Fukuko Ando
Born January 18, 1964 in Japan
Japanese designer Fukuko Ando has a very personal vision of the creative art of dress design.
As her unique process and style have developed over time, Ando has stepped beyond the usual confines of fashion to explore how the dresses she creates may express or elucidate different aspects of our culture and spirituality.
Perfecting her technical skills while collaborating with Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix in Paris, Ando went on to create her own collections. Her work is created out of the finest fabrics and materials, through a long and rigorous process uniquely her own. Ando’s dresses reflect her own deeply spiritual vision of life. All her creations are made in front of a mirror, directly on a wooden mannequin which she turns constantly, so that as she works, Ando has a 360-degree view of her fabric, verifying each step she takes as the dress evolves.
Consciously eschewing fashion’s traditional patterns and procedures for constructing a garment, Ando creates dresses that first and foremost respect and follow the natural shape of the human body. Skilfully integrating classical creative techniques with the natural form and movement of the human body, Ando sublimates both: she continues to work until the moment comes when the image in the mirror reflects perfect harmony; the dress has then reached completion.
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 “
Fukuko Ando
Ando’s creations show us an imprint of the past and our history, and transcending what we know as fashion, they reveal a multi-facetted vision of future possibilities.
My first creation:
“Victory of Samothrace“
MOUNT FUJI international competition
First prize – Japan 1992
Fusion of Japan and Art Nouveau in Paris
Made of rayon silk , technique : Knots
Selective Biography:
2014
– ASVOFF 7 Festival – Mexico City
– Installation: The new alchemy
– Performance: Celebration
2007
– Exhibition: The Hundred Pleat Skirt / China
2006
– Fashion show Performance: The Golden Promise
For Paris fashion week with dancers from L’Opera de Paris at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts – Paris
– Exhibition : Pleiades – Paris
2005
– Exhibition: Pleiades – Tokyo
– Exhibition: Unique Piece – Paris
– Exhibition: Vision of The Body – Seoul
2004
– Invited as guest of Design Week Monterrey, Mexico
– Fashion Show Performance: The Path of Light – Mexico
– Fashion show Performance: The Path of Light – Biennale de Paris.
– Exhibition: Gold – Milano
1997
– Acquisition of two dresses: Kyoto Costume Institute Museum – Japan