“The quality that we call beauty, however, must always grow from the realities of life”

–Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
In Praise of Shadows (In’ei raisan) , 1933

Introduction

 

The early 1980s witnessed the beginning of a transformation in fashion when a group of Japanese designers emerged on Parisian runways. Their work challenged Western conventions through fluid, movement-driven shapes and the use of black and neutral fabrics, often in raw or distressed textures. This ground-zero approach to design emerged from conceptual principles of aesthetics — foundational to Japan’s cultural identity and daily life.

In Praise of Ma: Emptiness and the Space Within explores four aesthetic principles—Ma (間), Hi (秘), So (素), and Ha (破)—as reflected in the work of Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto. Garments are presented within installations inspired by East Asian culture and Zen Buddhism, composed to create a unified work of art – a Gestalt that proposes indeterminacy, emptiness, and contemplation as alternative modalities to fashion curation.

Seen through the lens of Japanese aesthetics, garments and artwork invite a new mode of perception—one that centers on the relationship between object and environment rather than only garment and body. By exposing how form and space, opacity and the passage of time deliver a different dimension of beauty, these iconic designers irreversibly altered the trajectory of fashion design.

The exhibition may be understood as a Japanese koan—a paradoxical riddle used in Zen practice to provoke contemplation. Just as a koan transcends rational thought, approaching clothing in contexts outside the body paradoxically brings its audience closer to its essence and beauty.

“In Praise of Ma is an exhibition that aims at representing layers of beauty not easily
accessible through conventional fashion curation methods, hoping to inspire a mystical
pause- what Jun’ichiro Tanizaki refers to as a “moment of trance.” The conceptual
structure underlying the works of Kawakubo, Miyake and Yamamoto are presented as
messages that expose beauty in the precariousness and ambiguity of materiality,
and the infinite possibilities of garments extending in space and time. Parodi Costume
Collection pays tribute to this “silent music,” as it invites its audience to share a
slower experience of fashion history, one that lies somewhere beyond the boundaries
of language and immediate rational thought.”

Gonzalo Parodi

Director

Photograph by Zachary Balber

Aesthetic Concepts

Ma (間) — Space, Interval

Ma is the conscious use of space — the interval between objects, people, or moments. It is not emptiness as void, but a pause charged with potential, where absence gives shape to presence. In this exhibition, Ma is experienced through the space between the installations and the garments themselves.

Hi (秘) — Shadow, Contrast

Hi values what is hidden or withheld. Rather than revealing, it allows mystery and suggestion to create depth. In this exhibition, Hi is present in shadows and partial views. 

So (素) — Essence, Simplicity

So is the beauty of the plain, raw, and honest. It is revealed in natural states, where nothing unnecessary is added and material speaks for itself. So is reflected in garments and textiles presented without adornment.

Ha (破) — Rupture, Transformation, Break

Ha represents rupture — the breaking of established forms after mastery. It is not destruction, but renewal that honors tradition while moving beyond it. In this exhibition, Ha is seen in garments and artwork that are transformed through impact and fragmentation.

“I’m not making something to fit any particular body. I’m thinking of something else – shapes. My sketches are lines. It’s fabric to be wrapped around the body and that is individual” (1983)

– Rei Kawakubo

 

Installations

Photography by Zachary Balber

Japanese Zen Garden (Karesansui)

 

The installation displays a Comme des Garcons Fall/Winter 2014 dress in a Japanese Zen garden. Ma is represented in the space between the body and the dress, where ambiguity raises the question of whether a body is present at all. This begins to reveal how thin the line truly is between the garment as dress and the garment as object. The dress is displayed on a half mannequin, accompanied by a wig created by artist Briana Angulo-Madueño using raw sheep’s wool, paying homage to the avant-garde wigs seen on Comme des Garçons runways.

Ma is also present in the negative space of the garden. It is the space between the garment and the two rocks that creates visual harmony and evokes meditation. Zen gardens are traditionally found at temples or monasteries for the purpose of quieting the mind. They imitate nature through the simplicity of rocks, gravel, and empty space, reducing visual noise. The garden presents only the most essential elements: water suggested by raked gravel and mountains or islands represented by rocks.

CDG Twin Set

The installation displays two Comme des Garçons F/W 2012 dresses displayed on two headless mannequins facing each other. One hand from each of the mannequin is tied by a rope, linking the two together. The dresses emphasizes Ma – the space in between the body and the garment. Ma is also represented in the space between the two identical dresses. It represents the moment you come across your mirror image, a self confrontation. Is this me, other, or are we one? The question has no answer, and it doesn’t have to. But the space in between will always be there, with a rope representing the tension of the unknown, and the pause that holds the question. 

