Paris Haute Couture: Ronald van der Kemp's Art of Reinvention in an Age of Excess

A highlight of RVDK's Paris AW26/27 haute couture show was this sleek jacket beautifully tailored and created from woven silk and metallic lurex, worn with a bejewelled belt. Cover picture and photograph (above) by Brittany Scott for DAM

At a time when fashion is being forced to confront its own excesses, Ronald van der Kemp continues to chart a singular course through the world of haute couture. Unbound by convention yet respectful of fine craftsmanship, the Dutch designer transforms forgotten luxury materials into creations that blur the boundaries between fashion, art and innovation. Presented during Paris Haute Couture Week, his new Autumn/Winter 2026-2027 collection was a reminder that some of fashion's most exciting frontiers lie not in endless newness, but in the creative reinvention of what already exists. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photographs by Brittany Scott 

The look that opened the 

RVDK show in Paris.

RONALD Van der Kemp has built a couture house around a radically different definition of luxury since founding RVDK in 2014. For his new collection, Vive L'Art, those ideas are once more the foundation of work celebrating creativity, intuition and transformation. 

As the designer says in his show notes: "Make. Break. Transform." It is an approach that embraces experimentation, allowing materials to evolve through craftsmanship, imagination and discovery rather than convention.

Rather than embracing fashion's relentless cycle of production, he creates limited-edition pieces from existing resources, working with luxury surplus, rescued textiles, forgotten treasures and innovative techniques to give discarded materials an extraordinary second life.

The philosophy was brought vividly to life with his new designs that are created like wearable works of art. The opening coat immediately established the collection's direction with a dramatic, sinuous silhouette of curving panels in brilliant hues of red, blue and green made from fragments of exotic skins, antique jacquards and metallic brocades. Finished with handcrafted three-dimensional decorative elements, the richly textured design demonstrated how reclaimed luxury materials could be transformed into something entirely original.

In a fashion industry increasingly driven by speed and consumption, RVDK remains refreshingly committed to a slower, more thoughtful form of luxury

A vibrant blue wrap jacket 

 designed cleverly like a stole, 

shows the designer's skill. 

Tailoring is one of Van der Kemp's great strengths. An electric-blue wool bouclé wrap jacket had a striking avant-garde form, like a stole, and was combined with jeans and a crêpe de chine top (see at right). Another sharply tailored black satin jacket featured velvet lapels and an asymmetric peplum combined with a silk organza pencil skirt overlaid with lace, balancing sculptural precision with delicacy.

An engaging mini dress was created from tweed and left with deliberately raw edges that flowed into a dramatic silk taffeta-lined train. A floral lace gown concealed colourful lining fragments beneath its surface, while sculptural details and a floriate corsage added unexpected depth and dimension. 

Softer moments arrived, where blush plissé drapery cascaded from sculptural shoulders in a blouse before meeting a fluid silver pleated skirt, offering an elegant counterpoint to the collection's more architectural looks.

Elsewhere, Van der Kemp continued to dissolve the boundaries between couture, art and innovation. A beautifully tailored jacket woven in silk and metallic lurex with an elegant peplum shape, complete by a jewelled belt and silver lambskin trousers (see main image). Futuristic glamour was encapsulated with a broad-shouldered jacket with appliqués over a black mini skirt while other designs had oversized silhouettes, mohair, exaggerated hardware and unexpected decoration, elevating the designs into conceptual fashion statements. 

Ronald van der Kemp shows how couture's greatest power lies not only in creating beautiful clothes, but in transforming forgotten materials, preserving cultural memory and challenging our perceptions

The hand-embroidered textile

originally created for a 

Josephine Baker costume.

One of the collection's most poignant moments came with a look created with a hand-embroidered textile originally created for a costume intended for Josephine Baker's cancelled 1968 revue at the Olympia in Paris, designed by André Levasseur, Christian Dior's former assistant and Baker's longtime costume designer (see at left).

Conserved for decades before finding its way to RVDK, the historic embroidery was finally realised as couture, a tribute to Baker's enduring legacy as an artist, humanitarian and resistance hero. It embodies Van der Kemp's belief that fashion can conserve history while simultaneously creating something entirely new.

