A cartoon cutout of Tsumori Chisato wearing a real outfit — a dress shirt inspired by a painter’s blouse and complete with bright dabs of colors for buttons — stood in the room with the guests at her presentation. But her inspiration for fall wasn’t her second profession — an artist, she draws all the prints in her brand — but a visit to Bilbao, Spain, and the Frank-Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum there.
The Japanese designer put a charming slant on her memories of her stay, reinterpreting the skewed architecture of the museum in metallic fabric between the layers of a tiered black skirt. But the audioguide that she carried for several hours as she viewed the Guggenheim’s collections left the strongest impression: It appeared dozens of times, as an allover motif on dresses, climbing up socks or in the shape of pocket patches.
The artist theme was the strongest: A shift dress with a ribbed silver high neck and hemline recalled a tube of paint. Thread embroidery on a sheer dress lent itself to a textile interpretation of sketching. Accessories also read well, with a beret turned into a palette, or a bag shaped like a gouache tube.