Ultra avant-garde and artistically driven Fur Fur designer Koichi Chida always makes his presentations an emotional experience. In most instances, to say "you had to be there" comes across as snobby, and pretentious, but in this case, photos of the event just don't truly do it justice.
Such is the case with the Fall 2013 presentation. It began in a darkened, smoke filled room with what seemed like only a single candle for lighting. A young woman appeared on stage and read what, without having fluent Japanese, one could surmise was a fairytale. Next, a second young woman appeared and began playing a haunting melody on the piano. As she played, the crowd, which was packed with Fur Fur/Koichi Chida fans all dressed from head to toe in the label, sat enraptured by the scene unfolding before their eyes.
Just a moment or two later, after the pianist began, the models emerged clad almost entirely in black empire waisted tank dresses, with hair slicked at the crown and then ballooning into enormous pony tails.
As the show continued the looks developed into ultra short minis with cascading ruffles, voluminous "monkey fur" coats, leather jackets and one or two ivory gowns for accent. All of this made for an enthralling show. Of course black light and smoke aren't exactly photography friendly, but the experience was spellbinding nonetheless, and that is what makes Fur Fur such a special label, and Koichi Chida such a creative designer.
All images: C. Hope for Style Wylde.