned industrial landscapes, occurred, to give shape to his personal metabolization and to his interpretation of the contemporaneity.

For the Spring/Summer 2016 the Rei Kawakubo-Comme des Garçons’ favourite, still produced by the Japanese Maison, welcomed his public in an emblematic space of pressing social themes, the Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration of Paris.

Il Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration of Paris on the cover of Junya Watanabe S/S 2016 lookbook.

An important clue, a sensitive container of the present restrictive instincts of a continent in a state of alert for the imposing migratory phenomenon of which is witness. A suggestion and also an invitation to change the prospective through which we perceive the present, from an emergency point of view to an enrichment one, the one that only a flow of people and therefore of culture could offer, as the time has been able to testify.

And it’s the most problematic and hot continent to be celebrated and evoked, translated by the usual Watanabe’s modern glance. African and electro sonorities go along on the runway with the vivaciousness of the colours and of the decorations: very warm reds or clear, intense blues; kaftans and zebra-stripes dresses, tunics and shirts, garments able to face the highest temperatures, but also able to prepare us for more relaxed and evolved holidays.

Constant asymmetries, elliptic constructions, experimental leopard spots on Japanese paper and complex fabric movements at the hem bring Africa and its chromatic, formal and symbolic qualities into the metropolitan and stateless circuits, where any traditional aesthetic contaminate and regenerate itself in peculiar, as independent, anthropological expressions.

Junya Watanabe long kaftan dress in light polyester canvas with horizontal stripes ‘décor’ style and aluminium bangles, wide crew-neck, wide flared sleeve, big metallic bangles on the cuffs detachable with laces and loops.

Junya Watanabe zebra-striped dress coming soon.

Junya Watanabe multi-layers rings necklace from the bigger to the smaller in shiny polyurethane and polyester imitation leather, it could be placed along the shoulders.

Photography from Junya Watanabe S/S 2016 lookbook.

Junya Watanabe asymmetric robe manteau dress in polyester organza with tone on tone small spots processing in Japanese paper, wide half-closed shirt neck, ¾ flared sleeve, buttons closure till the bottom, spiral construction.

Junya Watanabe 5 pockets jeans-like leggings in light stretch linen and polyurethane canvas, over-the-ankle length, zip and button closure, belt loops.

Massimo Giussani man shoe in cowhide leather entirely hand-painted with two colours one shading on the other, with laces and tongue with inner elastic band, leather sole painted in the same colours of the upper part.

Junya Watanabe long and wide shirt in light ramié canvas, raglan shoulder, long sleeve, sack line on the back and straight on the front.

A punto B long trousers in cotton poplin, elastic band and light curling at the band, welt vertical side pockets.

Massimo Giussani man shoe in cowhide leather entirely hand-painted with two colours one shading on the other, with laces and tongue with inner elastic band, leather sole painted in the same colours of the upper part.

Junya Watanabe long and wide shirt in light ramié canvas, raglan shoulder, long sleeve, sack line on the back and straight on the front.

A punto B wide linen canvas trousers, elastic band and light curling at the belt, welt vertical side pockets.

Classic’ Trippen ankle-length boot in soft elk leather with rounded tip, diagonal zip on the upper part, side zip closure, removable cork insole, rubber sole.

Junya Watanabe wide tunic in light ramié canvas, shirt neck with half-closed closure, flared line with stiff band, sack shape with central upside down V stitching and on the back at the bottom.

Junya Waatanabe 5 pockets jeans-like leggings in light stretch linen and polyurethane canvas, over-the-ankle length, zip and button closure, belt loops.

Massimo Giussani man shoe in cowhide leather entirely hand-painted with two colours one shading on the other, with laces and tongue with inner elastic band, leather sole painted in the same colours of the upper part.

Junya Watanabe wide tunic in light cotton canvas, crew-neck with back small button, flared line with stiff band, sack shape with side stitching towards the inside at the bottom.

