The 1980s Japanese Designer: Yohji Yamamoto vs Rei Kawakubo
Wong 1/13
Valerie Steele (2000, pp.121) states, “The 1980s were characterized by a pronounced emphasis on physical fitness, which had a significant impact on the culture of fashion”. 1980s fashion is obsessed with the body. We see evidences of how designers rethink the shape of women’s body in power dressing, the Madonna look or Azzedine Alaia’s body reveal dresses. In contrast to these loud, dazzling 80s norms, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto share the same point of view to propose a new geography of the body and move away from the conventional. This new geography of the body was known as the deconstructionism. In fashion, deconstructionism rejects customary rules and breaks all conventions. It questions aesthetic norms about bodily proportion and the criteria of beauty, emphasizes the adding on details and garment elements, or discovery of, an irrational moment that shock the acceptance of the public, and reveals the processes of tailoring in clothing. Design elements in a garment such as shape and constructions are more important than colors. This deconstructionism process determines Kawakubo and Yamamoto’s designs in the 80s and this influence their identity as an ‘anti-fashion’ designer.
Rei Kawakubo was dramatically influenced by the western perspective on body adornment and the meaning of clothes, as well as the Japanese conception of what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated society. Kawakubo’s mission has been from the outset to create forms that no one has ever seen before and to produce optical stimulus that are completely contrary Wong 2/13
to our normal modes of perception. For her 1997 collection (figure 1, thefashionspot.com), she created clothes with asymmetrical bulges and bumps, which created a fictitious body and presented themselves as sculptures in motion. This collection was a shock at this period of time due to it radical ideas of adding lumps on various parts of
Valerie Steele (2000, pp.121) states, “The 1980s were characterized by a pronounced emphasis on physical fitness, which had a significant impact on the culture of fashion”. 1980s fashion is obsessed with the body. We see evidences of how designers rethink the shape of women’s body in power dressing, the Madonna look or Azzedine Alaia’s body reveal dresses. In contrast to these loud, dazzling 80s norms, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto share the same point of view to propose a new geography of the body and move away from the conventional. This new geography of the body was known as the deconstructionism. In fashion, deconstructionism rejects customary rules and breaks all conventions. It questions aesthetic norms about bodily proportion and the criteria of beauty, emphasizes the adding on details and garment elements, or discovery of, an irrational moment that shock the acceptance of the public, and reveals the processes of tailoring in clothing. Design elements in a garment such as shape and constructions are more important than colors. This deconstructionism process determines Kawakubo and Yamamoto’s designs in the 80s and this influence their identity as an ‘anti-fashion’ designer.
Rei Kawakubo was dramatically influenced by the western perspective on body adornment and the meaning of clothes, as well as the Japanese conception of what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated society. Kawakubo’s mission has been from the outset to create forms that no one has ever seen before and to produce optical stimulus that are completely contrary Wong 2/13
to our normal modes of perception. For her 1997 collection (figure 1, thefashionspot.com), she created clothes with asymmetrical bulges and bumps, which created a fictitious body and presented themselves as sculptures in motion. This collection was a shock at this period of time due to it radical ideas of adding lumps on various parts of
References: Figure 1: thefashionspot, 2008. Comme des Garçons: Lump and Bump collection S/S 97. [Online] (Updated 15 March 2008) Available at: Figure 2: Noh Way, 2009. WHERE WAS PAT CLEVERLAND. [Online] (Updated 06 May 2009) Available at: Figure 3: Fashion Lifestyle Magazine, issue 14, 2008. JAPANESE LEGEND FOR THE COSTUME. [Online] (Updated September 2008) Available at: Wong 12/13 Figure 4 & 5: style.com, 2007 [Accessed 21 September 2010] Figure 6: style.com, 2006 [Accessed 21 September 2010] Figure 7: style.com, 2010 [Accessed 21 September 2010] Figure 8: style.com, 2010 Bibliography Boudot, F., ed., 2005 Brenton, J., ed., 1998. Comme des Garçons. London: Thames & Hudson. Fukai, A., ed., 2002. Fashion: A History from 18th to the 20th century. Koln: Taschen. Jones, T., ed., 2005. Fashion Now 2. Cologne: Taschen. Welters, L. & Lillethun, A. eds., 2007. The Fashion Reader. Oxford: Berg, pp.77. Shimizu, S. & NHK. eds., 2005. Unlimited: Comme des Garçons. Japan: Heibonsha. Steel, V., 2000. Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now. New York: Schriberner/ Thomson.