From Yoyogi Park to the alleyways of Harajuku, from the storefronts of Omotesando to the terraces of Shimokitazawa, from the sidewalks of Shibuya to the platforms of Shinjuku Station... An endless movement: the parade of Tokyoites. A kaleidoscope of silhouettes, where street fashion constantly inspires what comes next. Tokyo sketches an ever-shifting fashion catalogue.

Cadavres Exquis is originally a Surrealist game. Using fragments of sentences written by different participants, they would compose new texts blindly, producing unexpected meanings. Inspired by this process, the works in this series combine fragments of silhouettes, bodies, clothing, and accessories sourced from fashion magazines. The exhibition includes eleven two-tone screen prints (100 × 150 cm and 60 × 80 cm), a video showing a continuously transforming silhouette, and an installation of 10 cm aluminum “mirror confetti,” some perforated with a skull motif.

Fatal Kawaii — The drawings and title of the exhibition are inspired by the creativity of a segment of Japanese society: those who, in front of their mirrors in the morning, craft complex silhouettes by combining garments from different brands and eras. One could say they are all fashion designers. Fashion is a way of being in the world — a transgression of the dominant culture; it reveals personality. The body becomes a doll — a play of volumes, patterns, textures, and colors. Japan has a long tradition of dolls — ningyō (“human figures”). Yet, though they resemble us, dolls are inert.

Camp Collages — Like someone dressing in the morning, the drawings in Cadavres Exquis are first and foremost collages. Selected randomly from fashion magazines, the garments and accessories that form each silhouette are covered in patterns. Each pattern is drawn in vector format and rendered in flat black. The collaged motifs are then printed on an artificial flesh-pink background, like a doll’s skin. The accumulation of motifs produces extravagant, spectral silhouettes, reminiscent of a camp fashion show. Costume or exoskeleton, fashion conceals and reveals in equal measure. It is a search for the self — a role-playing game in which we are the sole protagonist.

Surrealist Mirrors — The mirror confetti, plain or skull-shaped, scattered across the floor, cast reflections onto the gallery walls. They are the remnants of a past fashion parade. They are narcissus and vanitas, warning of the game of appearances and the artificiality of fashion. They remind the viewer that, despite appearances, there is no one present in the drawings nor in the film shown in the gallery. Only textile patterns and accessories sheltering nothing but air. Empty shells without soul or face, rag-armors.

Exhibition curated by Kimiko Mitani Woo &Takamichi Mimuro and produced by Diesel Japan.