(photograph by Robert Maxwell)

Feu means fire, and there’s a lot of fight in Limi.

 Born in 1974 by the famous fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, it was not surprisingly that Limi Yamamoto chose a creative path and took up fashion studies at Bunka Fashion College and is now one of Japan’s most promising fashion designers.

She started work as a pattern maker for the Y’s line of Yohji Yamamoto Inc. in 1996. After working 2 years as a pattern maker for Y’s, she started her very own label named Y’s bis LIMI in year of 1999 and presented her first 2000 autumn/winter collection in Tokyo. In 2002, the brand was renamed as LIMI feu and with a huge success, Limi further expanded her fashion territory to Paris and debuted her 2008 spring/summer collection there obtaining praises immediately.. In 2009, she was awarded the Designer of the Year award by the 51st Fashion Editor’s Club of Japan.

LIMI feu  spring 2013

In one interview, when asked how Limi’s  style differs from the style of her famous dad), the designer replied simply: “by the fact that I’m a woman”. If the question was what they have in common, it would be that they are both Japanese.  Where the designs of Yohji are considered to be more romantic, the clothes of Limi are femininely sensual. Her signature is, first of all, in the volume: the garments are oversized, as if migrated from the men’s wardrobe to women’s as well as the combination of military style and delicate floral prints on the same coat, or those funny high bowlers. At one show several men came out on the runway which had the audience wondering if Limi has launched a men’s collection. “Ah non,” exclaimed one of her French  staff.  “It’s just that in Japan men often borrow LIMI feu from their girlfriends closets so she wanted to play with that”.

LIMI feu catwalk pictures

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A tribute to that infinitely complex and perfected very “Japanese” cut is in order: that black-white-grey palette, only occasionally broken by the bright colour splashes of blue, red or their mosaic combination, and that seemingly simple maximally elongated male snow-white shirt, and the curiosity of the trousers with strap,; and short leather jackets with inevitable motorcycle boots.
Sensuous rock and roll on the verge of anguish, or simply on the verge of.. male and female.

“She made it” declared a beaming Yohji after his daughter’s Paris debut. And papa had every reason to be proud: The collection was a walking advertisement for fashion DNA.

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Boutique in Paris

 Situé dans le deuxième arrondissement, au 13 rue de Turbigo.

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LIMI feu Prankster

LIMI feu also produces a kid collection called LIMI feu Pranster, which is very popular in Japan.

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A couple of years ago, my sister Mary showed me a great online shop specialized in books on crafts like sawing, knitting, beading, embroidery etc. She had bought a Japanese book with patterns for children’s clothes which was really great, so I started searching the shop for other pattern books and found the best ever. They were written in Japanese, but because I am a very advanced sewer this didn’t withhold me from buying some of the books. A little while ago I noticed one of these books in a bookstore in Amsterdam, but this one was translated in English. So for my fellow craftsmen who haven’t been introduced to these fantastic books, read this post.

 Pattern Magic

Pattern Magic is the cult pattern-cutting book from Japan. Taking inspiration from nature, from geometric shapes and from the street, this book harnesses the sheer joy of making and sculpting clothes. The book takes a creative approach to pattern cutting, with step-by-step projects for fashion designers and dressmakers to enjoy.
All the basic information you need to start pattern cutting is included, from the basic block to measurements and scaling. Each project is beautifully illustrated with clear diagrams and photographs showing the stages of construction, the toiles and the finished garments. These easy-to-follow illustrations and detailed instructions make it easy to create stunning, sculptural clothes with a couture look.

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 Pattern Magic  vol. 2

About the Author

After serving many years as a professor at Bunka Fashion College, Tomoko Nakamichi currently delivers lectures and holds courses on design making, both in Japan and overseas.

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Pattern Magic even has its own Facebook page on which people show their own Magic Pattern-garments and their own designs !

