YUIMA NAKAZATO

EPHEMERAL ARMORS
Yuima Nakazato talks to Filep Motwary

Yuima, you were born to a sculptor father and a jeweller mother. How did your parents influence your view of the world?

My parents have been very creative, as they would make everything themselves, from clothing to even building the house we lived in. My father spent more than 30 years building our home. So, the values of craftsmanship were part of my upbringing and the lifestyle we led along with the interiors we lived in, from chairs to tables and so on. Art was unavoidable, too; however, we didn’t understand our lifestyle as something special; this is how we lived, naturally. Today, as an adult, my view of life is very similar to my parents’: I am always creating something to express a certain feeling, to fulfil a certain need or even just to express myself.
My parents had a huge influence on me! Ever since I was a little boy I drew, always trying to create something – and I enjoyed every step of it.

Did you understand this as a child, that this creativity of your parents was sort of what enabled you to be creative yourself? Or was it something that you realised at a later age?

It was difficult for me to understand what they were doing, or how different they were from my friends’ parents, for example. This was something that I discovered gradually. I remember having a difficulty in describing my parents to my friends, as they really had a very different lifestyle and an entirely different point of view about life. Especially during my high-school days, I avoided saying too much. It was as if I was living in two separate worlds, the one at school and the one at home. Fashion came as the link to connect these two opposite worlds, and it worked! Certain types of clothes that I would choose to wear made me feel at ease with my friends and my parents. These garments offered protection and also allowed me to connect socially and mentally.

So, when was the moment that you actually appreciated your parents? How much time did it take you to realise how lucky you were to be born in such an environment?

Being raised in the countryside of Tokyo with parents who were so creative wasn’t easy.
I wanted to live a common life or, how to say, a more normal, usual life, so I was hiding my family’s reality because I couldn’t find the right words to explain it to my school circles. I was trying to be as invisible as possible up until I was around 17 or 18. This suddenly changed, as friends changed and I came closer to people who liked the arts, philosophy and had a similar perspective about life.

Tell me more about those early years of creativity.

During my high school days, I started wearing designer clothes. I would buy them from second-hand stores and change them around, tighten the sleeves, change their length and so on. Women’s clothes were my favourite, although they were difficult to fit into because of their sizes, yet I liked them much more than I liked menswear. The decorations they had and their design variety appealed to me much more. And because in Japan we usually need to wear uniforms to go to school, I chose a school that required none, simply because I liked to play with fashion. Freedom in dressing was essential to me. Once, during the school festivities, I organised a small fashion show! I remember I bought so many black kimonos from second-hand shops – as the kimono is almost like a rectangle shape which gives you the feeling that the textile is both the garment and the clothing! I twisted them, wore them upside down, draped them and made, like, five or six dresses! This was for me a very important moment as I later showed them as my portfolio at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where I went to study and got accepted!

I wonder, how has the Belgian view of fashion influenced your Japanese DNA?

At first it was quite difficult because of the language barrier! I remember when I wanted to do some research on the historical costumes, their pattern and textiles. Everything was written in either French or Dutch. Not in English. It was really hard. My classmates were really fast to learn and some of them helped me to get some samples of traditional clothing from their grandmothers, some lace underwear, really cool stuff. That was the moment I started to understand and compare my origin to the West and to point out the differences in culture and history.
It was interesting to be in a class with people that came from all parts of the world, wanting to work in fashion, like I did! We were so close but there was also a cultural distance between us. The following year my focus was on ethnic costume. Naturally it wasn’t difficult to learn about the Japanese kimono because I could ask my mother or grandmother. This is how I began to value the history and culture of each country and this helped me understand how everything today is a mix of them all.
You know, the essence of fashion has come from the western cultures. I didn’t realise it before I moved to Europe.

What are your earliest memories of Japan?

