Fumiko Imano shoots the first womenswear collaboration that London-based label Kiko Kostadinov has launched with ASICS
Fumiko Imano, the Japanese photographer known for her off-kilter self-portraits featuring her fictional twin, has shot a series of images for Kiko Kostadinov’s new collaboration with ASICS – revealed today, exclusively on AnOthermag.com. It marks the brand’s first womenswear collaboration – Kiko Kostadinov womenswear was launched last year, helmed by real-life twins Laura and Deanna Fanning – with the sportswear label, creating a single style in two colourways, out later this month.
The Gessirit trainer, which debuted at the label’s A/W19 womenswear show, was designed by the Fanning sisters following their visit to the ASICS headquarters in Kobe, Japan, and draws inspiration from the rebellious bandidas of Central America, wrestling sneakers, track and field shoes. The result, the sisters say, is “an alternate reality or futuristic past”.
The collaboration with Imano came after Kostadinov met the photographer at a party. “I was starting to hear [Kostadinov’s] name a lot... and then I saw that Frank Lebon was doing the last ASICS campaign – I used to assist Mark Lebon, and took care of Frank when he was five so I was checking what he was doing – and I was thinking: Kiko is fun,” says Imano. “I then met Kiko, Laura and Deanna at a Dover Street Market Ginza party. I said to Kiko that I saw Frank did the campaign, and he just asked me if I wanted to do the next one.”
Imano was given complete creative freedom for the shoot, which took place in Japan. “They wanted me to do what it is that I do, which is shooting myself,” she says (being left alone was preferred: Imano is a self-confessed “hikikomori”, which translates loosely as ‘reclusive adult’). Two thirds of the images show the artist in various rooms of her parents’ house and feel decidedly intimate. The remaining images depict Imano and her fictional twin in nearby parks (though she calls herself a recluse, the photographer does venture outside sometimes, as she describes, “much like a cat”).
Imano was given a single day to shoot which, she admits, was “slightly difficult [but] in a way, it was good because I didn’t have to think too much”. A factor she did have to consider, was working with this one particular item of clothing: the trainers. “As it was all about the shoes, I either had to be naked or wearing my own vintage clothes!”
ASICS x Kiko Kostadinov Gessirit will have a preview launch on September 14, with a worldwide release following