Junya Waatanabe 5 pockets jeans-like leggings in light stretch linen and polyurethane canvas, over-the-ankle length, zip and button closure, belt loops.

Massimo Giussani man shoe in cowhide leather entirely hand-painted with two colours one shading on the other, with laces and tongue with inner elastic band, leather sole painted in the same colours of the upper part.

Comme des Garçons by Paolo Roversi for Vogue Paris, October 2015

We would like to point out an interesting interview to Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Graçons designer and founder of the Maison that, besides the lines carrying the name (Comme des Garçons, Comme des Garçons-Comme des Garçons) produces Junya Watanabe, Noir-Kei Ninomiya and in the past Tao Kurihara. A not pretty commercial experience, but rather made of creativity and experimental research around clothing.

Not only some indications about the inspiring theme of the Autumn/Winter 2015-16 collection, ‘Ceremony of Separation’, but most of all a precious point of view on the meaning that an high creativity valence dress could embody and on the creativity process which supports it. A synthetic analysis on the possible physiological aspects turned up by wearing clothes that launch continuous challenge to our minds and on the hard exercise of constantly inventing ever seen works…

From the very creation of her line Comme des Garçons in 1969, the Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo has upended, reimagined, and revolutionized the codes and concepts of what fashion is and what it can be. Now 73, Kawakubo is no less visionary, still “drowning in the dark,” as she describes it, in search of something new.

TELL US ABOUT THE THEME OF THE FALL COLLECTION: I called it the Ceremony of Separation. It’s about how the beauty and power of ceremony can alleviate the pain of separating, for the one departing as well as for the one saying goodbye.

HOW DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO FEEL WHEN THEY WEAR COMME DES GARCONS? What someone wears is an expression of oneself. When you’re just comfortable with what you’re wearing, you don’t have new thoughts. I want people to feel something and think about who they are. You can’t become truly free if you no longer think about clothes. You need to occasionally wear something strong, and that can feel strange. It makes you aware of your existence and can reaffirm your relationship with society. I think people feel a minute current running through them as they come into contact with something made by someone exploring the limits. When you put on clothes that are fighting against something, you can feel your courage grow. Clothing can set you free.

WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS I’m always looking to make something that didn’t exist before, fumbling about in the dark, not just while making a collection. The search for something new is a constant in my everyday life. But constantly searching for something new is like looking for a well in a desert. It is like drowning in the dark, but creation is what I built Comme des Garçons on. For a collection, I need to push myself into a corner and find a way to get over the walls. The ideas are born disconnectedly, incoherently, and slowly, slowly, a final image emerges.

IS FASHION AN ART FORM? When fashion is driven by creation, I suppose it can be called an art form. But I have no concept of art in my work. Clothes are only completed when somebody actually wears them. If they were art, they could be more abstract. As long as something is new and has never been seen before, I don’t mind if people call it art. Wear them if you dare.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE ART AND COMMERCE? Comme des Garçons is a company founded on creation, but the link to business cannot be ignored. As the designer who is also head of the company, I have been able to “design” the company based on these same values. I want to take ultimate responsibility for the things I make and follow through everything right up to the end. What emerged, therefore, was a single decisive and coherent idea. Creation is our business.

DO YOU HAVE AN ULTIMATE GOAL? There is no end and no goal. As long as I’m attempting to make something that never existed before, an end is out of the question.

HOW IMPORTANT IS VISUAL COMMUNICATION? Extremely. I don’t trust words.

WHAT IS BEAUTY? Beauty should bring excitement.

Rei Kawakubo for Interview Magazine, October 2015 http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/rei-kawakubo-1#_

Our selection for Autumn/Winter 2015-16 collection:

Comme des Garçons calf-length dress in rayon velvet hand-cut lace with embroidered flowers, crew-neck, sleeveless, zip and hook back closure, slim fit cut at the waist.

Junya Watanabe wide corolla cape in wool jersey floral origami, zip closure.

