TOMO Koizumi transports us to our wildest, confectionary and ruffle-filled dreams in his AW19 collection. With dresses as large and high as the anticipation surrounding his show, he proved it was well-deserved as his audience was left in awe and wonderment.
Voluminous and enthralling, Koizumi transcends ready-to-wear and borders on haute couture, with his dramatic and dreamy poufs. In a time that expects fashion to be masking or representing a message or an agenda, Koizumi refreshingly brings us a collection only motivated by fun and extravagance.
Discovered through Instagram, Koizumi’s showcase was only his second time in New York, in fact, his show was only brought into fruition a mere three and a half weeks ago – a testament to his ingenuity as a costume-designer and the faith of Katie Grand that brought us such a spectacle. Set in the basement of the Marc Jacobs store, the Japanese designer materialised a show from pure passion and fascination.
Sweet and whimsical, we felt as though we were in Alice’s Wonderland. Drawing inspirations from Leigh Bowery to Capucci to plastic floral designs on Japanese mourning banners, Koizumi manifested a collection straight out of Willy Wonka’s mind. Geometrically-contrived, with sleeves representing any shape one desires and a gradient-blue pouf with leg and arm holes that metamorphised the model into a rosette, this collection is truly worthy of praise.
Made from polyester organza, the ruffles were carefully assembled to create an “armour”, possibly a homage to his love of Sailor Moon and his perception of women being both cute and strong. Bobbing and swaying down the runway, every colour imaginable was shown via ruffled wizardry, adorning sleeves and trouser hem-lines alike. Closing the show was Gwendoline Christie – after all, who better to exhibit drama than a real actress?
Tomo Koizumi encourages all us dreamers to dream on in his inspired collection.
by Robyn Ngan