Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion
Seattle Art Museum, 2013

Over three decades of tremendous innovation by Japanese fashion designers, who revolutionized the way we think of fashion today, were shown for the first time in Seattle.

The title treatment I chose for this exhibition was Hoefler&Co.’s Gotham Condensed, which included a custom made katakana character translation above it. The title lockup was inspired by Japanese versions of Western movie posters of the 1950s and 60s, matching the larger-than-life tone of the exhibition. The garments were also set against a bright, radial gradient of colour and appeared to outwardly glow. This treatment created a cinematic layering effect between the background, garment, and title, while also highlighting the garment as the otherworldy star of the show.

Credits

Catharina Manchanda, Curator
Chris Manojlovic, Director of Exhibition Design
Cindy McKinley, Lead Project Manager
Kevin Schroer, Creative Director

Primary image

Kosuke Tsumura. Final Home Coat, 1994, Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute, Gift of Mr. Kosuke Tsumura. Photo by Takashi Hatakeyama.

Awards 

American Alliance of Museums (AAM) 2014 Museum Publications Design Competition: for exhibitions greater than $750,000

1st Prize, Poster
1st Prize, Supplementary Material
2nd Prize, Press Kits, Marketing, and Public Relations Materials

Typeset in Gotham Condensed and Gotham by Hoefler&Co

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Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London