Only seven years ago, the Barbican Centre was voted the capital’s ugliest building in a poll by ad agency Grey London. Although its concrete exterior and harsh brutalist lines may not exactly be welcoming, the arts centre’s interior is flexible enough to allow it to house theatre, dance, music and exhibitions.
The current exhibition, Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, showcases the work of world-famous Japanese designers including Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo (of Comme des Garçons fame) and Yohji Yamamoto, alongside work by lesser-known counterparts such as Tao Kurihara, Matohu and mintdesigns. The aim of the exhibition is to survey avant-garde Japanese fashion since the 1980s.
It is not the first exhibition to display Japanese fashion from the past 30 years. In September, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, opened an exhibition called Japan Fashion Now.
However, as well as focusing on contemporary Japanese clothing, this exhibition also looks back at the early work of the avant-garde designers in the 1980s. It seems that the current resurgence of the 1980s, especially in fashion, has encouraged a reflection on the beginnings of a movement that was to prove hugely influential to future fashion designers, both eastern and western.
The exhibition at the Barbican is staggeringly large, filling both floors of the main space and containing more than 100 mannequins. Most of the exhibits (all of which are womenswear) have been loaned by the Kyoto Costume Institute.
The institute stores more than 12,000 items of clothing, but does not hold exhibitions. Instead, it lends exclusively to other museums.
The Barbican show is the largest loan to a European institution, and is accompanied by the institute’s curator, Akiko Fukai, who co-curated the show with resident curators Kate Bush and Catherine Ince.
Fukai has curated fashion exhibitions around the world, but this is her first in Europe and, along with the vast loan from the institute, marks a coup for the Barbican Art Gallery.
The design of the exhibition is striking. The concrete walls of the Barbican have been masked with wide strips of white fabric draped from the high ceiling, softening the harsh lines and giving the illusion of movement, as they sway gently as visitors pass.
This material is also used to divide the spaces on the ground floor, forming distinct sections and determining the prescribed visitor flow. The fabric is semi-transparent, allowing a glimpse of ghost-like future sections and other visitors.
Clean lines
Designed by eminent Japanese architect, Sou Fujimoto, the entire look of the exhibition is minimalist, using clean lines and only a few colours, echoing the look of the clothing on display.
The exhibition has an ambient soundtrack by Janek Schaefer, which does not interrupt the overall experience but provides an almost meditative atmosphere in many of the large, white spaces.
Statuesque mannequins are set on raised plinths, instead of being hidden behind glass. One of the perennial problems in costume exhibitions is the dullness created by low lighting. But here, the oldest garments in the exhibition are only 30 years old, so light levels are higher than usual.
Moreover, the problem of static displays of clothes that were previously seen on living people has been dealt with by providing films of catwalk shows, which feature footage of the clothes in movement. Visitors can also watch interviews with designers.
In the earlier galleries, the sections are divided thematically. Seasons and designers are mixed to illustrate trends and cycles. The first section, In Praise of Shadows, introduces the notions of the east rejecting western ideals of beauty in the 1980s, and focuses on deconstructed, voluminous and often black garments, which differed, according to the text panel, from the contemporary, colourful, skin-tight creations of the west.
Flatness examines the use of two-dimensional forms to make three-dimensional garments, including pleats and folding (inspired by the Japanese art of origami).
The garments are displayed on mannequins, but photographs of them laid flat are on the wall behind, illustrating their ability to decorate a space in a non-functional way, as well as providing a useful item of clothing.
The Tradition and Innovation section explores designers’ use of new technology, including a heat-sealant system used by Junya Watanabe in his Techno Couture collection and Miyake’s A-POC (A Piece of Clothing) technique, which integrates weaving and sewing at the point of manufacture, creating hundreds of garments on one roll of fabric.
Displayed on “mother and child” figures, the red A-POC garments are worn while still being attached to the roll, which is suspended and draped from above, artfully combining the objects on display with the exhibition’s design.
The final thematic section, Cool Japan, looks at how Japanese street style and youth culture has inspired lesser-known designers, who currently show their work only in Tokyo. This cutesy look is emphasised by the piles of manga comics and Japanese sweets that surround the mannequins.
The rest of the sections are dedicated to the display of individual designers’ work. Here, walls replace the hanging fabric as each section is given its own distinct look, according to the designer it showcases.
For example, Jun Takahashi’s heavy prints are printed on to clothes, mannequins and also the wall behind them, creating a zany camouflage effect. The design here is sensitive, incorporating the personality of each design house involved.
Lack of contextualisation
There are aspects of the exhibition that could be improved. Although the long text panels refer to some of the designers’ sources of inspiration, there is no real sense of what exactly sparked this cohesive movement in the early 1980s.
There is no information about whether this was part of a larger aesthetic movement in Japan, or whether it was restricted to fashion.
There is also little explanation of how this fashion was so different from that of the west in the 1980s and 1990s, or how it went on to influence European designers such as Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester.
Although referred to and described extensively in the text panels, the exhibition does not feature any images, footage or garments from the west. The curators presume that visitors have prior knowledge of the kinds of western fashion that eastern designers were reacting against.
It is a shame that the exhibition targets such a specific audience. By failing to provide more general background information, the gallery limits the understanding of general visitors.
The price of the exhibition might also deter those who have little interest in Japanese design or fashion: at £10 per adult on the door (£8 online), it is not cheap.
However, visitors interested in fashion or eastern avant-garde design, or those who want to learn more about it, will find the exhibition well researched, informative and brilliantly executed.
Helen Ritchie is a graduate of the MA fashion curation course at the London College of Fashion
Main funders Wacoal Corp, Sumitomo Corporation Europe
Additional support Shiseido
Media partners Daily Telegraph, Dazed & Confused
Curators Akiko Kukai (Kyoto Costume Institute), Kate Bush (Barbican)
Exhibition ends 6 February
