Posted on Apr 28, 2018

APRÉS by Karim Hadjab

Throughout his career, Karim Hadjab has engaged in seeking out various fashion pieces from around the world, while seeking out an original manner of creation through uniquely diverse approaches. Such as “4Saisons” in which he places clothing in natural environments for a year and allows them to gradually transform through powers of nature, “Hand Finish” that entails adding further expressions to these pieces at the hands of artisans, “Bacter” that brings about change to items through artificial micro-organisms, and “Argile” that appropriates traditional North-African dyeing techniques, Hadjab has constantly evolved his means of personal expression by drawing inspiration from various happenings including both the discoveries and failures experienced during his process of creation.
One day, in a particular location in France, Hadjab encountered a colossal mass filled with countless pieces of clothing. While many of these clothes that had been neglected over a long time were no longer fit for wear, the texture, appearance, and at times the changes reminiscent of textile design observed in several pieces had presented a significant impact on Hadjab. Considering ways to transcribe these sensitivities into the context of contemporary clothing, he arrived at working with today’s latest printing technology. The new creation label APRÉS was conceived as a result of the designer’s exploration and repeated process of trial-and-error in experimenting with this special equipment and technique.
The exhibition at LAILA TOKIO held to commemorate this first collection, presented and sold creation pieces from 4Saisons and Argile in addition to those of APRÉS. Karim Hadjab also attended the launch in Japan, where he further articulated upon his practice and the world of his work.

世界各国で様々なファッションピースを見つけ出し、多彩なアプローチでオリジナルのクリエイションを追及してきたKarim Hadjab（カリーム・アジャブ）。自然界に一年間洋服を置き自然の力で変化を与える4Saisonsや、それに職人の手仕事で表現を加えるHand Finish、人工的な微生物の力で変化を与えるBacter、北アフリカの伝統的な染色技法を用いたArgileなど、彼はクリエイションの過程での発見や時に失敗などの様々な出来事からインスピレーションを得て、常に表現を進化させてきました。
ある日にフランスのとある場所で出逢った沢山の服が詰まった巨大な塊。長い間放置されたその服たちは着用できる状態ではないものがほとんどでしたが、その中にあった数着の風合い、表情、時にテキスタイルデザインにも見える変化がカリームに大きな衝撃を与えました。それを現代の洋服としてどうにか表現できないかと考え、辿り着いたのが現代の最新技術であるプリント技法で、特殊な機材を用い何度も試行錯誤した末に新たなクリエイションレーベルのAPRÉS(アプレ)が生まれました。
そのファーストコレクションを記念して行われた LAILA TOKIO でのエキシビションでは、APRÉSに加えて4SaisonsやArgileなどのクリエイションを展示・販売。カリーム本人も来日し自身の世界観を表現してくれました。