ASHI COUTURE FALL-WINTER

At the birth of this collection, there is the idea of a world in chaos, show notes state, as the collection seeks to unveil the layers of perceived chaos and bring clarity by dwelling in the feeling, of sensation, like a trace of elegance and subtlety. Ashi woman, reflects the creativity of celebrated feminist artist Louise Bourgeois, a statue with a marbled, painted face. In this collection the creative director has similar approach to understand every day chaos as Bourgeois, for Bourgeois, the act of looking symbolizes introspection and self-knowledge, but also has its sexual and erotic side (that is, looking and being looked at). As Bourgeois wrote in a text from c. 1959 that formed some of her work:

 The sound of a pebble falling into the black
 and distant water of a well.
 the unconscious memories that are reborn

Bourgeois’ work is inextricably entwined with her life and experiences: fathoming the depths of emotion and psychology across two- and three-dimensional planes of expression. Similarly the silhouettes in this collection reflect a range of obsessions and tributes to the past century, an old Paris, the richness of ancient 
cultures, a sense of decay, or the work of great photographers; yet always touched by contemporaneity. 

In that sense, familiar techniques were left behind, nothing here is what it seems. It meant introducing new materials, mixing forms of craft, always within the lines of couture. 

Concepts emerge through different layers of story: the fabric works of Louise Bourgeois, inspired by her mended, distressed bodies. A conversation around skin, transparency, animosity and varied interpretations. Also the intricate work of a cabinet of curiosities, between exoticism and classicism. A layered approach that oscillates between decay and splendor, later translated through the fall of a dress, the way a corset shapes 
the body, each clutch, every element of wood, precious stone, metal, mother-of-pearl, feathers, lace; all meant to carry a larger narrative. Rooted in her own individual introspection, Bourgeois studied mathematics and philosophy at the Sorbonne, Paris, and wrote her thesis on Pascal; but the death of her mother in 1932 eventually led her to abandon these studies and turn to art making. Yet she remained a Pascalian, so to speak, in her belief that there is something in our emotional and psychological experience of the Other that eludes, or transcends, rational explanation. For Bourgeois, this relationship to the Other is a complex arrangement, and a world in itself.

That is the evolving universe of Ashi Studio, but also, in some way, a desire to mystify, and to keep reaching for something more just like artists who inspire him, A pursuit of refinement, of a more exacting form of craft.