Nagasawa Setsu Mode Seminar - Postwar Fashion Education and the Cradle of Expression (circa 1970)

Nagasawa Setsu Mode Seminar - Postwar Fashion Education and the Cradle of Expression (circa 1970)

Setsu Nagasawa was a fashion illustrator and critic active from the mid- to late-Showa period, and his eponymous "Setsu Nagasawa Mode Seminar" played a pivotal role in Japan's postwar fashion culture, The private school, founded in 1954 in Aoyama, Tokyo, attracted many unique young people as a free and improvisational creative space that differed from art universities and fashion colleges.

In 1970, Japan was in the midst of its rapid economic growth, and the consumer culture and informatization that followed the Tokyo Olympics (1964) led to a rapid diversification of youth culture and urban fashion. In particular, areas such as Aoyama, Harajuku, and Shinjuku in Tokyo were the crossroads of "mode" and "underground culture," and became a testing ground for young people who sought to combine dress with self-expression.

The Nagasawa Setsu Mode Seminar functioned as a place that embodied the spirit of the times and was known for its educational policy that emphasized "sensitivity" and "beauty of line" rather than "skillful drawing. Students were expected to hone their observational skills and individuality rather than conventional techniques, and they expanded their interest not only in illustration but also in peripheral expressions such as fashion, theater, film, and even the culture of cross-dressing.

Many of the graduates of this seminar later became well known as cultural figures and artists, involved in illustrations for fashion magazines, costumes for television and film, and underground stage art. The cross-dresser "Kokeshi" was one such graduate, who, armed with the aesthetic sense and self-direction skills honed in the seminar, exerted a unique presence in the urban space of Shinjuku in the 1970s.

In other words, the Nagasawa Setsu Mode Seminar was not merely a place for illustration education, but a "power plant of sensibility" that traversed postwar Japanese fashion and urban culture, and a cradle for a diverse range of expressive individuals to spread their wings.