Throughout the history of fashion quite a few designers have been fascinated by the possibility of transforming one garment into another to offer wearers an opportunity to experiment in a more personal way and get more out of one design piece (think about Italian designer Nanni Strada's creations).
There have also been designers (see Kei Ninomiya) who have been on a quest for innovative "no sewing" solutions and have developed a series of clever strategies to avoid using traditional thread and experiment with more avant-garde alternatives, such as modular systems that allow to secure fabric with studs, a technique that could easily be replicated at home if you had the materials, time, patience and courage to do so.
Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato combined these two obsessions in the garments he has been creating for the last few seasons.
His S/S 18 collection, entitled "Harmonize", tried for example to complement the shape of the human body with a perfectly designed and customised garment, made with different types of upcycled textiles, including airbags and parachutes.
For his Haute Couture S/S 19 collection the designer moved from social revolutions and movements that have the potential of transforming things, including the gilets jaunes.
Nakazato took used fabrics and objects, dismembered and sectioned them and then proceeded to put them back together.
The main challenge was avoiding using traditional threads, so he employed a new production system named Type-1.
The system reunites digital fabrication and artisanal techniques: fabrics (in the case of this collection from pre-existing garments and objects) are laser-cut and reduced to small manageable pieces that are then anchored one to the other via plastic or metal buttons.
The technique behind the collection comes from Japanese kimonos, traditionally made with rectangular pieces of fabrics that allow a person to alter, recreate and wear them throughout the decades.
Yet the designer added a story to the technique: eight different people took a garment or an object that meant a lot to them and Nakazato proceeded to turn it into something wearable.
Among the people included there was a widow who turned her husband’s paintings into dresses, while a child's plush toys were turned into a super kawaii garment.
This process allows wearers to extend the lifetime of a piece, but also to incorporate into a garment elements that are very personal, customising them, and adding to a design personal stories, memories and experiences (and it is proved that clothes, once linked with specific memories, can have a therapeuthic value, apart form encouraging people to keep their clothes rather than throwing them out after less than 6 months...).
The results for this collection looked basic in some cases, in others the final effect was more varied, especially when you realised the same piece could look entirely different once some panels were shifter around, while the dotted lines of the Type-1 rivets turned into disctinctive decorative elements with a punk edge about them.
The pieces presented during Paris Haute Couture Week were just a way to show people that a new fashion ecosystem is possible and an innovative way to create individually-designed sustainable clothes may be the path to produce less, recycle more and get a healthy dose of fashion (all the pieces as you may guessm are instantly repairable, since you just need to replace a panel and you will get a new shirt or dress).
You like the technique and would like to experiment with it but don't have Yuima Nakazato's Type-1 rivets and laser-cutting machines? Well, try plastic snap buttons: yes, like the Enduro bike wheel skins suggested in yesterday's post they represent a cheap option, but at least you will learn experimenting with the technique and attempt to create your own personal prêt-à-couture garment by disassembling and reassembling what you have in your wardrobe.
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