A runway show featuring traditional kimono is unusual at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo, but at New York Fashion Week it has been, until now, completely unheard of. But the challenge of designing, styling and executing such a show, and enticing the notoriously snobby and regionalist New York crowd to attend, was one designer Hiromi Asai was up to. Previous to the show, she secured financing via a successful kickstarter campaign and received a blitz of media coverage from everyone from WWD Japan to Vogue Italia.
As for the show itself, the passion and dedication the designer has for the art was apparent. The pieces were gorgeously detailed and exquisitely delicate with traditional patterns and prints in an array of lush hues for an overall effect that was simply beautiful.
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All images: Cynthia Anderson for Style Wylde. For more from the Hiromi Asai Fall 2016 runway check out our exclusive behind the scenes feature in Beauty.