Draft:ASATO (brand)

ASATO is a New York-based fine art and fashion house founded by Japanese designer Asato Kitamura in 2022.

History

Based on creative director Asato Kitamura's "Theory of Emotion", ASATO was founded in 2022, while he earned his Masters of Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design. Beyond the fashion house's luxurious materials and inventive craftsmanship, Kitamura describes ASATO as his way of promoting self-reflection and acceptance of negative experiences, by using the aesthetics of attire to transform pain into beauty.

ASATO's inaugural year had a momentous start, with the brand selling out their first exhibit, "Catharsis" at the Mizuma & Kips art gallery. The immersive experience was well received, leading to features in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and other publications. After showing collections at New York Fashion Week and private galleries in Paris, ASATO designed bespoke garments for private clients and celebrities, including pop star Beyonce Knowles , singer-songwriter Muni Long, and television personality Sabrina Sato. In 2023, ASATO collaborated with the Tokyo University of the Arts on the interdisciplinary exhibit, "Touch My Mumblings, Hug My Words, Kiss My Singing", before launching the first ready-to-wear line, later that year.

Committed to delivering the highest quality, ASATO established partnerships with the sole weaver of Japanese silk Jacquard, Ogra Fabrics, and Japan's premier wool manufacturer, Nishikawa Keori, in 2024. Nishikawa's signature "super-black" wool uses proprietary off-scale processing to achieve the darkest black possible, which Kitamura describes as "the perfect canvas to highlight colors, playing a role similar to that of the human body as a vessel for emotions." Today, ASATO's avant-garde style has earned the fashion house its reputation for daring and distinguished design, with Kitamura sharing ambitions for menswear, fragrances, and luxury hotels in ASATO's future.

Theory of Emotion

Asato Kitamura's "Theory of Emotion" is a cornerstone of the ASATO brand. By intertwining artistic, psychological, and scientific takes on the human experience, Asato's theory lets us visualize emotions through symbols.

The theory's origin draws from psychologist Dr. Robert Plutchik, who first pioneered a classification system for emotional responses. Plutchik considered anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, and trust as the primary emotions. He also proposed that these 8 emotions are connected by four relationships that determine our responses: anger versus fear; joy versus sadness; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Plutchik's circular construct of emotion, aligned directly with the color wheel to reveal the relationships between emotions and colors, provides the basis for Asato's theory - the "Wheel of Emotion".

Asato's studies introduced him to psychoanalysis Jacques Lacan, philosopher Marshall McLuhan, educator Kiyokazu Washida, and the concept of clothing as an extension of ourselves. The connections between their theories, Plutchik's construct, and fragmented body posturing data inspired Asato's "Gestures of Emotion"; body postures with corresponding colors that directly represent a range of human emotions. Those gestures were later converted into shapes that make up the "Symbols of Emotion", with each symbol expressing the color, gesture, and feeling of their respective emotion - completing Asato's theory.

ASATO's implementation of the Theory of Emotion leverages luxury fashion principles to communicate the nuanced nature of humanity. From multifunctional garments representing the duality of self and social perception to the use of retrospective imagery, the theory's influence is evident - showcased throughout various ASATO designs, concepts, and prints, including the fashion house's monogram pattern which features the theory's symbols.

Asato Kitamura

Asato showed an early affinity for the arts; unearthing a refined fusion of Japanese heritage and contemporary design as a child. From age five, he received seven years of Right Brain Development Training, stimulating his creative thinking, storytelling, and problem-solving. However, Asato's household was marred by the fragility of his parents' relationship, which fostered a constant discord - as well as the milieu that drove his creative inspiration. He went on to study material in high school before entering the prestigious Tokyo Mode Gakuen fashion program, where he became the university's first Japan Student Services Organization (JSSO) cultural arts prize scholarship winner.

As an advanced student, Asato possessed a vast comprehension of illustration, sculpting, and fashion design, earning him several artistic opportunities, including the chance to work with fashion pioneer MICHIKO KOSHINO. Yet, an illustrious academic career, highlighted by multiple scholarships, countless fashion competition victories, and all-expense paid travel to Abu Dhabi, London, and Paris, was only the beginning.

In 2019, Asato traveled to Antwerp, a historical port city in Belgium adorned in Flemish Renaissance architecture, to study fine art and jewelry design. Although brief, the experience introduced him to European culture and fashion. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York to pursue his Masters of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design, where he began exhibiting his work and collaborating with inventive fashion houses like Uniqlo, Vera Wang, and Melitta Baumeister. Drawing inspiration from his travels, Asato's transcendent designs began garnering worldwide attention, placing him at the helm of design teams for several celebrity events, including Beyoncé's 2021 IVYPARK Valentine's Day at the Brooklyn Museum.

While developing artistically, Asato became increasingly fascinated with emotional psychology and philosophy. In fact, esteemed psychologist, Dr. Robert Plutchik pioneered the emotional classification system that ultimately inspired Asato to create his "Theory of Emotion", which allows us to directly visualize human emotion through symbols. With these symbols and the theory they represent as a foundation, Kitamura launched his fashion house, ASATO New York, in late 2022.