Interview

‘ECOMACO®’ Concept - The Ecology of Oka Masako -

Oka　The clothes of ‘ECOMACO®’ are a frank expression of my own desire ‘to be always wrapped up in natural comfort’. Wearing the vibrancy of nature, women can have serenity of mind. Besides, I wanted to create clothes which fill our hearts with pure feelings to be beautiful, healthy, and mentally and physically boundless, and to be responsible for our social roles. The concept of ‘ECOMACO®’ was born from these thoughts.

Ecology…Fabrics, returnable to nature : to fullfil our responsibility for the environment and society.
Healthy…Naturalness and gentleness to the skin, also healthy and safe.
Free…Lifestyle that is mentally and physically free. : to lead a feminine and graceful life.

This is the concept of ‘ECOMACO®’ as well as my ideal image of a woman.

‘ECOMACO’ Concept

The reason I am staying with ‘nature’ from the beginning, the raw materials.

「Co-existence of the Environment and Fashion」Oka　My attachment to nature for the creation of clothes was born in 1994 when I held a fashion show at a waste incinerator in Nagano under the theme of 「Co-existence of the Environment and Fashion」. I was greatly shocked to see a huge heap of discarded clothes right in front of me when I visited the waste incinerator. Through this fashion show, in which I presented my honest attitude to the actual fashion world, that merely follows trends, repeats mass production and then disposes. I strongly felt the need to create environmentally considered clothes, with regard to such as depletion of CO2 .
In search of materials to attain a sustainable society, to keep away from the attitude of using up all materials, I worked night and day repeating the method of ‘trial and error’ …! I finally encountered through my research, materials such as ‘Polylactic Acid’fibres, bamboo, washi (Japanese paper) and then had a chance to meet craftsmen equipped with skills and techniques to put them into clothes to wear.
※Polylactic Acid fibre / (PLA fibres) : Bio-degradable fibres made of starch from recyclable vegetal resources such as corn.

Strong affection for fabrics

Oka　I have been seeking for comfort and safety through the limited area of clothes that cover thehuman body. Fabrics are the most expressive element that reflects the era we live in. When there is a change in a concept of the time = the way we are, fabrics mirror this first. It is obvious that not only clothes, but also interior designs and architectural space are in close proximity to the human body., meaning things have been developing to something more intimate, I suppose. It can be said that these times require the integration of comfort, warmth, and peaceful mind of the human body.

Particular choice of colours

Particular choice of coloursOka　Having worked as a colour analyst for a long time, I strongly feel that Japan is now quite poor in colour consciousness. Our surroundings are choked with abusive signboards, or with buildings constructed without any kind of consideration to the environment…,which gives us much unconscious stress. When I try to seek for comfort or healing, knowledge of colouration is indispensable. Japanese people have always been healed by the changing colours of the four seasons, cultivating emotional richness. I hope to be able to express directly these beautiful, healing colours coming out of nature.

Esteem for handwork

Esteem for handworkOka　My strong affection for handwork is derived from my hope to pass on the Japanese traditional techniques and craftsmanship to the next generation. Also, I have a childhood memory of my mother adding details such as embroidery on simple, ordinary clothes to turn them into something special and I was so proud of them. I knew my mother used to be busy , so I appreciated her extra handwork… especially this warm gesture to me in spite of her busy daily life. I will never forget that warm feeling when I put my hand on that reworked clothes, a feeling as if my mother was always just beside me. The essence of this handwork might have arisen from my mother’s habit not to waste things – a ‘Mottainai’ attitude …! When I try to avoid wasting any part of cloth from corner to corner, till the very last strip, there is no other way but to make them by hand, I must say.

Inspiration source of designs

The most respected designer

Oka　‘Chanel’. I think she is the first woman who demonstrated the way we should be through ‘fashion’.
She truly searched and ascertained the image of women in the future ( = independent women in the true sense) instead of just following a trend of the time, and succeeded to express this by means of ‘clothes’. I love how she lived her life.

A favourite book

Oka　『The Law of Cause and Effect』（by James Allen）
It is my bible!! It is a book which makes me realise that life is not that complicated but extremely simple and easy to understand.
Apart from that, it can be ‘light’, ‘water’ or ‘wind’….actually I often get inspired by a subtle, natural phenomenon in nature. What I always keep in mind is the phrase, 「80% by (human) hand, 20% by nature」. It is important for me to create clothes that change. I believe that creation is achieved by 80% planning and 20% arising spontaneously out of nature.

Prevision of ‘ECOMACO®’

「The Exposition of Chihiro×Oka Masako」Oka　「Wearing the vibrancy of nature」… is the root of ‘ECOMACO®’. What I aim at is to create clothes that provide calmness and serenity of mind naturally, and make us feel naturally comfortable wearing them even while working in the office. What pleases me is when a client tells me ‘I can be so calm and gentle-minded when I wear ‘ECOMACO®’ clothes’. Hearing that kind of comment, I feel that I might have succeeded in expressing even 1% of what I receive from nature…
I would like my clients to feel the comfortable touch and gentle softness of natural fabrics, for every occasion, from ‘at home’ and ‘after-bath’ wear to formal wear, and to be in love with my clothes for a long time.

Once I held an exposition under the title of 「What do you want to be wrapped up with ?」.It was an exposition to question once again the ‘clothes’ that are wrapping our bodies, where many people from little children to the aged touched for example raw wool with their eyes closed and were introduced to the history of yarns starting from cotton, silk, and linen. When thinking about fashion,we are conscious of ‘being wrapped up’. From now on, I would like to cultivate my world of ‘ECOMACO®’ so that I will be able to provide a life filled with comfort and smiles under the theme of ‘ wear nature ・Be wrapped up by nature’ in a wide range of items, from children’s wear to interior products.

「The Exposition of Chihiro×Oka Masako」Talking about children’s wear, I organised 「The Exposition of Chihiro×Oka Masako」, reproducing the children’s wear in the pictures drawn by Chihiro Iwasaki. This idea stemmed from a comment by the son of Chihiro (Iwasaki) , that there is something common in my clothes and the atmosphere of his mother’s pictures. A soft and tender hue, facial expressions with smiles evoked resemblance of the lucency of my clothes, according to his impression. This set me to express and to create clothes to wrap up children by warm softness through my children’s wear, just like Chihiro-san put her thoughts and hopes of peace into her drawings. I was given several occasions to express my feelings and thoughts through these various events and expositions. It would be wonderful if, in the future, I could create clothes for children’s daily lives that bring them comfort and tenderness.