Daichi Tabata on championing storytelling through design

The Japanese graduate discusses his unusual journey into fashion, translating emotion through design and why we should be repurposing our clothes

For Okinawa-born graduate designer Daichi Tabata, fashion design was something he had to earn. Not just in a symbolic sense, but quite literally. Before moving to Tokyo to pursue his creative dreams, the Coconogacco graduate had to fulfil two years as a medic in the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force to appease his father. “I had mixed feelings about joining the military because I knew the horrors of the past war in Okinawa,” says Tabata. Despite this, he sees the experience as greatly influential upon his work.

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Daichi Tabata on championing storytelling through design — Daichi Tabata, Lookbook

“Through making clothes, we are able to face the memories and sensations of the past.”

The designer always knew he wanted to be a creator of some kind, but it was being introduced to the work of Japanese greats Rei Kawakubo, Yoji Yamamoto and Jun Takahashi that convinced him he wanted his creations to be clothing. For Tabata, fashion allows him to translate his emotions. “Through making clothes, we are able to face the memories and sensations of the past,” he says.

Daichi Tabata’s graduate collection was made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and was a response to the large amount of waste created by the fashion industry. Finding he had too many clothes in his home, but being too sentimental to simply discard them, Tabata decided to give them a new life by transforming them. “I wanted to reincarnate these clothes instead of just recycling them.” With around 1.7 million tonnes of post-consumer textiles heading to landfill in Japan each year, Tabata isn’t only making beautiful pieces, but also helping to solve a serious environmental issue.

“I want you to look at your closet and feel the memories and souls that have seeped into those clothes.”

His ‘Cannot Throw Away’ collection has a nostalgic patchwork feel and is centred on his own experiences and emotions. “I research events that have influenced me, I draw pictures of emotions and I build up the material from there,” he explains of his process. For example, inspired by his time as a medic, he added bandage pieces to the collection. “I wanted to portray the conflicting ideas of tightness and security by wrapping and covering my pieces with the bandages and gauze that I was familiar with growing up,” he says.

Despite the collection’s fantastical silhouettes and unusual construction, Tabata hopes that it is able to translate a sense of everyday realism. He sees fashion as something for everybody since, after all, everyone wears clothes from birth to death. He wants people to see through the highly imaginative designs and realise that, just like all clothes, they have their own story behind them. In this way, consumers might be encouraged to see the real value of clothing and understand the importance of repurposing fashion, instead of sending clothing to landfill. “I want you to look at your closet and feel the memories and souls that have seeped into those clothes,” he says.

As with most graduates during this time, Tabata’s design process was altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the disruptions, he found he missed being able to exchange ideas and inspiration with tutors and fellow students. On a practical level, it also meant that shops were forced to shut and so many of the materials he had planned to be in the collection did not arrive on time and so had to be altered last minute.

“I think it’s important to keep looking at your own work, but to also keep talking to others.”

Studying at Japan’s Coconogacco, Tabata’s education was more liberal than the usual technically focused approaches of many of the more traditional Japanese institutes. It has instilled in him an appreciation for collaboration, which is something he believes he will miss most now that he has graduated. “I think it’s important to keep looking at your own work, but to also keep talking to others,” he says. Being back home, now that he is no longer situated in Tokyo, has also given him a greater appreciation for his family and the sense of security that being with them brings.

“I don’t like the fact that creatives are expected to work too many hours and that [brands] create too much stock.”

Tabata looks forward to the future but is adamant that urgent changes are needed within the fashion industry. “I don’t like the fact that creatives are expected to work too many hours and that [brands] create too much stock.” With his signature upcycled approach to fashion, Tabata hopes to address the waste the industry produces. “People are going out less and changing their attitudes towards clothing,” he explains. Like many, he believes our new post-pandemic way of life is an opportunity for change within the industry. “I think it’s time to rethink the system.”