We started hearing about Asian designers during 70s, when names like Kenzo and Issey Miyake made their first step into Western culture. From that moment on, a new revolutionary wave was starting and it reached its peak in the beginning of 80s, just one decade after. It happened that during Paris Fashion Week, in the summer of 1983, a scandal occurred. Two young designers from Japan, called Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, launched a completely new aesthetic based mostly on black – and a bit of white – and sort of ignored the usual female silhouette by using extra large garments and introducing the no-shape concept. The shows developed a series of open questions and statements from the fashion system itself, that started to call them the post-war generation.
Nowadays we dare to claim that the Asian fashion designers are considered the most innovative and inspirational ones worldwide. Three years ago at Barbican museum in London, an exhibit that showcased some of the most iconic Japan pieces took place. This year the show comes back at SAM, Simonyi Special Exhibition Galleries, in the city of Seattle. Curated by Kyoto Costume Institute director, Akiko Fukai, the exhibit aims to display the big names of East, such as Kenzo Takada, Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, through clothes, runway videos, photographs and magazines. By starting from the very beginning until the more contemporary times, the exhibition gives the visitors a complete view of the increasing evolution of Japanese fashion.
The show will be open from June 27th until September 8th.
Francesca Crippa
