Unfinished textiles ¡ª the exposed lines of 12,000 unwoven warp yarns in a panel of jacquard, or sheets of speckled paper from an experimental study in washi ¡ª are not what you would expect to find displayed inside a clothing store.
Yet these showpieces of exhibitions ¡°Tadanori Yokoo Issey Miyake¡± at Issey Miyake Kyoto: Kura Gallery and ¡°Yoshihisa Tanaka ¡Á Tokyo Design Studio cooperative research vol.01¡± at T-House New Balance, Tokyo, reveal a lot about the evolution of fashion and its relationship with art.
Today, art investment and in-store galleries are de rigueur for heavyweight fashion houses, as is commissioning artists for limited edition collections. Visually, the results can be extraordinary ¡ª paintings faithfully replicated on fabrics, colors and textures inspired by artists¡¯ palettes, even garment shapes informed by art movements. Dig a little deeper, though, and there are other innovations beneath the glamour.
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