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Michiko Koshino
From Virtual Japan
Michiko Koshino is an Osaka, Japan born fashion designer. One of three famous designers in the Koshino family, Michiko’s siblings include Hiroko Koshino and Junko Koshino.
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History
Michiko Koshino was born in 1950 in Osaka, and started her fashion career in 1973 working for Suguru Watari. After moving to London, she started her own company in 1975 with Michiko Co intrigued by European fashions and Japanese styles that were influenced by them. She still lives in London today and has been creating there since the 1970s. Her big breakthrough came in her Motorking collection in 1987, when she created a biker collection of clothing that integrated heavy duty nylon and clothing produced with Japanese Motorcycle clothing company, Adachi.
While fashion is where Michiko has made a name for herself, she has spent a great deal of time working in various other art forms and finding creative outlets in multiple forms throughout the spectrum of the art world. A recent project the customization of a Honda Scooter; another one involved the design of anti-aging relaxing headsets.
Design
Currently Michiko is still based in London where she has become known as one of the queens of club culture and design. Her clothing fuses the basics of urban and street culture with nightlife sensibilities of the west and east to produce some of the more colorful and intriguing club clothes on the market.
Her style of infusing both Japanese and Anglo centric designs into her technologically driven fashion designs has made her a favorite in many club and cyber circles. Her designs are often highly experimental, and have caused her to use obscure and odd fabrics as well as create a few of her own, such as the inflatable fabric she most recently created. Additionally, she was among the first to use reflective fabrics and bandages in her designs, as well as becoming the first designer to market condoms using her name.
Today, her work has achieved a cult following, with her popular brands Motorking and Yen Jeans drawing great interest from around the globe. Her lines currently include everything from clothing to cosmetics, sunglasses, watches, and undergarments and are sold in countries throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.
Yen Jeans in particular is among the most visible and popular denim brands in Germany, using Japanese only denim woven on 1940s looms and original indigo dying techniques. Recent collections have seen collaboration with her siblings as well, as in the case of her 2004/2005 collection using Kimonos to illustrate contemporary culture, a technique long utilized by her sister Hiroko.
Famous Clients
Her affinity with club culture has caused Michiko Koshino to become a popular choice for many musicians and stars around the world including members of The Prodigy, The Spice Girls, Placebo, Natalie Imbruglia, Jodie Kidd, Dermot O’Leary, All Saints, and Denise van Outen.