New York Fashion Week kicked off last Friday with a presentation by Tomo Koizumi. As you may remember, the Japanese costume designer went to New York the first time seven months ago, after stylist and LOVE magazine editor Katie Grand was introduced to his work via Giles Deacon and started following the young talent on Instagram.
Koizumi became instantly famous thanks to his visually striking huge and colourful organza confections, characterised by giant volumes, high density clusters of fabrics and multiple shades. The designer often stated in interviews he doesn't conceive his gowns as commercial fashion, but as costumes and this statement was confirmed by the latest presentation.
For his new collection he returned to Marc Jacobs's atelier where he worked on his first collection and to Jacobs's Madison Avenue store for the show. This time he edited his collection from 26 to 7 designs that were modelled by one girl, Ariel Nicholson.
Hair piled up in a spiky cone (courtesy of Guido Palau) matched with a Liquid Sky-meets-Cinzia Ruggeri circa 1982 make-up by Pat McGrath and wearing a black bodysuit, the 18-year-old trans model dressed and undressed in the 7 gowns, twirling, making faces and gasping at the people taking pictures.
Koizumi remained loyal to his massively outlandish confections made out of hundreds of metres of ruffled Japanese polyester organza in rainbow ombré shades backed by a cloth lining, adding one zipper for practicality and cascades of bows for that over decorative touch that also symbolised a sort of gift that he was giving back to the people who helped his dream come true.
There was just one variation compared to the previous presentation: his silhouettes seemed to have become even more exaggerated to the point that, in some cases Nicholson, struggled to put the designs on, even though she was surrounded by efficient helpers in black bodysuits reminiscent of ninjas or maybe of Bunraku puppet masters.
Sleeves became impossible to manage, swallowing arms and hands, turning in some cases into massive fluffy tentacles. The designs looked mesmerising when Nicholson moved, making you realise these pieces would look more intriguing on dancers, performers or fashionably fierce singers à la Lady Gaga (Koizumi actually created a design for her a couple of years ago when she visited Japan) or Björk.
The members of the audience looking on from the three floors of Marc Jacobs' store were enthralled, yet the performance made you think. If these designs do not have any connection with commercial fashion (mind you, you can buy at the store limited editions of Marc Jacobs' T-shirts designed with Hey Reilly in 2018 featuring Lady Liberty smiling embellished with organza ruffles on the sleeves, as seen on Koizumi's runway in February), but are mainly created to be used as one-off Haute Couture costumes that can bring joy, as their creator claims, runways to present real clothes may have become simply redundant.
In the past grand fashion spectacles were supposed to feature some wearable garments or were used to visually show the themes that would then inform the garments you may see in a showroom.
Now the cocktails, performances, exhibitions, endless fun parties and immersive experiences during the various fashion weeks are not organised just to sell some products, but they are mainly produced to be promptly turned into Instagram posts or stories (possibly linked to themes such as inclusivity, sustainability, positivity and optimism...) that you can digest and forget in 24 hours.
As things stand, Koizumi's vocabulary is a bit restricted and this limits his creation of a more robust and varied narrative, but, at the same time, his pieces perfectly represent the times we are living in.
Fashion mirrors indeed the society in which it develops and Koizumi's monumental gowns are the product of our collective image-led culture. His fun joyful and frilly organza bombs are not mere garments, but props that can be used to create a magnificent picture that can distract ourselves from the current global cultural and political climate.
It is impossible to deny these pieces have great visual impact on Instagram and they put a smile on your face, but, hopefully Koizumi will be allowed to learn, grow up and add to his repertoire as months and years pass (after all, he has added black and white to his rainbow palette, so something may be evolving...), avoiding in this way to be a one trick organza ruffle pony that will be abandoned by the industry in six months' time. After all, in the great kaleidoscope of fashion, there's nothing sadder than seeing a young designer's colourful dreams being shattered.
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