Made in Japan The latest fashion
Central Museum, Utrecht 2001, 96 pages,17,5x25,5cm, ISBN 90-73285-79-8
The work of Japan's rising generation of fashion designers has attracted little international recognition. Made in Japan, an exhibition at Utrecht's Centraal Museum showcases their designs in the first presentation of their work to appear in a Dutch museum. What's so special about these Young Japanese? The first generation of Japanese designers came to Paris in the early 1980s, where Kenzo and Issey Miyake had already opened a shop in the 1970s. When Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons) and Yohji Yamamoto presented their first show in Paris in 1981 Japanese fashion became an instant success. Successive generations of designers have drawn their ideas from them. They provided the basic ingredients for designers like Martin Margiela of Belgium. Today's conceptual Dutch fashion designers owe many of the details in their work to this group of Japanese designers. And of course Yamamoto and Kawakubo have also influenced the young Japanese designers, not least because almost all of them have trained or worked under them. Besides the present generation, Made in Japan also focuses on the first generation of designers. Designs will be featured by Comme des Garçons and Issey Miyake as well as Yohji Yamamoto. Apart from Hiroake Ohya, this is also how designers such as Shinichiro Arakawa, Kosuke Tsumura, Masaki Matsushima and Gomme work.
