Future Beauty: Avant-Garde Japanese Fashion (Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, Touring)

Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto reshaped fashion in the early 1980s. The narrow silhouettes of Western couture gave way to flowing, sculpted forms. A reduced range of color emphasized cut and proportion. The voluminous spaces they created between body and fabric boldly redefined Japanese avant-garde fashion and forced people to reconsider the relationship between art, design and fashion.

Co-organized by the Kyoto Costume Institute and Barbican Art Gallery, London. Support provided by the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum. Additional support provided by the Japan Foundation and Wacoal Corp.

Exhibition Sponsor: The Coby Foundation, Ltd.