MATOU -Wear The Japan-

The Sake Cup Samurai are cups for drinking Japanese sake created by the Japanese ceramic artist Takahiro Koga. The artist has been inspired by special armours used by Samurai in ancient Japan to protect their face during battle, the shapes of those armours were as much functional as scary. The Sake Cup Samurai are the first “wearable” cups in the world. In old Japan the drinking of sake was cherished as a sacred moment by every Samurai who used to fight and risk his own life during a battle. Nowadays as well, gathering and drinking sake is considered as a very important ritual of the old Japanese tradition. During the exhibition the artist himself performs special Japanese ceremonies.

Ben Doukourè is a fashion designer from Ivory Coast. Since when he opened his atelier in Milan, he has been creating a new collection every year always deepening his knowledge about the world of fashion and fabrics on all levels. He has a passion for all handicraft fabrics of different cultural backgrounds, with a special regards to the Japanese ones. His clothes are the representation of a refined elegance filled with vitality and emotions.  

“renacnatta” is a new brand created by two Japanese girls who live in Milan: Aika Okochi and Marie Miyashita. Matou is their first public presentation. The iconic product is the reversible skirt in Kimono and Italian silk which represents the concept of union between the two cultures: the Japanese and the Italian ones. In Japanese “renacnatta” means “not anymore” and finds its deep meaning in the fact that Japanese Kimono are not anymore used in daily life as they used to be. This happened to be mostly because they are very uncomfortable to wear. Aika and Marie created this "kimono-skirt" to fit modern life and the European taste.  The features of kimono such as "maku (wrap around)" and "takushi-ageru (tuck up)" inspired them to make it.

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