If asked what "beauty" is, how would you respond? Looking at the same garment, some people say, "I like it because it's simple." Another person might say, "It's decorative and beautiful." What is the difference in perception, and what is the definition of beauty? Wedding dress designer Eri Matsui has used science and mathematics to answer many questions about "beauty."

Her collection of works, "Sensing Garment," published on April 30, includes illustrations and texts of the garments Matsui has created in collaboration with researchers, as well as her unique fashion philosophy, revealing her talent as an artist rather than a designer.

A wedding dress worn on a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, a wedding, requires perfection. However, Matsui's brand, "Emalie," which has gained overwhelming support from many women, takes each bride seriously and pursues perfection, sometimes even more so than the bride herself, not allowing even a few centimeters of distortion. We spoke to Matsui at her private salon, "Emalie" in Aoyama, about her own definition of "beauty," her encounters with science and mathematics, and the relationship between clothing and people.

--As a designer, you've been creating clothes (i.e., dresses) for about 28 years, but you've also collaborated with scientists and mathematicians to hold collection shows and special exhibitions. These dresses have a completely different appeal from wedding dresses, and are avant-garde, featuring materials and designs never before seen. What originally led you to discover science and mathematics?

Ever since I started designing clothes, I've always found it difficult to grasp three-dimensional shapes, even though I don't find it difficult with two-dimensional drawings. Even if a dress looks perfect on a drawing or dress form, wrinkles inevitably appear when the customer tries it on, which always caused me headaches. Creating haute couture or wedding dresses requires more than just treating one person as a mass. Rather than producing garments in different sizes like ready-to-wear, I needed to study the female body and adapt to its diversity in order to create the perfect garment for each individual. This goal also led me to discover a way to achieve a near-perfect fit even with ready-to-wear clothing.

One day, I was introduced to physics through the influence of a colleague with a science and mathematics background. I had never even heard the terms science and mathematics or humanities, so the idea that time is a fourth dimension and that seemingly disparate things like time and space can be treated equally was a shock. I learned that mathematics is the foundation for solving the mysteries of physics, and this led me to unravel why wrinkles and distortions appear and disappear in three-dimensional objects. It was like a storm brewing within me, as passion, questions, creativity, science, mathematics, and everything else came together. The vague "why" I had inside me surged ever higher, and as I searched for answers, it became one with the energy of creating clothes.



--You've collaborated with many researchers both in Japan and overseas in fields such as physics, visual recognition, and chronobiology. How did you meet them? Even in the fashion industry, I imagine these are people from fields that you don't often have the opportunity to interact with.

I was reckless, but I contacted them out of the blue (laughs). Sometimes I was introduced to them through acquaintances. The doctors seemed to think it was interesting, and were happy to accept my sudden proposal.

--Specifically, what was the theme of the collaboration, and how did you incorporate science and mathematics into fashion? Could you tell us a few details, including the background? For example, my collaboration with Professor Gen Matsumoto, a neuroscientist at the RIKEN Institute, began when I wrote to him after a question arose in my mind: Is there a universality of "beauty"? Based on the neuroscientist's idea that "external information triggers the extraction of internal information," when we perceive something as beautiful through our five senses, our brains have already created a memory of this perception in the past. Even when looking at the same object, each person's internal information is different, so unless we share the same memories, we will perceive beauty differently. Taking inspiration from the idea that our likes and dislikes are based on fundamental human desires and biological genetic information, I presented a collection that sheds light on these questions and expresses neuroscience through fashion. Furthermore, Professor Maruyama, the topologist with whom I first collaborated, vividly demonstrated a "perspective shift" in the world of topology, demonstrating that circles and triangles are the same thing. Based on this, I focused on connections in my clothing designs, creating garments that were created solely from connections, detached from so-called patterns and based on "length" and "angle." Starting with the design process made me realize that there are two types of clothing: clothes that stand up from the body and clothes that first have a diagram. Conversely, some pieces were born with the design first, such as, "I want to make clothes that look like smoke" or "I wonder what would happen if I made clothes out of circles."

--Logical science and mathematics are often thought of as polar opposites to intuitive design and fashion, yet they coexist beautifully in Matsui's work. What do you think are the commonalities between them, the intersection between scientists and creators?

Many people say that we create things through our senses and sensibilities, but I believe that it is only through perception and thought that things are created. We are able to sense things through the accumulation of memories and thoughts born from the soil of knowledge and experience. What art and science have in common is that they are not born from nothing, but rather are the process of extracting and furthering what already exists. Those who yearn to create (creators) and those who seek and explain (scientists) are both reaching out to grasp light in the darkness.

Furthermore, before Isaac Newton, known for his Newtonian mechanics, discovered many things around the 17th century, there was no distinction between the worlds of creativity and science. Sensibility, thought, creativity, and science are not inherently opposed. Science and mathematics connect the natural world and the human brain beyond perception. My fervent desire is to create and unleash the beautiful abstract paintings that scientists have discovered to visualize this relationship, creating something tangible in the real world.

Clothes that allow you to become "yourself" are "sensory clothes." Wedding dress designer Eri Matsui -- Part 2 of 2 [INTERVIEW] Continued.

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