Kansai Yamamoto, Designer Behind Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust Costumes, Passes On
By Thanussha Priyah, 30 Jul 2020
Image via Kansai Yamamoto Inc. / PR TIMES
Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto has passed away from acute myeloid leukemia at 76 years old. However, his team will be proceeding with its first online streaming event, the Nippon Genki Project, this week.
Yamamoto described the concept of ‘Genki’—a word without a direct translation to English that roughly means high vigor—to refer to “cheer” and “energy,” which he had often reflected on months before his death. “I was deeply shocked by hearing the diagnosis, but the first thing I started to do was to prepare a very colorful pajama to stay cheerful and happy at the hospital,” Yamamoto wrote in an Instagram post.
The designer broke through boundaries from the East and became the first Japanese designer to showcase at London Fashion Week in 1971, the same year the late David Bowie started to wear Yamamoto’s womenswear.
Bowie worked with Yamamoto to develop his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, and wore the designer’s pieces during the musical era. He told The Cut in 2018 that he would design Bowie’s pieces as if he were designing for a female. He also shared that he found Bowie’s “aesthetic and interest in transcending gender boundaries shockingly beautiful.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Kansai Yamamoto (@kansai_yamamoto_official) on
スペイン、バルセロナで開催されている #DavidBowieis に山本寛斎が登場!回顧展のゲストとして講演会を行いました!スタンディングオベーション!!👏✨ #kansaiyamamoto #山本寛斎 #davidbowie pic.twitter.com/qmRdblqSQ9
— Kansai Yamamoto (@kansai_yamamoto) July 13, 2017
David Bowie's iconic fashion outfits designed by Kansai Yamamoto a thread pic.twitter.com/NUSYaeaJ8s
— 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪 ۞ (@strngbowie) July 27, 2020
RIP Kansai Yamamoto - It is with much sorrow that we report the death of Japanese designer, @kansai_yamamoto, who passed away on 21st July, aged 76. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and those close to him at this sad time. #BowieKansai pic.twitter.com/6HUnBkOW7w
— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) July 27, 2020
Kansai Yamamoto the iconic Japanese designer, who showed in Europe before Yohji Yamamoto & Rei Kawakubo, has passed away. His work was exaggerated, played on traditional Japanese silhouettes and art, and was worn by the likes of David Bowie. pic.twitter.com/sV0Cv7OZbN
— hautelemode (@hautelemess) July 27, 2020
Kansai Yamamoto was an iconic fashion designer that designed some of David Bowie's legendary outfits back in the 70s. RIP he will be deeply missed. pic.twitter.com/BqqLz34j8U
— 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪 ۞ (@strngbowie) July 27, 2020
Kansai Yamamoto gave us designs that were far ahead of their time and remain iconic to this day. Rip to another legend pic.twitter.com/659XXIkge6
— lil vero (@artofficialx) July 29, 2020
[via The W Magazine, cover image via Kansai Yamamoto Inc. / PR TIMES
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