Crazy clothes and acid full of soul and crazy hip…
Among the items on display are the pair of clogs below worn by David for the above Sukita photo shoot, though I don’t recall him wearing them any other time.
Here’s a bit from the museum’s site…
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Kansai Yamamoto (born 1944), one of the founding fathers of Japanese contemporary fashion, is best known for his work of the 1970s and 1980s. Inspired by the colorful art of Japan?s Momoyama period (1568?1615) and traditional Kabuki theater, his exuberant designs contrast with the Zen-like simplicity and deconstructed silhouettes favored today by designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, and Issey Miyake.
Kansai opened his first boutique in Tokyo in 1968 and eventually expanded worldwide. His collections debuted in the United States in 1971 at Hess?s in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a department store known for its controversial fashion shows of American and European styles selected for their potential to influence ready-to-wear clothing designs. (Rudy Gernreich?s topless bathing suit was first modeled at Hess?s in 1964.) That same year Kansai became the first Japanese designer to show in London, where his clothing was seen by musician David Bowie; Bowie later commissioned Kansai to create the wardrobe for his Ziggy Stardust stage persona. The designer was again featured in Hess?s showing of Asian trendsetting fashions for fall/winter 1973 at One World Trade Center in New York. All of the Kansai ensembles on view in this gallery were modeled at the New York event; several were shown earlier in London.
Since his last collection for fall/winter 1992, Kansai has lent his name to licensed products ranging from eyeglasses to tableware. His fashion show spectaculars have become the framework for the grand Kansai Super Shows, the first of which was held in Moscow?s Red Square in 1993. Others held since in Japan, Vietnam, India, and Berlin have drawn audiences in the hundreds of thousands.
Kansai recently returned to fashion as a designer of traditional Japanese garments in a contemporary idiom including kimono (2004) and Hanten festival?inspired coats (2007). He continues to produce Super Shows as part of a larger initiative to invigorate the arts in Japan and serves as a government advisor on tourism and cultural affairs.
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See the
Check out the brilliant red wigs, the woodland creature outfit and the platform boots the latter of which DB had copies made, albeit with reversed colours.
There’s also some great footage of Kabuki/Noh theatre and I’ll leave you with the description of another device which may sound familiar to you…
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Yamamoto utilizes the device of kuroko, stagehands wearing all black to conduct the models to walk forward, or begin spinning to show off a particular piece. They also assist with hayagawari, or quick costume change. Hikinuki or bukkaeri occurs when costumes are layered over another and the stage hand pulls one off to reveal another.
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