Comme des Garçons man jacket in embroidered lace of washed cotton and polyester, single-breasted with lapels, joined at the bottom with an overlapping flap, one small button on the neck, two patch pockets, small back slit.

Comme des Garçons man trousers with darts in creased high-tech polyester fabric, very wide leg with turn-up at the hem, zip and two buttons closure, two side welt pockets, two back welt pockets, one with button, belt loops.

Comme des Garçons calf-length dress in treated high-tech polyester fabric, wide line cut at the belt with back pleating, jacket with lapels bodice and joined flap, two horizontal welt pockets.

Trippen low-cut shoe in soft cowhide leather with overlapping diagonal crossed flap on the instep, new ‘spot’ sole with two rubber blocks and non-slipper base made on iron stamps.

Comme des Garçons wool jacket larger at the bottom, single-breasted, central buttons, shirt rounded neck, raglan shoulder, squared raw cut holes with polyurethane ribbons in contrasting colour.

Comme des Garçons divided skirt in glossy silk and wool gabardine, balloon style, 2 side welt pockets, drawstring and elastic band at the belt, arch-shaped stitchings conferring wideness.

Comme des Garçons man jacket in treated high-tech polyester fabric, single-breasted with lapels, joined at the bottom with an overlapping flap, one small button on the neck, two patch pockets, small back slit.

Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons wide divided skirt in treated high-tech polyester fabric with vertical stripes weft, waistband and elastic band at the belt, side vertical pockets, flared on the sides.

Comme des Garçons calf-length dress in stiff wool and silk satin with see-through cloud lace inserts in jacquard cotton lace, crew-neck, sleeveless, wide egg line, side welt pockets, side zip closure.

Comme des Garçons doubled sweater in nylon tulle on the inside coming out at the bottom and from the cuffs, and on the outside in three-dimensional knitted alpaca and wool with inside/outside cones, rounded neck, slim fit.

Comme des Garçons divided skirt in glossy silk and wool gabardine, balloon style, 2 side welt pockets, drawstring and elastic band at the belt, arch-shaped stitchings conferring wideness.

Trippen shoe in soft cowhide leather, slightly overlapped and asymmetric closure with laces, classic sole in non-slip rubber with rounded toe.

Comme des Garçons short shirt in treated polyester poplin, crew-neck, with horizontal stitching at the bottom, slim fit, long sleeve, central and side zip, darts on the front, on the back and at the breast.

Comme des Garçons divided skirt in glossy silk and wool gabardine, balloon style, 2 side welt pockets, drawstring and elastic band at the belt, arch-shaped stitchings conferring wideness.

Comme des Garçons calf-length divided skirt in embroidered lace of washed cotton and polyester, wide fit, a leg shorter than the other, drawstring and elastic band at the belt, 2 side welt pockets, could be wear entering just one leg.

http://www.thenewblack.com/portraits/anrealage-fw-15-pfw/

The name Kunihiko Morinaga, 1980 class, hides itself behind a brand, Anrealage, that with that privative suffix at the beginning, an, denies two different meanings: reality and time. An important hint, that helps to understand the experimental will of the very young designer:

• nothing is what appears

• every seasonal tendency doesn’t fall within the primal interests of the collection proposed.

In fact we are inside the Japanese school, where the wish to affect and to stand out from a conceptual point of view prevails on the more simply broad consensus marketing phenomenons.

With Light collection Morinaga makes his debut in Paris with a strong experimental collection, put together around the engineering exercise of the photo-sensibility. Every garment translates a possible light manifestation. Actually photo-sensible outfits come out on the runway that, on the base of the solicitation they were subjected, modify their chromatic aspect and all the collection conducts the radiant light theme. The formal circles on the pea coats and on the coats emphasize the idea of the spot light. A luminous circle testifies extremely sophisticated treatments in the colour distribution, an absorption of the light tones more complex to tell than any print realized until now.

