A historic collaboration has begun between world-renowned pianist Yukio Yokoyama and designer Hiroko Koshino, spanning the Heisei and Reiwa eras.

Hiroko Koshino's 2019-20 Fall/Winter collection, held on March 22nd as part of the official schedule of Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo (AFWT), featured a Steinway piano placed in the center of the venue, Ebisu Garden Hall, and the show progressed with live solo piano performances by Yukio Yokoyama. The runway was synchronized with projection mapping onto the floor, with models walking around Yokoyama as he played. At the finale, Koshino and Yokoyama were met with thunderous applause.





"This is a new challenge amidst changing times. I listened to the sound on the same level as watching a show. It was a live performance based on improvisational inspiration I got on the spot," explained Hiroko Koshino, presenting a realistic version of the recent fashion trend of "collaboration with art." This is linked to this season's concept of "3D→2D→3D," and the production process of this collection also served as direction for the show. The designs are minimalist, while using cutting-edge techniques such as ribbing, pleating, darts, and shirring to create a three-dimensional effect. Motifs like polka dots, art prints, and tapestries are synchronized in 2D and 3D, lightly expressing couture techniques in sneakers. Amid the tranquility of the live piano and rubber soles, the uninhibited continuous shutter of digital cameras evoked a show that signaled a "changing era." This collaboration, realized through a personal relationship with world-renowned Chapinist Yukio Yokoyama, will see a second chapter during Golden Week, the start of the new era. It has been announced that Hiroko Koshino will be designing all of Yokoyama's costumes for "Yokoyama Yukio's 'Chopin with Soul,'" a performance of the complete works of Chopin to be held at Tokyo Opera City on May 3, 4, and 5. Approximately 20 designs are planned for the performance.





In 2010, Mr. Chopin performed 166 pieces, a performance that earned him a Guinness World Record. For this 10th anniversary commemorative performance, he will not only perform piano solos, but also chamber music, songs, piano duos, and other pieces, including those for an orchestra, performing all 240 pieces that Chopin wrote in 1939. Regarding this project, which is said to be a first in the world, Mr. Chopin himself commented, "It's a first for me as well, and I don't think I'll ever do it again." Hiroko Koshino's creative endeavors don't end there. She is currently responsible for the stage backdrops used in the "Excerpts" performance at the Nagauta Kinekatsukai National Convention, which will be held at the Kabukiza Theater in late April, where she will also be performing. On April 2nd, an exhibition of the original ink paintings, "Hiroko Koshino: New Creations in Traditional Performing Arts," opened at the KH Gallery in Ginza. The exhibition also includes kimonos and lacquerware that she has hand-painted herself. True to her own words, "As a designer and artist, I have always been driven by a strong desire and passion to contribute to raising the level of culture," Koshino, now 82 years old, continues to show her energy, transcending the Showa and Heisei eras and surging into the Reiwa era.


Text by Tatsuya Noda