Art has always been central to Ronald Van der Kemp's work, and this collection expanded that vision beyond clothing. Jewellery, brooches, hair pieces, moving sculptures and wearable artworks, all fashioned from recycled materials, overstock components and found objects, became integral parts of the narrative. Rather than accessories, they reinforced the idea that couture can exist as a complete artistic expression, where every object contributes to the story.

This collection demonstrated that sustainability need not come at the expense of glamour or imagination. Instead, Van der Kemp proposes a future where responsibility enhances creativity, proving that innovation often begins with rediscovering what already exists.

In a fashion landscape increasingly driven by speed and consumption, RVDK remains refreshingly committed to a slower, more thoughtful form of luxury.  Ronald van der Kemp once again shows that haute couture's greatest power lies not simply in creating beautiful clothes, but in transforming forgotten materials, preserving cultural memory and challenging our perceptions.

    See the rest of the RVDK Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2026-2027 Collection in Paris

Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show Reveals a Spectacular 125 Years of Runway History

The life-size, 35-metre-tall rocket ship at Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel show that formed the backdrop to the Autumn/Winter 2017collection at the Grand Palais. Cover picture of Yuima Nakazato Haute Couture AW26/27 in Paris by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM.

By Mal James

Fashion shows can often feel exclusive, reserved for the very rich, the very famous or the very well-connected. This perception has been aided by depictions of the catwalk in film and TV, think The Devil Wears Prada, Zoolander, Absolutely Fabulous, which simply confirm the widely held view of fashion as synonymous with artifice and superficiality.

Yet, while the catwalk is undoubtedly a stage for pomp and social peacocking, it is also a serious business. It can make or break a collection’s success, and launch designers and models into the fashion stratosphere. Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show at the V&A in Dundee unveils this reality, offering an access-all-areas glimpse into the intricate world of fashion, revealing great complexity beyond the perceived superficiality.

This exhibition is superbly co-curated by the museum’s Kirsty Hassard and Svetlana Panova, along with Jochen Eisenbrand and Katharina Krawcyzck of the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, where the show originated. It chronicles fashion’s 125-year catwalk journey, exploring its rich history and enduring cultural significance.

It was an Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth, who pioneered the catwalk in mid 19th-century Paris, where he revolutionised fashion presentations by using live models instead of static mannequins. Runway shows allowed models to showcase complete outfits and provided wealthy clients with a more immersive view of Worth’s designs.

By the early 1900s, these fashion parades held in Parisian ballrooms started to evolve into more theatrical events. This trend continued into the 1920s, when shows grew increasingly spectacular and decadent, with Gabrielle Chanel famously presenting models descending the mirrored staircase in her iconic atelier at 31 rue Cambon, Paris.

Fashion and history

On loan from the Balenciaga archive, and seen for the first time in the UK, there is an exquisite array of outfits presented on miniature wire mannequins. This display describes how, in 1945, as Paris emerged from Nazi occupation, the city faced a shortage of materials, making conventional fashion shows impossible. Titled “théâtre de la mode”, this ingenious solution presented haute couture at micro scale to buyers, press and clients, allowing Paris to reclaim its status as the fashion capital of the world.

The exhibition shows how post second world war, catwalk shows expanded in scale, ambition and location, with designers keen to make a lasting impression. André Courrèges and Paco Rabanne were pioneers in the 1960s, while from the 1980s onwards, Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier helped to modernise presentations, connecting them with pop culture and mass audiences.

The emergence of the “supermodels” in the late 1980s and 1990s helped to turn catwalks into cultural phenomena. Groundbreaking shows, such as Versace’s spring/summer 1991, where models who were stars in their own right walked to George Michael’s Freedom, highlighted a dynamic synergy between fashion and pop culture.

By the late 20th century, designers including Alexander McQueen were creating unforgettable fashion moments, such as the No. 13 collection (spring/summer 1999), where model Shalom Harlow wore a white dress that was sprayed by two robots.

Notably, the exhibit dedicated to Hussein Chalayan showcases his contribution towards the transformation of fashion shows into more artistic and cerebral experiences. His 2000 After Words collection, featuring wearable furniture, challenged traditional norms and paved the way for more artistic presentations.

Spectacle, innovation, commerce

There is plenty of fashion spectacle throughout, the exhibition excelling with a curated selection of iconic pieces from the likes of Viktor & Rolf, Maison Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood, Loewe, Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto and Iris van Herpen – the range is dazzling.

