Goto Show

Picture this. Stillness in a room full of people. One pristine bell sounds … ding … and a figure walks through the room in a trance wearing indigo chain mail made of tiny hand stitched squares of denim, warrior paint on his face. It’s not a dream. It’s not reality. It’s Aki Goto.
Aki is like no other. The kind of person that you want to put in your back pocket and carry around. Her designs are just as unique. All of her pieces are made from discarded clothes given to her by friends. She’ll take your old skirt and turn it into She-Ra’s cape with a few folds and stitches. The beauty of her work is in its imperfection. The gorgeous raw edges make each piece human and her tongue-in-cheek sense of humor makes her work hard to stop staring at, because the longer you look, the more you see. Each piece comes with its own narrative that Aki weaves into the cloth, so when you put on one of her garments, you become one of her fantasies.

Thanks Enrico for the photos, see more of his work at enricomoro.com>
The Performance
The models walked slowly and deliberately to the haunting chime of bells, broken glass, a ukulele, and a violin (played by Aki herself). And after making their way through the crowd, the models perched themselves on wooden stoops, painted to match their ensembles and then held still in a collective trance until the end of the song, at which point they came to life and the crowd was invited to talk and touch. The rest of the show was punctuated with spontaneous bursts of creativity. At one point, Aki took the mesh cloth that Sheena was wrapped in (which was made of a traditional Japanese duvet cover), attached some brass bells, and turned it into a musical instrument on the spot.

Oh, and speaking of reinterpretation, bonus points for anyone who recognizes Aki’s dress (center) that she made especially for the evening. Déjà vu anyone?
xo. wasabipear