I think the earliest memory is at elementary school. I got a very nice gift from my cousin, a Ralph Lauren jacket and I wore it to school and my classmates were very impressed, they recognized the difference. It was my introduction to the meaning of fashion.
I believe that when you wear something nice, people treat you differently. The attitude is different. This was a moment of clarity about the importance of fashion in a person’s social and human life as a whole. Ever since that experience, I always
try to wear something special.

You presented your first collection eight years ago in Paris. I remember the collection well, because at the time I was curating an exhibition, I wanted to have these clothes, but for some reason it didn’t happen. How has your brand changed since then? Where is Yuima Nagazato today?

After graduating from Antwerp I got my first big opportunity to design costumes for a great artist. And this, for me, was truly life changing as it taught me the importance of following a creative process through a dialogue between me and the wearer, who was very happy with my design at the end. Mass produced clothes don’t give you this experience, as there you only design to sell as much as possible. There’s something primitive in the process of made-to-measure fashion. Especially now, fashion has become very complicated, no?

May I ask about your aesthetic or your creative obsessions? When you create a collection, what are the elements that you always return to or you always use since the very beginning, until now?

The world and its social issues will always be my starting point! For example, the new technologies, the latest materials, the kind of tools that are helpful in finding solutions is what interests me the most. I try to see as much as possible what’s happening in the world and to use my intuition and trust where my feelings are going. If I feel sad or angry about something or happy, it’s automatically reflected in my design.

Sustainability is a core value of your brand while your work contributes to a more environmentally friendly fashion. How do you plan to continue your sustainable practice in the future?

When I try to research and think about this, frankly it gets more and more complicated for me. I sometimes lose my answers or fail to find the right answers because “right” and “wrong” are constantly changing, it becomes more abstract. This is how I see sustainability and the environmental issues. We need to continue trying to resolve them, to find solutions, or at least what would be the best solutions for now, for tomorrow. This is all I can say for now. It’s a very complex issue.

However, Yuima, do you feel some responsibility in enforcing the idea of sustainability?

I try to use the right materials as my very first step. Secondly, I try to use laboratory and cutting-edge techniques such as the dry frame technology with Epson, with whom we have concluded a partnership agreement; we will seek to transform the fashion industry by reducing the environmental impact of clothing production, and implement an optimum mode of production that can provide more personalised designs than the conventional method of mass-producing the same designs. To realise the goal, we will jointly research and develop future technology together. It’s still a laboratory process rather than a technique, but it’s a very innovative idea! Working in Haute Couture allows me to explain to my clients directly the state the world is in and what can be done about these issues the industry is facing. Also, when the work is presented in museums, for example, it allows the visitor to learn more about what we are trying to do. It’s very early to say anything more, but there is a lot of potential. And I believe this technology might change the future.

It’s much more interesting, much more humane, this personal explanation of sustainable fashion directly to the client. I think it’s fantastic.

Yes. You can also pass the message on through a fashion show, by inspiring the audience, the people that follow you. Sometimes we need to create very edgy designs because we need to gain the attention of the media. Sometimes people might not understand because fashion moves too fast, but it’s important to feed the audience with inspiration.
What is now unknown or new may be the norm in 50 years from now. Haute Couture encourages one to dream without borders as it is limitless. I am very passionate about my profession as it can be nonverbal, language-less and still we are able to communicate through designs from all over the world. For me, it’s important.

Are you in good contact with other Japanese designers? You’re also very different from one another, but you all sort of think of the future in a very personal way…

Unfortunately, we do not really have any contact! Of course, we know one another but strangely enough, we keep a certain distance. I don’t know why.

Is there a fashion federation in Tokyo? Because we hardly know anything about it in Europe or the US for example.

There are so many reasons, starting with the fact that there’s far too many designers and there’s no filter. Students show their work alongside the established or very old fashion houses. It’s perhaps difficult to find something that is truly strong and distinguish it from the rest. The situation is not very helpful to those with real talent.

I see. Tell me about TYPE-1 and your motto to ‘Wear the Individual’. What are they about?

