ZIN KATO x Yuki Mitamura Digital Fashion at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo
ZIN KATO announces the launch of a new Digital Fashion Label “ZIN KATO x D” First project will be a digital dress produced in full 3D. ZIN (located Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Zin Kato), the company behind fashion brand ZIN KATO, announces the launch of its new digital fashion label ZIN KATO x D and will present its digital looks at the 2022 A/W – Rakuten Fashion Week.
The ZIN KATO x Yuki Mitamura 2022 AW Collection explores the ultimate possibilities of digital expression by attempting to fuse fashion and art using full 3DGC.
【ZIN KATO x D】
Based on haute couture worldview created by ZIN KATO over the past 47 years, new creators will create digital fashion and art work that transcend physical restrictions.
【ZIN KATO x Yuki Mitamura】
ZIN KATO x D’s first project will be with Yuki Mitamura. Yuki Mitamura graduated from Tokyo University of Art in 2007 and now works as a designer, web engineer and creator. The digital dress depicted in the presentation video released on March 19, 2022 was designed based on a pattern created by ZIN KATO. As a new attempt to transcend the physical, this also marks the first time for Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO to present a fully 3DCG production.
The theme “Labyrinth of Dresses” was inspired by the sculpture of “Sleeping Hermaphroditus”. By layering depictions of dress patterns fusing into one, the work symbolizes the contrast and similarities of life and death, male and female, past and future.
this project by taking 2 distinct dresses—the gold dress and the crystal dress—and fusing them into one story.
The gold dress gets its inspiration from the sculpture of Sleeping Hermaphroditus, and depicts a man meeting a woman and follows their journey as they become one. The gold dress symbolizes the mortal world, while the crystal dress symbolizes an ephemeral light, about to founder.
The crystal dress is positioned as the god of all dresses, and while there is some overlap with the gold dress in that there are two figures, these characters are positioned as faint celestial beings.
The number of physical runways and collections have been drastically reduced, and fashion creators have sought out the digital world as a substitution. At first, most of this took the form of airing recorded versions of a runway show without a physical audience. However, soon various creators recognized the technical possibilities of digital and we started to see an influx of experimental visual expressions. Now we find ourselves in the midst of a world filled with unfamiliar terms such as “metaverse,” “NFT’s” and “blockchain.”
With everything in the world forced to change due to Covid, it’s no surprise that fashion—and how to express it—seems to be at a crossroads.
There have always been limitless possibilities for fashion expression, and perhaps the rise of new technology has given creators further freedom to express themselves without the need to be bound by formula or restrictions.
About Zin Kato
Born in Hokkaido, Japan. Graduated from Bunka Fashion College, Department of Design. After winning the 33rdSoen Award, established ZIN Co. Since then, has continued to design around the philosophy of “delicate, couture and timeless clothes.” Operated a store in Los Angeles from 2001 ~ 2006 and continues wholesale operations throughout the US. Has participated in the Tokyo Collection since 2005.
ZIN KATO has collaborated with the fashion game app “Platinum Girl” to design fashion for avatars. These digital designs were later presented in a physical runway at Amazon Fashion Week TOKYO 2018 SS. ZIN KATO has been actively engaged in art and design that fuses the digital and physical and will continue to collaborate with various industries and creators to contribute to the development of the fashion.
Zin Kato met Yuki Mitamura in the early 2000’s when she was a student in the design department of Tokyo University of Arts searching for new forms of expression. This was still an era when GAFA was still in its infancy and digital expression was still not widely known or understood. It seems that after 20 years, times have finally caught up with her.
As a fashion designer who has strived for analog expressions through the physical, Zin Kato learned through our collaboration that even digital expression is ultimately built on the accumulation of meticulous analog techniques, and this experience strengthened my resolve. It was both thrilling and exciting to witness the gradual materialization of ourwork through repeated discussion with Yuki Mitamura
Through this work, we hope to express the contrasts and similarities of life and death, male and female, past and future, and fashion and art.
All images courtesy of Zin Kato
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