Japanese culture serves as constant inspiration for Maiko Kurogouchi. With each new season, she draws from this rich heritage, showcasing her references through meticulously curated moodboards and displays of beautiful artefacts or books. Her work reflects a deep connection to traditional Japanese aesthetics, which she weaves into her modern designs.
Although she is typically drawn to revitalizing traditional crafts with an emphasis on textures, surfaces, and materials, this season she shifted her focus to Katachi—the form and shape of objects. This marked a subtle departure from her usual approach, leaning more into conceptual exploration, while still honoring the craftsmanship at the heart of her work.
While designing her spring collection, working with pottery led her to contemplate the nature of form—how it is both tangible and elusive. She became captivated by the simplicity of found or familiar objects, such as stones discovered on a walk through the hills, ceramic buttons crafted by artist Lucie Rie, seashells, and ceremonial lanterns. She began capturing them in close-up photographs, then sketched them by blacking out the details, leaving only the abstract contours of their forms. These simplified silhouettes became the foundation for the slender, serene designs in her collection, showcased at Ogata, a Japanese haute-cuisine restaurant.
Kurogouchi played on lithe shapes, crafting garments that were delicately pleated, asymmetrically draped, or softly shaped into cocoon-like forms and off-the-shoulder flowing tunics. They were presented in a neat palette of black and white, accented by occasional flashes of luminous green. A standout piece was a form-fitting bodice in jade green, finely pleated in jacquard, featuring light voluminous sleeves and adorned with delicate sakura blossoms, inspired by the traditional lanterns of Kyoto.
Despite its technical intricacy and layers of complex references to Japanese imagery and craftsmanship, the collection radiated a sense of poise, reflecting Kurogouchi s highly sophisticated and artistic approach to design.
