Stylized Sculpture at the Asian Art Museum

Photo by Hiroshi Sugimoto of a Junya Watanabe dress for Comme des Garcon, taken from the Asian Art Museum website.

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to preview the Asian Art Museum's exhibit of Japanese fashion designers, Stylized Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Fashion from the Kyoto Costume Institute. Opening tomorrow, this exhibition is a departure for the Asian Art Museum, who hasn't (until now) done an exhibition of clothes/ costume. I'm knowledgeable about previous AAM exhibits, being a member (and having worked there), so believe me when I say they've done a great job of displaying the items to their best advantage. If you're able to have an empty gallery experience, consider how they display the couture - one room had pleated colored frocks on one side of an L-shape, the other side simpler white garments - along with the mastery of the individual garments.

From the press release:

In conceiving of Stylized Sculpture, Sugimoto states that he “looks at the human body and the man-made skins that envelop it as contemporary sculpture. Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, and other Japanese designers have defiantly challenged the elegance of European mainstream fashion, vastly expanding the very concept of this artificial skin … and they have incarnated these creations with textures, colors, and shapes worthy of definition as sculpture.”

Later I'll upload photos of some of the attendees. If you're a local or planning to pass through in the next few months - Go.