The Cosmos & Nature in Yuima Nakazato's Futuristic Collection

Shimmering, holographic origami with transparent, faux arms at Yuima Nakazato's innovative presentation in Paris. Cover picture and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

Inspired by the cosmos and nature, neo-futurist Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato showed for the first time as a guest at Paris Haute Couture week. The designer's shimmering, otherworldly collection of holographic origami gleamed from the darkness in the depths of the Palais De Tokyo, creating kinetic architectural sculptures, reports our special Paris correspondent Elli Ioannou

Glimmering, kinetic architectural designs

EXISTENTIALISM, altruism, mysticism, science and philosophy are not subjects often tackled in works of fashion. But recent collections by innovative designers are expressing a new approach to the creative process, exploring new and deeper meanings in their work. Often the clothes are not separate from the human form but rather an extension of the body, like a second skin. Many of these ideas are at the heart of Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato’s work presented at his AW16/17 haute couture show in Paris. The designer says the cosmos, future, and nature are all key to his exploration of fashion.



 Iridescent, shimmering colours
inspired by Iceland

Descending three flights of stairs into the belly of Paris' Palais de Tokyo for Nakazato's first haute couture show, there is art graffiti covering the walls and it feels like entering the dim internal sanctum of a modern-day pyramid. A trianglular shaped motif runs through Yuima Nakazato's presentation, beginning with the fluid runway's shape: two yellow-taped lines converging into an incomplete 'V' marking the areas where guests stand. Dramatic blue lighting in the industrial space of polished concrete, frames stairs at either end. Adjusting to the dark surroundings, guests can just make out the photographers' pit already overflowing and looking more like a human installation under the azure lights. The avant-garde crowd slowly funnels in, some standing behind the yellow lines, while others choose a higher perspective from the stairs and balcony.



 Glassy, vivid make-up created
 an otherworldly look

The pre-show backdrop feels and looks a lot more like a Berlin club than a Paris haute couture show. The designer's AW16/17 collection is inspired by a recent trip to Iceland and Nakazato creates a powerful otherworldly sense that captures the country's snowy landscape. The holographic textiles are woven origami-like, shimmering under the light, to create kinetic architectural sculptures.The choice of colour palette, including iridescent ice blues, greens and purples and the shape of the garments in an A-line  using 3D technology all add up to a shimmering strangeness. Elongated body proportions reflecting ancient Japanese deities also seem imbued with Avatar–like characteristics.



 Long, faux arms enhanced
Nakazato's futuristic collection

The models’ arms were made to appear extra long using blue prosthetic finger extensions while others actually had knee-length glass arms. The seemingly air-brushed make-up suggesting David Bowie's Major Tom, along with the dramatic lighting and the models' robotic motion with glassy-eyed expressions all reinforce Nakazato’s sci-fi inspired world. The models' final stance ends in a symbolic triangle shape.

The future of human existence is a theme explored by both Issey Miyake and Yuima Nakazato, bound by their common thread of Japanese culture. Like Miyake before him, Nakazato is experimenting with the construction of materials using new technology which is at the core of his design process. He wants the couture collection with it's methods and materials to be made available immediately in stores. Nakazato is planning a new system of combining of couture and ready-to-wear which he believes is the future of fashion.



Nakazato has been called a neo-futurist in fashion design, one of the artists and architects who believe in the future of cities, their capacity to offer emotional experiences, experiments with new materials and new technologies to provide a better quality of life. Nakazato's presentation is the first by a Japanese designer at Paris Haute Couture since 2004, as a guest of the Fédération Française de la Couture. A Japanese designer has not been on the event’s official calendar since fashion pioneer Hanae Mori retired 12 years ago. Nakazato is a guest member at the haute couture, an honour only bestowed on up-and-coming artists who have passed a rigorous screening process.

