Hiromichi Nakano

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Hiromichi Nakano is a Japanese clothing brand started and designed by Hiromichi Nakano. The brand, known for its combination of Gothic Lolita style dresses and doll aesthetics with modern fashion from Europe and North America, has become well known in both its native Japan and in Paris.

Contents

History

Hiromichi Nakano was born in Miyagi prefecture in 1951 and attended a top fashion college in Tokyo, graduating in 1972. He worked in the fashion industry for 12 years before starting his own label in 1984 under his name. He later continued to work for a series of well known major design firms in Tokyo, and today works in a number of capacities to support his small label, including judging design contents, working with student fashion designers, and designing costumes for TV, film, and theater. In addition, Nakano is a well known movie critic in Tokyo and writes two regular columns in Anan and Junon.

Philosophy

Debuting in Paris in 1998, Nakano has focused on maintaining a regular new line each year there, while not allowing his team in Paris to become to influenced by European designs. He has repeatedly said that “If we don’t understand our own heritage, how can we expect anyone to understand us?” and thus spends a great deal of time researching history and world cultures, while ensuring even the most cosmopolitan of designs is still grounded in Japanese aesthetics.

Cross Cultural Pollination

Recent collections from Hiromichi Nakano have shown the designer’s desire to explore how various different cultures and styles cross-pollinate each other. The height of this theme came in his 2003 Spring/Summer collection entitled “Twiggy visits Taisho era Japan”. The line explored what it was to live and dress in Taisho era Tokyo where the rich were starting to wear European dress alongside kimonos and classical Japanese clothing. In contrast, he explores how Japanese styles and fashion started to permeate London and other western societies. Recent work has only expanded upon this theme as Nakano tries to bridge the gap between Japanese culture and western style clothing.

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