Colorful and textured detail from Yuima Nakazato's art direction ©Thibaut Voisin

Exhibition 'Yuima Nakazato, beyond Couture'

La City of Lace and Fashion in Calais organizes a prestigious fashion exhibition every year. The 2024 exhibition is dedicated to Japanese Yuima Nakazato. Around fifty garments are to be discovered, created by this innovative designer who notably dressed Lady Gaga. Many appointments are on the program to discover the world of Yuima Nakazato.

The City of Lace welcomes Yuima Nakazato

Yuima Nakazato, born in 1985 in Japan, graduated in 2008 from the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Belgium). He has received numerous awards and distinctions in Europe, including the Innovation Prize in 2008 for his final project introducing the origami technique into sewing. Since 2016, he has presented his collections twice a year in Paris, during the Fashion Week of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode as a guest member, becoming the second Japanese designer, after Hanae Mori, to join the prestigious Parisian calendar.

The Japanese designer is exhibiting until January 5, 2025 at the City of Lace and Fashion in Calais. He has been showing his collections at Paris Fashion Week since 2016. Another mark of his worldwide reputation is the singers Lady Gaga and Fergie (ex-Black Eyed Peas) wore her outfits on stage. The exhibition “Yuima Nakazato, beyond couture” is the artist’s first retrospective, an XXL gift!

 

What to see in the Yuima Nakazato exhibition?

The exhibition 'Yuima Nakazato, beyond couture' presents collections from 2016 to 2024. Around fifty garments are presented, including the designer's creative process with sketches, technical drawings, samples and videos. The tour shows the consideration of the ecological disaster that the textile industry can cause. 

Collection Cosmos by Yuima Nakazato, is inspired by the legendary tales of the phoenix, as described in the work of Osamu Tezuka. This mythical bird symbolizes, for the creator, the preciousness of life and the beauty of the contemporary world.

Yuima Nakazato Calais Fashion Exhibition
Colorful and textured detail from Yuima Nakazato's art direction ©Thibaut Voisin

Visionnaire

Nakazato seeks to merge two opposing visions of the relationship between clothing and the body. He starts with a rectangular fabric, following the principle of the Japanese kimono, to create clothes that fit the curves of the body, in the manner of Western couture.

Between the collection Birth et Cosmos, it took six months to master the Biosmocking® technique. It gives fabrics three-dimensional textures and changes their shape, from a rectangle to a sinuous volume. This revolutionary method makes it possible to create custom pieces without pattern making and without generating material waste. Combined with the Type-1® modular process, the stunning creations are made without any thread or needle.

Photo of Yuima Nakazato at the inauguration of her retrospective at the Cité de la Dentelle in Calais
The artist talks about it

Yuima Nakazato, on Biosmocking

“For several months, I carried out many tests, learned to control the movement of the textile. Starting from the philosophy of the kimono which uses only rectangular shapes, we were able to create curves, as in Western sewing. This technique thus allows to merge the Eastern and Western approaches to the body. For me, it is a beautiful philosophy. And by simply changing a few measurements, you can change the shape. This opens the way to the democratization of sewing or unique pieces. This process marked a fundamental turning point in my work.”

View of the outfits by designer Yuima Nakazato presented at the City of Lace and Fashion in Calais ©Thibaut Voisin
View of the breathtaking scenography of the works of Yuima Nakazato at the Cité de la Dentelle in Calais. ©Amandine Richard

Activities around the exhibition

The Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais sets up a wide programme of events during each fashion exhibition. This is the case for 'Yuima Nakazato, beyond couture' which takes place until 5 January 2025 at Calais XXL. Nearly 100 dates are offered to all types of audiences, with visits, meetings, events and workshops.

The entire program of the City of Lace