 Designer Yuima Nakazato
backstage at his show in Paris

The designer was born in Tokyo 30 years ago and says he learned much about the freedom of expressive art from from his sculptor father and mother, a metal carver. His family home is filled with giant art objects and made a strong contrast to strict Japanese schooling. With artists as parents, Nakazato was surrounded by art from early childhood and he says that the years of seeing and watching his parents' work, performing arts, stage design, and costumes all have influenced his work. Nakazato was the youngest Japanese to graduate from the Fashion Department Master’s Course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.

 Avant-garde boots finished
the collection

So avant-garde were his shoe designs during his degree show that they were acquired by the Antwerp Mode Museum (MoMu) for their permanent collection. He was also awarded the Innovation Award by Ann Demeulemeester for his graduation collection and won the International Talent Support (ITS) Fashion Competition held in Italy, one of the two largest fashion contests in the world, in 2008 and 2009. The following year, Lady Gaga wore his Black Fire Dress in Japan. After graduating, Nakazato launched his own brand in 2009 and three years later was opening Tokyo Fashion Week.

French Haute Couture is evolving and expanding by acknowledging designers such as Yuima Nakazato who push boundaries in technology, design and culture. The Fédération Française de la Couture is recognizing and fostering emerging talent which offers a new perspective compared to couture collections of the past and provides a thought-provoking antidote to some of the bigger commercial brands more anodyne collections.

Edited by Jeanne-Marie Cilento

Highlights from Yuima Nakazato's Collection in Paris

Nakazato's teeteringly high boots were one of the highlights of his Paris show 

 Detail of the origami-like construction of one of the shimmering, holographic pieces at the Palais de Tokyo



Yuima Nakazato says his designs are based on three elements: the cosmos, the future and nature. 



The designer won awards for his early work even as a student and has designed a costume for Lady Gaga and other singers

 Nakazato uses new technology and traditional Japanese craftsmanship to create his work

The designers shoes are already in the permanent collection of Antwerp's Museum of Modern Art



French haute couture is evolving and expanding by acknowledging designers such as Yuima Nakazato who push boundaries in technology, design and culture.

The designer was born in Tokyo 30 years ago and says he learned much about the freedom art offered from his sculptor father and metal carver mother. 

Backstage in Paris dressing a model for the AW16/17 presentation

In the belly of the Palais de Tokyo, guests wait for the show to begin 

The guests at the show in Paris all had their own colourful style



The Art of Fashion: Henrik Vibskov's New Collection in Paris

A model circles a central installation of butchers and fabric salamis at Henrik Vibskov's Spring/Summer 2017 men's collection. Cover picture and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

One of the highlights of Paris Men's Fashion Week was the whimsical show of Danish artist and designer Henrik Vibskov. Set amid a surreal kitchen of fabric salami and white-coated butchers, the models wore a signature baroque and folkloric collection, making an interesting alternative to Scandinavian minimalism, reports our special correspondent Elli Ioannou

 

Henrik Vibskov with his "salami" installation

HENRIK Vibskov's menswear show in Paris was like an invitation into the designer's creative mind. As guests entered the dimly lit, Rococo ballroom with gilded chandeliers at the Westin Paris Vendôme, they were met with an otherworldly installation which engulfed most of the runway and a haunting yet playful electronic soundscape. Hung with giant salamis in red-dotted jacquard and lit with red, vertical neon tubes, the installation resembled a film set for Pedro Almodovar's Jamon Jamon. Henrik Vibskov shows are much anticipated as he uses fashion as a platform to explore the fusion of all of the creative disciplines he explores. The designer calls the show Salami Kitchen of the Non-exi-stent and describes it as a "dark and gloomy exploration" of modern society dealing with questions of morality and hedonism. Metaphors of meat are central to the show. As vegetarianism becomes more prevalent, Vibskov asks: "Could meat soon become a historic legend you will tell your grandkids about?" He says the inspiration for the Paris collection came from martial arts and Asian iconography and calligraphy.