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pattern-Magic/367180714172

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Pattern Magic  Stretch Fabrics

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All three books (English version)  can be ordered by Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Magic-Tomoko-Nakamichi/dp/1856697053

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Men’s coats by Ryuichiro Shimazaki

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Japanese Sewing Pattern book for Men’s Coats with Full-Sized Pattern Sheet Basic & Cool!!! These cool coats are all designed by  Ryuichiro Shimazaki. Ryuichiro Shimazaki is very famous Sewing Designer for men in Japan!! This book is absolutely FANTASTIC! It’s written in Japanese though… Don’t worry 🙂 You can get step-by-step instructions  in illustrations ! 01 – Trench Coat 02 – Trench Coat (Spring Coat) 03 – Casual Trench 04 – Short Trench 05 – Pea Coat 06 – Pea Coat (Vintage Style) 07 – Pea Coat (Marine Style) 08 – Pea Coat (Military Style) 09 – Duffel Coat (Traditional) 10 – Duffel Coat (Off-White) 11 – Duffel Coat (Canvas) 12 – Balmacaan Coat (Traditional) 13 – Balmacaan Coat (Used Style)

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http://www.amazon.com/Mens-Coat-By-Ryuichiro-Shimazaki/dp/4579112202

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Shirts by Ryuichiro Shimazaki

This book is can be bought in the French or Japanese language

Twice a year I took the train to Paris, just so I could get my hands on the next issue of Six Magazine by Comme Des Garçons, the most inspiring magazine at the time.

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In 1988, Comme des Garçons founder and creative director Rei Kawakubo created bi-annual creative journal Six (and abbreviation of Sixth Sense), presenting her own work alongside that of other artists, photographers, designers and writers. The magazine closed its doors in 1991, by which time it had become an institution for the Japanese brand, and it’s now the subject of a stylish new iPad app. Moving Six takes an interactive look back into the archives, still a source of inspiration for Rei Kawakubo, packed with photos by Steven Meisel, Minsei Tominaga and Karl Blossfeldt, all tinted and enhanced especially. Be inspired.

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Comme des Garçons’ Moving Six app

Comme des Garçons presented a brand new iPad application in 2012, exploring the world of Six magazine, edited by designer Rei Kawakubo from 1988 to 1991.

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(most pictures in this post were published in Six Magazine, the other pictures are also related to Comme des Garçons)

Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy. It is often done for aesthetics, sexual enhancement, rites of passage, religious beliefs, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, for shock value, and as self-expression, among other reasons. In its most broad definition it includes plastic surgery, socially acceptable decoration (e.g., common ear piercing in many societies), and religious rites of passage (e.g., circumcision in a number of cultures), as well as the modern primitive movement.

Walter van Beirendonck, Alexander McQueen & Riccardo Tisci found inspiration in body modification and its jewelry.

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Piercing

It’s a misconception that body piercing is a relatively recent trend or fashion. Ear piercing is incredibly common in almost every culture throughout history, with a huge range of legends, myths, and meanings behind the jewelry worn and its placement. Nostril piercing has been documented in the Middle East as far back as 4,000 years. The fashion continued in India in the sixteenth century, and is still widely practiced there to this day. Both ear and nostril piercing and jewelry are mentioned in the Bible. And piercings in other parts of the body, such as labret or lip piercings, are widely practiced often in the form of enlarged piercings and lip discs. Tribes across Africa, in Southeast Asia, and in North and South America all participate in lip piercing.

enlarged nostril piercing

enlarged ear piercings

lip discs

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Tattooing

Tattooing, as we know it, is documented as far back as 3300 BCE as seen in the discovery of Otzi the iceman in 1991 and ancient Egyptian mummies bearing tattoos of animals and various creatures.  The practice, however, is believed to have originated over 10,000 years ago. The mechanics of tattooing have changed over the years, and the pigments and inks used have wildly improved in recent times, but whether hand-tapped, poked with a single needle or administered with the telltale buzz of a modern tattoo machine, the basic reasons behind the choice to become tattooed haven’t changed much in all that time: fashion, function or just to make a statement of some kind.

