One of the most frequent challenges fashion designers end up facing in their careers is trying to find the perfect balance in their collections between commercial pieces and more creative and conceptual (and therefore more expensive...) designs. It is therefore not uncommon for many designers to give up their more avant-garde ideas in favour of less original, but definitely more saleable creations.
Nana Aganovich and Brooke Taylor may instead just have found a way to avoid finding difficult balances between commercial and original forces and compromising their creativity: this July they were indeed invited by the French Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture to show on the high fashion schedule.
The design duo limited the number of designs on the runway (a space outside their 11th Arrondissement atelier) to 12 looks, and borrowed many inspirations from their ready-to-wear pieces, recreating some of them with couture fabrics and luxury textiles.
Many designs bore therefore the duo's trademark passion for pieces inspired by history in which they injected Victorian moods à la Dickens or Gothic details of the kind that Miss Peregrine in Ransom Riggs' books about the extraordinary Peculiar Children would favour.
Black prevailed at the very beginning of the show with ample sculptural skirts and pants matched with ruffled white organza shirts, black brocade skinny suits paired with shirts decorated with multiple layers of organza around the neck, a black leather jacket that looked as if it were made of plastic, and black deconstructed mourning dresses.
A Marie Antoinette palette was introduced thanks to brocades by Venetian Rubelli (it is worth remembering that costume designer Milena Canonero turned to Rubelli for the gowns in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette), employed for frock coats characterised by pleated motifs on the front and matched with light powdery pink or cream skirts.
Even though these designs clearly showed a historical derivation, none of them looked like costumes: the emphasis was indeed on creating a refined artisanal offer for Aganovich's private clients interested in acquiring bespoke pieces.
That is also the main reason why the designers turned to milliner Stephen Jones who created two headpieces for this runway, and to Japanese hair artist, head prop designer and wig maker Tomihiro Kono (河野富広) who worked on the colourful wigs that gave a contemporary punk twist to the designs.
Fresh from an exhibition of wigs at The Community in Paris, Kono opted for rebellious looks that broke with the romantic brocades in pale blue and peach, and called to mind the flamboyant hairstyles in Miloš Forman's Amadeus.
You can bet this experience will be chronicled and recounted in detail by the hairstylist and wig maker in a new book, maybe a follow-up to "Head Prop: Studies 2013 - 2016" (Konomad Editions), but, for the time being, you can learn more about it from this brief interview with Kono.
What does Haute Couture represent for you?
Tomihiro Kono: For me, Haute Couture represents a dream, even though I don’t find so much difference between Haute Couture and Ready-to-Wear actually, because the designers I have worked with are quite specific in their styles, so every look is bespoke anyway. This Aganovich show only featured 12 looks, and that made it very special since you didn't get that classic army-style runway in which every model looked the same, but each model became a character with her own fantastic aesthetic. I have always loved one-off, bespoke pieces as opposed to mass production.
Is this the first time you took part in a Haute Couture show?
Tomihiro Kono: Yes, it was and for me it was as if one of my dreams had become true.
How did the collaboration with Aganovich happen?
Tomihiro Kono: I met Nana Aganovich and Brooke Taylor two years ago when they were doing Ready-to-Wear and they asked me to collaborate with them on their A/W 2016 runway. They really loved the bandage hairstyles I did and, in between a glass of wine or two, we shared our creative visions. I started making wigs from scratch two years ago using a time-consuming handmade process that consists in making a foundation, knotting hair strands into it and colouring, cutting and styling the wigs into any shape. It takes a lot of patience to go through this process, but it's really worth doing it since it can be considered as real couture. I have presented some of my most recent designs during my compact exhibition "Wigs (Perruques)" at The Community in Paris. Brooke and Nana absolutely loved my wigs and my idea of "hair-couture", so this collaboration started from there.
Did the designers give you a theme or a story you could develop while working on your wigs?
Tomihiro Kono: They didn't give me any specific theme, but we share some common aesthetics, so it was a natural process in which we tried to match clothes, wigs and models as we did the fittings.
You made the wigs, but there was also another collaborator who worked on the headlieces, can you tell us more about it?
Tomihiro Kono: Stephen Jones made the surreal dome-shaped headpiece that encased one model's head and he also designed the black veil with a face printed on it.
There was a historical component in the clothes with some designs evoking a sort of Marie Antoinette style - did those design inspire the pastel shades of some of your wigs?
Tomihiro Kono: The Aganovich duo has a specific taste in their clothes that evokes historical elements. I personally like that, but I wanted to break up with classical elements and I opted to use pastel coloured wigs to make the garments look fresh and young. I also wanted to avoid coming up with a very traditional image, so I aimed at making more contemporary pieces with new, energetic vibes.
You spent quite a few weeks in Europe and now you're back in New York: did you find any inspirations while being in Europe for your wigs/hair styles?
Tomihiro Kono: Europe is more or less my home, everytime I visit I get inspired by the European aesthetics. What inspires me the most is that people in Paris really appericiate what I do, they do have a lot of respect for the artisanal spirit and I like this attitude. During my exhibition at The Community in Paris people were willing to try my wigs on and stopped to ask me how I made them and so on and that felt really encouraging. Maybe I should move back to Europe at some point!
Image credits for this post
Wigs by Tomihiro Kono; all images in this post courtesy and copyright Konomad.
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