When beloved designer Atsushi Nakashima left Tokyo Fashion Week to show his collection in Milan back in 2015 it was a huge blow to the Japanese shows, but for the designer who got his start working as an assistant designer to Jean Paul Gaultier, the move was both a natural and essential progression for his hyper creative work. Now, six years into being a mainstay on the Italian scene, Nakashima is once again following his natural and essential progression towards working in a new, more sustainable direction. According to the official press release, this new direction was in part inspired by the designer’s awareness of how environmental factors can impact the health of the planet and the people who populate it.
“In the past 3 years, my health problems led me to become aware of environmental issues that could be the cause of my health problems. At the same time, I have started to think that creating my collection itself may expedite ecological destruction, such as the mass disposal of clothing. I noticed that it is not just about other people’s problems. That thought made me launch a new "Circularity Project" in tandem with my brand ATSUSHI NAKASHIMA… Of course, it is hard to achieve that we recycle 100% of clothes now. This show is the first step of our project to raise environmental issues in the world. I'm trying to reduce pressure on the environment and running to the goal eventually. Materials will be primarily made from recycled materials, materials made from plant-derived polylactic acid, and waste materials from past collections…”
Creating a more sustainable collection is a goal of many designers working in our current climate-aware environment, but what makes the “Circularity” collection so special, is that Nakashima manages to do so without losing anyone of his trademark style of unexpected silhouettes and creative construction executed with a huge amount of dramatic flair.
Full run of show images below courtesy of the label. Click on any image to launch lightbox mode.