I was captivated by the voluminous but solemn blue Balenciaga velvet dress from the spring/summer 2020 collection by Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia. Evoking a Victorian silhouette, yet with no decoration and a tailored bodice, it reflects fashion’s historical roots in contrast with unfussy modern design.

The powerful silhouette and electric blue tone bring a seriousness to an otherwise radical or performative aesthetic. Positioned in the exhibition, it reminds us how modernity is always tethered to historical influences.

The exhibition showcases how catwalks have become crucial for brand marketing, merging art, commerce and entertainment, while engaging global audiences through digital channels. It includes invitations and artwork from key designers, along with miniature models of Chanel’s 2014 Supermarket and 2017 Space Rocket shows, offering insights into the intricate yet monumental scale of catwalk productions.

The curators have seamlessly integrated Scotland’s contribution to catwalk history too, charting the influence of fabrics like tweed and tartan, and featuring photographs from Glasgow’s Empire Exhibition in 1938, possibly Scotland’s earliest fashion show. There are also fascinating images from Dior’s inaugural Scottish shows in 1955 in Glasgow and at Gleneagles, echoed almost 70 years later with a 2024 Dior show (under designer Maria Grazia Chuiri) where models walked the exquisite topiaried gardens of Drummond Castle in Perthshire.

The exhibition includes the coveted label Le Kilt, featuring an outfit from the 2024 show, created in collaboration with Dior, further highlighting the the fashion house’s Scotland connection. Prominent Scottish designers are also featured, such as Christopher Kane, Charles Jeffrey and the poignant inclusion of an outfit by the late Pam Hogg who died last November.

The exhibition highlights how catwalks can mirror societal changes and evolving beauty standards. I was thrilled to see the inclusion of Rick Owens’ Spring/Summer 2016 presentation, where a 40-strong group of female “steppers” stomped down the runway in poses and expressions that defied typical beauty expectations.

The show caters to diverse audiences and ages, featuring dynamic catwalk and backstage photography by British photographer Robert Fairer, who has captured the energy and spirit of the fashion industry since the early 1990s. Engaging and interactive exhibits also let audiences in on the inner workings of fashion shows, including hairstyling and make-up.

Fun selfie opportunities allow visitors to engage with fashion’s more flamboyant side which make you feel like part of the exhibition, rather than merely an observer. This excellent V&A show truly challenges and expands our perception of the catwalk, leading audiences towards a lasting and deeper respect for the art of fashion and its important and enduring influence.

The Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show is now on at the V&A Dundee until January 2027.

Mal James, Personal Chair of Fashion Design, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh

What’s on Your Holiday Reading List? We Asked Six Dedicated Readers

Holiday books are about page-turners as well as catching up on those that have been left on the bedside table during the year. Cover picture of Robert Redford on the beach in Malibu by Annie Leibovitz. 

By Jo Case

When I think about holiday reading, I think about relaxing with an easy page-turner … but I also think about finally having the headspace for the more complex, challenging books that have haunted my bedside table during the busy year.

Summer reading is often characterised as paperback romance or detective fiction. And it is that. But it’s also anything your tired, finally well-rested brain wants to apply itself to in the sunnier months: on a beach, by a pool or splayed on a couch under an air conditioner.

We asked six avid readers what they plan to read this holiday – and their answers reflected all of the above and more. I’ve already stolen a few ideas to add to my own hopeful pile. (So far, it includes Susie Boyt’s much-raved-about novel Loved and Missed, a biography of her father Lucian Freud, Dominic Amerena’s literary satire, I Want Everything … and Anna Karenina.)

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The Summer Book and Belgian crime

What better time to revisit The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson? It helps that there is a film adaptation on the way (starring Glenn Close), though I wonder how this bittersweet, funny and pitch perfect story of a girl, her grandmother and her father spending a summer on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland can be rendered in filmic form.

Talking of adaptation, the latest TV adaptation of the chief inspector Maigret detective novels has recently dropped – and that encourages me to read more of the short novels by the Belgian writer, Georges Simenon. I read half a dozen Maigret novels last summer, but that’s fine – there are 75 books in the series. Good times.

David McCooey is professor of writing and literature, Deakin University.

