POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Womens outfit by Akira Isogawa

Object No. 2000/110/1

Akira Isogawa is one of Australia's most innovative and successful fashion designers. He is best known for his distinctive east-west fusion clothes mixing traditional Japanese and Asian textiles and forms, with influences from historical and contemporary European fashion. Under his eponymous label 'Akira Isogawa' he retails through his own boutique in Queen Street, Woollahra, Sydney, department store, David Jones as well as some of the world's top stores including Browns in London, Barney's, New York and Club 21 in Singapore. His collections regularly receive critical acclaim at Mercedes Australian Fashion week (Australia's major fashion event presenting Australian, New Zealand and Asian designer collections before local and international media and buyers). In 1998 Isogawa was one of the finalists selected in the 'Object design' category of 'The 1998 Seppelt Contemporary Art Awards' presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. In the same year he was invited to design the costumes for the Sydney Dance Company's production 'Salome'. In 1999 he was named Australian Designer of the Year at the Australian Fashion Industries Awards. Isogawa was born in 1964 in Japan and came to Australia on a working holiday visa in 1986. He studied fashion design at East Sydney Tech and opened his own shop with his own label in 1993. His work is distinguished by his use of transparent fabrics, layering of garments, unusual combinations of textures and fabrics and his re-use of antique kimono fabrics and traditional Asian textiles. Akira Isogawa is one of a handful of Australian based designers making their mark on the international market. Like compatriot Collette Dinnigan, Isogawa's international success can be traced to his distinctive signature style with pieces that feature unusual detailing, beatiful fabrics and hand worked embroidery and beading resulting in pieces that are collectable and treasured. Isogawa presented this dress as part of his Resort 2000 Collection for Mercedes Australian Fashion Week 1999. The beading was inspired by traditional Javanese batik and beading, and was sourced through a workshop in Bali. The dress evolved from the beaded panel which Isogawa sought to combine with a dress of unsusual cut. He achieved this by folding and darting the fabric close to the body, resulting in an excess of fabric at the rear which was then tucked and folded into an irregular bustle at the back. It was the garment that fashion editor and journalist Marion Hume singled out from Australian Fashion Week as 'the dress that saved Sydney' for its originality while reminding the reader that 'the very best clothes are made of dreams'. References: Marion Hume, 'The Dress That Saved Sydney: The Verdict', Fashion Extra lift-out of The Australian, 21 May 1999. Georgina Safe, 'Akira Isogawa: Unfolding a Life in Fashion', MAAS Media, in association with Thames & Hudson, 2018