Yuima Nakazato Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025 at Paris Couture Week

Yuima Nakazato Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025 – 2026 / FW25 at Paris Couture Week

Designer’s Message

I have been contemplating the origins of clothing and how it came into being. One theory suggests that as our ancestors expanded their living areas from the African continent into colder regions, they utilised animal skins to protect their bodies from the cold, marking the genesis of clothing.

This historical perspective led me to explore these origins in preparation for the latest collection. My exploration took me to the wintry expanse of northern Finnish Lapland with contemporary dancer and artist Evgeny Ganeev. This region, where seas, waterfalls, and rivers freeze, presents a unique landscape of forms and colours. Within this austere environment, we conducted a nude photoshoot with Evgeny. The extreme conditions necessitated precise synchronisation, with each shot completed in approximately three minutes, highlighting the critical nature of our work. The contrast between the “naked body” and the “world of ice” powerfully underscores the fundamental role of clothing, simultaneously revealing the inherent defencelessness and fragility of the human body.

In an era marked by persistent conflict, acknowledging human vulnerability through the exposed body feels especially pertinent. The genesis of clothing demonstrates humanity’s progression through expanding, supplementing, and protecting itself. This fact becomes glaringly evident when observing a defenceless body in extreme conditions; without clothing, death awaits. By comprehending human delicacy through the naked form and re-recognising the necessity of clothing, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. From this perspective, it may be possible to envision alternative trajectories for human evolution and development.

For several seasons, I have been creating “fragile armour”- dresses meticulously crafted from thousands of ceramic pieces over thousands of hours, designed to be unsuitable for combat. This season, I also introduced ceramic masks. In a world saturated with facial recognition and AI image generation, exposing the face – which conveys a wealth of information – creates a sense of profound vulnerability. Consequently, in contemporary society, concealing one’s face serves as a potent form of protection. Both the ceramic garments and masks are intentionally designed to fracture. The ice in Finland, though sharp and cold, is also inherently prone to melting and shattering. This concept of armour that breaks, cracks, and melts is intentionally layered with the presence of ice.

Additionally, metal chains this season were crocheted with mohair yarn. Hand-knitting has historically been associated with female gender roles, yet more recently, public knitting has emerged as a symbol of resistance. Metal, a material synonymous with strength and utilised in armour, is juxtaposed with the delicate act of slow, deliberate hand-knitting with fine yarn. Through this combination, I aimed to convey a quiet yet resolute resistance to the current global situation.

Yuima Nakazato born in 1985. Graduated from the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium in 2008. In July 2016, he was selected as one of the official guest designers for Haute Couture Week. To this day, he continues to be its only member from Japan. In 2024, Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode in Calais, France presented the brand’s first monographic exhibition, “YUIMA NAKAZATO Beyond Couture”. Since 2022, Nakazato began collaborating with choreographers and theatre directors to design costumes for operas and ballet productions in both the US and Europe, including the Boston Ballet and the Geneva National Theatre. Nakazato is also a founder of the FASHION FRONTIER PROGRAM, an educational program for emerging talent on social responsibility and environmental issues in fashion design.