Emilio Pucci has announced its latest collaboration. The Italian luxury label owned by the LVMH group has invited Tomotoka Koizumi to create its next capsule collection. The talented Japanese designer, who leads his own womenswear label, Tomo Koizumi, was a finalist at the LVMH Prize this year. As such, he was a joint winner of the prize’s seventh edition which, owing to the lockdown in France, was exceptionally awarded to all eight finalists.
French designer Christelle Kocher, founder of the Koché label, was the first to feature in a collaboration with Emilio Pucci. The Florentine label has been without a creative director since 2017 and, last season, it decided to team up with external designers to reinterpret its archive collections. Koizumi has been a fashion enthusiast since age 14, when he set eyes on the Christian Dior couture collection for summer 2004 by John Galliano. He is still relatively unknown to the general public, but his womenswear label Tomo Koizumi has already caught the luxury industry's eye. A costume designer by training, Koizumi has dressed several artists and celebrities, among them Lady Gaga in 2016. He launched his own label in Tokyo in 2011, after a buyer placed an order with him for a model he designed as a student.
Koizumi’s voluminous, sculptural couture-style creations in polyester organza, embellished with brightly coloured frills and flounces, won over British journalist and designer Katie Grand, who helped Koizumi stage a first catwalk show at the Marc Jacobs store in New York, in February 2019. The event was a big hit and, after another show in September, Koizumi’s name was on the map. “Tomo is something of a magician, blending together fine craftsmanship with a fantastically oneiric vision of femininity. Sharing ideas with Pucci’s creative team, he will add his own spectacular, amusing touch to this sophisticated, highly feminine Spring/Summer 2021 collection by Pucci,” stated the label in a press release. The Tomo Koizumi x Pucci capsule collection will be unveiled with a short film released for the Milan Fashion Week on September 26 2020. The film will also present Emilio Pucci’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection. The models created by the Japanese designer will be available at Emilio Pucci stores worldwide and at selected retail partners from March 2021.