In front of the mirror, I work with the wooden mannequin on which I directly sculpt the dress form by the fabric. The dress has 360 degrees awareness.
Ando’s work is based on a simple proposition : ” Each person has a body.
The body expresses a person’s story and history, the dress is a language the expresses that body , the human body and the dress are both founded on the same principle: constant, unbroken perception “
Do not be in haste, do not demand, do not resist. Simply be, in stillness. I pray to the soul.
Taffeta silk Embroidery thread
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
The creation of forty-eight dresses: why the lotus? Because humanity has clouded its heart with the clamour of this world and selfish desires, burying the pure treasure of spiritual inspiration in mud. To wash away that mud and awaken the slumbering inspiration. This is for the glory of God and the happiness of mankind.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
The creation of forty-eight dresses: why the lotus? Because humanity has clouded its heart with the clamour of this world and selfish desires, burying the pure treasure of spiritual inspiration in mud. To wash away that mud and awaken the slumbering inspiration. This is for the glory of God and the happiness of mankind.
Fukuko Ando’s works of art are exhibited at Costume Art. Three dresses are donated to the museum and become part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s collection.
Fabric cut on the bias, formed into tubular cords, and fabric cut on the bias into 3cm strips. These are draped over the body to create an arabesque pattern of intersecting cords. That arabesque pattern is also the pattern of human DNA, which exists in an invisible form within the blood.
Red Line X / 1996 – 2026 A piece that was donated but not included in this exhibition.
Blue shibori-dyed cotton with red silk. Created in 1996 for my first fashion show in Paris. Using a patchwork technique combining cotton and sheer silk, I created a wavy three-dimensional effect with raised red embroidery in a pintuck pattern. The red two-dimensional line serves not only as a design element but also as a component that shapes the three-dimensional silhouette. For this occasion in 2026, I added a new touch to the 1996 dress.
A single piece of fabric is wrapped on the bias and shaped to fit the body
using only pintucks; the gold embroidery applied over these pintucks expresses the pulsating life of a new golden light.
This dress, titled Wing Y / 2026, is newly created for this exhibition with a new consciousness, and is based on the ‘Wing Y’ model I made in 2006. For 2026, it is as if the pulse of new light were rippling. It stands next to a silver dress by Madame Vionnet .
My own creative journey began after encountering Vionnet’s free-spirited approach to art – fashion. It is deeply moving to recall my visit to New York in 2000 to meet Betty Kirke, whose book on the anatomical study of Madame Vionnet’s dresses I had read in 1992. Betty Kirke worked on costume restoration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until 1978 and was captivated by Madame Vionnet’s unique sense of fashion. Without Kirke’s research, my eyes would never have been opened to the ‘microcosm and macrocosm in freedom’. So it is truly moving to think that Vionnet’s dress and mine will be displayed side by side at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2026.
A piece that was donated but not included in this exhibition
Images credit: Anna-Marie Kellen/The Metropolitan Museum of Art @metmuseum @metcostumeinstitute
Costum Art
Exhibition Overview
The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition explores depictions of the dressed body across The Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.
Focusing primarily on Western art from prehistory to the present, Costume Art presents connections between garments from The Costume Institute and objects from the Museum’s other collecting areas. Pairings between fashions and artworks will present a spectrum of connections and experiences: from the formal to the conceptual, the aesthetic to the political, the individual to the universal, the illustrative to the symbolic, and the playful to the profound. These pairings are organized into a series of thematic body types that reflect their pervasiveness and endurance through time and cultures.
Costume Art is the inaugural exhibition in the new, nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall. This space will display The Costume Institute’s annual spring show and, at times, shows from the Museum’s other curatorial departments, including those that explore the intersection of fashion and art.
I am working on a new series of dresses inspired by the Mandala Lotus flower
“Blessings of the Lotus Flower“
When I was little, I read the story of Chūjō-hime (747–775). And I was very impressed.I always remembered that I longed for the process that the lotus thread was pulled out, and when it touched flowers of various colors, the thread was dyed like a dream and the mandala was completed.( Fukuko Ando )
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
The creation of forty-eight dresses: why the lotus? Because humanity has clouded its heart with the clamour of this world and selfish desires, burying the pure treasure of spiritual inspiration in mud. To wash away that mud and awaken the slumbering inspiration. This is for the glory of God and the happiness of mankind.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
Swallowing all the good and evil that has been repeated throughout history, all memories become flowers, which become butterflies that are released and fly away. Everything is released.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
Revelation
A river of gratitude flows deep underground. We are unaware of its existence. The lotus seed absorbs this water of gratitude and, passing through the darkness of the mud, it blooms into a flower on the surface of the earth.
