Japanese Designer Yuima Nakazato Unveils His SS21 Couture Collection

One thing we’re seeing coming out of fashion in this age of Covid is diversity and inclusivity. Japanese Couture designer Yuima Nakazato demonstrated this with his Spring-Summer 2021 collection, with Lauren Wasser, his muse, who has two prosthetic legs. This collection ATLAS is unique as it’s not a collection of runway looks, but rather a collection with two different purposes: seeing Nakazato’s pieces at art pieces and what can be in terms of wearable pieces.

“This story began when I encountered somebody who—to me—represents the coming era of transformation and regeneration,” said Nakazato in a statement. “With her love of nature, her embodiment of a new tomorrow, and her ability to overcome life’s difficulties while supporting those suffering alongside her, this individual’s bravery calls to mind the type of heroic figures often encountered in myth and legend.”

With cutting edge technology like Brewed Protein, a type of fermentation of materials to Biosmocking where textiles are made into 3D textures, Nakazato and his team achieved creating highly complex 3D shapes that makes the look of the wearer unique. And, what the House was able to achieve was create a collection that exceeds anything that would have been able to have been done by hand.

Given the current global environment, this project also served as a demonstration of our ability to create individualized pieces despite the challenges posed by the physical distance between the designer and the customer- said the House in a statement.

The film that unveiled this type of Couture technology was made between Japan, America and Belgium. Showing the garment creation process from visualization and dialogue with Wasser, to finally 3D conceptualization.  

Originally from Tokyo, Nakazato founded his House in 2009 and has been presenting at Paris Haute Couture Week since 2016. I strongly believe the approach taken in this project—exploring the depth of a person’s character and working to visualize and express their identity—represents the very heart of couture’s philosophy and will prove to be an indispensable element of our relationship with fashion moving forward,” he muses. “I’ve metaphorized this work as ATLAS, a map of memories.”

Watch Yuima Nakazato’s SS21 Couture Collection-