The Love of Couture: Artisanship in Fashion Beyond Time, a legendary cross-era fashion collection created in collaboration between K11 and the world-renowned V&A Museum in the UK, along with the esteemed artistic director Zhang Shuping, can be said to be the most forward-looking fashion event of the year. This exhibition showcases a carefully selected collection of iconic women’s fashion from the history of British and French fashion, chosen by the V&A Museum, presenting the fascinating evolution of custom-made fashion from the Victorian era, Edwardian era, to the 1960s in Europe.
In addition, this exhibition has specially invited 6 fashion designers from Japan, South Korea, China, and Hong Kong to collaborate, revisiting history and drawing inspiration from these collections. With boundless imagination, they will take everyone on a journey of custom-made clothing that transcends time and geographical boundaries.
One of the designers from Japan who has made a name for himself in the fashion industry with his extravagant and dreamy ruffled dresses is Tomo Koizumi. He studied art at Chiba University and during that time, he established his own fashion brand with the same name. Later on, his work caught the attention of Katie Grand, the former editor-in-chief and stylist of LOVE magazine, who discovered him on Instagram and recommended him to designer Marc Jacobs. This led to him holding his 2019 Fall/Winter fashion show at the flagship store of Marc Jacobs on Madison Avenue in New York, which instantly propelled him to fame. His designs have been worn by fashion icons such as Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Bella Hadid. Additionally, the colorful dress worn by Japanese singer Misia at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics was also created by him.
Tomo Koizumi brings new works to this exhibition, a fitted vest jacket paired with his signature colorful layered ruffled hem skirt, made into a voluminous evening gown. He specifically shared with us some design inspiration for this new work.
ZTYLEZ: Share the inspiration for the new designs created for this exhibition.
Tomo Koizumi: The design of the dresses is based on La Syphilde evening gown from the V&A Museum in England in 1837. I think its design is very cute. This time, I deliberately didn’t do much research or have too many conceptual constraints. I didn’t want it to be too complicated. I just wanted to draw inspiration from historical treasures and create beautiful dresses. I referenced its colors and cutting contours and chose tones like apricot and orange, which are less commonly seen in my designs. For this exhibition, I wanted to showcase the evolution of high fashion, so I also used a lot of hand-sewing techniques. I used new techniques on the vest, which I also applied in my new collection launching in February.
ZTYLEZ: You always design colorful dresses with ruffled edges. How did you initially start incorporating this element?
Tomo Koizumi: I have been using ruffled edges for over six years. I initially chose this material because it was easy to find in Tokyo and came in a wide variety, with over a hundred color options. At the time, I thought it was a great material to create new designs and collections. I bought a lot of ruffled edges in different colors. I liked the technique and wanted to create designs that looked more like haute couture.
ZTYLEZ: Who is your inspiration?
Tomo Koizumi: I do have a lot of inspirations, after all, I have been in the fashion design industry for ten years. Inspiration can be many people, it can be anyone. She can be someone on stage, someone in front of the camera, or someone who puts on a dress and brings a performance to everyone.
ZTYLEZ: Please describe your design style in three words.
Tomo Koizumi: Colorful, Big, Fun!
ZTYLEZ: Any new plans?
Tomo Koizumi: I will be launching a brand new collection in Europe in February next year. It will be my first fashion show in Europe and also the first one overseas after the pandemic. I have been working very hard every day for this new collection, and I am very satisfied with it. I hope to convey more positive energy to everyone and I hope you all will pay close attention!
