It is certainly no simple task to attempt to replicate the hard texture of sculpture using the soft material that is fabric, which never maintains the same form from moment to moment. And yet Murata brilliantly overcame that difficulty, with the sculpturally shaped aesthetic of his clothing this season drawing gasps of wonder from show attendees. Especially outstanding was a dress that rendered a constructed appearance truly evocative of sculpture with just the bare minimum of draping. With outlines delineated by crispy material intersecting with the shapeless shifting of the fabric, Murata’s designs danced lightly through the air in time to the movements of the models to conjure up an effect as beautiful as a verse from a lyric poem. The dynamism evinced by this contrast of stillness and movement was, if you’ll pardon the pun, incredibly moving.
But to focus exclusively on the details of external beauty like design and form in the HARUNOBUMURATA collection this season would be negligent as fashion journalism. Rodin was a dominant presence in the sculpture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, excelling in his use of clay and other soft materials to create figures and statues. Brâncuşi then emerged as the pioneer of the sculpture that came after Rodin, always working with hard materials like wood and stone and fervent about direct carving. “What is real is not the external form but the essence of things,” Brâncuşi once said, encapsulating his artistic mindset. Having similarly striven to express the essence of things through clothing, Murata was undoubtedly influenced by Brâncuşi’s attitude and ideas. And yet he attempted here to limn the core of his aesthetic by a completely opposite method: not by “scraping” or “paring” hard material, but rather layering soft materials. In other words, Murata aspired to replicate a form of direct carving—an approach to sculpture so closely associated with Brâncuşi—with Rodin-style statues. Born from a pursuit of fashion design elevated to the realm of ideas, this collection was accompanied by an intensity that comes from within, by an understanding that fashion that aims for design perfection alone is never attainable.
HARUNOBUMURATA has attracted buzz as a standard-bearer for a distinctly Japanese brand of luxury, including from TCOP. We hope this designer, who seeks the essence of things and whose craftsmanship never neglects to engage in dialogue with fabric, develops into a Brâncuşi-esque pioneer of Japanese fashion, whose talent sadly continues to leave for better prospects overseas.