From very early on I saw potential in Haute Couture and its philosophy, the specialty in one-of-a-kind creations. What constantly intrigues me is the human body itself and how different each body is although it remains the same – two legs, two arms and so on. Contrary to couture, ready-to-wear cannot respect the wearer 100% –or the existence of individuality, for that matter– because it is mass produced. A couturier is respectful to the body and the shape he/she designs for, it’s really about creating the perfect clothing.
Of course, there are limitations as there are limitations in everything. I always try to find solutions through new ways of creating. This is the challenge for me.
The “typhoon” idea, for example, allowed me to customise the same design for different customers without the use of needle or thread, just by replacing the part of the clothing that was needed.
Because the needle and thread are strongly connected to the textile, the fabric, etc., and they are not easy to replace. Clothes do not move but humans do, they move from the moment they are born until they die. They keep changing inside out. Clothes do not change, unless we change them. So, I created this concept to add some dynamism in the clothing I design.

Progress has always been associated with industrialisation or new technologies as opposed to manual work, which you have mentioned very often in our conversation. Do you think that handiwork and crafts can continue to be elements of the world’s evolution? Can we still use them in the future?

Handicraft is very important to me because I enjoy it! It makes me happy. Also, as a wearer, you feel it when something is made by hand. Unfortunately, this type of luxury is slowly fading and we need to preserve it as much as we can, only because it reflects humanity, who we really are.
Craftsmanship takes a lot of time and it is rather expensive to maintain. We can surely do this! Back then craft was part of life, an element of survival and being and not of enjoyment.
In Japan, our lifestyle and philosophy are very different. The lower class created kimonos themselves using the Japanese “boro” patchwork technique, because at the time kimonos were so expensive, and they would wear them from generation to generation. Today, the “boro” technique is so expensive that it’s an excess. Now, lifestyles are completely different and we are unable to repeat things like the “boro” with the same mindset. It’s a fact that the more attention you pay in the creation of a garment, even when you add a small embroidery to it, the more you are creating something very special already. We can definitely learn from our past.

What about artificial intelligence? What are your thoughts about it? Do you find it challenging? Is it something that you’re using?

Honestly speaking, I’m not really interested in it. I don’t know how I will feel in the future, but I’m more into the traditional way of making fashion. AI is not helping much in the issues I come across when creating a collection.

And you like to play with the outline of the body, and sometimes you take it to extremes. Why do we keep on redefining the body across the centuries?

These days, I’m more and more interested in the Japanese kimono because it reflects a completely different body approach, a relationship with the body. The kimono compared to the western way of tailoring is a magnificent subject. A kimono is just a square shape of the pattern while the human body is a completely different shape, it’s not square. There are so many mysterious phenomena happening between them, the moment a kimono is worn it creates new shapes and movement. The square shape never fits the human body yet everybody is able to wear it: kids, adults and all the different body shapes can be wrapped in the square shape of the kimono. And there are no limitations to finding a new shape or new way of draping it. It’s a very interesting pattern.
Back to your question, the environment keeps on roaring and changing very dynamically today. The shape has to follow these changes! A fashion designer has to catch the moment and the essence of now!

In your opinion, has this always been the case? The clothes reflect the times we’re in?

Yes, definitely! Because when I look at history, many designers brought change and opened the door to freedom. Trousers for women, high heels, and so on. These very small actions gave us a new perspective, and Paris has offered many of these examples. This is why I want to show my work there before anywhere else.

What about the past? What role has the past in what you do? Do you find it charming at all or not?

The past is a vital source of inspiration. Technology is not able to exist without it. When I start researching, I always go backwards, thousands of years, to see and try to envision the fashions of the future. In Japan, we adopted the western style only 150 years ago, which was a complete change as before we wore only kimonos! Our vision was completely different before that. About 60 years ago we were still making clothes ourselves. Each home had a sewing machine but now, no one makes clothes in Japan. People go and buy them! It’s very interesting to compare the past and the future.

What about more simple things like romance and love? How do you respond creatively to those terms?

When I see my friends or family in my clothes, I feel very happy. I get emotional.