Natsumi Aoki

She wanted to experiment with her identity and discover who she was. That set Japanese womenswear designer Natsumi Aoki along a path that began with a BA in Textiles at Tokyo University of the Arts, moving on to Graduate Diploma Fashion at Central Saint Martins. She has also interned for several Japanese brands and studied at Esmod Japan, where she learned the patternmaking and sewing techniques she uses in her work. For her, fashion design is a platform to express her feelings as well as an opportunity to expand the possibilities of materials. Back home on the outskirts of Tokyo during the COVID-19 pandemic, she has created a final collection inspired by her own negative emotions during this difficult period.

The negativity of depression is articulated through void, represented by the emptiness of the clothes’ volume – in particular their puff shoulders – and shapes. “Your feelings can be very negative when you live in this reality,” she says. “But there is always hope.” Natsumi believes that nature is the world’s only hope. In her collection, this is symbolised by the floral adornments and the grey-with-green undertones of the felted fabric she made herself. Through draping, she expresses the fluidity of her emotions. “I wanted my clothes to be a mixture of the hope and hopelessness we can find in life,” she says.


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Words: Zoel Hernández López Images: Natsumi Aoki