“Destruction, reconstruction, etc. are words given by the media. What I try to do in my work is to dispense with preconceived ideas (about language or fashion, for example) and established techniques in order to create something new” 1998

– Rei Kawakubo

Photography by Zachary Balber

The Shadow

 

The installation features a Comme des Garçons S/S 1997 Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body dress displayed on a full-body mannequin behind a three-panel shoji screen. The lighting casts the mannequin’s silhouette onto the screen, emphasizing form and shadow. This gesture speaks to the concept of Hi—concealment as a means of sparking curiosity. The work invites discovery: the viewer first encounters a distorted shadow, then moves behind the shoji screen to reveal the dress itself.

The dress is part of a revolutionary collection that proposed the idea that the body can be shaped by clothing. The space between the body and the garment blurs the line between what is body and what is dress. As Rei Kawakubo has stated, “The clothes could be the body and the body could be the clothes.”

Photography by Zachary Balber

Gunpowder Dress

Issey Miyake’s Cai Guo-Qiang Guest Artist Series No. 4 Gunpowder dress (1998) is suspended from the ceiling against a semi-sheer fabric backdrop. At the entrance, visitors first encounter the garment as a shadow; within the gallery, the dress is revealed in full. The work embodies the concept of Ha—rupture and transformation—as the force applied to the garment generates an intricate design emerging from the fabric’s destruction. It also engages Hi, or concealment, through the shadow cast at the entrance.

Cai Guo-Qiang is a Chinese artist best known for creating prints and designs by detonating gunpowder charges on paper. These controlled explosions leave residues of scorch marks and ash, reminiscent of traditional Chinese ink calligraphy. For the exhibition Issey Miyake: Making Things (1998), Cai Guo-Qiang arranged trails of explosive powder across Pleats Please garments in the form of a dragon, a recurring motif in Chinese art symbolizing life, wisdom, and power. The imagery produced through this process was later reproduced as printed designs on the dresses.

Photographed by Zachary Balber
Photography by Zachary Balber

Naoko Ito Flora (2009)

Artist Naoko Ito was invited to present her work Flora in the exhibition. The artwork consists of a tree branch cut into segments and preserved within glass jars, arranged to reconstruct the form of the original branch. The inclusion of a contemporary artwork within a fashion exhibition highlights how thin the line is between clothing and art. The piece completes the concept of a “total body of art” created within the exhibition space, in which each installation works together as a single body of work in dialogue with one another.

The work was installed by the artist herself, as it must be constructed and deconstructed within the space where it is shown—reflecting its transient nature, in which nothing is fixed and everything exists in a continual state of change. The sculpture embodies the aesthetic of Ha through the fragmentation of the branch into separate parts, its form preserved yet recontextualized within glass jars, and Ma through the space between each segment, which becomes visually striking when illuminated.

Naoko Ito is a Japanese visual artist based in New York whose work examines the relationship between nature and humanity through natural materials and the juxtaposition of forms. Flora is part of her ongoing series Urban Nature Project (2009). Ito’s process begins with a concept and in-depth research, often grounded in observing people within natural environments. The act of making is central to the work, approached as a ritual and a means of preserving time. Glass jars are used as a recurring material, functioning as symbols of preservation and sustainability, as glass is endlessly recyclable.

“Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy – but mysterious. But above all black says this: I don’t bother you – don’t bother me”

– Yohji Yamamoto

Fabrics and Garments on Bamboo

 

The installation highlights So, the beauty of the raw, unadorned, and essential. The garments, designed by Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto in the 1980s and 1990s, hang on a bamboo rod with natural fiber fabrics in between. The designers approached the fabric as nearly the garment itself, minimizing the distance between material in its natural state and the finished piece. This focus emphasizes the inherent beauty of the fabric rather than transforming it entirely. The sense of rawness and honesty is evident in the construction and fabric choice, where at times, it is difficult to distinguish fabric from garment. The installation can also be read as a calligraphy scroll, with beige garments as paper and black garments as ink.

Photography by Zachary Balber

“A feeling of safety and security soon leads to boredom. What has driven fashion through the ages is, a bottom, the way it plays with danger, something that confounds the conventional understanding of sexy: such wild and untamed elements are what make as garment alluring”

– Yohji Yamamoto

A-POC Scroll

 

Issey Miyake and Dai Fujiwara’s A Piece of Cloth (A-POC) (1999) is displayed hanging like a long scroll. A-POC is both a concept and a method, proposing a new approach to making clothing. The piece consists of a continuous tube of fabric with garments—dress, shirt, socks, gloves, and hat—integrated into the fabric itself, meant to be cut by the wearer. The philosophy behind the garment lends itself yo Ha – the intentional breaking of tradition in order to make something new. In creating A-POC, Miyake and Fujiwara challenged established principles and formed a new method of garment construction. Instead of the fabric, pattern and sewing techniques determining the design, a thread is put through a pre-programmed computerized machine that generates the tubular fabric.

“From the beginning I thought about working with the body in movement, the space between the body and clothes. I wanted the clothes to move when people moved…”

– Issey Miyake

“ A moment of mystery, it might almost be called, a moment of trance”

-Jun’Ichirō Tanizaki

In Praise of Shadows (In’ei raisan), 1933