below is my final year 12 Modern History Assignment..it was verrrry last-minute unfortunately; the most rushed assignment that i'd ever done. the workload at that time + my horrendous time management proved unsightly in collaboration.
in reading back over this, i've realised just the extent of how vague and non-specific that it is..i wish i had been able to double the word limit in order to give more particulars of the examples provided within the points that i was trying to put across, or should have at least added some imagery at intervals to visually describe what i was trying to discuss.
it repeats itself a fair bit, i think, and the ending is so abrupt and lazy of me, obviously shows just how rushed i had been when writing this.
but i'll try to justify/evaluate no more, good luck:
'THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL’
-Eastern Designers That Have Been of the Most Influence within Western and European Fashion
the most successful fashion designers over the course of European fashion history (the head of global fashion), have been those that have sought to innovate and because of this, are often those of eclectic character.
there is potential for great power and immense social dominance to be obtained by any person or figure within history that can or has, more or less, made history through their original and creative influence. that is, through means of a single-handed alteration of a society’s view on an issue or traditional aspect of their history and culture; a social aspect that had beforehand had a lasting reputation or stigma attached to it (prior to that person’s presence and resulting influential manipulation).
particularly in times of such recession and financial limitation as at present, it is the arts that simultaneously seem to suffer the most, as well as to produce the most amazing and original, emotive works. after all, as long as a medium upon which art can be created and new elements and techniques of fashion, in particular, are able to be designed, art can and will survive. in difficult times, the artists simply have to find new ways of regrouping and recreating under the restricted circumstance and it is this forced necessity for change that does not at all hinder the creative process, but instead catalytically speeds it up; in doing so creating the innovation. thus, the best inventions are said to be those born from necessity.
within the international fashion industry, two major sectors exist. the French term ‘haute couture’ translates quite literally to ‘high fashion’; garments of a somewhat exclusive and custom-fitted nature. on the other end of the scale there exists ‘prêt-à-porter’ seasonal clothing shows; which is a form of fashion, of similar French background, that involves and consists of ‘ready-to-wear’ collections and separate pieces of a more purchasable, wearable, and mass-produced nature.
during the 1970s and 1980s, European fashion was taken by storm by a number of creative-minded, unconventional Japanese designers. Kenzo Takada was the very first of this group to make his mark in Paris, and so has had a lasting effect upon the industry through the way in which he paved the way for other young Eastern designers to closely follow suit. although the Western conventions that he did keep within his designs were only to be later ignored almost entirely by the ‘big three’ avant-garde Japanese designers; Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, it was Kenzo who first led the way and allowed other Japanese designers to similarly travel to Paris to work and make an international name for themselves. because of this, the four most influential Japanese designers within Western fashion history have been Kenzo, for being the first Japanese designer to arrive upon the Parisian fashion scene, alongside Rei Kawakubo of the label and fame of Comme des Garçons, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto…all of which have had similar though distinctly differing views regarding both the concept of fashion as well as that of beauty. through their designs, these four figures broke the assumed Western traditions and ideals that had formerly been in place, and truly opened an entirely new realm within fashion. they allowed a creative and unorthodox world to be unlocked, in which a great number of designers have since, internationally, whole-heartedly embraced and too become a part of.
the very early 1970s involved many major milestones for fashion designer, Kenzo Takada. he was the very first Japanese, or in fact, Eastern, figure to become officially recognised as a worthy and talented design professional within the European fashion industry. after studying at the renowned Bunka School of Fashion in Tokyo, Takada (today identified by his label name and moniker, ‘Kenzo’), was one of the very first male students to study and successfully graduate at the institute.
he has had a major contribution to the libertine attitude of fashion design that is today, for the most part, undervalued and largely taken for granted.
with a sudden emergence onto the Parisian prêt-à-porter scene, Kenzo almost immediately became known to be a ‘magician of colour’ (Sainderichinn, 1998, p17) as he mixed prints and hues that had never before been considered to exist simultaneously. his use of dissonant patterns within the one garment was that of a concept that no Western designer had ever before considered or imagined. although, this concept and technique of fabric organisation was at first only due to the initial financial hardship that he endured, and as a result had had to collect the fabrics that he used from sales and markets.
after his first collection in June of 1970, one of his designs (that included an age-old Japanese stitching technique; ‘Sashiko’), graced the cover of what was at that time one of the most largely emulated and popular fashion publications, Elle magazine. this led to the creation of a lasting reputation for the young designer, although his ethnicity did also, initially, play a major role within his sudden fame and overnight success. it must be noted, however, that immediately after this recognition of Kenzo’s somewhat controversial ethnicity, the creative resourcefulness of his designs and techniques that he employed became to be the true reason behind his rapid and ongoing success.
