Yasuyuki Ishii, artist and designer based in Japan, was born in Tokyo in 1962. He graduated from the Kuwasawa Design School and at only 25 he joined in an exhibition in his hometown that lead him to win a Kansai Yamamoto Prize. Always inspired by the contemporary scene and the sounds of the street life, he started his artistic career as an object artist, developing projects that were regularly exhibited in the major Art Galleries in Japan and worldwide. For the most, he could be just another difficult name to pronounce, but this Japanese artist belongs to the exclusive group of creative people who dedicate their work to timeless aesthetics.
Only in 1994 Ishii started working as a designer for Guy LaRoche and thus discovered his passion for fashion; two years later its namesake brand was born. Shy and refined, he remains far from the clamour of the catwalks and from the spotlights, but his clothes are worn by international stars as Lenny Kravitz.
With a synthetic, raw and visceral style, the Yasuyuki Ishii’s modern man requires a wardrobe rich in textures and workmanship. Cotton draperies are interchanged with studded leather, torn tissues are recomposed with gold zippers and the extemporaneously seams define distressed and wrinkled clothes.
The FW 2011/12 collection, shown at JFW Gallery, is a parade of outerwear, accessories and elaborate street-styles. Climbing collars and soft sleeves, overlapping raw-edged canvas and wool, studs applied under the black leather, which is tooled enough to get a worn-look, like an aliens’ empty soul. The tones are dark, stone-washed and vintage. Different kind of leather range from soft lamb to rough reptile. This futuristic man wears trousers full of cuts and punk-looking, sheer jersey cardigan with draped sleeves and black shoes with wide lapels and loose strings. Halfway between the swinging futurism and contemporary abstract art, Yasuyuki Ishii gives to his fashion collections a restless and determined connotation. Ishii divides his time between Paris, Milan, Florence, New York and Tokyo, where he works and transforms his tailoring and evanescent style in a unique and valuable happening of art.
On the website www.yasuyukiishii.jp you can take a look to his current collection and follow his work through the fashion shows he will be in.
