Kansai Yamamoto, the unapologetic fashion designer, whose love of color, boundless imagination, and exploration of genderless wardrobe caught the attention of David Bowie and helped define the appearance of his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, died on 21 July in Japan. He was 76 years old.
The cause was leukemia, a statement confirmed on his office website. It did not say where in Japan he died.
Kansai, as Mr. Yamamoto was known, was not as well known as some of his more high-profile Japanese contemporaries, such as Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. But it was Kansai who opened the way for a generation of Japanese design talents to make their mark on Western industry.
In 1971, he was one of the first Japanese designers to show in London, a full decade before Mrs. Kawakubo and the other Mr. Yamamoto. Its distinctive aesthetic of sculptural forms, contradictory textures and patterns, and striking color combinations attracted industry attention.
Kansai’s debut collection appeared on the cover of Harpers & Queen magazine with the slogan “Explosion from Tokyo”, and her growing profile led to collaborations with the decade’s biggest musicians, including Elton John and Stevie Wonder, in addition to Mr Bowie, with whom he formed a long creative relationship.
“Color is like the oxygen we both breathe in the same space,” Kansai once said of his work with Bowie, who died in 2016.
In a talk at the Brooklyn Museum during his 2018 “David Bowie Is” exhibition, in which he wore an elaborate black and gold brocade suit he called “minimal,” Kansai recalled meeting Mr. Bowie in 1973. The Mr. Bowie The producer had called Kansai and asked him to come to Radio City Music Hall in New York, where, at a concert, Mr. Bowie came down from the stage in a giant disco ball.
The two men soon discovered that they shared a love for “radical appearance” and for pushing boundaries. In fact, Mr. Bowie had been wearing Kansai women’s clothing since 1971. Starting in 1973, they worked together to create unique display pieces for Mr. Bowie’s theater characters and musical tours, including the 1973 tour. ” Aladdin Sane. “
There were lush, skin-tight jumpsuits with giant flared hems and silk brocade bomber jackets, cut androgynous capes, and vivid platform shoes. The costumes often incorporate elements of Japanese culture, particularly the silhouette of the kimono and the bold aesthetic of medieval samurai warlords.
“I approached Bowie’s clothing as if he were designing for a woman,” Kansai said in the Brooklyn Museum talk, noting “there was no zipper on the front.” He also said that the number of required costume changes had inspired him to wear snaps on Mr. Bowie’s costumes, so they could be removed faster.
His favorite piece for the singer was the bow-legged black-and-white jumpsuit featured in the “David Bowie Is” exhibition, which was first staged in 2013 at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum before traveling the world.
“I found David’s aesthetic and interest in transcending gender boundaries surprisingly beautiful,” Kansai told The Cut website in 2018.
Born on February 8, 1944 in Yokohama, on the east coast of Japan, Kansai Yamamoto did not have a happy childhood. His parents divorced when he was 7 years old and he was sent to a child’s home. He traveled with his two younger brothers, ages 3 and 5, from Yokohama to Tokyo and then to the distant southwestern province of Kochi.
“How I envied the lights of happy families that I saw from the window of the slow train at dusk,” he once said. “I was alone, and I still can’t forget that.”
He studied civil engineering before leaving school in 1962 to study English at Nippon University. A self-taught fashion designer (despite later saying that “fashion is not a profession I would recommend”) founded his own business, Yamamoto Kansai Company, at the age of 28, the year of his first London show.
After its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, and as Japanese fashion gained worldwide prominence for its cultivation of reduced minimalism, Kansai continued to explore his interest in traditional Japanese clothing and crafts, but with a distinctive and fantastic flair.
He often pointed to his long affinity with the Japanese concept of Basara, a love of color and flamboyance; one that was directly in contrast to the idea of wabi-sabi, the Buddhist ideal of beauty in imperfection, modesty and humble materials.
Starting in 1993 on Moscow’s Red Square, he began producing increasingly extravagant “super shows,” including one involving a giant inflatable whale.
In 2017, he experienced a kind of rebirth when Louis Vuitton asked him to create a series of looks for his 2018 resort collection show held in Kyoto, Japan. Kansai created several new graphics, including Kabuki-themed bags and glittering dresses with the faces of yakko warriors grimacing.
He and Mr. Bowie remained friends until the singer’s death. In 2013, the two discussed doing a “super show” together, for which Kansai would create the clothes and also produce the show. Kansai said he owned two 35-foot hot air balloons (although he did not have a car).
“That Bowie would sit on top of those air balloons and sing his songs was my dream,” he said in 2018.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Mr. Yamamoto’s daughter Mirai Yamamoto said that her father “had left this world alone, surrounded by loved ones.” Information on other survivors was not immediately available.
Despite his illness, Kansai continued to work as long as he could: He had recently been planning a trip to the North Pole to investigate an ice-themed show.
“People always want originality,” he said. “That is the future.”
