Keiko Nishiyama Spring/Summer 2027 at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo

Keiko Nishiyama Spring/Summer 2027 / SS27 at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo entitled Cultivating Wonder

From wild origins, across the sea, through hybridisation, into a new garden. This season draws inspiration from the journeys of plants—how they have been transformed by human hands and passed down across different lands.

Drawing on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century botanical illustrations and pressed-flower specimens, as well as the Japanese botanical compendium “Honzō Zufu”, the collection traces the histories of plants across cultures: lilies native to Japan that travelled overseas and were cultivated into new varieties in the West; tulips developed in Europe and later further refined in Japan; and orchids that spread from tropical Asia across the world.

For Keiko Nishiyama SS27 / Spring/Summer 2027, The title “Cultivating Wonder” carries two intertwined meanings: the cultivation of plants and the creation of new varieties, and the nurturing of beauty and wonder yet unseen, born from our curiosity about the natural world. Imaginary flowers, drawn by combining characteristics from different plants, form the heart of the collection. Each hand-drawn motif becomes a “seed”, entrusted to the techniques and hands of artisans across Japan, where it grows into textile and clothing.

In Yosano, Kyoto, ribbons and decorative yarns are woven into the fabric one by one, slowly creating a rare and intricate ribbon-woven textile. Elsewhere, hand embroidery gives sculptural form to the vitality of flowers, while knitwear brings together contrasting yarns to create unexpected surfaces and expressions. Every piece is imbued with meticulous craftsmanship. When hand-drawn motifs meet the knowledge and skill of artisans, an entirely new botanical “variety” comes into being.