Aoi Kotsuhiroi | Fashion and Fetishism

Aoi Kotsuhiroi has written poetry, been a professional photographer and has been a sculptor. She draws from all these in her clothing design. Clothing, here, being an operative word. Kotsuhiroi designs her clothes for sexual purposes. And it is here that Kotsuhiroi brings the art of Kinbaku to the world of fashion.

Kotsuhiroi and Kinbaku-bi

A Japanese style of bondage, Kinbaku-bi translates to the beauty of tight binding. Kinbaku-bi distinguishes itself through its use of forms and rules of aesthetics : asymmetry, impermanence, imperfection. Kinbaku-bi is the realisation of the emotional. It is the knots and connections of a relationship. To tie is to caress. Kotsuhiroi creates visceral sentiment through her integration of these forms and rules. By using Kinbaku-bi, Kotsuhiroi is able to form a continuous link between the body parts of the individual and the bodies of the couple. She is not creating clothing or art but pieces for a ritual of embrace. A ritual travelling of a couple's knotted landscape.

Kotsuhiroi and Juxtaposition

Kotsuhiroi juxtaposes the elements of Kinbaku-bi with her use of materials. Animal horn and human hair add a paleolithic feeling, a sense of recurrence. Kotsuhiroi's designs have a naivety to them. They are an expression of vulnerability in the wearer. This continues in the tendency of her clothing to appear weak or close to breaking. Kotsuhiroi continues this philosophy in the uniqueness of her work. Each work is a one-off just as a relationship is. A departure from the work of other designers and the foundation of a relationship with the object itself. Kotsuhiroi's works entrap the wearer: giving protection whilst exposed, awaking the senses whilst blinded. It is by her use of Kinbaku-bi that Kotsuhiroi is able to balance the savage with the delicate: a continuance of the submissive and dominative. This is the work of a poison of delight.