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“I really don’t care about the cold. I think cold is boring,” says Tomo Koizumi.
The Japanese fashion designer is on a floor dedicated to him at Dolce & Gabbana’s headquarters in Milan. Around the room, women in white atelier coats run colorful fabrics on sewing machines, while tables are covered in Dolce & Gabbana shoes, now sporting giant, colorful bows. On one side, a multi-colored quilt is spread over several clothes rails.
Running along the side of the room are more rails, along with floor coverings dressed in bursts of hot pink, neon yellow, orange and acid green. Oversized, shaped and made of thick stuffed toys, they are happy and playful.
Waving his hand over the sprawling railing, he explains why he doesn’t mind being one of the crowd. “I really want to come up with something else. If someone sees my designs, I want them to smile, laugh. This is what I want to bring to people.
Ironically, Koizumi is one of the hottest names in fashion right now and as we speak, Milan Fashion Week is only days away, sponsored and supported by Dolce & Gabbana. In addition to providing a venue, the atelier where we stopped, the Italian fashion house from Tokyo, where Koizumi lives, commissioned all aspects and allowed him to use his signature Karto fabric and handmade flowers from the Alta Moda collection. A brand the size of Dolce & Gabbana is endorsing him so publicly, proving he has something special to offer.
Kozumi seemed unfazed. ” of [Dolce & Gabbana] The office asked me what I wanted and I told them everything. I couldn’t choose between them all,” he laughs. Even the stitches that complete the collection are on loan.
By anyone’s standards, this is a rare opportunity, especially for a designer who hadn’t been seen in the West for nearly four years. In the year He founded his famous brand in Tokyo in 2012, fresh out of college, and worked as a clothing designer before launching his line.
In the year In 2016, Lady Gaga wore a piece in Japan, but her big break came when British designer Giles Deacon found her on Instagram in 2019. Impressed by the larger-than-life outfits at the dinner, Deacon showed them to British stylist Katie. Grand, who in turn convinced Marc Jacobs to give Koizumi his showroom. Weeks later, Koizumi modeled his Fall/Winter 2019 collection at New York Fashion Week alongside Joan Smooz, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and actress Gwendoline Christie at industry veterans Guido Palau. Hair and makeup for makeup.
Filled with colorful, cocoon-shaped pieces, Koizumi’s show was unlike any other. A picture of Christie descending the stairs in a mermaid dress made of thousands of yellow, pink and yellow ruffles quickly went viral, making the designer a superstar. Since then, he has collaborated with Pucci on a series of embroidered T-shirts and had two of his garments displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the year In 2020, he was a finalist for the LVMH Prize.
Koizumi’s presence in Milan could also return to Grand. “I only do custom-made clothes, so I thought maybe I’d do something in Paris because everyone’s going to Paris. I called Katy, we’re going to work together again, and she replied with the idea of working with Dolce & Gabbana. So, yes, I quickly said,” he says.
Last year, when he supported two early new-name talents working with Dolce & Gabbana – Sohee Park in February and Matty Bovan in September – it was Grand that introduced Koizumi to the Italian designer. “She suggested me and luckily I was chosen. Now this is happening,” he smiled, pacing the room.
As well as showing his latest collection in Milan, Koizumi also presented some of his archive pieces from 2016, including outfits worn by Lady Gaga and his New York debut and July 2021 show in Kyoto, Japan. “This was actually suggested by Domenico. [Dolce]” explains Koizumi. “He said to me, ‘Designers are copying your style, so you have to show that you’re the original.'”
With no formal training in fashion — he studied art in college — Koizumi admits he learned dressmaking the hard way. “It’s all self-taught, so my technique was limited at first. I learned from my friends and tried new designs, and that’s how I developed my technique. It has now become my signature. I don’t want to make anything boring. I want it to be fun, funny, unique.
That search for diversity is perfect, circular shapes, inspired, he says, “by natural beauty, organic shapes and organic lines”. The work is bulbous, even unusual, without straight lines or hard edges, and where the waist is, at best, a comment.
Working with instinct rather than design, Koizumi admits that he doesn’t design his collection in advance, instead letting the process of making it inspire the results. However, even this approach is open. “I want to work with a free mind,” he says.
As it is, it holds the length of the shiny yellow bubble. “I don’t know how to use this. I think about the style he did with Katie but maybe the cape or train for the dress.
One of Koizumi’s most recent projects was dressing singer Sam Smith, who memorably descended from a helicopter in the music video for I’m Not Here wearing a floor-length bubble-pink gown by Koizumi. “[Smith’s] A stylist emailed me,” he recalls. “It was mid-November, so I didn’t have much time—just about two weeks to make and ship.”
The singer is bigger than Koizumi, but the size is the same, says the designer. “So I was able to put the things on myself before the ship.”
The piece, dubbed the True Biggest Dress, is theatrically oversized and over 200 meters of bright pink organza, draped in tight pleats. “It’s very difficult. It’s nice when you wear it, but it’s hard when you hold it.”
For the show in Milan, Koizumi used fabrics featuring Dolce & Gabbana’s signature Caretto print, sculpted into voluminous sleeves and a circle skirt, and embellished with oversized hand-made flowers. He also made a corset out of colorful ribbons, says Honor, for Dolce & Gabbana’s “sexy, glamorous vibe,” but also a nod to his early days as a designer.
“At first I was making body-con dresses, because I didn’t have the means to make a big dress, so that’s back to where I started,” he says.
The use of color – now something of a trademark – reflects his worldview. “I want to use every color in the book, because to me it’s about inclusiveness. It represents everyone.”
While the fashion world is falling at Koizumi’s feet, he also admits that he misses art. “I studied art at university, so I’m going back to the beginning. I started painting again last year and I’m going to have a solo show in Tokyo later this year. I have a gallery in Japan that helps me.
Will this be a parallel career, accelerating as quickly as fashion identities? Only time will tell, but Koizumi’s cheerful demeanor is instrumental in shaping his destiny. Wherever he went, people seemed to want to work with him and help him. Designers Dolce and Gabbana said how much they love Koizumi’s work, because it is “filled with joy, this love of life”.
Three days after we spoke, the audience is grinning from ear to ear as Koizumi’s show opens, and the crowd roars with cheers and applause as the final scene arrives. The large, rainbow “blanket” I saw in the studio was transformed into a giant, colorful caterpillar — a single look worn by five models.
Everyone smiles and laughs and the energy is fun. Koizumi’s desire to please people is clearly coming through. “It’s because I’m having fun,” he says with a laugh.
Updated: April 09, 2023, 7:03 am
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