Anrealage short trench in wool cloth with light circle imprinted at the centre, double-breasted with flaps and lapels emerging from the fabric, gorget patches on the shoulders, back yoke, two vertical welt pockets, two welt inner pockets.

Milano Parigi man trousers in wool flannel,darts on the front, belt loops, welt vertical pockets, zip and button closure, elastic band at the beck of the belt, soft line tighter at the calf.

‘Classic Trippen’ ankle boot in oiled suede cowhide leather with strings and small hooks, removable cork insole, rubber sole.

Anrealage short trench in wool cloth with light circle imprinted at the centre, double-breasted with flaps and lapels emerging from the fabric, gorget patches on the shoulders, back yoke, two vertical welt pockets, two welt inner pockets.

Milano Parigi man trousers in wool flannel,darts on the front, belt loops, welt vertical pockets, zip and button closure, elastic band at the beck of the belt, soft line tighter at the calf.

Anrealage wool cloth knee-length pea coat with central chevron imprinted light circle, single-breasted, flaps and lapels emerging from the fabric, shoulder patches, three buttons, two welt pockets, two inner pockets.

Milano Parigi man trousers in wool flannel,darts on the front, belt loops, welt vertical pockets, zip and button closure, elastic band at the beck of the belt, soft line tighter at the calf.

‘Classic Trippen’ ankle boot in oiled suede cowhide leather with strings and small hooks, removable cork insole, rubber sole.

Anrealage wool cloth knee-length pea coat with central chevron imprinted light circle, single-breasted, flaps and lapels emerging from the fabric, shoulder patches, three buttons, two welt pockets, two inner pockets.

Anrealage calf-length skirt in black and white polyester and rayon graffito on a velvet effect base, side and bottom flounces, zip and hook side closure.

The radiant light theme is also on the knitwear, developed around a single fabric thread that, in the weft, alternates the with the shade represented by the black colour.

Anrealage circular cape in heavy knitted wool, aplaca and acrylic with a central light circle made by a single fabric thread, turtle-neck.

Y’s Yohji Yamamoto tight leg jeans trousers in creased cotton canvas, two welt vertical pockets, three patch pockets on the back with and two overlapped, belt loops, zip and button closure.

Anrealage long circular cardigan in bouclé knitted wool, alpaca and acrylic with a light circle in weft, automatic buttons closure, two welt pockets, large ribbed bands on the cuffs.

Y’s Yohji Yamamoto tight leg jeans trousers in creased cotton canvas, two welt vertical pockets, three patch pockets on the back with and two overlapped, belt loops, zip and button closure.

Or moreover, what could appear at first glance an elementary printed velvet, reveals with the movement its textile three-dimensionality: fibre, weft graphite traces on the contrasting colour, compressed in realizing a familiar textile evocation made by lights and shades never seen before, something that has absolutely to be observed live because there is no description able to give back effectively the final result.

Anrealage long jacket in black and white polyester and rayon graffito on a velvet effect base, single-breasted with lapels, button closure, two patch pockets, flounces on the sides and at the bottom, welt small breast pocket.

Milano Parigi man trousers in wool flannel,darts on the front, belt loops, welt vertical pockets, zip and button closure, elastic band at the beck of the belt, soft line tighter at the calf.

‘Classic Trippen’ ankle boot in oiled suede cowhide leather with strings and small hooks, removable cork insole, rubber sole.

Also in the garments with an aspect less bold and experimental, in reality thermic properties or decorative elements are very well hidden and they allow not only to enjoy the light portability of coats and pea coats, but also to modify their aspects, especially the length, at your own convenience.

Anrealage short blouson in mosaic patchwork of knitted cotton with different black and grey shades, iron wire core on the edges, zip closure, hood, two flap and button vertical pockets, buttons on the cuffs, vertical welt inner pocket.

