The elusive Japanese fashion designer speaks to us about the upcoming exhibition of his avant-garde shoes in Amsterdam this month.
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Kei Kagami has made a career out of avoiding the spotlight. If he had not, it’s likely that the Japanese fashion designer, who founded his label in 1997, would have received a level of attention more commensurate with his achievements. The most recent of which includes selling his showpieces to the Fashion Institute of Technology, and being specially commissioned by the Arnhem Mode Biennale in Holland to create 'The Water Dress', which was exhibited alongside the work of other esteemed and experimental designers such as Comme des Garcons and Hussein Chalayan.
Using an eclectic mix of materials, Kagami’s conceptual pieces are the result of a previous stint as an architect, which saw him work at the studio of the award winning Kenzo Tange, before - attracted by the prospect of being able to maintain his involvement from design to production – he gave it all up for fashion, “I thought it was wonderful that I could express myself in each process and could wear it at the end”, says Kagami. “I make clothes so I can express what I want straightaway. In architecture things would not go so smoothly”. Kagami is offering us a chance to catch up on the last decade of his work as a shoemaker, with a 10-year retrospective. Taking place at the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam this November, the exhibition will feature 60 pairs of his avant-garde creations, as well as a live performance.
(dazeddigital.com)
I'd like to try #2!