People have also been forcibly tattooed to identify them permanently as criminals or undesirables in society and that associated stigma of tattooing as ‘lowbrow’ or undesirable still exists in the minds of many. Despite that, tattoos are enjoying a resurgence of popularity and are very common in modern culture and for the most part, accepted as the norm.

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Neck rings

Neck rings are one or more spiral metal coils of many turns worn as an ornament around the neck of an individual. In a few African and Asian cultures neck rings are worn usually to create the appearance that the neck has been stretched. Padaung (Kayan Lahwi) women of the Kayan people begin to wear neck coils from as young as age two. The length of the coil is gradually increased to as much as twenty turns. The weight of the coils will eventually place sufficient pressure on the shoulder blade to cause it to deform and create an impression of a longer neck.

The custom of wearing neck rings is related to an ideal of beauty: an elongated neck. Neck rings push the collarbone and ribs down. The neck stretching is mostly illusory: the weight of the rings twists the collar bone and eventually the upper ribs at an angle 45 degrees lower than what is natural, causing the illusion of an elongated neck. The vertebrae do not elongate, though the space between them may increase as the intervertebral discs absorb liquid.

The South Ndebele peoples of Africa also wear neck rings as part of their traditional dress and as a sign of wealth and status. Only married women are allowed to wear the rings, called “dzilla”. Metal rings are also worn on different parts of the body, not just the neck. The rings are usually made of copper or brass. If these rings are removed from around the neck, the neck could collapse under its own weight.

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Scarification & Branding

Traditionally, scarification is seen most widely amongst dark-skinned people in equatorial regions-people who tend to have so much melanin in their skin that tattooing isn’t very effective, visually. The “crocodile” people of Papua New Guinea’s Sepik region, several Aboriginal tribes in northern Australia and the Karo people of Ethiopia are just a few of the many cultures who, to this day, participate in traditional rites involving scarification.

In the modern-day Western context, scarification and branding, while markedly less popular than tattooing, are still common forms of body modification, with beautiful end results for many devotees. The aesthetic outcome of a healed scarification, however, has less to do with the artist and more to do with the healing and genetics of the wearer and that (along with the pain and discomfort of the procedure and healing) will probably ensure that scarification never becomes as common as, say, getting a tattoo.

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Hardcore

Other surgical modifications seen in recent times are ear pointing, tongue splitting, and many different genital modifications, all offered by “cutters” and in many cases, by sympathetic board-certified surgeons. But even within the bodymod community at large, these types of modifications are often considered “hardcore,” are generally more unusual (though not uncommon) and are mostly of interest to those body modification enthusiasts motivated to push the boundaries of social acceptance.

carved teeth

(Teeth Chiseling is a tradition often performed without any anesthesia by the  Mentawai people in Indonesia).

Body modification has been around as long as humans have lived and with its rich and fascinating history, the practice is unlikely to die out anytime soon. But despite some lingering societal disdain, modifications, even of the more esoteric variety, are becoming more mainstream and acceptable every day, and the craft behind performing these procedures is being constantly perfected and refined by the artists involved. And as new ideas and techniques become reality and traditional standbys are adapted and perfected, it’s safe to say that

humans will continue to reshape and redefine themselves by modifying their bodies.

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Influence on Walter Van Beirendonck

Influence on Alexander McQueen

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Influence on Givenchy

Riccardo Tisci (head designer of Givenchy)) was inspired by the look of singer Keith Flint of the Prodigy in the 1996 hit video Firestarter for his mens collection a/w 2012. Also Keith’s nose ring became an item of the collection. For Women Tisci also found inspiration in piercing objects for jewelry.

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Women jewelry f/w 2012 by Givenchy

Haute Couture

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Most information in this post  from:

The Art and History of Body Modification by Lori St. Leone