Yayoi Kusama's Fashion Legacy
The late artist Yayoi Kusama, who passed at 97, had a profound and often overlooked influence on fashion through her personal style, her 1960s clothing
Yayoi Kusama died at 97. Her lifelong artistic goal was self-obliteration, often expressed through polka dots and immersive installations. According to a feature in Dazed, her influence extends deeply into fashion, a connection rarely acknowledged.
Kusama's Personal Style
Kusama used clothing as an extension of her art and a tool for publicity. In the early 1960s in New York, she would appear at events in sumptuous kimonos, playing with her "exotic" appearance in the Western art market. Her performance piece Walking Piece satirized the geisha image popularized by war films. Later, her style solidified into a branded uniform: a bright red wig and a dotted dress, a move toward self-obliteration within her work, similar to Andy Warhol's self-iconization. Kusama has claimed Warhol copied her ideas.
Kusama Fashion Company Ltd
In 1968, Kusama established the Kusama Fashion Company Ltd. She partnered with a company president who had been emulating her designs. The brand was soon sold in 400 stores across the US, with Bloomingdales creating a "Kusama Corner." Her boutique on Sixth Avenue was short-lived.
The clothing was daring, riffing on themes of orgies and nudity from her happenings. Pieces included the "Squid Dress" with breast cut-outs, the "Homo Dress" with a strategic rear hole, and evening gowns with peep-holes. Kusama admitted the most radical items sold poorly. She later started the Nude Fashion Company, an offshoot to bring "fresh ideas for enjoying sex into the mainstream." This included items like the "Couples Dress" and the "Party Dress," which could accommodate up to 25 people. All were decorated with polka dots.
Accumulation Series and Rei Kawakubo
Kusama's "Accumulation Series," featuring objects covered in repeating appendages, is a clear precursor to Rei Kawakubo's work at Comme des Garçons. Kawakubo's use of padded tubing, fabric sprouts, and protrusions mirrors Kusama's rejection of conventional silhouette limits. Kawakubo has expressed a "fear of going beyond common sense," an aim shared by Kusama. The two artists held a joint exhibition called Room to Grow in 2009. Kawakubo's admiration was also shown in Comme des Garçons' AW12 collection, which featured a red wig and polka dot look.
Food Obsession and Margiela
Kusama's fear of consumption inspired her Food Obsession sculptures, where she made countless macaroni pieces to achieve obliteration. She applied this to fashion, creating shirts, dresses, bags, and shoes festooned with dried pasta, often dipped in gold or silver paint. This approach finds a parallel in Martin Margiela's work, where crusty, silver-coated paint unifies clothing as soft-sculpture, presenting fashion as an uncanny artefact. John Galliano's debut for Margiela featured a coat with bulging lacquered shells, echoing Kusama's clustered affixions.
Her collaborations with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, which began with a 2012 collection, might seem at odds with her anti-establishment roots. Yet they completed her journey from avant-garde provocateur to a mainstream icon whose polka dots are instantly recognizable worldwide.
