Eley Kishimoto (Q2997)
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British fashion and design company
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Eley Kishimoto |
British fashion and design company |
Statements
1992
fashion designer
1992
fashion designer
There's always been something playful about Eley Kishimoto, so a soundtrack of frisky kids made a perfect intro to a collection the designers called "Little Devils." They traded on the notion with Peter Pan collars, smock tops, and princess coats, but Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto clearly have a grander design because they quickly moved on to the kind of outfits the parents of little devils might wear at their parties in the 'burbs. The Eley Kishimoto DNA was clearest in things like the floral sundress with matching stockings or a navy shirtdress with a pintucked waist, pieces that suggested innocence. But there was trouble once the middle part of the show—a group of oddly proportioned outfits in glazed raffia, or a sequined aboriginal lizard print—crossed over into attempts at worldliness. The designers pulled it back together at the end with swingy Art Deco chiffons in red, white, and blue—and the finale boasted a crash helmet in EK's signature zigzag that was a salutary reminder of their graphic genius.
15 September 2008
Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto are staging a bit of a comeback this season—in addition to showing their signature line on the London runway, they're preparing to present their first collection for Cacharel in Paris. Building on their 1992 beginnings as artsy-crafty mom-and-pop printmakers (Japanese kawaii meets Welsh eccentric), they've created a brand that includes shoes, bags, and hosiery. True to past form, they turned out cute dresses with frills and Peter Pan collars in a range of harlequin and rabbit prints, needle-cord skirtsuits, and a couple of on-trend shaggy knit bombers. No surprises there; perhaps they're saving their powder for the far bigger challenge of impressing in Paris.
10 February 2008
Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto called their spring collection "local," and used their Brixton neighborhood as the inspiration for an Afro-Caribbean-flavored show—a bit of a trend in London this season. The focus was on batik-like prints in eye-popping colors (one incorporated tower blocks from the street on which they live), with one motif also used for the wall coverings against which the usual mad mix of patterns was being shown. The boldest prints were the highlights; less successful were the Western-inspired pieces and the jogging jackets, which looked like leftovers from the team's new collaboration with Ellesse.From a business perspective, this collection represented an important step forward for Eley Kishimoto. The duo has just signed a licensing deal with an Italian company, meaning production will no longer be mom-and-pop-style—nor local.
20 September 2004
The husband-and-wife team of Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto has gathered a cult following for their charming, vaguely retro sensibility and their way with prints. In Eley Kishimoto’s world, life is the endless summer afternoon of an unsophisticated girlhood, a picture conjured by a warm nostalgia for an idea of cozy English domesticity circa 1950.For next summer, the Eley Kishimoto ingenue will go about her errands in cotton pinafores with piping, sweet dresses in picnic checks, ginghams and polka dots, and skirts patterned with bold, loopy ’50s prints. When she goes to the seaside, she’ll have a cute cotton bikini with a frilled bottom, and if it rains, there are lots of nice raincoats to wear. For all occasions, there are lovely printed sneakers and flats shoes, to put a colorful spring in her step.
14 September 2002
Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto represent London's cheerful tendency. Known for their exuberant print work and happily naive post-WW II styling, this husband-and-wife team has a business built on charm.Having formerly presented their wares in a chatty afternoon tea-time setting, Eley Kishimoto took a chance on showing in a bigger gallery space for Fall. As ever, though, the joy of the collection was in the way it set off memories of clunky clothes we all wore, or saw our parents wear, in the '60s through the '80s. An Eley Kishimoto girl might sport a granny-ish print coat, knit beret and knee socks, thrown together with an innocent lack of regard for sex appeal. In the spirit of good humor, she'll go for a loopy rainbow-colored cardigan that suggests a distant relationship with a homey kitchen-sink rug, circa 1969. Checkerboard, circle and patchwork prints were much in evidence, in A-line corduroy skirts and pants and pretty silk skirts and dresses.Underlying all this loving homespun stuff, though, these designers are savvy enough to be building business links with the outside world. The models were toting vanity cases, luncheon boxes and overhead-compartment wheelie bags designed for luggage manufacturer Globetrotter, done out in prints to match the clothes. Ditto the chirpy printed sneakers, cleverly done in collaboration with Converse.
19 February 2002