This special feature, "Cycles of Life: The Past & Future of Apparel," is brought to you by Yoshikazu Yamagata, designer of the fashion label writtenafterwards and host of the fashion learning platform "coconogacco." This time, we welcome Tatsushi Fujihara, author of "分解の哲学" (literally, "The Philosophy of Decomposition"), who researches the history and philosophy of food and agriculture, to look at fashion through the lens of circulation and decomposition.
Focusing on the cycle of fashion, animal and plant materials, and even the role of microorganisms involved, this discussion revisits everything from the decomposition of clothing to our activities as decomposers. We explored ideas for moving towards a more tangible system.
PROFILE
Tatsushi Fujihara
Associate Professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University. Specializes in agricultural history, researching the history and philosophy of food and agriculture in the 20th century. Using the analytical concepts of "decomposition" (breaking things down, stripping off properties, and transforming them into different components) and "enshoku" (a form of eating that is less isolated than solitary meals but not as strongly connected as communal meals), he explores historical methods that simultaneously describe the natural and human worlds. His books include "縁食論" (MISHIMASHA PUBLISHING CO.), "分解の哲学" (Seidosha), "食べるとはどういうことか" (Rural Culture Association Japan), "給食の歴史" (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers), and "ナチス・ドイツの有機農業" (KASHIWASHOBO Publishing Co., Ltd.). In February 2019, he received the 15th Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Prize.
PROFILE
Yoshikazu Yamagata
Fashion designer. Graduated from the Women's Wear Course of the Fashion Design Department at Central Saint Martins in 2005. Established his own brand "writtenafterwards" in April 2007. In 2015, he was the first Japanese to be nominated for the LVMH Prize. Alongside his work as a designer, he hosts "coconogacco" as a place for the experimentation and learning of fashion expression. In 2016, he served as a lecturer for Japan's first class with the Fashion Design Department of Central Saint Martins, and since 2018, he has been a lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2019, he was selected for the BOF 500 by The Business of Fashion.
Fashion, Cycles, & Decomposition
YamagataWhat I'm currently focusing on in my creations is exactly capturing fashion within the "cycle of life." During my research on cycles, I noticed that in Shirakawa-go, an entire household engages in sericulture, traditional Japanese paper making, and gunpowder production utilizing silkworm droppings and human urine, all within a single gassho-zukuri house. Moreover, the gassho-zukuri connects to the title of the current collection by writtenafterwards, "合掌 (Gassho)." The activities within a single gassho-zukuri house resemble a giant composting process, and drawing from this, I aim to create clothing based on materials made from animals (= silk), plants (= washi paper), and fungi (= indigo dye).
The reason I chose the title "合掌," which refers to clasping one's hands together, is also because it conveys a sense of "prayer" amidst the anxieties brought about by the pandemic. Through my research, I found that traditional Japanese clothing materials and their creation methods already had a recycling system back then. However, with the advent of mass production in the 20th century, most of these industries declined significantly.
When considering clothes that enable modern recycling, I initiated a project to blend clothing design with a system where garments become nutrients for microorganisms, enriching the soil, and in turn, the nutrient-rich plants grown in this soil connect to our food. The fabric materials include woven washi paper cut into thin strips. Additionally, I received compost mixed with various elements, such as silkworm droppings and mulberry leaves, from individuals engaged in sericulture in Yamanashi. I then created original soil by combining this with the blue indigo remnants used in dyeing. We are currently experimenting by placing clothes made from washi paper on this soil to observe how they decompose and what types of soil and plants are generated.
When we step back to the methods and materials used for clothing before the massive production-consumption system of the 20th century, we see that various recycling systems had already been formed. By combining these with cutting-edge technology, I believe we can find numerous hints for the future.