despite the illustrious fusing of varying ethnic aesthetics and forms within his work, Kenzo persistently stuck to his traditional Japanese roots in drawing direct inspiration from the silhouette of the kimono upon a number of occasions. this is most evident within his very first collection in which he made clear use of square forms and straight lines, as was unseen within Parisian fashion within that era.
additionally, Kenzo became soon renowned for his fondness of traditional concept and folklore-inspired designs; rather than that of the sexualised and largely concept-less, figure-hugging designs that were at their highest peak at the time that he swiftly broke away from the social norms to create his own style of recognisable design aesthetic.
within two years of his first collection in Paris, Kenzo stated that, ‘when I worked in Japan, it was no good for a designer. You had to follow European fashions,’ (Morris, 1972, p23)
much recognition, therefore, must be handed to Kenzo, as he completely embraced and started a great number of trends that have endured until today. for example, the present and prevalent use of kimono-like sleeves and ‘folklore fashion’; that is, fashion design that is based around a concept or statement, rather than that of simply aesthetic and absolute quality; is all owing to Kenzo’s early motifs and creations.
“it pleases me when people say i have influence. but i am influenced by the world that says i influence it. the world i live in is my influence." (Takada, 1978)
following the economic and industrial boom within Japan in the 1960s, three equally unconventional and nonconformist Japanese fashion designers Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto made their European runway debuts. together they unapologetically took the European fashion couturiers, prêt-à-porter designers and critics alike, by complete surprise, as their collections endeavored to develop a global fashion-fueled presence for Japan as a result.
when they arrived, the Western world was immensely conventional in terms of fashion. the ‘big three’, as they soon became quite aptly dubbed, disrupted this presumed tradition of aesthetic and conceived societal image of ‘beauty’ and perfection.
fellow designer of the avant-garde of both British and Turkish descent, Hussein Chalayan, pointed out that, ‘the most important influence on their work is the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi; a thesis about the beauty of the moment and the actuality of being. it is the magic of being Japanese that could never be understood by anyone but the Japanese themselves’. (O’Flaherty, 2009)
in following Kenzo, Miyake showed his first collection in Paris in 1973, and almost directly after, as did Yamamoto and Kawakubo in 1981.
Miyake, insistent upon the fact that his first-hand childhood witnessing of the bombing of Hiroshima would hinder not his creative spirit or at all smother and out-glow his global reputation, has existed, much like Kawakubo and Yamamoto, a spiritual and soft-spoken man of minimal words.
‘i tried not to be defined by my past. i did not want to be labeled ‘the designer who survived the atomic bomb,’ and therefore i have always avoided questions about Hiroshima. they made me uncomfortable.’ (Miyake, 2009)
Miyake will, next year, celebrate an extensive forty years within the business. he has become renowned to never present a collection or show that is of the usual methods that involve sullen models parading to a collection of thin, front-row celebrities. instead, Miyake delivers collections that highlight the clothing rather than the spectacle of the event. in one instance in Paris, an Issey Miyake show was inclusive or sculptural artworks by a Japanese artist. cloth that was suspended in long strips hung from the ceiling as stylists and designers that work beneath him walked out with rolls of tubed fabric in tow. this was the very first public viewing of his innovation, ‘APOC’ or ‘A Piece of Cloth’, that rely upon the wearer’s intuition and creativity in each individual case.
a leaflet for an APOC Spring/Summer collection in 1994 read, ‘like a magic carpet, when the roll is unfurled, an entire wardrobe is revealed…all that stands between the wearer and their clothing is a pair of scissors by which to free them. the lines of demarcation create a pattern of surface design that in turn becomes structured seams. the wearer need only select and free her choice.’
in turn, Miyake soon after stated that ‘i am always returning back to one piece of cloth – a rectangle – because it is the elementary form in clothing.’
similarly, Miyake’s ‘Pleats Please’ dress was one of complete originality; born of the concept of a dancer’s clothing, of fluidity and allowable movement by means of everyday and easily wearable apparel.
he has been known to raid the closets of traditional and historical looks, in utilising aspects from the kimono’s simple geometric line.
most important, though, is Miyake’s obsession with technology and the production of high-tech fabrics and fibres. he had a philosophy to always look forward within his designs, while all around him designers were turning back. his strict refusal of traditional circular hemlines and other such techniques are what have set Miyake apart from his peers.
it can be seen observed, moreover, that it was the distinct process of shocking with entirely new ideals and fashionable morals that allowed both Kawakubo and Yamamoto’s fashion creations to attract such initial publicity and controversy.
