New this season at the Folk womenswear store is Japanese label Tsumori Chisato. We first spotted the brand when some of our Japanese customers came into the shop wearing some of Chisato’s eye-catching and whimsical designs.
Having checked out the full collection in Paris a couple of months ago, we felt the designs – with the emphasis on beautiful fabrics and fun detailing – nicely fit in with our own Folk aesthetic. Despite Chistao’s success in homeland Japan and with stand-alone stores in Tokyo and Paris, the label is only available in a handful places in the UK, so we are excited to stock Chisato’s pre-fall collection for AW12.
The designer established her eponymous label more than 20 years ago. After finishing a fashion degree at the renowned Bunka School in Tokyo (fellow alumni are Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, as well as Kenzo Takada), Chisato first worked for Issey Miyake as one of his head designers in the eighties, before launching her own collection in 1990. Since then she has become known for her elaborate prints (she hand-draws all the illustrations herself to make prints for the fabrics), luxurious use of materials and rather quirky yet wearable designs.
In interviews Chisato has explained she enjoys making designs that are refreshing and exciting and that it’s her role as a designer to ‘make clothes which would help people to be happy and able to have bright and positive feeling.’
Every season Chisato bases her collection on one of the places she visits around the world. After each show she and her husband travel to a new country, where Chisato seeks out the best local artisans, fabrics and colours as well as all other interesting little details of daily life in a foreign place. As a result, a diverse mix of places such as Kenya, Turkey, Costa Rica and Finland have inspired previous collections.
Personal memories are turned into print by using the family holiday snaps as a starting point (and sometimes even as the actual backdrop) for Chisato’s hand-drawn illustrations; African giraffes, the Cappadocia rocks in Turkey and even her own husband (enjoying the view from a gondola car of a ski lift in Switzerland) have all featured in one way or another on the designer’s dresses, scarves or bags.
Whereas the AW12 main collection was inspired by a skiing trip to the Swiss Alps, the pre-fall collection we currently stock at Folk has a more autumnal feel, with lots of forest inspired details and a warm colour palette of burnt orange, fresh green and soft browns.
Silhouettes of trees feature on wool and cashmere cardigans, whilst printed scarves and skirts include fairytale landscapes with swans, flowers and toadstools. A delicate white silk and cotton top has flutter sleeves and seamed appliqué collar detailing and there is a draped, fine-knit cotton and wool dress with flattering curved seams and contrasting striped panel detailing. A Chisato collection wouldn’t be complete without the appearance the designer’s favourite animal – the cat – this season popping up on skirts, fine knits and scarves.
The Tsumori Chisato collection is now available at the Folk womens store on 53 Lambs Conduit Street.
Click here to shop it online at Folk.