Y’s Yohji Yamamoto tight leg jeans trousers in creased cotton canvas, two welt vertical pockets, three patch pockets on the back with and two overlapped, belt loops, zip and button closure.

Anrealage coat with hood in tone on tone cotton and rayon, zip and frogs closure, iron wire core along the edges, two patch pockets, draping, cuffs with buttons, inner vertical welt pocket.

Milano Parigi man trousers in wool flannel,darts on the front, belt loops, welt vertical pockets, zip and button closure, elastic band at the beck of the belt, soft line tighter at the calf.

‘Classic Trippen’ ankle boot in oiled suede cowhide leather with strings and small hooks, removable cork insole, rubber sole.

A great respect new entry, Anrealage has to be observed and waited with the enthusiasm of the most curious youth towards every possible, revolutionary formal and textile manipulation.

This piece was thinked to be published in a kind of magazine such as ELLE UK, one of the best fashion magazine, where articles used to talk about fashion differently from the ordinary publications. It is a magazine that keeps an eye on the most innovative trends and on the most particulare personalities.

This piece could be relevant for the reader to see how in Italy the attention is not focused only on the Italian fashion that everybody knows, but it is possible to find “fashion researchers” that really believe that fashion is not only buisness but, first of all, a non-stop innovation-seeking.

The Radical Fashion Shop

by Francesca Ferlin

Orlando Milan has always believed that, in order to dress someone’s body, you first have to dress his mind. This is one of the first things you should know when you visit his shop in Padua. IVO MILAN is located in the central Via Santa Lucia in a striking Romanesque house, currently the oldest civil standing building in town; even a quick first glance at the window reveals that this is no ordinary shop: dim lights illuminate a precious dress and suddenly it feels like being in a museum admiring a scuplture in a casket. The way that the windows are settled, the use of the lights, the mixture of the colours for the background, used to enhance the shapes and the shades of fabrics, are all clues that this is no mere fashion, as the attention is drawn to the art that springs from fashion.

In 1945 Ivo Milan, Orlando’s father, following his family tradition, opened his fabrics shop, manufactured clothes and named it after himself to distinguish it from his brothers’ businesses which bore the same family name. In 1967 Orlando joined the father’s company as a co-worker, and after his death, started the long work that made IVO MILAN the shop that is known nowadays. So this is supposed to be a traditional family-run business, where family values have gone from generation to generation and time seems to stand still. But Orlando Milan is not of this opinion: “Through these years we have always tried to maintain the values that my father taught me, the importance of the manufacture and the indispensable quality of the fabrics, but nowadays the guidelines of the shop are something new that I have built during this forty years of experience inside the fashion industry.”

Milan’s experience is a long path that has experimented various forms of fashion and arts, through the first Versace and Armani collections at the end of the 70′s (IVO MILAN was one of the first shops in Italy that started to sell these brands) to Japanese fashion, which in the last twenty years has distinguished this retailer from the others. Key brands that make this shop unique in its kind are Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Martin Margiela, Shu Moriyama, Jun Takhashi and Comme des Garçons, the brand that best embodies the philosophy of the shop. Rei Kawakubo is a fervid supporter of trying to know what “has never been seen before”, and this is the most important guideline that Mr Milan wants his shop to follow: nothing must be mass-produced and everything must be different from what one usually sees. This principle is applied to everything that concerns the shop, from its furniture to the selection process that goes on behind the displaying of clothes. In fact, the limited production and circulation of the labels sold in the shop exists alongside a specific principle which determines how to choose everything that will be sold. “This principle is one which takes into account the requirements of a very well-educated, niche Paduan clientele, whose taste has not been shaped by the influences of media and television, and whose interests lie in those very special purchases – in authentically creative ones, if not in ones with a strong artistic value” says the shop owner.

