Japan Fashion Now - Contemporary Japanese Fashion at FIT


Many of you probably know that the Fashion Institute of Technology maintains a free museum. Japan Fashion Now is the special exhibit currently on display in a gallery space transformed to evoke the cityscape of 21st century Tokyo. It features ensembles that cover the eighties and its avant-garde designers Miyake, Yamamoto, and Kawakubo,


and proceeds to showcase current looks inspired by the neighborhood Omotesando site of Comme des Garcon's flagship store.


For me (and my 9-year old) the most interesting pieces were the Gothic-Punk Lolita styles by Hirooka Naoto as exemplified by the stage costumes worn by the singers Hangry and Angry.



If you can't make it to the actual exhibit, you should at least drop by the virtual one, which includes an interview with Dr. Valerie Steele, the director of the museum.

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

Just a Seamstress? The Museum at FIT Showcases Isabel Toledo's Fashions


If you are in need of cultural inspiration but are short on time, the oft forgotten Museum at FIT has the perfect dose. The current exhibit “Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out,” showcases work by the Cuban-born fashion designer Isabel Toledo who is described as "a designer's designer." Isabel is admired for her experimental techniques and unique vision of wearable American sportswear: A section of the exhibit entitled "Origami," a current runway trend, shows sculptural elements of her garments while another grouping described as “Liquid Architecture” displays jersey dresses.


Many may be familiar with the wonderful Nordstrom store advertisements in fashion magazines, all drawn and executed by Isabel’s husband Ruben Toledo. This exhibit is wallpapered with his fashion sketches. Isabel describes her role in her close collaboration with Ruben as that of just a “seamstress” and Ruben as the “artist/illustrator.” An example of their process, she explained, is that sometimes she articulates a design vision of which he renders a sketch. The sketch above is a portrait of Isabel by Ruben.

As Isabel stated to the museum's director, Dr. Valerie Steele:

I really love the technique of sewing more than anything else…the seamstress is the one who knows fashion from the inside! That's the art form really, not fashion design, but the technique of how it's done.
I find it refreshing for a designer to discuss the technical art of sewing. As portrayed in Bravo TV’s The Fashion Show, too many design contestants whine that sewing is so hard and that they see themselves as visionaries not seamstresses. Their scariest assignment was to dress real women!!! Kudos to Isabel who insists that she does not "want to be radical," and finds that "weird is not smart," and yet creates stunning, innovatively constructed garments.

This small museum’s exhibits are always free and this show is on now through September 26, 2009. Click here for more details.
- Talita for Fairywallah