Japanese Invasion

Briefly before I start, sorry I haven't really posted anything within the last week or so. I've been too busy queefing about and doing uni work to do so *sighs*

Anyway. Last week I took a trip to London to go stay with my boyfriend and to see some exhibitions, before I get into my main topic for this blog post I wanted to bring up this night that we went to due to a friend working for a music label or something along those lines... We ended up going to this night called the Boiler Room, the night was situated in East London just off the Kingsland Road in a warehouse which we had stumbled upon before that is normally a vintage shop on the weekends (they don't advertise as they want it only for locals and people who are into vintage clothing, which is something I found quite an honorable thing to do by not selling out, considering all the arseholes who think there cool and "individual" by sticking on a top or dress from Beyond Retro and being spotted down on Brick Lane. EIWWWWW.) Anyway the night was based all around DJ'ing and playing on instruments that was then being streamed live at the time. It was developed from the idea of doing a radio/T.V set from your bedroom. A concept I found fascinating as technology plays such a big part within fashion now with blogs, online magazines and streaming catwalk shows, I found it quite interesting to see that this was now, especially streaming was happening with music. It got me thinking about the relationship that fashion and music have and how it could possibly develop further with technology and with people within music taking onboard this idea of streaming live. Who knows...maybe Gareth Pugh with have his video's happening live with music? Or maybe the likes of Christopher Bailey with have a band perform live at his show?

http://www.readplatform.com/ for more info

NOW for my main post. Last week I took a trip to the Barbican to go see the Future Beauty 30 years of Japanese Fashion exhibition, it featured designers amongst the likes of Rei Kawakubo of Comme Des Garcons, Issey Miyake, and Junya Wantanabe. I was interested in seeing this exhibition even though I have to say I'm not really full of knowledge when it comes to these brands and Japanese designers and fashion as a whole, but going to this exhibition really opened my eyes and made me really appreciate the work that they do and how influential some of the designers featured have been on some of the other heavyweights in fashion today. It seemed that most of the designers had work ethics, which they have stayed true to, which were part of their culture being:

Wabi-sabi: Which is the Japanese principle of modesty and imperfections being beautiful (Something I think the designers took very seriously when they started their careers, as they retaliated against all the glamour of the 80's as well as refusing to design body con clothes.)and:

Ma: The concept of voids between objects are rich energized spaces

I think that with the designers featured most of the work shown it gave the impression that there work was all about fabrics whether it be the colour (most of the earlier clothing featured was monochrome that gradually moved into colour.) or texture (Aged, distressed, flawed, a lot of the fabrics used were non luxurious fabrics/materials, it all links back in with the concept of Wabi-sabi.) The body, making sure that the clothes were comfortable whilst reworking and rethinking silhouettes and proportions, by playing with structure and volume within their creations, as well as creating clothes which blurred gender and age boundaries to give their wearer's more freedom and liberation. The layout of the exhibition was well thought out and quite clear. The look of it wasn't overcomplicated, rather minimal, which I think went well as it meant no distraction from the clothing as well as fitting in with their principles. Towards the end of the exhibition there were digital media features, Interviews with the likes of Junya Wantanabe and Yohji Yamamoto. In the last room there were videos of collaborations and fashion shows, one in particular caught my eye. It was Issey Miyake's F/W 1994/5 show in which the clothes have more than one use and can transform into other garments, the clothing was all pleated and in block colours, the show itself was like a piece of art with models acting out routines of dance and mime pretending the balloons attached to them were like a block of lead or something. I tried to find the video but there was nothing, so instead here is another one of Issey Miyake's shows just so you get a feel of the artistic direction:

I thought it was a more interesting way to see the garments and fabrics move and also a test their practicality when doing movement as such. Looking at the work it is amazing on how influential these designers have been and some still are. There was flat packed clothing first done by Rei Kawakubo in A/W 83/4, which is something that Issey Miyake has created a project on called A-POC, this is something that was then done by Maison Martin Margiela (who also adopted the use of non valuable materials.) another designer who fashion turns to for the avant garde.

It was so interesting and has really made me appreciate what these designers have brought to fashion, especially when it comes to Rei Kawakubo who is a designer who's work I'm not really too fond of. But what this exhibition taught me is that Kawakubo, Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto really pushed the boundaries of fashion through the 80's and through the 90's, Kawakubo is someone who still continues to push the boundaries of fashion and question it. Do I like her work? No not really. But more to the point is it relevant and important? Yes. Take her A/W 2010 collection I think it's absolutely hideous, it's not really wearable but she is questioning proportion, making us think more about the body and the shapes we can create and personally I think to defy fashion, and also thinking about it now, reading all my December issues of magazines most go on about letting go of this decade in which we've wanted to be safe with social issues that have shocked and effected the world such as 9/11, the recession. Maybe it's a message telling us to let go of the safety net that's been created in fashion over the recent seasons of comfy and safe clothing. I might not necessarily like some of the clothing but I don't think there’s a lot of designers who can create clothes that shock, that innovate and inspire, that can turn their catwalk into a show, that looks more like an art performance rather than a pantomime and not lose the meaning behind or focus on the clothing all at once.

Linking in with the Japanese Beauty exhibition, yesterday me and a few friends from university went to the Fashion in Motion: Kenzo show that was shown at the V&A Museum. The clothes main focus seemed to be on more on the colours, prints and textures. On the information sheet given it said about Creative Director Antonio Marras' vision: "Marras plays upon their similarities and differences, the simple and essential elements of traditional Japanese dress alongside the richness and decoration of Sardinian clothing. He also references the natural environments of the two island cultures, by representing the foliage, land and coast in the colours, prints and textures of the designs." Here are a few close up pictures that I got of some of the prints:

There were bustles and wires used to create interesting shapes, the layering was very interesting and the headscarfs were a nice touch. I really liked the shoes, it was a nice contrast to have between the clothing, some reminded me a little of Irregular Choice shoes. We had a little gasp when we noticed that Nina Porter the 16 year old model of the moment who fell at Burberrys S/S 11 show was strutting her stuff down the catwalk. Here is a slideshow of some pictures I took: