Toshikazu Iwaya

Toshikazu Iwaya is a Japanese fashion designer and founder of Dress Camp. His work is best known for its discarding of traditional fashion conventions and use of nearly any style or type of fabric to produce his work.

History

Iwaya attended the Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, graduating in 1995 and setting out to start working with At One printing textiles in 1996. He worked here for the next 6 years before he launched his own label in Dress Camp in 2002 with the backing of the same company. The first collection by Dress Camp was presented in the Tokyo Collections in the Spring/Summer 2003 season and in the next year, Iwaya went on to win the 22nd Mainichi Fashion Award Newcomer Prize along with the prestigious Chandon New Designer Award. His first shop opened in 2005 in Aoyama and has been a bastion of new Tokyo fashion ever since.

Clothing Style

Iwaya’s clothing style, as is shown in his multiple collections with DressCamp combines various eras and styles in fashion history, showcasing various clichés in chic new ways, such as his 2007 Disco Diva collection with 1970s styles. The men’s clothing is much more elaborate, combining the styles and methods of the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier with the over the top style that Iwaya has become so well known for in his time. Western culture is not the only source of Iwaya’s inspiration though as he has recently taken from Japanese history as well, as in the case of his 2008 Spring Summer collection.

Where to Buy

Dress Camp has boutiques located throughout Tokyo as well as in Paris and London and in department stores throughout all three cities as well as New York City. The flagship store location is in Aoyama at:

• 1F 5-5-1 Minami Aoyama
• Minatok-Ku Tokyo
• (03) 5778-3717

External Links

• Official DressCamp Website