Famed Japanese costume designer, Shingo Tokihiro’s creations will be shown in Kuala Lumpur soon. Dream of Time ? a Shingo Tokihiro Costume Exhibition, jointly presented by klpac and The Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, will be opened to the public from 20 February to 13 March 2011.
Costume designers are a bit of a mystery, their craft not often highlighted. Designers like Shingo Tokihiro truly show that costume designing is an intricate art form on its own. A true artiste who pursues beauty through his costume creations, Tokihiro has been honing his craft for the past 23 years designing for stage performances in Japan as well as abroad. Tokihiro is particularly fond of Shakespeare and has designed for many Noh styled productions of classics including Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Tempest.
An artiste first and foremost, Tokihiro will go to great lengths to bring his creations to life. Some of the designs he has created in the past make use of vintage fabric over a 100 years old while others contain real gold. Some were commissioned works while others were purely to satisfy his artistic vision. Tokihiro’s designs, on the surface, may have a strong Asian influence but he seeks inspiration and materials from as far away as France and Italy. His creations have been compiled in a book entitled Sekai which was published in 2007.
The designer is no stranger to the Malaysian arts scene. He has worked with Malaysian artistes on two separate occasions ? the first was when he flew in to conduct a workshop and the second time was when he accepted an invitation by The Actors Studio (Malaysia) to design for Rashomon, which was directed by Dato’ Faridah Merican and staged at Istana Budaya in 2003.
However, his forthcoming return will be a special one as it will mark his very first exhibition outside of Japan. He has carefully selected a varied showcase of his works over the past 15 years to be displayed at the foyer. A number of pieces will be designed specially for the forthcoming exhibition.
Exhibition Details
Date: 20 February?13 March 2011
Time: 10.00am ? 10.00pm daily
Venue: Pentas 2 Foyer, klpac
Admission: Free
Enquiries: 03-4047 9000 (klpac) or 03-2284 6228 (JFKL)
Shingo Tokihiro
Costume Designer
The costumes and the styling he creates with his creative sensibility are often described as “literary lyric” and have been receiving recognitions from home and abroad. Started out as a fashion writer, he first started his career as a costume designer in 1991 with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”. Since then, he has participated in various performances from theatre, contemporary dance to drum concerts and poetry readings as a costume designer. Some of the major productions he has participated in overseas are “Rashomon” at Istana Budaya, Malaysia in 2004 and International Shakespeare Festival, Romania in 2006. He has also conducted costume making or styling workshops in various cities in Japan as well as in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
