I.S. SUNAO KUWAHARA

Sunao Kuwahara is the most humble designer in our selection. He began his career under the wing of Issey Miyake and quickly rose to become the chief designer of Miyake’s sublabel, I.S. Sunao Kuwahara.

Kuwahara often described himself as a lazy man — a paradoxical trait that, in an industry obsessed with constant change, earned him a devoted following for his introspective, arty flair. By the 2000s, I.S. Sunao Kuwahara had become one of Japan’s top-selling labels. But that was too overwhelming for a self-proclaimed lazy man. Kuwahara chose to go completely independent; for more scaled-down, artisanal approach. His philosophy of designing for longevity (rather than planned obsolescence) was ahead of its time, foreshadowing the modern sustainability movements. Back then, this type of stance was considered almost taboo in high fashion.

Our selection, like Kuwahara himself, is humble and focuses primarily on his pieces from the 1990s and early 2000s, which are clearly influenced by Miyake but in a much more feminine atmosphere.