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Japan Fashion Week S/S 2010: Mint Designs

October 23rd, 2009 | Published in Event Report

All photos courtesy of Japan Fashion Week Organization unless otherwise noted.

The start of Japan Fashion Week was marked by a day of innovative design by the likes of Monotari Ono, Junya Tashiro, Mint Designs, and DRESS33. String Magazine didn’t arrive on site until late in the evening so our coverage starts on Day 2 of Japan Fashion Week. However, Anthea Tsoukalas of blog Clothes Line Finds made it to some of the shows on this day and covered the Mint Designs’ show on our behalf.

Words by Anthea Tsoukalas

The Mint Designs show was set in the beautiful Hōryū-ji Treasures Gallery at the Tokyo National Museum. The building holds 319 Hōryū-ji Treasures and was designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. As one walks into the gates of the venue, one can see the futuristic building set behind a large man-made pond. The highly anticipated show did not disappoint!

Mint Designs was established by Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi in 2001. Katsui graduated from Central Saint Martins College after studying at Parsons The New School for Design. Yagi graduated from Doshisha University and also Central Saint Martins College.

Guests were seated on both the inside and outside of the building separated by a giant glass wall. Models walked along the inside of the building for one side of the guests and then outside for the other. All of the models wore a different fabric head pieces wound around and held upright by wires. They wore a sheer mask of silver face make up and red lips. Matching socks and elbow gloves helped pull the collection together.

What was really intriguing about this collection was the patterns used in the designs. Each pattern was more unique than the last. Horizontal patterns, circular cut-outs, zig-zags, and more. Using these patterns the designers created harem pants, day dresses, blazers and even a few evening looks. All of the dresses featured a unique adaption: for instance, gathered material at the shoulder or hip or inserts of fabric. Katsui and Yagi often paired horizontal stripe patterns set against each other so that when the model moved, they looked four dimensional. The collection was incredibly cohesive despite the wide variety of colours used. It was a stunning show that was received with a very loud round of applause by the guests.

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