A Look Back at the Magical Creations of Katsuya Kamo
When Katsuya Kamo, the sought-after Japanese hairstylist and milliner, died earlier this month, fashion lost a unique talent and a man who appreciated ephemeral beauty. The life cycle of many of his creations was the length of a fashion show.
Kamo’s story started in rural Fukuoka, Japan, where as a young man he trained a local hairdresser before going on to work for a top stylist and landing in Paris. Kamo’s fate was sealed when he returned to Japan in 1996. It’s then that he met and developed working relationships with the boundary-pushing designers Junya Watanabe and Jun Takahashi of Undercover. Watanabe is responsible for keeping the true spirit of punk alive, and for him, Kamo dreamed up spikes of paper, face-obscuring Rapunzel-length wigs, and metal-studded helmets. Taking the idea of being undercover to extremes for Takahashi, Kamo made perforated masks, hair hats, and crowns of thorns. “Working together with Kamo-san for 24 years was filled with surprises. I loved not only his genius creations but his personality,” announced Takahashi on Instagram. “I am deeply sorry for his passing but am looking forward to the day that we meet again!”
Kamo also did work for Haider Ackermann. “No conversation was needed, no words,” Ackermann told Vogue. “Silently we would work harmoniously and I would observe where his artistic sensibility would bring me, [to] a perfect balanced world of grace and insanity. [He was] the best play companion one could dream [of].”
.jpg)
One of Kamo’s memorable Chanel for outings spring 2009 couture involved a set and headdresses of paper. As Kamo returns to the heavenly fold, we celebrate his pure—yet wonderfully untamed—talent.
Photo: Marcio Madeira1/33Junya Watanabe, fall 2003 ready-to-wear
Photo: Marcio Madeira2/33Undercover, fall 2003 ready-to-wear
