Hey peeps!
Today I thought I would hit y’all up with some fabbo inspiration type stuff, like yo.
I mentioned cleaning out the wardrobe recently… I have a few garments hanging in my wardrobe that have been there for years, that will never be tossed out even though I don’t wear them anymore; for a number of random reasons. Including stuff that is amazing and/or inspiring to me in some artistic or sartorially interesting way.
This Yoshiki Hishinuma blouse falls into that category.
It is a deep grey/taupe, polyester chiffon blouse; that has been heat set into randomly spaced, slightly wavey, deep permanent pleats, laid flat with the pleated folds in place, and then rollered over with some sort of stiff plastic creamy-yellow paint. When one wears it, the pleats open, revealing the unpainted grey chiffon sections … It must have been constructed completely right up until sewing on the buttons stage before “painting”, since the buttonholes are painted over also. The buttons themselves are of nacre, sewn on with the rough side facing out and the polished bit underneath.
I bought it in a second hand shop about 7 years ago, and it was already a wee bit damaged then. But I loved it so much, so I still wore it carefully for a further year before it deteriorated even more and then I stopped wearing it because I was worried about ruining it completely. Particularly, the paint in the underarm area was very vulnerable to wear.
I have kept the blouse because it is utterly unique and beautiful, and I have often thought about reproducing the concept myself.
Somehow…
It is made in Japan; of course.. in my opinion arguably the most inspiring sartorial country on the planet, and interested fellow aspiring creative-clothing devotees can read more about the designer here and view some others of his pieces here
Whoa, this is a very interesting blouse…and it has me thinking how it could be recreated. Or just how it was painted in the first place.
My mind is ticking over with the construction of the fabric. I would keep it too.
Oh my, that's cool. I wonder why you don't wear it. Is it comfy? I've never seen anything like it before. Thanks for the show and tell.
Wow, thanks for sharing this with us. Very inspiring and cool too!
That is definitely a piece of art. How was it to touch?
So nice things yo make, i'm not so good with sewing, but i'm knitting a lot. Is it your dog on some of the pictures? It looks SO cute.
I can't believe that you don't wear this wonder piece. It is exquisite.
Wow, what a unique piece. Definitely very inspirational!
Definitely a very interesting technique. Are you planning to try your hand at this?
Amazing piece! I agree that Japan is "the most inspiring sartorial country on the planet". Somehow even the weirdest ideas come off incredibly beautiful. How do they do it?
An interesting design. It is more like wearable art than functional I imagine.
This is very interesting and probably where those cheap knock off trendy versions from 2+ years ago probably came from? This one of course I actually like, how come you don't wear it anymore?
Carolyn, a way to recreate this in a loose way would be to use acrylic fabric paint and texture plates. I wish I could touch it to see what it feels like. I've used markers, and paint "crayons", and straight paint on fabric-I fins each has a different texture when set. I love the idea that the pleats open to reveal the base color…I would love to try something like this.
Art or clothing? Fascinating garment – thanks for showing us.
I have no problem figuring out the paint part, just trial and error until finding the one that works, (I would start by trying Martha Stewart's new craft paint line), but permanently pleating polyester (or silk, the secret of which permanent pleating died with Fortuny) is beyond my equipment. There used to be companies that you could send your fabric to, and they would set your pleats for you. But that random pleating on such a soft fabric? I would enjoy lots more pictures of the inside. Thanks for an interesting post.
Oh wow. I can't even begin to imagine how to go about replicating something like that. Permanent pleats in something so soft? Fascinating.
I love that blouse. It's so unique!
Ah thats so sad this blouse is coming apart! I had been reading your post but for some didn't see the part where you mentioned it had become so vulnerable which is strange….
I'm not sure where this is from, but if you're still reading this comments thread this might be of interest to you:
"Yoshiki Hishinuma’s clothes use a traditional Japanese technique in which a thin fabric is knotted or sewn, sometimes in multiple layers. The fabric is then shrunk, causing it to pucker. In some of Hishinuma’s pieces, a sheet of vinyl is laminated to the translucent layer beneath; the vinyl is allowed to crack, exposing the delicate flesh below the broken skin. These pieces explore the beauty and complexity of wrinkles, tears, and imperfections."
Plain fabric paint couldn't recreate this effect, it wouldn't maintain the smooth texture of the vinyl. I expect there's some industrial equipment required. Thanks for sharing the info about this incredible top from your collection!
Yes, I think you are right about needing industrial equipment! this level of sophistication in fashion is a bit of a stretch for the home seamstress. Thanks so much for sharing that information 🙂 I especially appreciated the line about the beauty and complexity of wrinkles, tears and imperfections.