Tonight I was surrounded with so many Japanese things. The evening started out at the Asian Art Museum with Michael. We were there for their Thursday night evening series MATCHA to see the exhibit called "Stylized Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Fashion from the Kyoto Costume Institute".
Japanese fashion is so interesting. It often seems architectural to me, with its multiple layers, linear shape, and angles. I love what they do with fabric - they truly treat it as a surface material, like marble or clay or canvas. I personally love the most minimal design style, but when you see a dress made with an impossible number of pleats, you have to admire the engineering.
There were pieces by Issey Miyake (no one does pleats like that man, except perhaps Fortuny), Yohji Yamomoto (surprisingly, my least favorite piece in the show), Rei Kawakubo (sooooo amazing with sweaterknits, including a dress with a bustle - my favorite piece in the show) and Junya Watanabe (wonderfully dramatic).
Japanese couture can sometimes sacrifice wearablity for effect. There were some pieces that were stunning, but looked almost painful. Maybe it's because I was in New York for so long that I can't see beyond the practical - if you can't hail a cab or walk at least 5 blocks in it, you won't see me in it. And probably because I am not flat-chested, thin, and 7 feet tall, I don't own any Japanese fashion. But I sure do love to look at it.
The surprise of the evening was an exhibit by the photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, called "History of History". I was first introduced to his work at the de Young Museum this summer. But instead of photography, this exhibit showed his inspiration. So there were fossils, artifacts, tapestries, masks...all so intricate and unique. I loved their quiet beauty.
After our museum visit, Michael and I headed to his neighborhood, the Richmond, to eat dinner at Shimo restaurant. I have been to their sister establishment, but not to the highly-touted original, so I was ready for a treat. It did not disappoint! We shared a Spicy Scallop Roll, Caterpillar Roll, and Rainbow Roll - all perfectly prepared and presented. In addition, I had 2 pieces of Uni with raw quail's egg, which is my version of heaven for the palate.
I remember when I was first starting to get into sushi, in high school. We would go to Daruma in Evanston and order California Rolls and get drunk on sake - we thought we were soooo cool, like Molly Ringwald's character in "The Breakfast Club" (which was based on my high school, so we weren't that far off).
When my sweet tooth hit later in the evening, I indulged in a treat from our friendly neighborhood Asian grocery store: Strawberry Ice Cream Mochi. I love mochi! This was something that I discovered upon moving to California. Whoever came up with the idea of putting ice cream inside rice-dough balls (making it the ultimate finger food), is a genius. I get to have both the creamy richness of ice cream and the chewiness of a gummy candy in a few small bites - yum.
Wonderful things in pretty packaging - that's Japan-style to me.
