“I wanted to show with the work, all the things that I haven’t said – all my gratitude and all my love”
This year’s KABK Fashion show gifted us with something profound. Hiromu Takeshita‘s graduation project “For What Remains Unsaid” speaks softly, yet powerfully, and does not falter in communicating the message of heartfelt gratitude it carries. Dedicated to the impending death of a loved one, the graduation project denotes a funeral ceremony, envisaged for its attendees. But not within our orbit. His collection transports us far out into the outer cosmos and draws upon the functionality of astronaut suits with their rounded silhouettes. Ever entwined is the way of the spirit, Shintoism, which imbues Hiromu’s work, not only through the elongated sleeves inspired by Shinto priest attire, but seeped into the very narration the collection aims to convey – one of protectiveness and strength spun into the garment’s woolen fabric. Akin to the colours of the meteors floating above our heads, and those crushed under the soles of our shoes, Hiromu concocts a brilliant, subdued colour scheme uniting the dimensions of space, tombstones, and mourning in his collection.
Follow along his Shinto ceremony, as he shows rather than tells, a story of vulnerability, the gravity of gratitude, and spirituality as self-protection: A space Odyssey like no other.
So nice to meet you! How are you feeling after last Friday’s Fashion show?
It was very tiring, but I was very satisfied! It went as all fashion shows usually go – always very quick and like a tornado coming in. Now it’s nice and settled.
Do you mind walking me through the story of your collection? What is it about, and what were the main inspirations for this collection?
Of course. It all started when I went back to Japan, and it’s a bit of a heavy topic. My mum had fallen ill, and she was given two years left to live. We made her a gravestone, along with one for my dad as well. There was a saying in Japan that if you have your gravestone made and you see it, you live longer than you expect. While I wasn’t a religious person, my mum is from the Shinto religion in Japan, and I wanted this graduation collection to be a kind of ceremony for my mum. So I delved deep into researching the religion, in part also because I’m Japanese and I wanted to understand it more. During my trip, I took numerous pictures as part of the research and had many discussions with my mum about Shintoism, as well as about her own experiences. She expressed that she was content with her death and that she had a happy life and wouldn’t want me to worry, and instead, have fun. I also wanted to incorporate space exploration since I was fascinated by it from a young age. But above anything else, I wanted to dedicate this to my mum, and have the collection be a ceremony in space for my mum. It all started around here, and I’d say it was a very intuitive process. I gathered images, took garments inspired by workwear attire, and from then on, I just went very intuitively with shape, details, and styling.
That sounds so beautiful. Where does the name of the collection come from?
“What for what remains unsaid?” There was a part of me that wanted to show my appreciation for my mum. I think it’s a very Japanese thing to show, rather than outright say how we feel. Maybe it’s also just a personal thing. I wanted to show with the work, all the things that I haven’t said to my mum – all my gratitude and all my love. Not just with words, but with everything. The process and the results of my collection. That’s where the name came from.
And what aspects of Shintoism are specifically strong in your collection?
Shintoism influenced my collection through themes of protection and respect. “Shinto” means the way of the spirit, and is a way of living that emphasises the protection and respect towards nature and of all things, since everything has a spirit or god according to the religion. That idea of respect and protection resonated with me. My collection became a way to show my vulnerability, something I usually don’t do, while also protecting myself from when my mum had to go.
The colour palette of your collection included a great deal of greys and blues. Was there a specific colour palette you gravitated towards in this collection, and why?
When I look back at some of my photos, I think the gravestone images had such a powerful impact on me, and the colours of greys and blues stuck with me. The gravestone was made out of stone, as well as the ground; it all had that same palette. I wasn’t even consciously going for that, but I intuitively ended up choosing fabrics in those colours. I think it was about facing a reality I didn’t want to happen.
What was the process of creating your pieces?
First, I gathered images of workwear outfits. I have always had a lot of inspiration from astronaut suits and the shape of Shinto priest attire. I just took inspiration from those, and from there on, I decided what I liked, and then it just came out.
Did you experience any challenging or unexpected things you had to deal with during the making of this?
Not really. When I made collections in the past, I wasn’t very intuitive, but this time around, everything went smoothly and felt natural. I knew what I wanted and needed to do. So there weren’t a lot of challenges, but there was a tough decision on the balance between the Shinto and space elements. It ended up, of course, being a lot of Shinto in this collection, with only 20% being space exploration.
Space travel can be both a point of exploration but also a bit isolating. Did you lean into one direction over the other in your garments?
I think I wanted it to lean more towards exploration, but the space part was generally more about functionality since that’s what I look after in astronaut suits. I wanted it to look mobile and have parts of the garments that are detachable. For example, there are quite a lot of bags involved. On two of the pants, there are big bags on the sides that have handles you can use to fold up, detach, and then carry those bags. I also wanted to imagine my garments in a fantasy world where I was having a ceremony in space. Since I already had space in mind, I didn’t focus too much on conveying space itself, but relying more on the functionality that we can find in space suits.
How did the use of silhouettes in your collection tell the story that you wanted to communicate?
I didn’t want to call it a funeral because my mum hasn’t passed away yet, but the shapes were inspired by Shinto funeral ceremonies, Shinto priest wear, and also Buddhist and Shinto temples and shrines.
Are there any references that are important to you besides the pictures that you took?
I think there was one collection from the brand Undercover that I thought of during this process, one from a year or two ago, featuring a fantasy religion collection. The designer had these side-facing heads and also printed his paintings onto the garments, merging the two. It was nice how he approached it, and I kept asking myself how the Undercover designer communicated through his garments, and how I could do the same. I try not to think just as a designer, but also from the audience’s perspective, that is, seeing the collection with fresh eyes. That’s hard, but important.
Did the choice of material also play into the feeling you wanted to portray?
Both yes and no, it’s more about the colours in this collection. I used a lot of wool, though, partly because of my internship where I did a lot of washing techniques with it and it piqued my interest, but also because it felt warm and protective.
How has your experience at KABK been?
It was a good experience. Before studying fashion, I was studying international business, and I wanted to learn a more creative, free-spirited way of thinking when it comes to making a collection. As a technical person, I always felt like things needed to be or look a certain way, but these years slapped that strict part out of me. I feel like you can also sense this in my collection. There are these bouldering shoes featured on one of the looks, and if you asked me four years ago, I would never put those in. But they taught me to also have some fun with it, and I think that was good, as I didn’t want the collection to look too dark or sad. The reason I included bouldering shoes is that it was a hobby I picked up a couple of months ago, and it kind of saved me from my mental health. So I wanted to put them in there, also to symbolise something positive.
Where do you want your creative journey to take you next?
I want to acquire an artist visa in the Netherlands so that I can start my career here. We’ll see how it goes, but that’s my plan for now. Even though this was a tough process, I still love making stuff, and I want to keep creating, so I’m gonna somehow do that.
If you could pick three words that would encapsulate this collection words would you use to describe it?
Gratitude, ceremonial, and vulnerability.
Words by Sharon Calistus
Images courtesy of the artist
Notifications