I enter eternity, feeling each moment on the earth as I breathe. I hold a needle with a thin golden thread in my hand and, feeling each moment of gratitude as I breathe, I descend the stairs one step at a time.
In the darkness, the only light is the thin golden thread. I reach the deep source of the earth, a place where the stars shine and it is like the universe in the sky.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
Taffeta Polyester / Embroidery thread
Breathing is the beginning of everything. Inhale, exhale, hope and love expand. Receive all blessings, the blue blessing is water and the blessing of red is fire. There is water in the fire and there is fire in the water. It’s the secret of life.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
Taffeta Polyester / Embroidery thread
Breathing is the beginning of everything. Inhale, exhale, hope and love expand. Receive all blessings, the blue blessing is water and the blessing of red is fire. There is water in the fire and there is fire in the water. It’s the secret of life.
“Like the truth of a pure lotus flower blooming from muddy water“
Creating these 48 Mandala Lotus Dresses, here at this elder stage of my life, is hope, awareness and prayer. Creation is a source of pure inspiration taking form as the human life force.Inspiration arises from within, when you feel the truth burning within you. I follow that inspiration.The consciousness of the Mandala Lotus was born out of an effort to preserve pure light as inspiration in this chaotic world, a place like muddy water.To create a pure lotus flower out of muddy water, we need to keep our own hearts pure, offering effort and perseverance in endless hours and moments, to that presence of purity and tranquillity.
Yes, what we need to know above all is the law of effort. If we forget this necessity, we must pay the price of physical and mental degeneration: our consciousness loses its power to follow inspiration. And creation may be selflessness. With constant patience, eliminating one’s own thoughts, eliminating one’s ego, connecting with inspiration without being distracted by the muddy spirit of the world.
Like Mount Fuji which stands tall and unaffected by the chaos of this world. Even if the earth is polluted, the summit of Mt. Fuji towers above, ever pure. Our life force is naturally maintained by the cosmic order. The fundamental reality of life, the sublime joy of human existence, no matter how miserable, bitter, or dirty the world may be. If beautiful, shining lotus flowers exist in this world, may we not also live like them? That awareness should change this world.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.For me, the effort to break through the muddy waters of this world is the perseverance to use fabric and thread to carve an eternity out of this world’s moments. It is a time of patience that transforms each stitch into eternity.
I empty myself. Only the presence of cloth, thread, and one needle weave eternal time. I am not there. In this world of greed, dirt, and deadly laziness, every movement of my hand dreams of a future lotus flower. One day when the 48 lotus dresses bloom, it will surely become a great mandala. The time will come when its absoluteness will pierce the darkness of this world, and with patience and effort, connecting each moment with inspiration, there will dawn an era in which newborn truths shall bloom. Like Mt. Fuji, which stands tall, unaffected by the poisons of this world.I believe in this hope, and this is why I weave the intention of the mandala into eternity, moment by moment, with every movement of my hand.
Union and Dissolution: The time of the androgynies. Light: ONE essential vibration, having come from the Heavens and from the Earth, the miracle of Oneness resonating above and below. ALPHA and OMEGA
Handmade / Fabric : Steen gold / silver silk, organdy white silk, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold gold iridescent bronze orange bronze black silver metallic black white thread.
The new DNA has given a newborn infant. Man and Woman are united. This is the miracle of life. This was and will be our original human being in universal memory. I have arrived at 12. We are One.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
After the pouring of water from above, long silence.
And the Creative WORD is the birth of eternal light – the New DNA
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen gold silk, black viscose, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold multicolored thread.
As my body filled with Infinite love,
the seed of birth, it is DNA, that became manifest. I felt that a new DNA had awoken at the centre of the Universe.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
After the pouring of water from above, long silence.
And the Creative WORD is the birth of eternal light – the New DNA
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen gold silk, black viscose, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold multicolor thread.