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Page-turning rural noir

As a former managing editor of television and video for ABC News, Tim Ayliffe has always had a keen eye for the hot button issues of the day. That’s reflected in his John Bailey series of tense political thrillers. But Dark Desert Road promises to be something different.

Here, Ayliffe heads west into the New South Wales Riverina and the territory of the rural noir. His usual burnt-out journalist in the eye of the storm is replaced by a burnt-out cop. Kit McCarthy hasn’t seen her twin sister Billie in years. This is quite understandable as Billie seems to have got herself involved in a survivalist cult hell bent on blowing things, and people, up. So now she needs help.

That’s the premise – and it promises to be just the right kind of energetic page-turner for a lazy holiday read.

Sue Turnbull is honorary professor of communication and media studies, University of Wollongong – and a crime fiction expert.

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Patricia Lockwood

Last summer I read Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This, a novel that’s up-to-the-minute smart about contemporary life on social media until halfway through when it takes you by the throat and leaves you gasping.

I went quickly to her 2017 memoir, Priestdaddy, where she recounts life as the child of a married Catholic priest. More lately, I read her viral poem, Rape Joke, a remarkable reshaping of thought and talk around women’s experiences of rape. You have to love a writer who can come up with (in a London Review of Books column):

Perhaps for the bug reason, she could only ever picture Kafka lying on his back. Perhaps because of his surviving photos, she had the idea that he medically could not blink.

This summer, I hope to read her new post-COVID novel, Will There Ever Be Another You, hoping for more writing that identifies and breaks our taboos – like the best jokes do.

Kevin Brophy is emeritus professor of creative writing at University of Melbourne.

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Novels about academia

To some, summertime means spontaneity. To me, an adorer of a syllabus if there ever was one, it means a carefully curated reading list. This year, the plan is to spend as much time as possible reading novels about the idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies of academia.

I’ll start by revisiting three classics – Mary McCarthy’s The Groves of Academe, Vladimir Nabokov’s inimitable Pnin, David Lodge’s Changing Places – before I move on to books I haven’t read before.

At the top of my list is Alison Lurie’s The War Between the Tates, a portrait of infidelity and pomposity at Corinth University (a fictional reimagining of Cornell). Next are two darkly comic novels from the nineties: Javier Marías’ Oxford novel All Souls and Ishmael Reed’s Japanese by Spring. Then, I intend to round out the summer with My Education by Susan Choi (shortlisted for this year’s Booker for Flashlight) and Elif Batuman’s The Idiot.

If there’s any summer left at the end of all this, I’ll devote it to rereading some old favourites: JM Coetzee’s Disgrace, Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty.

Joseph Steinberg is Forrest Foundation postdoctoral fellow, English & Literary Studies, The University of Western Australia.

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Book & film: The Virgin Suicides

Every summer, I return to the same perfect pairing: Jeffrey Eugenides’s elegiac novel The Virgin Suicides and Sofia Coppola’s fever-dream adaptation. The story – a meditation on loss and longing – follows the tragic fates of the Lisbon sisters (Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary and Therese) who are withdrawn from school by their stifling mother and imprisoned at home – before eventually dying by suicide.

Set in 1970s Michigan, in the heart of the Rust Belt, the story brushes against some big themes: the horror of the mundane, the decay of memory, the failure of the American Dream. But the novel’s thematic complexity is not as powerful as its aesthetic imagination. I revisit the girls’ world obsessively because its hazy, dreamlike quality captures, with unnerving accuracy, how it felt to be a teenage girl. Simply put, the summer was long and languorous, and the house was always too small.

Eugenides’s novel, like Coppola’s film, skilfully blends the magic and misery of adolescence: the sacred rituals and secret pacts, the constant scrutiny and creeping sense of entrapment. Like adolescence, summer too is defined by its inevitable ending.

Kate Cantrell is a senior lecturer in writing, editing, and publishing at the University of Southern Queensland.

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Australian romantic comedies

A couple of years ago, I nominated Abra Pressler’s Love and Other Scores as my beach book and noted that it was part of an increased investment from major Australian publishers in local romantic comedies. As someone who both writes and studies romance fiction, I’m delighted that this trend has continued.

