Culture and couture
As a prelude to Hanae Mori's show, a kabuki outfitted entirely in white sequins offered us a sampling of a Nô theater performance entitled " Takayama Ukon ", which will be presented in October at the Maison de la Culture du Japon in Paris. Ms. Mori designed all of the costumes for the play. By unveiling the spectacular costume, to be worn by the principal actor, Naohiko Umewaka, the designer hopes to strengthen the cultural ties between Japan, her native land, and France, her adoptive country. It also demonstrates how her talent as a designer brings together tradition, culture and modernity, a merging of the Oriental and Occidental worlds. For day wear, the line remains Western and sophisticated with heathered or pinstriped flannel or bouclé wool suits decorated with raised stitching. There are long, embroidered silk knit sheath dresses with offset necklines adorned with emu feathers, which are comfortable but perhaps a bit much for the office. A chocolate cashmere frock coat with sable front and back pieces worn over a hazelnut-brown coat dress protects one from the cold. A dress fashioned from woven satin ribbons is worn under a quilted jacquard kimono coat trimmed with mink and lined with a fan pattern - which is also seen on evening dresses ? either a vermilion satin sari-style dress or an embroidered chiffon model with an ostrich feather stole. For especially important evenings there is a cardinal red satin Empire dress with a bustle effect or a long kimono in quilted silk printed with a delicate rose motif over a long dress embroidered with small pearls. The bride wore an embroidered Renaissance-style dress, complete with bustle and overskirt, which was decorated with organza roses.
Virginie Transon
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