As my body filled with Infinite love,
the seed of birth, it is DNA, that became manifest. I felt that a new DNA had awoken at the centre of the Universe.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
Water from above, bringing boundless love, endlessly flowing.
Handmade / Fabric : Organdy blue sky blue silk, hand made embroidery with silver thread.
The flame of the “Fire of Spirit” ascended to heaven.
The flame turned to water. The water of love circulated in my body. I had a sense of Infinite love. Memories of the past were transformed into Infinite love.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen red on powdered gold silk, muslin red on powdered gold, hand made embroidery with yellow gold thread.
I completed my quest, finished “The Grail” dresses: a great transformation.
I completed my quest, finished “The Grail” dresses: a great transformation.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The sound of time arises in the Universe, above and beyond time.
Handmade / Fabric : Organdy green silk, muslin green silk, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold thread.
I completed my quest, finished “The Grail” dresses: a great transformation.
I completed my quest, finished “The Grail” dresses: a great transformation.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The quest for a sacred object as life’s goal, even risking one’s very life, demonstrates that one’s purpose may be more important than one’s own existence. A MOVEMENT BEFORE A BETTER WORLD
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen black / white and red silk, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold thread.
The Grail is a quest for the truth about Life
The Blood of the truth of our existence. To create these dresses I had to experience the quest for the truth between life and death. It was a great transformation.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The quest for a sacred object as life’s goal, even risking one’s very life, demonstrates that one’s purpose may be more important than one’s own existence. A MOVEMENT BEFORE A BETTER WORLD
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen black / white and red silk, hand made embroidery with silver gold yellow gold thread.
1
The Grail is a quest for the truth about Life
The Blood of the truth of our existence. To create these dresses I had to experience the quest for the truth between life and death. It was a great transformation.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The quest for a sacred object as life’s goal, even risking one’s very life, demonstrates that one’s purpose may be more important than one’s own existence. A MOVEMENT BEFORE A BETTER WORLD
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen black / white silk, hand made embroidery with gold yellow gold metallic black.
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The Grail is a quest for the truth about Life
The Blood of the truth of our existence. To create these dresses I had to experience the quest for the truth between life and death. It was a great transformation.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The Maya Code reveals the original memory of our galactic birth. I have seen the galactic body.
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen black silk, hand made embroidery with yellow gold thread.
1
ALPHA : A tiny region of the Milky Way
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The Maya Code reveals the original memory of our galactic birth. I have seen the galactic body.
Handmade / Fabric : Sateen black silk, hand made embroidery with silver thread.
OMEGA : Over ten million stars.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
The Archangel METATRON is the most powerful light of the archangels.
I wanted to begin creating the first dress from the power of that light, forming the intention of completing 12 dresses.
Handmade / Fabric : Muslin white cotton, hand made embroidery with gold thread.
C – D – E – B – A Floating in empty space, millions of light-years separate them from each other. Galaxies are the cells of the Universe.
Sound is a particular type of vibration for the universe to manifest itself through waves that can be captured by something or someone.
We now know that the entire universe vibrates: matter, atoms, light, color . We can thus say that we are nothing but one sound , a vibration.”
“HEXAGON door invites you to the riddle of life. You are even ENIGMA life.”
( Fukuko Ando )
“Life has always manifested in many ways the natural architecture that enable our entire reality .
Geometry is one of the ways that allows us to contemplate or to understand what is hidden to our eyes, as the riddle of life.
The hexagon could express all the basic energy structures of the universe known and unknown through his Sacred Geometry, as well as “The Platonic solids” contains this infinite and inexhaustible information available to us all .”
Lotus petals open in this world. The truth that turns 7 times and rises on the 8th. Courage and Patience. Walking, step by step.
Taffeta Polyester / Embroidery thread
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
Lotus petals open in this world. The truth that turns 7 times and rises on the 8th. Courage and Patience. Walking, step by step.
Taffeta Polyester / Embroidery thread
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
After darkness and evil are swallowed by the great flower of light, quietly, surely, slowly, blood vessels of light begin to flow.The veins of light pass through everything.
Taffeta Polyester / Embroidery thread
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
The power of light eats up all darkness and evil, and the flower of light blooms. Everything is swallowed up by the great flower of light.
Taffeta silk / Embroidery thread
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
