Philadelphia part II - Hello! Fashion: Kansai Yamamoto and R.Mutt

I had the opportunity to catch the Kansai Yamamoto exhibition while I was in Philadelphia.

Kansai Yamamoto's designs are usually exuberant, theatrical and over the top, compared to the austere designs produced by other Japanese designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake. Comparatively, Kansai Yamamoto's liberal use of Kabuki prints can seem distracting. Still there's something about all this flamboyance that makes this exhibition such an interesting visit.

Playsuit with arm guards, leg guards and hood:

Cape with bodysuit and clogs (how spectacular is the cape?):

Dresses with appliques (strangely I can see myself wearing either dress today!):

Long coat (I love its kimono inspiration and this was first modeled in the year of the Tiger, hence the tiger image on it. The coat also has the kanji characters for tiger and Kansai on it.):

And the most spectacular Kansai Yamamoto piece - the circular cape, pants and clogs:

There ares also other Kansai Yamamoto creations and another collection of pieces by Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake in the exhibition which I have not shown. I strongly urge everyone who can, to drop by the Philly museum to view this exhibition for yourself. The last day is on April 31st, I think.

For more information on Kansai Yamamoto's work and his collection, check out his website here.

And look what I found in the museum as well!

I believe this is one of the Fountain replicas which is authorized by Dada-ist Marcel Duchamp. It was certainly a thrill for me to see something which I had studied during high school, in real life.

Next post: New York City!!