There has been a spate of excellent Australian rom-coms released this year: Steph Vizard’s A Smart Girl’s Guide to Second Chances, Patrick Lenton’s In Spite of You, Emma Mugglestone’s In the Long Run, Darcy Green’s After the Siren, Karina May’s That Island Feeling, and Holly Brunnbauer’s What did I Miss?, just to name a few.

My beach read this summer is also a local rom-com: Brooke Crawford’s Better Than the Real Thing. This is a story about a Melbourne teacher in the midst of a series of life crises who unexpectedly finds a reclusive rock star’s childhood diary. When he offers to pay her a lot of money to travel in London and return it to him – how can she refuse?

Jodi McAlister is a senior lecturer in writing, literature and culture, Deakin University.

Paris Haute Couture: Forged by Fire, Shaped by Sea, Yuima Nakazato Reimagines Fashion's Future

In Paris, Japanese couturier Yuima Nakazato celebrated his tenth anniversary showing on the Paris haute couture calendar with an evocative collection titled Inferno. Photographs and cover picture by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM

Yuima Nakazato challenges the conventions of haute couture by placing innovation and environmental consciousness at the heart of his work. Celebrating ten years on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar, the Japanese designer returned with a collection exploring the dialogue between ancient tradition and future technology. Inspired by the volcanic landscapes and immense oceans of the Canary Islands, he ruminates on transformation, resilience and the fragile balance between humanity and the natural world. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Andrea Heinsohn

The glimmering 'Inferno' hues of Yuima Nakazato's

show in the cavernous Salle Noire in Paris.

ON a scorching Paris summer morning, the journey into Yuima Nakazato’s Autumn/Winter 2026 Haute Couture presentation began with a physical and symbolic descent. 

Leaving behind the intense heat and bright summer light above the streets of the French capital, DAM entered the darkness of the Salle Noire at the Maison des Métallos, a dramatic transition that felt like stepping into the 'inferno' at the heart of the collection.

The underground black-box space, with its raw and immersive atmosphere, has long been associated with designers seeking a more experimental relationship between fashion, architecture and performance. Its intimate darkness has provided the setting for memorable Paris presentations, including those of Junya Watanabe, whose conceptual approach has often embraced the contrast between industrial surroundings and meticulous craftsmanship.

Within this dimly-lit, shadowed environment, Yuima Nakazato unveiled Sea of Fire Inferno, a collection marking the decade since the Japanese designer first joined the official Paris Haute Couture Week, seasons spent challenging the boundaries between couture, contemporary art, technology and sustainability.

Yuima Nakazato shows how couture is a living art form, capable of responding to environmental challenges, technological change and humanity’s relationship with the natural world

Sculptural neck and head pieces are a 

signature of the designer's hand work.

DAM has covered Nakazato’s journey throughout this remarkable ten years, documenting the evolution of a designer who has consistently expanded the language of couture. 

Since his debut as an official guest designer in 2016, he has remained the only Japanese Maison presenting on the official Haute Couture Week calendar, creating a body of work that exists between fashion, sculpture, theatre and scientific innovation.

The origins of the latest collection began far from Paris, on the volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands. Facing the Atlantic Ocean from cliffs of black lava rock, Nakazato encountered a landscape shaped by opposing forces, ancient eruptions beneath the sea, immense waves crashing against the coastline, and a constant dialogue between creation and destruction.

“Fire brings light and warmth, broadening the possibilities of life, yet also burns whole lands, possessing the power to decimate life itself,” Nakazato explains. “Water, the source of life, a precious resource in danger of reaching its limits, also brings uncontrollable disasters, growing ever more intense in the modern age.”

“Fire and water are fundamentally opposed, yet they transform beneath the light of the sun and the moon, I came to see them as two inseparable, complementary forces within a single whole”

The dialogue between destruction

and creation underpinned the ideas

behind the designer's collection.

For the designer, these forces were not simply symbols of conflict. They represented a deeper relationship between opposing energies, a duality that became the foundation of the collection. “Fire and water are fundamentally opposed,” Nakazato reflects. 

“Yet, just as they seem to transform beneath the light of the sun and the moon, I came to see them as two inseparable, complementary forces within a single whole.”

That philosophy shaped every element of the new designs. Rather than presenting nature as a visual reference alone, Nakazato translated its contradictions into garments that explored transformation, movement and the shifting boundaries between strength and vulnerability.