Artisan Asian inspirataions

A graduate of London's prestigious Central Saint Martin's in 2001, the Danish designer is an artist that has had both solo and group exhibitions, an interior designer, creative director, mentor, educator and musician and a drummer with his own project Mountain Yorokobu with Fake Diamond Record. Touring with Trentemøller for six years, it comes as no surprise Vibskov's clothes are worn by musicians and artists including Björk, The Arctic Monkeys, Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand, Lou Reed, and Devendra Banhart. Vibskov has also worked as a film director and has won many awards including the Söderberg prize, the highest value design prize in the world, as well as the Jury Prize at the Danish Fashion Awards in 2012. This year,  the Queen Of Denmark and the academy council from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts awarded Henrik Vibstok the Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal.

Kabuki style make-up with black lips & pale faces 

The new Paris show opened with eight men dressed as Italian/Spanish butchers, carrying bundles of double-sided, sausage-red jacquard. While the models circled around the butcher's shop at the centre of the runway, the butchers prepared, arranged and made new batches of the jacquard sausage throughout the entire show. Following the current trend for mixing genders on the catwalk, Vibskov's show had male and female models with Kabuki-like pale faces and black lips.

Capacious jackets & spotted shirts 

The shoes, hats and colourful ensembles, resembled Asian rice field workers uniforms but with exaggerated large spots and polka dots. Others looked a lot more Japanese. Some of the highlights included a blue, red and white fringed sweater with a design referring to Japanese warrior motifs, with matching loose pants. Asian female models were dressed in kimono-style dresses printed with circular abstract graphics and the same fabric made up another look on a male model with an oversized shirt and matching loose pants.

Vibskov's colourful, long socks

The socks which Henrik Vibskov is renowned for had eye-catching designs and came in different patterns and were a key element in many of the SS17 looks. The mix of male and female models had an androgynous look and wore a mixture of heavily patterned pants, shorts and skirts with knee-high socks, most of which featured salami prints. Oversized coats and tailored jackets were also utilised throughout the collection.

Henrik Vibskov could be the creative love child of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. Indeed many of the looks pay homage to the 'buffalo girl' look. Vibskov is not merely a fashion designer, but more of a multi-disciplinary creative, one who fuses art, design, music subcultures with fashion seamlessly. These lines have been blurred by many, but few do it so successfully as this designer. Welcome to the dreamlike world of Henrik Vibsksov.

The designer described the collection as an exploration of morality and hedonism in the modern world.



The Paris show had a mix of male and female models wearing clothes with different patterns and textures with black Kabuki lips & Asian hats.

Spotted skirts and abstractly-patterned long socks

Knitted sweater with a graphic image of a meal of salamis 

Henrik Vibskov's shows are highly anticipated for their creative blend of a variety of artistic metiers

Martial arts and a Japanese aesthetic permeated the look of the collection 

The "butchers" at work amid the fabric salami installation

 Backstage at the Henrik Vibskov show in Paris

The Roocco gilt surrounds of Paris's Westin Paris -Vendôme provided a contrast to Vibskov's contermporary and surreal show

One Love: Paul Smith's Vivid New Menswear Collection in Paris

Vivid, tailored suits and gingham shirts at the Paul Smith Sping/Summer 2017 show in Paris. Cover picture, photographs and video by Elli Ioannou 

In Paris, the new menswear collection by Paul Smith for Spring/Summer 2017 was bright, summery and positive, inspired by the Soho clubs he frequented in the Sixties and Seventies with jazzy checks, vivid T-shirts, striped-collar polo tops mixed with elegant, tailored suits. The models sported halos of fine afro hair, and with jaunty smiles walked a rainbow runway at the French capital's spectacular stock exchange with it's soaring domed roof, Elli Ioannou reports

Rainbow catwalk & bright suits

OFTEN artists project a part of themselves into their work either consciously or unconsciously. British fashion icon Sir Paul Smith is no exception. From the vibrant rainbow colours of his Spring/Summer 2017 collection to the choice of models, he drew inspiration from his youth and the London 1960s zeitgeist. The collection encompassed themes of love, peace and harmony. Paul Smith always manages to create a fashion direction for his collections that are consistent, relevant and contemporary.The Paul Smith invitation to the menswear show in Paris was characteristic of the designer's aesthetic. Enclosed in a long, oversized envelope, the invitation included a rainbow-coloured pair of socks, which guests waved proudly as they entered the Paris Bourse where the runway show was held. Guests were also met with a table of rainbow-coloured cocktails in the foyer before entering the show. There was no fuss or pretentiousness, the atmosphere was light and happy. It was also a child friendly event ~ a rare sight ~ with some of the front row guests accompanied by children under the age of five.



