Yuima Nakazato unveiled its new couture collection.

Yuima Nakazato’s new couture collection, ‘EVOKE’, features the pioneering technique of Biosmocking, which consists in soaking printed fabric in hot water. In the drying process, the square fabric takes the shape of the body to become a fully realized 3D garment. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp and an award-winning designer, Nakazato (born in Tokyo in 1985) founded his label back in 2009. This collection, presented as part of the Autumn/Winter 2021 Haute Couture schedule, marks the 10th collection presented by the designer as an official guest of Paris Haute Couture Week, which he joined in 2006. Inspired by the various ways to tell a story of clothes using non-visual sensory perception, Nakazato hypothesized options that would allow him to use sounds to evoke shape. To create the visible with the invisible, he looked into the voices of whales, known for using distinct sounds – and songs! – to communicate in the depths of the sea. To help him in this endeavor, Yuima Nakazato collaborated with world-renowned composer Ryūichi Sakamoto, who created three original works for the show: FIREWATER, TOWARDS WATER, and AQUA.

The three water-related works were then mixed by Senjan Jansen and played at the show, which was pre-recorded at Osanbashi Pier, the main international passenger pier at the Port of Yokohama (whose design is reminiscent of the shape of a whale). Beyond the apparent beauty of the collection (especially the metallic blue hues obtained by incorporating Brewed ProteinTM into traditional Nishijin-ori, or the patterns based on the frequency of the whales’ voices), Nakazato’s approach is striking for his strong environmental conscience. All materials used in the making of the collection are natural, and the designer reduced his use of virgin materials by 30%, making the collection’s environmental impact as low as possible. As the designer says: “This collection employs the voices of whales as a metaphor for our humanity, our nature, and our planet Earth, its place in the cosmos. Its title is derived from my intention to ‘evoke’ the shape of clothes for the next era from these songs”. With this collection, Yuima Nakazato might have added a new entry in the definition of Haute Couture for the years to come.