Medium: Black sheer polyester/polyurethane

Date: Fall 1999-2000

Country: Japan

Credit: Gift of Hishinuma Associates Co., Ltd.

Yoshiki Hishinuma is known for his textile innovations. This asymmetrical tube dress, for example, is made of sheer black polyester with irregularly creased three-dimensional points and "rubberized" areas bonded with polyurethane. The fabric has been deliberately shrunk and creased through a heat process that affects both the texture and the volume of the finished garment. For the past twenty years, black has been the ubiquitous avant-garde fashion color. Introduced in the 1980s by Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, the first mostly-black collections were greeted with horror by most of the international fashion press. At a time when European designers favored bright colors, the Japanese designers' obsession with black seemed ominous and depressing. Very soon, however, black was assimilated into the wardrobes of intellectuals and fashionistas alike. Obviously, the shock of black had long since faded by the time Hishinuma created this dress in 1999-2000. Yet he succeeds in renewing its appearance through the juxtaposition of rubberized and sheer surface textures.

Object Number: 2001.52.4