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The science of fashion
Eri Matsui combines two seemingly disparate concepts in
her search for the meaning of human beauty. Chris Betros meets
the innovative designer.
Anyone attending Eri Matsui's 2004 spring/summer
collection last month, held under the theme of "Humanoid
emotion," must have thought she designed the clothes
inside the Matrix, or got some advice from Hal the computer
in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, the 51-year-old designer
hasn't gone over to the machines yet. This was a one-time
theme, she says, inspired by her interest in physics and the
result of a collaboration with a topologist and neuroscientist.
A few days after the show, Matsui is still full of energy
as she chats in her boutique, surrounded by lavish white and
red wedding dresses, one of the mainstays of her haute couture
line. Switching back and forth between English and Japanese,
Matsui says she has been trying to figure out the meaning
of human beauty for a long time. "What differentiates
a human from a humanoid?" she asks no one in particular.
"I have always had an interest in physics. I met an
associate professor in humanoid science at Tokyo University
and it got me thinking about combining science and fashion."
The result was a "fembot" army of barefoot models
sporting bustier tops with conical bras and monogrammed mini-tutu
skirts. Body paint on the calves, exposed circuit boards and
electric cabling completed the high-tech look. The collection
was full of strapless necklines, asymmetrical hemlines, full
pleated/layered metallic skirts with tulle underskirts in
pale mint green, pink and blue. Single arms and single legs
were worn with miniskirts and bright red bras, with flat hats
and eye patches. The dangling cables were the most conspicuous
part of the collection. "Cables signify neurons which
mean emotions to me," explains Matsui.
From Aichi Prefecture to Paris
Although she says this was a one-off theme, Matsui hints she
may explore it further with her next collection because someone
in Britain who saw her work featured in the scientific magazine
Nature contacted her and asked if they could work together.
Matsui is no stranger to European artists and researchers,
having lived for six years in Paris. Currently, she commutes
between her two homes in Tokyo and Switzerland two or three
times a year, spending about one month at a time in Switzerland.
"I prefer living in Europe," she says, "because
you don't have to worry about speaking your mind."
It's a far cry from her childhood in Aichi Prefecture.
As a young girl, Matsui didn't really think about becoming
a fashion designer. But there were indications of things to
come. "My brother and I used to pretend we were in
fashion shows," she recalls. "I went on to study
fine arts and fabric dyeing at Musashino Art University. I
thought I would probably end up as a graphic designer of some
sort."
After graduating, Matsui went off to Chicago to study in the
fashion design department of William Lany Harbor College from
1983-1985. "When I went to a vocational art college,
I met a fashion designer who got me interested in the beauty
of shapes. I started doing some designs and showed them at
a few exhibitions. I was 32 at the time, so I guess you could
say I was a late starter in the fashion design business."
Returning to Japan, Matsui established her company, and in
1993, she left for Paris with her husband who was transferred
there.
When she is in Japan, Matsui prefers a quiet atmosphere for
coming up with ideas. "When I look at beautiful things,
at nature, that's when I get ideas," she says.
Beautiful things do not include the current street fashions
of young Japanese women-something that Matsui finds
unattractive, but understands. "Young people who are
about to head into society are not being taught very well
or brought up in a satisfactory manner," she suggests.
"As they go into the world, they feel a bit afraid
and find it difficult to make the transition and the outfits
you see them wearing in Shibuya are a sort of protection.
They are striving for a sense of belonging, to be a part of
something." Every generation does that and Matsui herself
was a bit of a rebellious dresser as a teen. "I was
kind of a hippie or flower girl. I wore micro miniskirts and
dirty grunge outfits at Musashino University. My mother didn't
like my fashions at all. At high school, we had to wear a
uniform, but there were only two students who refused to-me
and one other girl. My teacher cried at one point."
Beauty treatment
Nowadays, Matsui is a little bit more conservative, but still
likes to dress punkish, especially when she indulges in her
favorite pastimes of playing the electric guitar and going
to concerts. The clothes she creates are not limited to any
one generation. Women of all ages stream into her Aoyama boutique.
"Who are my clothes for? Women who pay attention to
their beauty and try to bring it out from within,"
she says somewhat cryptically. "As long as a person's
beauty emerges, the image doesn't really matter."
For Matsui, the waistline and the hips are the most beautiful
part of a woman's body and all her clothes accentuate
that. That's the basis upon which she works, not what
anyone else is doing. "I don't look at fashion
magazines or go to other designers' shows. I feel fashion
in the air, so I don't need any external influences.
Whatever I need comes from inside me."
Nor does she feel the pressure to come up with something new
every six months, like many designers. In fact, she decided
on the humanoid theme just one month before the show. However,
once the show is upon her, she does get a bit nervous back
stage. "But if I am focused on something, I'm
OK, so I talk a lot to the choreographers," she says.
Matsui takes part in the Tokyo collections only because "the
European collections are so established that if I were to
take part, there would be an element of comparison. I don't
like to think that because it's Paris, it's
good and because it's Tokyo, it's bad."
In between shows, Matsui likes to hang out with members of
the ISAC no Kai, a group she formed in 1999 consisting of
physicists, topologists, mathematicians, engineers and artists.
"We have monthly workshops of small groups and we do
research into art and science. Leonardo da Vinci would fit
in really well."
Photo credits: Chris Betros
or Akiko Hayashi or Courtesy of Eri Matsui
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