Joji Kojima A/W 2011-12 – The Mellow

I wrote about Joji Kojima’s work a while back before the S/S 2011 JFW last year (which you can read here if you missed it) when he was working with Lady Gaga and having a very disconcerting exhibition/installation in Restir.  Well, I promised you an update, and I must apologise that it has taken me so long to get back to you all.  Firstly, I really have to prefix all discussions on fashion jewelry with the caveat that when it comes to accessories I am more of a biker – using my wallet chain to tow a truck – level of durability fan rather than the kind of delicacy that limits use only to the “right” kind of party and editorial photo shoots.  But like with fashion, what really excites me is when those two worlds collide and you get something that is wearable and yet avant garde enough to stop traffic.

I think it demonstrates a certain coming of age as a designer to produce items that may not be what they want to make, but what they want to sell.  On the other hand he is still cranking out the kind of editorial-ready masks that he always used to do so well when he worked as Hotel Gluttony, so don’t you worry - the spirit of the midnight dance is very much alive:

Continue reading for a look at his upcoming collection and some of his nostalgia inducing greatest hits, because quite frankly not enough people are giving him the credit he deserves right now.  Luckily for him his work is now being sold at L’Eclaireur in Paris, so it might well find the audience it deserves very soon indeed.

The new collection is called – The Mellow – and it is an altogether toned down vision of the excess we have seen in the past.  It is also considerably more wearable and sturdy looking compared to his gorgeous bobbing skull rings, but not without the inherent edge that all of Joji Kojima’s work embues.

Nice to see him branching out into objects that compliment the jewelry.

And that is actually all the items I have been sent so far, rest assured I will get more up when they arrive in my inbox.  So for now I thought I would dip into his back-catalogue and see what I didn’t manage to cover in my last post on this amazing designer:

I think we can can all agree that this guy’s work needs to grace more people than just the Gaga and while it is a shame to potentially lose the one-off handmade vision in favor of the mass produced, it is in striking that difficult balance that you find success.  Joji Kojima is definitely on track to finding that balance and I am glad to see him finding the edge in a brighter colour palette as well.

I might like to draw a parallel to Anrealage’s latest collection that high-fashion can be very close to street fashion with only a slight degree of compromise.  Maybe we will see a backlash in time which will see the avant garde making their work fantastically unwearable, but for now it feels like the distance from the catwalk to the Tokyo streets has never been shorter.