Project Redesign

by Karen Kitterman, Editor, Cover photography, Duke Shoman

Menswear: Evening jacket with Japanese embroidery. curtesy: Duke Shoman Photography

As I was getting out of the car on my way to a meeting with designer Kotomi Yoshida of Yoshida Studios, to my dismay, the button of my jeans snagged on the seat belt, and off it flew clink clink into the parking lot. For lack of a better idea, I safety-pinned them closed, and left my jacket on. What better way for an editor to arrive at a meeting then with her pants falling off? I should have known better than to think I’d fool her— before we’d gotten two sentences in to the meeting, she whipped out her sewing kit. As we chatted over coffee, she deftly replaced my lost button. Wouldn’t we all love to have our own personal tailor to go to when a seam splits, or that jacket starts sagging in the shoulders, or when you’re just plain tired of it, but you can’t bear to throw it away? Why not recycle it, or better yet, why not redesign it? Thus began our “Before and After” design project.

After: the redesign, priced at $65.

Though Kotomi is a designer in her own right, she is first and foremost a redesigner. Kotomi got her first taste of redesigning in her college years when she scoured Goodwills in Tennessee for pieces with potential. She’d always liked drawing, but truly wanted to sew. It was necessity though, before it was art. “I had to sew,” she says, “so I’d have something to wear.” It was then that Kotomi developed her eagle eye for design flaws and other wears to the fabric. Many of her redesigns are influences by these structural flaws as she calls them. An iron burn, coffee stain, stitching that’s unraveled—all of these are fixed, cropped, or covered with elaborate stitching.“You just dive in, and somehow

Before: 1940's vintage velvet cocktail dress

it all works out in the end.”

– Such is the way with artists.

Industrial Elegance: Sea green chiffon with pink Japanese cherry blossom detail

Fashion for Kotomi is influenced not only by lifestyle, but also personality. That’s the beauty of her custom redesigns. Most often, we don’t think to customize our wardrobe. We’re content with the individuality of our choices—to mix and match, but what if you added a sprinkling of embroidery to the collar of your favorite sweater, or a snippet of lace to your jacket hem? It’s a little known secret of runway connoisseurs, that almost every customer requests alterations to specific tastes. I have two past experiences with custom pieces—a pair of jeans and a black purse I had hand-painted with small designs— I wore them both to their thread bare graves.

If you’re stuck in a fashion rut, or maybe just have a few items that you don’t know what to do with, consider custom. It’s a great way to salvage older favorites and assure that your investment doesn’t go to waste.

contact: http://www.studioyoshida-eco.com/