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The mood provides the only color in Sawa Takai fall collection black and white video. The urban setting and pensive expressions suggest uncertainty of what tomorrow brings. Yet tailoring, and exacting design indicates a bolder plot line — one that was apparent when Sawa studied at FIT.
“Sawa has fight in her. Her vision is clear. She has a passionate determination about her signature and a youthful wisdom” says Prof. Lisa Feuerherm.“She worked like a pro before she graduated.”
As resident director of FIT in Milan, Feuerherm took note of Sawa in a Collection Class of 10 students in Spring 2010.
Her work is “quirky and understated with sophistication and thoughtful detailing. It’s feminine androgyny. There’s menswear detailing that is anything but masculine.” – Prof. Lisa Feuerherm
Sawa’s graduation design was an “enormous sculptural piece,” recalls Associate Dean Sass Brown. “It didn’t fit into a standard label. It was exquisitely crafted.”
“Sawa has an interesting styling, relatively minimal, but interesting scale and juxtaposition of the silhouettes and use of color.” – Associate Dean Sass Brown
Such largeness was also represented by her spinning of ideas and explorations with materials and techniques.
“That’s the pleasure of college, to try things that don’t have a commercial application,” says Brown “You can pare creativity down, but you can’t add it in if it’s not there.”
Sawa won best design award in an FIT v Parsons Fusion Fashion Show competition. In her senior year she studied at Politecnico di Milano. Two years after graduating she started her own collection.
“It seems like she’s been designing a very long time, but with a fresh outlook. Her designs contain a historical wisdom, a sense of being around for a while, but a new take on menswear detailing.” – Prof. Lisa Feuerherm
“Sawa brings a cultural richness to her work. It’s like the edge — the detailing of a kimono — it’s right there” says Feuerherm.
To see more of Sawa’s work go to Sawa Takai
Photos and video used with permission