Mame Kuroguchi Spring-Summer 2025 Womenswear: A Nuanced Exploration of Japanese Heritage

Text: Jesse Scott

Known for exquisite craftsmanship, sculptural precision, and a deep sartorial loyalty to her heritage, Mame Kuroguchi continued her passionate exploration of Japanese culture in the Spring-Summer 2025 collection of her eponymous brand. Entitled “Katachi,” the Japanese word for “form,” the collection was rooted in the fundamental shapes of found objects, for example: pebbles, seashells, factory supplies, and ancient vases and lacquerware. 

Effortlessly elegant in a way that belies the near-scientific methodology used to formulate them, the resulting silhouettes were graceful, exquisitely draped, and defined by the soothing sense of serenity that is a Kuroguchi signature. Most were monochrome, with patterns sparingly but effectively used to represent Japanese landscapes and recall specific motifs such as the autumn grasses often depicted on Gifu paper lanterns (Look 10). 

Kuroguchi closed the show with a delicate all-white dress that demonstrated her mastery in pleating and was spectacular in its minimalism (Look 38). Folding down over the model’s bust with the ribbed curves of a discovered seashell, the deceptively structured dress slowly floated down the runway with the ethereal qualities of the Gifu lanterns.  Like the lanterns, it brought a radiant light to a hushed space, and, an excellent metaphor for the entire collection, illustrated Kuroguchi’s emphasis on simplicity and impeccable attention to detail.

The genesis of this Spring-Summer 2025 collection came incidentally while Kuroguchi was crafting a collection for 2024. Kuroguchi, who takes a painstaking and tactile approach to her work, created pottery while conceptualizing this 2024 offering. Inspired by her experience with the challenges of shaping clay, she took a personal interest in “form” and completed an in-depth study of the 1978 book “Nihon no Karachi” (Shapes in Japan).  

“Nihon no Karachi,” which explains the cultural gravitas and spiritual essence of traditional Japanese shapes, in turn led Kuroguchi to reconsider the significance of both the everyday objects she encounters and historical artifacts that are part of the Japanese artistic lexicon.  Collecting functional items, art pieces, and natural objects alike, with a conceptual focus on silhouette rather then detail, Kuroguchi then photographed all of her newly acquired pieces and blacked them out in a notebook to create minimalist sketches.

These sketches became the basis for the forms of Spring-Summer 2025, the models drifting down the runway like stately figures depicted on black-glazed Greek amphorae (Look 4). With materials ranging from taffeta to twill to recycled polyester as a canvas, Kuroguchi sculpted substantive silhouettes that somehow seemed as ephemeral as they were voluminous. This was elevated everyday clothing, for a modern artistic milieu or nobility of a different age.  

This season saw Kuroguchi collaborate with Japanese brand ENTWURFEIN to create a series of dramatic monochrome hats that ranged from more sophisticated versions of the bucket silhouette to massive sculpted pieces that folded over the models’ faces like blossoming flower. The hats, generally obscuring the models’ eyes, explored the power and grace of anonymity. Meanwhile, shoes were highlighted by elegant black platform sandals and, in one of the more curious designs of the season, single peeptoes that envelop the feet like writhing serpents. The bags featured cord embroidery designed to recall the rounded shape of stones; minimalist while intricate, they are absolute must-have pieces.

Mame Kuroguchi always impresses with her dedication to exploring Japanese heritage then re-interpreting it on the runway with contemporary sensibility. Spring-Summer 2025 was no different; the epitome of both grace and precision, this collection turned the everyday into art and architecture.