Boot vs. Boot: In Awe of Japan

Over the weekend, we saw these Noritaka Tatehama platform boots at the Japan Fashion Now exhibit currently at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum. This exhibit was up, of course, before the earthquake and tsunami of now ten days ago, but it was a poignant coincidence to visit this exhibit and be awed by the contributions of tiny Japan, and its tremendous impact on art and culture. Other designers I loved from the show: Jun Takahashi, Naoto Gashicon, Somarta, Kawaii, White Mountaineering, Hirooka Naoto, and of course the classics: Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto.

We then went up and caught the Vivienne Westwood exhibit. Much smaller, it featured a lot of video and tear sheets. FIT doesn't seem to have a lot of her stuff but what they had was great, including the rocking horse boots featured below, the Statue of Liberty dress, and many of her collaborations with Malcolm McLaren.

Two weeks or so ago, we were walking home and ran into performance art teeming in a tiny gallery in our neighborhood. The artist was Japanese, but I did not get her name. It featured millions of cut paper strips stuffed into large plastic wall-mounted tunnels of sort. We got there just in time for the release of the paper. The plastic was slashed and pillows of paper strips were pulled from the holes, an abundance, so sensual it was overwhelming.