After graduating from Central Saint Martins, Yoshikazu Yamagata returned to Japan after working as a design assistant for John Galliano. Since last year, he has been holding regular exhibitions in Paris, and recently has been increasingly showcasing his work in the windows of overseas shops, such as Colette Paris. Meanwhile, Toshikazu Sawa of Tex. Box creates needle-punched designs for fashion that have graced the runways of domestic and international brands, including Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, and Yohji Yamamoto. We spoke to these two internationally active fashion designers about their perspectives on Japanese and global fashion. For his Spring/Summer 2013 collection, "Seven Lucky Gods," Yamagata boldly expressed his desire to create sculptural objects using traditional Japanese materials, a desire that had arisen in his heart since the Great East Japan Earthquake the previous year, by assimilating Japanese materials and culture. As time passed, for Fall/Winter 2015, he presented a universal collection that paid homage to Oliviero Toscani, who had worked on Michael Jackson's and Benetton's advertisements, featuring Michael Jackson's "Heal the World" on his bags. When asked what change in his mindset had occurred, he replied, "I had just started an exhibition in Paris, and the hotel I was staying in was right in front of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which had occurred just a week earlier. This global incident felt so personal to me, and it led to a change in my mindset: I wanted to express a global perspective in fashion." He then spoke about Paris, the fashion capital. "People say Paris is in decline, but I still think it's a city with a strong, comprehensive cultural presence. It's the cultural center of Europe, and it has everything: food, architecture, art, fashion, music, philosophy... I think there's something unique about a city where people who are accustomed to that culture live."



And in recent years, Yamagata has been making more visits to domestic production areas through his own creations, and he has one goal in mind.

Even when he comes across fabrics made using traditional techniques and thinks, "I want to use this fabric," Yamagata says, "I am sometimes stunned by the price." When asked, he explains that such technically superior fabrics end up in the kimono industry or luxury fashion houses such as Chanel and Dior.

"It's frustrating that we have such great fabric in Japan, but we can't use it ourselves. I would love to be able to use great Japanese fabric and share it with the world. I want to start that trend," he says.



Since the Meiji Restoration, modern Japan has seen an influx of cultures from overseas. This rapid change has likely occurred over the past 100 years or so. "I believe Japan once had a rich cultural heritage, but we've lost it over the past 100 years. People overseas don't want fakes made out of admiration; they want a culture they don't have. That's why we study Western clothing and European culture: to understand its history and culture. It's not something we should study in order to imitate. To do that, we need to know the truth about our country's ancestral traditions. Without that, our creations won't be accepted globally," Yamagata continues.

Sawa, who had been nodding along as Yamagata spoke up to this point, continued: "Wonderful textiles are being produced in various production areas around the world, and I think that's the mainstream and the best form of textiles. However, I feel like we could add more interest to them. For me, needle punching makes that possible."



"I want to keep doing interesting work. That's why I'm happy when I get requests from brands I've never worked with before that make me think, 'What on earth is this?'" says Sawa. "If there's anything I can do, it's not the level of perfection. I don't want to ruin the highly refined fabrics made in various regions. However, I can use needle punching to take materials woven in various regions that wouldn't be usable as products in their original form and turn them into products." As the various needle punched pieces displayed in his Tex. Box show, the images for his next creations seem to expand when he gets his hands on a material.

Through the conversation between Yamagata and Sawa that day, I felt the importance of the power to believe in possibilities. And it felt like the spirit of enjoying the accidents that occur after doing your best.

In this place, where sunlight streams in through the sawtooth roof, fashion is truly being born. What journey has the clothing you hold in your hands come through? If you can take even a moment to reflect on this before putting it on, the meaning of that piece of clothing may change.

Yoshikazu Yamagata of Written x Riichi Sawa, who works on needle punch in Kiryu, "Needle punch is the same as free painting" Part 1 [Back to Where Fashion is Born]