Japanese fashion designer Nozomi Ishiguro
fluoro spoke to Japanese fashion designer Nozomi Ishiguro about the influence of his time at COMME des GARÇONS and his ability to infuse a political message within the designs of his Haute Couture SS14 collection.
The 12-year period working at COMME des GARÇONS during the 1980s and 90s shaped Isiguro’s introduction to the fashion industry, forming his only career experience before beginning his own brand. Ishiguro emphasised that he wanted to “remember the experience and be particular about it,” allowing it to continue to influence his work today.
Starting his own brand in 1998 saw the creation of a Haute Couture collection and a diffusion line each season. His diffusion line, ‘Tambourine’ was named after the musical instrument. “The tambourine has an immense possibility depending on the performance. I wanted to put this image on this line,” he says.
In a unique approach, Ishiguro opted to present his Haute Couture SS14 and Tambourine SS14 collections together, under the same name. Labelling the collections ‘Rendered ignorant by comfort’ his choice to present them together creates a strong message and represents a desire “to emphasise the theme” he says.
Ishiguro’s Haute Couture SS14 collection in particular brings to light, a strong political context. “We haven’t proceeded to find a solution yet to the problem of the radioactivity caused by the tragic accident of the nuclear power plant,” he says, “But people ignore the major issue, such as a nuclear power plant, the revision of the constitution, TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), the tax increase and Okinawa.”
“We are chasing an idle life in spite of having a lot of problems,” a phrase which relates quite closely to the collection’s title. He highlights the connection to America as seeing “the Star-Spangled Banner behind these problems, even 68 years passed after the war.”
Ishiguro’s collections has been displayed in various exhibitions of Japanese fashion design globally, including the Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea and Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. He has also previously collaborated with Control Bear on a range of products and custom designed bears, which are available at Paris concept store Colette.
—
Subscribe to fluoroNotice here.