The dome of the Paris Bourse, Palais Brongniart

The space itself is vast, under the Bourse de Commerce heritage- protected dome was a circular runway with a multi-coloured curving floor. Staff laid out the final touches, while guests amused themselves, cocktail in hand, chatting and posing for  media pictures. The pre-show vibe was very much an upmarket Notting Hill style festival and looked like one big happy party. A modern mix of Bob Marley’s One Love signaled the models’ entry on the runway circuit. Notably this style of catwalk also referred to the traditional couture approach where guests and models’ personal space was fused together by their proximity. Thus it made for a more intimate experience even within the colossal expansiveness of the Paris Bourse (which was sold to the Chamber of Commerce by the City of Paris for a token one euro in 1949). The models in the show were part of Paul Smith’s underlying social commentary about inclusivity and diversity, something he wanted to celebrate.


Halo of curls with a model, backstage  

There were mixed-race models of all nationalites, some had masses of curls and Afros that made them look like tall, contemporary angels with halos of hair catching the light. Walking towards each other, from opposite ends of the round catwalk, the models smiled and greeted each other as they passed in a choreographed display of cheerful recognition. Overall, the collection had sixties tailoring written all over it with a modern edge. Surprisingly, the suits and jackets did not feel retro at all but utterly contemporary which is one of Paul Smith's traits. Vivid suits in royal blue and vibrant yellow mixed with matching hues of gingham shirts. There were checked bomber style jackets and slim-line trousers. The bright suits were combined with blue gingham shirts, purple suits with green, yellow and red check shirts and matching oversized clutch bags.

Paul Smith amid his models after the show 

A model resembling a young Bob Dylan wore a shiny grey pair of overalls, while another model with a bright blonde Afro exuded an early Jimmy Hendrix vibe in a gingham suit jacket of acqua, yellow and red. There were also pieces in orange and green, almost all of the colours of the rainbow. The collection could have been garish but it was done with the designer's sophistication and signature style. As Paul Smith walked around with his models for the finale on the runway, there was definitely an ecstatic feeling permeating the enormous space. As the models descended the stairs along with the designer, they all stopped for a photoshoot for the surrounding guests and media that were crowded around and looking down from above. It had the feeling of a beloved and iconic musician being swarmed and adored by his fans. Yes, it truly was One Love.

Models leave the rainbow-coloured runway at Paul Smith's Paris show

Deep blue checked suit topped by a fine Afro and looked on by an audience including young children

The coloured, tailored suits and T-shirts with Peace or Love on the front  reflected the show's happy atmosphere

 The models smiled and greeted each other as they passed on the runway

Guests chatting in the front row before the show starts.The pre-show vibe was very much an upmarket Notting Hill style festival and looked like one big cheerful party.

Suits with large checks were combined with polo shirts with striped collars

Front row before the Paul Smith show begins at the Paris Bourse

 Brilliant colour made the suits inspired by club-goers from the Sixties completely contemporary

The style of catwalk also referred to the traditional couture approach where guests and models’ personal space was fused together by their proximity to each other

The space itself is vast, under the Paris Bourse's dome was a circular runway with a rainbow-hue floors

 A modern mix  of Bob Marley’s One Love signaled the models’ entry on to the runway circuit.

