Japanese Fashion Design: Body Covers from Kenzo to Yamamoto

The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg shows a selection of around 60 models and objects by famous Japanese fashion designers from 1975 to 2010 from its own collection. Japanese designers have been showing their fashion in Paris for 40 years. Kenzo Takada was already enjoying great success in the early 1970s. Issey Miyake followed suit with futuristic designs in 1973 and became one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. Rei Kawakubo with her label Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto represented a radical fashion concept at the beginning of the 1980s. Her clothing was not primarily used to present an ideal body, but as an adaptable shell. Their specific design language has had a lasting impact on fashion. A design concept that is strongly inspired by the material unites all Japanese designers of this generation. Her fields of experimentation are layers and windings, asymmetries and deconstruction; the fabric is draped and folded around the body. The materials are often designed in the fashion studios themselves and testify to both the great tradition of craftsmanship in Japan and the extraordinary innovative strength in the field of textile design.