Comprehensive survey of avant-garde Japanese fashion at the Barbican Centre. The show includes work by Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe (the techno-couturier) and Jun Takahashi. Plus the new generation of radical designers including Tao Kurihara, Fumito Ganryu, Matohu, Akira Naka, Mina Perhonen and Mintdesigns.
From the early 80’s designers experimented with ideas of deconstruction and reconstruction to redefine the parameters of what couture could be. They worked on form, traditional and industrial processes, materials, brand and communication. The approach was extended by subsequent generations of Japanese and international designers including Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen.