garments were deconstructed, reconstructed and unstructured as a defining statement of direct contrast and antithesis to the preferred body shape and current trends that were essentially in vogue at that point.
the lack of Western heritage democratised the two designers, as they were free of non-Eastern tradition and so were not tied down to any previous historic or social convention; whether that was by subconscious movement or not.
the garments that were produced highlighted androgyny in addition to a major preference for an absence of colour palette in cooperative conjunction with the gender-neutral forms. monochromaticism, asymmetry and baggy, loose-fitting looks were all cleverly constructed, and often as a result gained the titles of ‘post-Hiroshima’ or, similarly, that of ‘Hiroshima chic’, in regard to the garments’ large use of dark colours (and in particular, black) and intellectual truth or morbidity, which were not at all popular or at all in use at the time.
Yohji Yamamoto, a somewhat veteran designer after having spent thirty of thriving and immeasurably significant years within the industry, has been a pioneer of simplistic deconstructionism throughout the second half of the 20th Century.
after setting up his own label in 1970, Yamamoto found himself becoming increasingly intrigued by irregular and alternative proportions. along with Kawakubo, his designs achieved a relatively subtle and sensual nature. he incorporated oversized, flowing fabrics with feminine silhouettes in order to again voice an unfading Japanese sensibility and traditional consciousness. this also ensured that a sense of Western and in particular, Parisian, elegance was retained.
Yamamoto was known to create collections that were seemingly more architectural than wearable and consequently; commercially common. his traditional construction of clothing included layers of fabrics that both revealed and concealed the body, in an opposition that was also, remarkably, harmonious. his monochromatic colour use unified the silhouette of drapery and varying textures while the movement of the fabric existed as a major monumental creative element.
there was an underlying fluidity within the purity of his collections, and since the notoriority of the show that he presented in Paris during 1981; he has gone on to further extend and to influence designers on a seasonal and annual basis.
though, the figure that can be seen to be the most influential Easter designer within the entire Western world of fashion, is Rei Kawakubo; instigator behind the globally successful fashion house, Comme des Garçons. with her theory of ‘body becomes dress becomes body’, and as an anti-fashion designer, Kawakubo burst onto the European fashion scene as a genius of conceptual sculpture and a master of architectural garment assemblage.
she challenged what had beforehand been the presumed societal notion of what the female form should be presented as and understood to be. as one of the leading conceptualist designers during the late 1900s, she was the only female figure of notable futuristic creativity within international fashion during the 20th Century.
her collections have often left onlookers both in awe and in confusion as they find themselves unable to pinpoint an exact emotion or understanding of her looks, largely due to their conceptually threatening and frequently unsettling nature. despite their often shocking assault upon the eye and the senses, however, Comme des Garçons designs are always that of totally unparalleled beauty; slowing revealing themselves to be works of an absolute genius with no repetition, little symmetry and often immense visual abstraction.
Kawakubo used the creation of clothing as a medium to express her challenging of issues such as body shape and image, gender, and sexuality; ‘i don’t want or need to explain (the concept or reasoning behind her designs). i don’t talk too much. clothes are my statement. that is an old Japanese way of thinking. what matters is what you create…comfort, a home. hold back the energy that drives innovation. you need to be hungry, to lack comfort. possessions make you smug. you always see the same things.’
in the Spring/Summer season of ready-to-wear fashion in 1997, Kawakubo introduced with a slight metaphorical smirk, her infamous ‘Bumps’, or ‘Lumps’, collection. it entirely distorted the common form of the human body, and all existed within a colour scheme made up entirely of black – ensuring a trail of controversial criticism and acclaim trailed after her, following the show.
her 1983 show was also described to be one of complete isolation and other-worldly quality to view.
‘their makeup alienating: only a livid blue bruise marked a mouth or an eye socket burnt orange and chrome was blistered across cheekbones and eyebrows, and their hair was as kempt as a scarecrow’s hatch. their clothes, too, seemed in tatters; great flapping coats with frayed edges, covered black and grey cocoons of fabric which were cooped and wrapped around their emaciated bodies.’ (Brampton, 1983)
Kawakubo forged a path of complete originality; inspiring careers out of designers such as current Belgian king of Western avant-garde, Martin Margiela. she designed with no apology or nostalgic reference to past trends; seeing the direct future of fashion.
this blurring of historical, cultural and social aspects of fashion industry upon a global scale, of both Eastern and Western synchronicity, is what has allowed the four designers; Kenzo, Miyake, Kawakubo and Yamamoto, to exist today as the most historically important and culturally influential designers in contemporary history.
