From the 1980s New Zealanders have been beguiled by the influences of the top Japanese fashion designers. Telling the rich story of their careers through their clothes, is the ''Future Beauty'' fashion exhibition. Jude Hathaway was a guest at the recent opening at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.
Thirty years ago their names were little known.
But in 1982 when Japan's Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto took their audacious fashion collections to the Paris catwalks they sent shock waves through the European fashion houses with their new ways of clothing the body.
Deconstruction, asymmetrical draping, rips, tears and exposed seams were features of the monochromatic garments.
This was indeed a drastic departure from what else was being seen in Paris at the time.
But it also marked the beginnings of the evolution of Japanese fashion design and its lasting influence and impact on Western fashion.
It is this evolution, seen in the work of these and other fashion design greats, including Issey Miyake and Junya Watanabe and through to the young radicals, that is the feature of the spectacular exhibition ''Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion''.
The exhibition, of garments from the Kyoto Costume Institute, is well-travelled, opening first in London in late 2010 and since showing in Munich, Tokyo, Seattle, Salem and Kyoto.
Brisbane is its last stop.
No-one can doubt the significance of the exhibition, reflected in the celebratory nature of the crowd at the official opening at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art 10 days ago, where the anticipation was palpable.
For here is a rare opportunity to view contemporary ground-breaking fashion design and its ongoing influence.
This was no better illustrated than through the presence of the delightful ''Harajuku girls'' representing today's ''Cool Japan'' who added vibrancy and colour to the opening event.
Curated by Akiko Fukai, director of the Kyoto Costume Institute, an international fashion authority who is also an author and editor of several books and a lecturer on the world stage, the exhibition represents the three landmark decades when Japan fashion presented its revolutionary design aesthetic to the world.
The exhibition is beautifully presented as it moves seamlessly through four atmospheric spaces on the gallery's ground floor in four distinct themes that follow various aspects of contemporary Japanese style.
The first, ''In praise of shadows'', explores the use of texture and light.
Here is asymmetry, sculptured shapes and contrasting textures that many Western designers quickly embraced and ran with.
Here also is seen the rejection of the 1980s obsession with body consciousness through loose-fitting outfits which suggest an attitude of ease, and imperfection.
Black is big.
The next theme, ''Flatness'', is an enlightening glimpse into the Japanese preoccupation with flatness and volume and the use of graphic design and origami traditions in their designs.
Ground-breaking construction techniques are a feature of the ''Tradition and innovation'' theme, showing how Japanese designers saw the potential of fabric as a sculptural material and the collaborations between fashion and textile designers to develop their own materials and create new weaving, dyeing and synthetic textile construction processes.
And the final theme, ''Cool Japan'', is a joyous salute to the influence of the vibrant youth subcultures of Japan that have defined the country's street style for decades.
Alongside the visual overload of designs favoured by the Shibuya and Harajuku districts are others with a simpler approach.
''Japanese designers are continuously evolving, while looking to tradition and history for inspiration,'' said Mrs Fukai.
''We pay attention to young designers who keep this Japanese tradition, and believe that this unique tradition is the important point for young Japanese designers to survive in the world fashion scene.''
She also sees the strong influence on fashion by Japanese designers as continuing, pointing to Chanel's 2014 Autumn/Winter collection as an example.
''And I do wish that Japanese designers will be able to have influence into the future.''
With her background in art history Mrs Fukai has always seen fashion as an applied art and a field that needs to be studied seriously.
Aptly, it was the work of Issey Miyake back in 1977 that inspired her to take up a position at the Kyoto Costume Institute soon after.
So has followed an illustrious career during which she has watched as a contemporary and from her unique vantage point the development of Japanese designers as a phenomenon.
And in Dunedin thousands of miles from Tokyo and in a similar climate there have been, since the 1980s, astute local fashion designers and others of us involved in the industry who have turned our heads northwards to watch and be influenced by this vanguard of designers from Japan.
It has been, and will continue to be, a magical ride.
