About Me
HELLO, I’M YU TANAKA, A FASHION DESIGNER FROM JAPAN
While studying fashion design at Bunka Fashion College, Yu has collaborated with artists, and has had her work printed on various magazine covers in and out of Japan. Adding to her many accolades, she has also been awarded grand prize in the design category at the annual Bunka Fashion College Fashion Contest.
To see more of her work and inspirations please take a look at her website and social media!
INSPIRATION
THE SOURCE OF MY INSPIRATION IS TRADITIONAL JAPANESE CULTURE AND FINE ART
Being born and raised in Japan, and living here my entire life, I was especially exposed to a lot of the traditional side of Japanese culture. And this has inspired a lot of my work. I have included homages to Japanese culture in my previous works, and various aspects of it have continued to inspire my current work. Sometimes for research, I will go to the library and sit for hours on end reading through Japanese cultural texts.
In this collection, I was especially drawn to Ukiyo-e (traditional Japanese woodblock prints from the edo-era) and Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting using mineral pigments and sumi-ink). I wanted to recreate the way the ink bleeds and washes onto the paper, and the coloring and pigments used in the art forms, along with gradient techniques. Another aspect I was interested in was Irezumi (Japanese style tattoos), so much so that I hand drew designs and included them in my work.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
DETAIL
YU TANAKA A/W 2021-22 COLLECTION – The root of all my work and inspiration is Japanese culture
In this collection, I drew heavily from Ukiyo-e, Nihonga, Byobu (Japanese folding screens with decorative paintings or calligraphy), Fusuma (sliding panel doors used in traditional Japanese houses/buildings) and other forms of art that are seen in Japanese architecture. The textiles I use in this collection are all created by first hand drawing and creating designs and graphics, and transferring them by sublimation printing. I focused mainly on the coloring this time around, and carefully chose the hue and hand-died each fringe, feather and organza to recreate the beautiful gradients used in traditional Japanese painting. For the dress with sequin, I ordered double-sided sequins and printed a different graphic on each side so that the pattern would look different depending on movement of the garment. This creation was sponsored by Swarovski (provided crystals), Kamatak feather specialty store (provided feathers), and CHRISANNE Clover (provided fringe).
“Live honestly where you believe in yourself” - YAYOI KUSAMA
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