In the midst of creating last season’s collection -Embrace- Maiko Kurogouchi began to shift focus that she, herself, was embraced by her surrounding environment. Her attention was subtly directed towards objects that were ‘embracing’ a variety of objects, from plastic bags, blue nets used to protect crops from crows, to souvenir wrappings. She soon came to realize that humans are embraced in their daily lives. At a visit to the Soba shop, a hand towel is given on a wooden tray, followed by a cup covered in bamboo basket. The basket itself, woven by bamboo, portraying a different kind of ‘embrace’.

The book inspiring last season’s collection, ‘The Art of Wrapping’ by Hideyuki Oka, also had traditional baskets woven for different usages. There was beauty in the transformation for each basket, changing its form to wrap objects, finding a connection to a dress worn by a human body. Like a woven basket, the comfort and warmth when embracing oneself, was the starting point in designing this season’s collection.

‘The Story by Mame Kurogouchi’ will feature 7 behind the scene stories with photographs on the creation of 2020 AW Collection – Embracing.

The Story by Mame Kurogouchi is written by Yumiko Sakuma and photography by Yuichiro Noda.