The fashion house presents a groundbreaking fusion of culture and fashion like never before!
Known for its innovative design, London fashion house COS celebrates the relationship between fashion and culture with a historic collaboration with Japanese artisan Kazuki Tabata, a Kyoto-based master of binding, folding, and dyeing cloth, to create a limited-edition summer capsule collection. This collection remembers Shibori, a resist-dyeing technique lying on the brink of endangerment, with Tabata being one of its few remaining traditional practitioners.
Shibori, derived from the Japanese word for “to squeeze or wring,” began as a simple resist dyeing technique to produce intricate arrays of colours, designs, and patterns. This art form emerged in Japan during the 8th century and gained significant popularity in Kyoto, situated on Honshu, the country’s largest island. The city’s clean water and abundant rivers inspired many locals to establish shibori workshops. Today, Kazuki Tabata upholds this tradition, proudly practising Kyoto’s unique hand-dyeing methods through his establishment, Tabata Shibori.
Kazuki Tabata, formerly a sound engineer, transitioned to shibori after his father’s uncle, a traditional craftsman certified by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, passed away. Self-taught using nearly discarded dyeing tools, Kazuki applied his technical skills from sound and lighting to Ahibori. Dedicated to preserving traditional methods, he spends extensive hours hand-dyeing fabrics using the Bosen resist-dye technique, which involves binding fabric with threads, plastic, and boards, or gathering wrinkles to create dye-resistant areas. Kazuki emphasizes the importance of traditional crafts and the need to educate people on their significance.
Kazuki believes that shibori dyeing and fabric compatibility are crucial, favouring fibres like cotton, linen, and silk for their dye penetration qualities. His specialities include techniques such as kasa maki shibori, boushi shibori, yukihana shibori, and tako boushi shibori, creating patterns resembling umbrellas, hats, snowflakes, and octopuses. The dyes are inspired by traditional Japanese colours and natural hues of the four seasons.
According to Tabata, there are over 100 shibori techniques, with practitioners typically mastering only two or three in a lifetime. Now, Shibori fabrics are most commonly used for hand towels, yukatas (lightweight robes), and some clothing.
Committed to preserving shibori, Kazuki aims to ensure its future. He acknowledges the convenience of modern technology but feels it is vital to maintain the art of shibori for future generations. He also embraces the digital age, using social media to spread awareness about shibori dyeing.
Kazuki Tabata’s collaboration with COS celebrates the fusion of traditional craft and modern design in a 14-piece capsule collection, including womenswear, menswear, and accessories. COS’ signature silhouettes are transformed through shibori, resulting in a unique blend of texture and flair, with soft tones of blue, orange, and brown evoking timelessness and calm.
The capsule will be available online and in select COS stores in June 2024. To learn more, click here.
