Fashion brand MAME KUROGOUCHI presented the Spring Summer 2023 Womenswear Collection, with a show, held on September 27th during the ongoing Paris Fashion Week. For this season, designer finds inspiration in the extensive history and culture surrounding traditional bamboo baskets, an item which has become an intimate part of everyday Japanese living. The collection explores the varied weaving techniques developed throughout the evolution of bamboo baskets as well as the equilibrium within the bamboo itself of tranquillity, force, and tension.
SPRING SUMMER 2023 COLLECTIONS
Throughout the multitude of artists and creations discovered, Kurogouchi was strongly drawn into the life and works of Iizuka Rōkansai (1890-1958). Iizuka’s reimagining of the mingu, an item which was developed as an everyday tool, with highly sophisticated techniques rewrote the code of bamboo crafts of the era. “I marvel at Rōkansai’s ability of conceiving new forms based on tradition while at the same time pushing the boundaries of it with his individual ability and delicate attention to daily life” Kurogouchi suggests. Rōkansai’s signature techniques such as bundled-plait is reinterpreted extensively throughout the knitwear items, and the rhythm of the delicate weaving blended with the groove of daring curves and bold spacing of this style reverberate the basso continuo of the entire collection. – from Mame Kurogouchi
The brand’s signature embroidery and jacquard expressing a bamboo forest are combined with a luxurious sheerness in lightweight willow silk jacquard and silk organdy pieces to convey the dignified beauty of bamboo as if the wearer is enveloped in the wind blowing through the forest. Bamboo beads, first created in Oita, Japan prior to WWII, have been reproduced in a gradient dye specifically for the collection. The beads were then woven into unique macrame dress, vest, and skirt. Cord embroidery, an iconic staple of Mame Kurogouchi, arrives to its most delicate expression to-date; crafted in a structured silhouette with a fine cord recalling the shape of the bamboo baskets. A “Sakiori” rag-weave jacket crafted using an assortment of fabrics with a rounded, three dimensional silhouette features unique ceramic toggle buttons hand-made by Kurogouchi in collaboration with artist Ryohei Yamamoto and Yuki Hirakura, a mastermind behind Komononari Kiln in Arita. This ardent devotion to detail can be seen in each and every item within the collection. Piping finish on pockets invoke thoughts of basket rims while threads dyed uneven are woven to create a pattern reminiscent of the most classic of bamboo basket weaves, mutsume-ami, in a silk cotton jacquard pieces, elevating the pattern beyond that of the original basket weave expression. – from the brand
