Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, on at the Barbican Art Gallery in London until 6 February 2011, is the first exhibition in Europe to comprehensively survey avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to now. And what an exquisite treat it is!

 

Curated by the Japanese fashion historian Akiko Fukai, Director, the Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI), and designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, with sound installation by Janek Schaefer, the exhibition explores the distinctive sensibility of Japanese design and its sense of beauty embodied in clothing. Bringing together over 100 garments from the last three decades – many rarely lent by KCI, some never seen before in the UK, which makes a trip to see it even more imperative – the exhibition also includes films of runway shows and documentaries by the likes of Wim Wenders.

The exhibition layout, with the vast gallery spaces of the Barbican’s main gallery divided by huge swathes of white gauze, brings a seductive approach to the brutalist architectural background, while exploring the work of Japanese fashion designers in relation to the art, culture and costume history of their country.

 

It is undeniable that Japanese designers made an enormous impact on world couture in the late twentieth century. Visionaries such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto redefined the very basis of fashion, challenged established Western notions of beauty, and turned fashion very firmly into art. They have gone on to influence generations of designers in Japan and also in Europe, notably Belgian designers such as Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemester.

 

Kawakubo’s protégé, the technocouturier Junya Watanabe also features in the exhibition, together with Jun Takahashi, and the new generation of radical designers including Tao Kurihara, Matohu and Mintdesigns.

 

The lower galleries are arranged into four sections: ‘In Praise of Shadows’, ‘Flatness’, ‘Tradition and Innovation’ and ‘Cool Japan’. Each area focuses on a different characteristic that pervades the work of the featured designers.

 

The first section, ‘In Praise of Shadows’, takes inspiration from the seminal text of the same name written by Japanese author Juni’chirō Tanizaki in 1933. It features pieces by Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto from their collections of the early 1980s to their work from recent seasons, alongside garments by Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi and Matohu.

 

‘In Praise of Shadows’ reveals the enduring interest in a monochromatic palette, and nuanced textures and forms prevalent in contemporary Japanese fashion, which (as Fukai argues) arise from a cultural sensibility attuned to light and shade and the power of black. However, in this sense black as a colour is only illusive: on a closer look (a privilege allowed by this exhibition), the garments’ fabrics are dark shades of blue, brown or green. What is seemingly defined by an achromatic or monochromatic palette is merely a playful mastery of colour and design.

 

‘Flatness’ explores the simple geometries and interplay of flatness and volume in the work of Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo to create sculptural garments that can be worn by both men and women. This section includes a series of especially commissioned photographs by Japanese artist and photographer Naoya Hatakeyama.

 

In the next section the relationship between tradition and innovation is considered – from the radical reinvention of traditional Japanese garments and techniques, such as kimono and origami, to the technological advances in textile fabrication and treatment. It includes a series of paper garments by TAO, OhYa and Mintdesigns; Watanabe’s seminal autumn/winter 2000 collection Techno Couture; examples of Kawakubo’s deconstructionist work; as well as modern takes on traditional Japanese techniques and garments by Yamamoto, Kenzo and Matohu.

 

The final section in the lower galleries focuses on the phenomenon that is Cool Japan. Featuring works by TAO, Jun Takahashi for Undercover and Naoki Takizawa, for Issey Miyake, among others. Cool Japan examines the symbiotic relationship between street style, popular culture and high fashion. There are also a series of rooms showing catwalk collection films, interviews and Wim Wenders’ classic documentary on Yamamoto, ‘Notebook of Cities and Clothes’.

The upper galleries of Future Beauty are dedicated to focused presentations on each of the pivotal designers in the show featuring a range of archive and recent works: Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake (and his remarkable 132 5 range of polygons that can be morphed from 2D shapes to 3D garments), Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi and Tao Kurihara, as well as Mintdesigns and a number of impressive emerging designers such as Akira Naka, Anrealage, Né-Net, Sacai, Somarta, Mikio Sakabe, and Taro Horiuchi.

 

Also included in the upper galleries are films of fashion shows, and displays of rare books, catalogues and magazines, which highlight Yamamoto, Miyake and Kawakubo’s collaborations with artists (such as Ai Weiwei), photographers and designers.

 

For anyone interested in the history of fashion, this rare examination into the striking collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute complemented by comprehensive programme of talks, workshops and films organised by the Barbican, is a treasure trove of sartorial history that should not be missed.

 

Photography by Lyndon Douglas, courtesy The Barbican Centre