Luxury in fashion Reconsidered
and
A Tokyo Culture Creation Project
Luxury in fashion Reconsidered: Special Exhibit
Kazuyo Sejima Spatial Design for Comme des Garçons
31 October 2009 – 17 January 2010
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT)
4-1-1, Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo,
JAPAN 135-0022
Luxury in fashion Reconsidered
31 October 2009 – 17 January 2010
The word “luxury” denotes a richness that derives from excess—an item gorgeous to behold, our special feelings when wearing such an item, our psychological satisfaction at its high refinement.
Today, we know lives of material plenty as a result of industrial development. We also face the hard challenges of the global problems our materialistic way of life has created. In these circumstances, our views of luxury, as a manifestation of the richness we desire, are changing dramatically.
This exhibition examines our changing times and values from the perspective of luxury, through fashion—a field that sensitively reflects human desire and the trends of society. Featured are some 100 fashion creations from the collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI), dating from the 17th century to current times, carefully selected from multiple perspectives and representing everything from visual luxury to a more personal, intellectual luxury, closer to the spirit of play.
Organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / The Kyoto Costume Institute
A Tokyo Culture Creation Project
Luxury in fashion Reconsidered: Special Exhibit
Kazuyo Sejima Spatial Design for Comme des Garçons
31 October 2009 – 17 January 2010
Admission free
The free-spirited imagination of Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons) continually yields fashion designs of startling originality that impart intellectual stimulus and a sense of fulfillment to the wearer—clothing that can be considered a contemporary form of luxury.
This special exhibit accompanying the exhibition “Luxury in fashion RECONSIDERED” will feature clothing animated by the avant-garde spirit of Comme des Garçons, selected from the Kyoto Costume Institute (KCI) Collection and displayed in spaces designed by architect Kazuyo Sejima.
Kazuyo Sejima has achieved a revolutionary style with the use of minimal, transparent forms and materials in architectural programs that awaken connectivity with place and with users from fresh perspectives—a style she has demonstrated in the Louvre-Lens and 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
Kawakubo and Sejima have a lot in common. Both have adopted an attitude of absorbing reality directly through their bodies without relying on existing theory. Although there are differences in their methodology when it comes to research, both rely on a process of giving three-dimensional form to their ideas by engaging in exhaustive studies of two-dimensional concepts (patterns in the case of Kawakubo, plans in the case of Sejima) with pattern makers or engineers. Both are professionals when it comes to production, taking great care to ensure that everything is perfect right down to the final detail.
In Sejima’s spaces, the revolutionary character of Comme des Garçons will crackle with new life. In the Museum’s 20m-high Atrium, Sejima will produce an archipelago using curvilinear acrylic panels. The spaces among the islands will be like a maze. A collection will be displayed inside each island, the clothing arranged in accord with Kawakubo’s concept for that collection. Due to the appearance of the clothing itself and its method of presentation in the spaces, the Comme des Garçons clothing, displayed on transparent torsos that appear to float in the air, will present dual meaning—new expression of the human body and freedom from convention. A maze of transparent volumes of varying sizes where dazzling illusions of perspectival depth intersect, Sejima’s installation will alter viewers’ perceptions of clothing and its relationship with their body.
(Concept by Yuko Hasegawa)
Organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Government/ Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Culture
Creation Project (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture) / The Kyoto Costume Institute
Also Showing:
“Rebecca Horn” 31 October 2009 – 14 February 2010
“MOT×Bloomberg PUBLIC ‘SPACE’ PROJECT” 1 August 2009 – 17 January 2010
“Swedish Fashion” 31 October 2009 – 17 January 2010
“MOT Collection” 31 October 2009 – 24 January 2010
Press Contact
Mutsu Yoshikawa
m-yoshikawa@mot-art.jp
TEL: +81（0）3-5245-1134（Direct）
FAX: +81（0）3-5245-1141
www.mot-art-museum.jp/eng/2009/luxury/