Central to the collection was monogi, the traditional costume-changing technique used in Noh and Kyogen theatre. Unlike a conventional costume change hidden from the audience, monogi makes transformation visible, turning the act of change itself into part of the performance. It can represent the passage of time, a change in identity or the emergence of another state of being. Nakazato used this process during the show, dressing models and adding accessories hanging on the stage. 

Central to the collection is monogi, the traditional costume-changing technique used in Noh and Kyogen theatre. 

Yuima Nakazato using the monogi technique.

showing the transformation of the garments.

The couturier adopted this centuries-old theatrical principle as a foundation for the collection. Five performers wore garments based on the construction principles of the kimono, allowing the pieces to transform visibly before the audience. 

The movement from deep blue to intense red became a physical expression of the transition between water and fire, between calm and chaos, preservation and destruction.

The influence of the kimono was fundamental to Nakazato’s approach. Rather than simply referencing traditional Japanese dress aesthetically, he explored its underlying philosophy of adaptability and storytelling. “The Japanese kimono is constructed entirely from rectangles, yet it can assume countless forms depending on how it is worn,” he explains. “Its patterns also carry meaning, stories, and prayers.”

This understanding of clothing as a vessel for memory and narrative has remained central to Nakazato’s practice. This season, garments became more than exceptional examples of craftsmanship; they became expressions of history, cultural symbolism and human transformation.

Discarded garments are transformed into new materials, fasteners created from upcycled clothing make sustainability integral to every component 

Nakazato's handmade ceramic "armour' (above)

is a motif he has explored in his recent work.

Yuima Nakazato continues his 'fragile armour' series, further exploring the relationship between protection and vulnerability. Typically, armour represents defence and conflict, yet Nakazato questions whether true strength must always appear rigid or impenetrable.

“Traditionally, armour exists to protect the human body while symbolizing conflict,” he says. “By creating armour from fragile ceramic, I seek to redefine what armor can represent.”

The result was a reinterpretation of resilience, one where fragility itself becomes a source of strength. Alongside these philosophical explorations, the collection demonstrated the technical innovation that has become central to the Yuima Nakazato Maison. 

Continuing his collaboration with Epson through Dry Fiber Technology, the designer explored methods of transforming discarded garments into new materials. A further partnership with YKK resulted in fasteners created from upcycled clothing, extending the sustainability conversation into every component of the garment.

Photographs captured of the ocean surrounding Tenerife, were digitally transformed, the blue waters reimagined as flames through advanced textile printing technology 

Photographs taken by the designer of the ocean

are digitally transformed to create new designs.

Technology became another form of storytelling. Photographs captured by Nakazato of the ocean surrounding Tenerife were digitally transformed, with the blue waters reimagined as flames through advanced textile printing technology. The process mirrored the collection’s central idea: that different elements can evolve into something entirely new.

After ten years on the official Paris Haute Couture calendar, Yuima Nakazato continues to occupy a singular position within contemporary couture. While many traditional maisons often look to heritage as their foundation, Nakazato has built his identity through experimentation, proving that craftsmanship and technology, cultural tradition and innovation, can exist not in opposition but in conversation.

Inferno is not simply an anniversary collection; it was a statement of intent. It demonstrated that couture remains a living art form, capable of responding to environmental challenges, technological change and humanity’s evolving relationship with the natural world.

Yuima Nakazato remains one of couture’s most original voices, a designer who continues to redefine the possibilities of the discipline while honouring its savoire faire tradition

Yuima Nakazato is a designer who redefines

the parametres of both fashion and couture, 

Nakazato graduated from the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2008 before establishing his international career through an interdisciplinary approach to design. 

Since showing in Paris in 2016, he has moved beyond fashion into opera, ballet and contemporary art, creating costumes for productions including those with the Boston Ballet and the Geneva National Theatre. His work was celebrated in his first solo exhibition, Yuima Nakazato: Beyond Couture, presented at the Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode in 2024.

Building on his Paris debut, Yuima Nakazato has become one of couture’s most original voices, a designer who continues to redefine the possibilities of the discipline while honouring its savoir-faire traditions. Through the new collection, he reminded the fashion world that couture is not only about creating beauty, but about questioning, transforming and imagining what comes next. 

See more highlights from Yuima Nakazato's Haute Couture AW26/27 Collection in Paris