Toko Egawa :: Japan-Fashion.com

Babette is the fashion-related thing that Egawa is known for; her artistic accessories being a mainstay at the Daikanyama boutique Goldfish (remember that article?).
Babette's signature style of 'mini-collages' inside of small frame-shaped pendants has garnered her admirers far and wide. Her fans and fellow artists agree that the brand itself is heavily influenced by art, evidenced by the numerous references in the pendants themselves (one of the necklaces states: "Art is Long, Life is Short".) and Egawa's other passion: Photography. And it was that pursuit that brought the designer to U.S. shores, for the Annual Japanese Artists' Books Fair. The event is held at bookstores from Tokyo (Shinjuku's gargantuan Kinokuniya branch) to smaller, more eclectic New York venues like the St. Mark's Bookstore. The event is made possible by a lovely, art-hungry group called Pepper's Project (www.peppers-project.com), who have taken up the cause of bringing Japanese modern art and overall vibe to foreign shores.
I knew that the book fair itself had nothing to do with fashion, but when Satoko Iwanaga emailed me with the news a few weeks before, I knew I couldnft refuse myself a rare opportunity to talk to this wonderful and quirky trendsetter.

(So thank you, Iwanaga-san.)

Toko Egawa was a fine-boned youthful woman in a knit black hat standing near the corner window of Kinokuniya. She was already in deep conversation with another reporter. Seemed like I wasn't the only one who knew she was coming. She stopped, shook hands with the gray hoodie-clad interviewer, and the attendant from Pepper's Project ushered me forward.

She said she knew me (!!!) from Japan Fashion and from talking with Iwanaga. She explained a little more about her exhibition.

"My display is actually a collaboration between my father and myself. These are photos that he took before I was born." The late Mr. Egawa left behind a plethora of images, like cityscapes and emotive natural pictures for his daughter to find. "I knew nothing about them at the time...then I noticed a relationship with the pictures that I had taken."

The ambience in father and daughter's snapshots flits together through a gamut of locales, colors, and emotions. The correspondence is so close that, if one didn't know any better, it would be seen as an effort between two live artists trekking together through the Japanese countryside. But instead, this exhibition is the enthralling product of two people who had an undeniable and deep connection, even before one of them existed.