This is the first exhibition in Europe to comprehensively survey avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to the present. Curated by the eminent Japanese fashion historian Akiko Fukai, Director of the Kyoto Costume Institute, the exhibition explores the unique sensibility of Japanese design, and its sense of beauty embodied in clothing.
As usual when I think about Japanese i think in unshaped clothes, unflattering silouettes and strange materials… well, no disappointment met my expectations. This exhibitions translates you from a fashion forward moment that we all live at surrounded by mass factored brands to the new era of haute-couture eccentricity. The twenty-two featured designers are less known as Anrealage, Somarta, Né-Net… to some of the best known as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe.
Issey Miyake’s A-POC, from installation view
which I certenly would recommend to anyone aiming to unfold and unlock their creativity with this exercise of extreme inspiration.
Koji Tatsuno, from instalation view
for which Janek Schaefer composed an installation score at the invitation of Barbican curator.
“Unfolding was inspired by the ephemeral unfurling fabric of fashion, viewed through the vertical veils of the Future Beauty exhibition design.”
Unfolding – By Janek Schaefer
Download for free, a 33 minute stereo mix of the soundtrack for home listening.
Courtesy of Barbican.
