Tominaga received a BA degree in Fashion Print after studying in Japan, Finland and the UK, as well as a MA degree in Fine Arts from the UAL. His international travelling has encouraged his design aesthetics, which is characterised by photography collages, children’s graphics, plaid patterns and bright colours. Because of this, the designer has an extensive art and design related education as a baseline for his career, and he shows his versatile nature in this collection. Tominaga has drawn the patterns and prints featured in the collection himself, as well as having photographed the pictures printed in collaged graphics on several pieces.
Tominaga manages to capture every angle of the items worn, and by doing this he showcases exactly what they look like in true, realistic positions. He has created a video in the form of pictures; much like in films where objects are physically moved between each picture until there is a series of pictures that are put together and played swiftly on a monitor. These are then perceived as a continuous video. His collection acts almost as a homage to stop motion movies, where we get a 360 degree view of his designs collaged together, similar to the structure of a comic strip. This approach gives the clothing a new dimension of complexity. Because by putting the full collection in a playful, yet real setting, the context enhances its relatability and credibility, and invokes coherence within. This also reflects the experimenting of prints, as this stop motion/comic strip method is tentative in itself.
Images Courtesy of WATARU TOMINAGA
Collages by Silje Kvam
