I imagined hugging somebody who was clad in the clothing.

The layers of the textile, the seams and stiches. How this side is touching my skin, and the other side touching theirs.

A softness reminiscent of a widening ripple, or a solid lump like a pebble.
Something light, something heavy. Something opened, something confined.
Those things that lay between are bridged by us.

Close, yet far. I can’t see your face whom I hold.
An ambiguous body temperature, the small rhythm of the heartbeat, the wriggles that feel like tentacles.
And maybe, an occurrence from decades ago, memories before birth, a teardrop that hasn’t yet dried, or a shining smile.

Photographs are, whether they’re visible or not, blinks that sure existed at the moment.

LILY SHU

The field of fashion design that was established in the 20th century has a history that developed on an idea of a criterion, or a “standard” of beauty, that allowed a more effiicient mass-production, and it can be said in no small way that the fashion educational institutions was founded on those ideas as well. I believe we need to leave this age-old way of thinking and begin to have the designers and wearers to communicate with each other to exchange much more in-depth emotions. Their conflicts, trials and errors still leave some awkwardness, but this project has revealed problems, themes, and the emotional distances that hasn’t been fully discussed about until now, and I believe that’s a step forward.

Yoshikazu Yamagata

When I asked Kaito to draw a design for the clothes she wanted to wear, she drew a picture of Princess Zelda from the game “The Legend of Zelda”. Adding to that, I designed the clothes so that it would hold the essence of Kaito, such as her innocent personality and the fact that she is a transgender female.

The clothes are made of cotton and wool yarn. I hoped to express Kaito’s atmosphere and her inner world through the texture of the cotton and its vague boundary lines. I wanted to create an outfit that not only Kaito would enjoy, but that I myself would enjoy as well. Kaito was given elf ears as part of the makeup and it felt real; when I played music, she started dancing and acting. It was very soothing.

Koki Saito

Aoi has no “disability”. That’s why in our pair, we wanted to express the “body” that is usually hidden in fashion, which ironically puts emphasis on “being seen.” We cannot necessarily control the body as we imagine, our muscles are unconsciously moved by our clothes (magnets), and Aoi is a dancer, so we were conscious of the theme of “movement” when working on the piece.

SiThuAung

“Eliminate one function and make it something else.”
What looks like a pocket can actually be a sleeve or a skirt.

Do you have a 偏見 (henken: prejudice) against yourself?
Omae is a person who changed his 偏見 (henken: prejudice) into 変見 (henken: a word play with changing the Kanji).
He is a person who changed his way of thinking.
I think he discovered a new self or a different view point that let him say “you’re interesting!” to himself.
This is super important.
変見 doesn’t happen just once or twice. This is because everything is in a state of flux.
The word “変” (hen: to change) is used, so the view has to keep changing.

Hideki Ichikawa

I decided to make this work as a part of the series “rainbow rhapsody” which I have been producing for a long time. This series is based on the idea that each human being is a heartbeat, a sound with its own color, a jewel emitting light, a cell that belongs to the universe.

This time, I decided to create Venus, a jewel of the solar system, and the concept of “Venus of the Jomon Period” came to mind. The form of the clay figurine reminded me of Chibi Moeko’s body, and I added my own interpretation of hip-hop, which Moeko said she liked, and presented her my idea of Jomon hip-hop instead of modern hip-hop. The sound of my work and Chibi Moeko had a hip-hop battle and her lovely “HIP” created a sound that “HOP” STEP and JUMPED.

Sari Takikawa

I developed the concept through having dialogues with Ashihara. The concept is the transformation from a mermaid to a person, which Ashihara overlaps with herself; the transformation from herself before the accident to herself who uses a wheelchair.

The top is structured like an apron so that it can be easily put on and taken off while sitting, and the material is a thin fabric coated with polypropylene to express the contrasting ideas of molting and wetness. In addition, the accessory worn on the amputated leg my proposal as a new accessory for people with physical characteristics like Ashihara.

Daichi Tabata

The concept is an image of a woman who actively confronts her body. I was inspired by Sugawa’s drawing of a woman flipping up her skirt. The women that she draws are very active with their bodies. I paid attention to the fact that this expresses Sugawa’s own attitude toward her body.
I designed the skirt with embellishments on the inside so that they can be seen only when Sugawa flips up the skirt. I valued the fact that she herself actively engages with the clothing through the act of “flipping” the skirt, which then changes the design. For the inside of the skirt, I referenced to the flowers that appear in Sugawa’s drawings to express a figure standing firmly on a slender prosthetic leg amidst an outpouring.

Hana Yagi

Born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, 1988. Starting from the bodily existence of an individual, she traces the cosmological approach of space, light, and matter, and works on the theme of the politics of visibility and invisibility, and cross-border imagination.
https://www.lilyshu.com/