The Poetry of Space: Issey Miyake's New Collection in Paris SS17

Issey Miyake's fluid and relaxed collection inspired by the blank, white page at the beginning of the creative process. Cover picture and all photographs by Elli Ioannou 

Issey Miyake's new collection for SS17 in Paris was held in a vast open-air atrium at the city's Pierre and Marie Curie University with models criss-crossing the enormous space, wearing clothes that became increasingly more colourful, inspired by India's Holi festival. Story and photographs by special correspondent Elli Ioannou

The vast open-air atrium that housed the runway

IT was another hot and humid day of Parisian summer when Issey Miyake's new collection was shown in the monumental courtyard at the Pierre and Marie Curie University. The guests at the Japanese fashion house's shows are often the most colourful and individually dressed crowds during Paris Fashion Week and this season offered a visual feast for both street style photographers and the press. Aptly titled Journey from a White Page and inspired by India’s Holi Festival held in the spring and also known as the festival of colour because of the celebratory pigment throwing, Issey Miyake's new collection is about the process of beginning. The physical space of the fashion show provided the ultimate blank canvas for Issey Miyake's creative director, Yusuke Takahashi. The choice of place reflected the theme and story behind the new collection.

Tokyo psych folk band: Kikagaku Moyo 

The runway was created in the immense open atrium, designed by Periperique Architects, and partially encased in glass, the square concrete stairs spiralling upwards resembling an ancient Greek temple. As university staff above peered down from their office windows, it felt very much like a ritual or a ceremony was about to be performed. The exposed nature of the space meant it enabled university students and staff rare access to an exclusive fashion show, even during rehearsal. The show began with a live performance by Tokyo psych folk band Kikagaku Moyo dressed in all-white Issey Miyake ensembles with the five members all sporting Yoko Ono-esque 1970s, hippy style long hair. Their original music composed for the occasion is a blend of rock, acid folk and traditional Indian music.

 Model's criss-crossed the monumental courtyard

This was the first stroke of the brush by Yusuke Takahashi on the canvas, both visually and aurally. The group provided the backdrop for the duration of the show, as models appeared one by one from all four corners of the atrium. They came out from different directions, from each corner and angle, weaving and crossing each other and adding to the tapestry of Takahashi’s canvas. As the space between the models became narrower, the music became louder and faster, and they criss-crossed towards each other in a weaving pattern.  At the crescendo the models all stood still across the square, the final brush stroke on the canvas was complete. The enormous space of the atrium, towered over by the four surrounding high-rise university buildings, gave the viewers time to absorb the garments individually.

Contrasts of brilliant splashes of colour 

The palette of colours on flowing fabrics ranged from off-white to navy and from black to marbleised prints. Colourful splashes of paint, along with square leather tote bags created an easy, bohemian look. Inspired by the city of Varanasi in India, and its eclectic styles, Takahashi's range included rippling fabrics with soft textures. The clothes had a quiet elegance with their loose-fitting, relaxed feel while the organic fabrics had been subject to wrinkling and creasing techniques that enhanced their texture. Free and easy, the collection included white-pleated tunics, generously cut trousers, bib-front shirts, and dramatic diaphanous jackets. When the more colourful pieces appeared, they offered brilliant pattern and colour inspired by the Holi festival and all hand-printed. The range of brightly-coloured hues expressed the pigment being hurled about at the festival and the sheer joy of colour. As Takahashi said, the collection was supposed to look as if you were turning “page after page” and discovering something new on each one.

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Photographers and guests get ready to watch the Issey Miyake show 

Richly textured fabrics are created by techniques used to crate creases and wrinkles in the material

A model stands in the open air atrium in front of the show's Japanese folk band

 Graceful drapery in monochromatic black or white gave the collection a relaxed elegance 

 As the music builds to a crescendo, the models come to a standstill in the giant space

Models wove among each other crossing the atrium from all four corners

The Japanese band Kingaku Gonya wore Issey Miyake and provided the music for the show

Inside the Pierre and Marie Curie University, students and staff wait for the show to start in the courtyard

Badara Ndiaye was one of the stylish guests at the Issey Miyake show in Paris

Another guest at the show wore a 1950s style turban and New Look full skirt