No. 18

NOT's 2023 Collection is a balance between energy and stillness. Subdued grays, greens and blues suggest stone, plant, and water, while injections of emerald green, salmon-pink, and electric blue imbue energy. 

This collection was inspired by examining the relationship between human and nature that I witnessed all around me while living in Japan last Fall. In Kyoto, I befriended the talented artisan Takeshi Nakajima and fell in love with his fabrics made using traditional Japanese hand-dyeing techniques. Through his strokes, I saw moving water and air. I was inspired to create a collection that would grow around Takeshi’s textiles and to express the impact of my observations.

This collection imagines garments as a frame or window through which to observe an ever-changing “scene”. Within the garment, Takeshi’s hand-dyed fabrics are presented as a piece of artwork. Each garment which includes his textiles is unique; each brushstroke, mixing of color, and temperature and humidity of the day will result in unique variations. This collection captures a meandering path, a meeting of the round and rectangular, and subtle movements expressed within line and silhouette.