Fall 2010 RTW

Issey Miyake's Fall 2010 RTW collection, shown at Paris Fashion Week, looks electic to my untrained eye, ranging from unusually long and unusually styled infinity scarves to classic designs.  No pleats.  I suppose  he hasn't done pleats for a long time.  All photos from Style.com.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

This jacket/cardi made me wish that I like to sew.  It's so elegant and modern.

Immediately reminds me of Habu stainless steel.

Finally here's an interesting knitted sweater by Yohji Yamamoto.

Japanese Avant-Garde Fashion at the Textile Museum

I had a chance to see 35 articles of Japanese avant-garde fashion from the collection of Mary Baskett at the Textile Museum a couple of weeks ago. The weekend symposium began with a reception a Friday night, which I missed, because it was rainy, cold, and by 7:30 I was fried. Saturday's session was held at the Phillips Collection, one of my favorite art galleries in DC. The theme was from "Kimono to Couture: the Evolution of Japanese Fashion.” The Museum brought in experts to speak about the kimono in early Japanese history (which I missed because there was bike race through NW Washington which brought traffic to a standstill. Many of us were late.); the geisha influence on kimono fashion; the modern kimono; Japanese avant-garde fashion; Japanese youth in fashion subcultures; and Japanese textiles, in which the speaker described a number of ways to create textiles. I wish they would give classes on the latter, especially shibori.

The Sunday session began with a guided tour of Japanese textiles developed by Nuno, a Tokyo-based corporation. It included fabrics created with stainless steel thread, some felted pieces, and some that were hand-embroidered.

ETA: You can click on any of the images for a larger view.

Nuno Stainless Steel Fabric

Then Ms. Baskett conducted a guided of her garments. I know it’s lame to scan the exhibit pamphlet as I have below (and I hope the Textile Museum doesn’t mind, I’m not affiliated with them), but I took few photos and they’re not great. I dutifully left my camera in my handbag as we were not supposed to take photos, but when Ms. Baskett posed for a few shots, everyone whipped out camera phones. It was like we all had our hands on our photographic equipment just waiting for a chance…

I won’t go into detail; the pamphlet covers it all. Most of the garments were designs by Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Rei Kawakubo, designer and owner of Comme des Garcons. It’s an entrancing collection that really showed the genius of these designers.

Ms. Basket is amazing too. She is a Japanese art historian, who was a curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum, then opened the Mary Baskett Gallery in 1977, which features contemporary Japanese artists. The pieces in the collection are part of her wardrobe; she wears them everyday.


You can view larger images here.

Mary Baskett in front of Rei Kawakubo exhibit

If you missed the symposium, the Textile Museum will conduct some evening lectures early next year.

"Toyko Style Beads Collection" by Uta Ono

Toyko Style Beads Collection by Uta Ohno is a beading book containing some unique styles. No knitting involved.

Jyuzukakebato Ring

Mizakura Necklaces

Hatsunagi Wire Necklace

Souda Turquoise Jewelery

Lovely stuff. Now to tear myself away from knitting!

Deb, who hosted a few of us for a lovely knitting and stitching one Saturday afternoon, tagged me for a meme.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? the same thing I'm doing now: managing an international exchange program for the federal government.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today? Laundry; swatch some Jaeger Aqua for a tank top; spend 5 mins purging magazines; pare down what I pack so that I travel lighter; continue working on The Coat;

3) Snacks I enjoy: Popcorn, chocolate, potato chips, popcorn, chocolate, potato chips!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay off my debts; give some to family and charities; buy homes in New York, Seattle, and Santa Fe, each with a craft room; invest the rest; create a charitable or environmental foundation of some kind.

5) Places I have lived: Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, France, Germany (I'm an army brat.)

6) Jobs I have had: Sales person, Giftware buyer for a jewelery store; Teacher, Program Manager.

Please consider yourself tagged!

Can't believe an entire month has gone by since I last posted. I've been to Denver since then and I just returned from Seattle last night. I've been there three times in the last twelve months. It's rapidly becoming my favorite American city. There 's so much to say about it that I don't know where to start. I know that I have a narrow view of it: I stay at one of the hotels downtown a few blocks from Pike Place Market, I never have to endure the apparently horrific traffic, and it's usually sunny when I'm there with only occasional showers. But given that there is a coffee shop on every corner, some of the best food I've ever eaten (I'm a salmon and steel head trout fiend!), great boutiques, lively cultural life, great yarn shops, great museums, and a Jimi Hendrix exhibit at the Experience Music Project, I sometimes wonder why I'm still in DC...

This time I visited Kinokuniya Bookstore in the International District. They have a large craft section containing lots of interesting quilting, crochet, embroidery, sewing, and of course, knitting books. I picked up these pictured below.

I went to Kinokuniya specifically to look for Aran Knit
(ISBN978-4-277-11401-1) after seeing this sweater on Tricot Methode Frankenstein:

Cable Sweater

Love these too:

Bolero

Room Shoes

Aran Knit has no English text, but like other Japanese knitting books it is full of helpful charts. The other books are Crochet Accessories (ISBN978-4-277-43080-7), Tokyo Style Beads Collection (ISBN4-05-402717-2). The fourth book has no English title but it's been blogged a lot and I'm sure you recognize it. The ISBN number is ISBN978-4-529-04140-9. I'll post photos from these later.

Oh, and be sure to check out the stationary supplies! They lots of notebooks, plastic sleeves, and loads of colored gel pens, for which I have a weakness.

I know some of you plan to visit Seattle soon, so don't hesitate to go to the International District though on a map it looks like it's a long way from the city center. It's a short cab ride away and an interesting long walk if you're up for it. Be sure to visit the huge Asian grocery store next door, Uwajimaya. I picked up some interesting looking tea, they had some tasty looking candy treats and a large selection of bento boxes.

Seattle Art Museum