So the customers have to be open-minded and be endowed with a marked inclination for artistic values to understand IVO MILAN’s fashion. Radical Fashion, as Mr Milan used to call it. This name has been adopted after the Radical Fashion Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2002, where the designers that Orlando Milan loves the most and has chosen to sell, were displayed in a collective exhibition, from Yohji Yamamoto to Comme des Garçons. “This exhibition really reflects my idea of fashion and these designers are, to me, the real essence of this concept.” he states. “They are “radical” in the full sense of the word: they are “revolutionary” and they are “rooted” in the art. They cut through ideas as well as fabric. Challenging established views, they have committed their lives to seeking ever more demanding expressions of “beauty”, with diverse and often provocative results”.

But which is his conception of beauty? Again, the inspiration comes from Japan: “The guideline that always has inspired me comes from the Japanese concept of beauty, that is “the aesthetics of imperfection” (wabi-sabi). I am against the logic of homologation and of display of wealth that inspires great European fashion, especially in these last years. I prefer to give my customers the possibility to portray themselves through an “understatement style” or with an idea-dress that draws the attention to the originality and to the independent spirit of the person wearing it.”

For IVO MILAN, fashion is something far from the conventional concept that everybody is accustomed to. First and foremost, fashion is research, is an exploration of the unknown. Here ideas come first, the most interesting part of a dress is not how it was made but why. What is it that lays behind the creation? How can a designer elaborate an idea and transform it into something that everybody can wear? These are only a few of the questions that Mr Milan wants customers to ask themselves as they wander around the shop. Because the most important thing is not to sell a dress but to make customers aware of what they are going to buy, something that stands over the trends, something that will rest forever as a unique work of art. And how is it possible to make the right choice, to find the piece that will fit perfectly and will be always with you? “Know yourself and let the dress be simply a continuation of your person”.

Whilst the so-called Japanese school is more inclined to look at the artistic potential of clothing, Chitose brings it back to its original function of items that must adapt and be compatible with the various needs of everyday life. This absolutely concrete and practical dimension underlines the spaces and times of our social life and tries to find a solution for different circumstances. For this purpose, Chitose employs the classic formal schemes of ordinary, mainly Western clothing, but does not renounce the process of dividing it up and putting it back together, by applying the poetic delicacy that he acquired in his work environment.

In this original mixture of East and West, sheath dresses can be found, along with trench coats, blazers and also an explicit tribute to Chanel, that at the same time is a celebration of an eternal feminine, of an original elegance.

Without being trapped by boring and regular monotony, Sacai breaks the rhythm by introducing carefully chosen devices that systematically betray what our eyes were expecting: rough juxtapositions of fabrics; simple points of junctions between different prints and materials; unexpected gatherings or layers that are camouflaged by the apparent predictability of the forms.

In the delicate balance between innovation and repetition, what prevails is an impeccable, refined and essential female silhouette.

The soundtrack of Yohji’s fashion show is a clear evidence of the inspiration for the current season. Jimi Hendrix’s rock, 40 years after his premature death, sets up the rhythm of the show, synchronizing the beats of the sound with the colours and lines on the catwalk.

The rocker woman created by Yamamoto, however, hasn’t got anything to do with the shabby look that was typical of young sub-cultures of the seventies. Far from any predictable stereotypes and banal suggestions, the collection proposes items that conform to the very high creative standards of the Japanese designer: excellent tailoring, asymmetrical cuts, refined and complex fabrics.

Such an artistic verve can even propose an inflatable skirt made of transparent vinyl, with buttons and pleats that create a plisse effect. Even if every item of clothing is presented with heavy boots or light sandals, it is without the intention to underline urban environments and moods, but instead to set clothes in everyday life that would otherwise belong to the exclusive world of haute couture.

Always unpredictable, Yamamoto is one of the most significant forerunners of the so called Japanese school, and is currently being displayed at the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum, in London. An occasion to understand and follow the development and main topics of the aesthetic vision of a revolutionary fashion genius, whose creations are considered to be real works of art that must be displayed and made public, at least for as long as an exhibition lasts.