Japanese fashion icon Hiroko Koshino literally stages her fall/winter collection tomorrow in an extravagant performance with professional dancers and a noted UK musician.

Integrating fashion, music and dancing arts in one show, "Anomalous Duality" to be staged at Shanghai Oriental Art Center tomorrow is a collaboration of artists from Japan, China and the UK. It is part of the ongoing Shanghai International Arts Festival.

In two hours, Japanese fashion icon Hiroko Koshino and UK musician Michael Nyman, as well as performers from the Dancing Troupe of Shanghai Opera House will present an "unparalleled" performance, according to designer Koshino.

The one-night-only performance is comprised of three parts: a massive fashion show of Koshino's 2007-08 fall/winter collection, a dance performance by model/dancers in fancy costumes designed by Koshino, and a piano-string quartet with Nyman on the piano.

"I'm very much excited about the premiere," Koshino told a press conference in Shanghai. "It is such an innovative way to present a fashion show, with live music as the background music and professional dancers as the models."

For the performance, the designer will bring to Shanghai nearly 200 costumes selected from her latest collection. She calls her fall/winter fashions, inspired by a recent trip to St Petersburg in Russia, "luxurious, noble" attire. They feature a palette of off-white, gray, camel and light brown.

"It will remind people of the beautiful snow scene in an exotic country and shining stars in the dark sky on a winter night," she says.

An advanced lighting system will help to create the effect of sunlight shining on a snow scene. According to the designer, when the dancers swirl, the hems of the clothing will appear to be "fluttering snow flakes" or "blooming flowers."
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"Nyman's music has also given me quite a lot of inspiration," Koshino adds. "He is one of my favorite musicians whose music soothes the soul. As a matter of fact, I often choose his music as the background music of my fashion shows."

The established London musician is perhaps best known to Chinese audiences for composing the score to the award-winning 1993 film "The Piano." He is acclaimed for his modular, repetitive style and is known as an initiator of the "minimalism" style in the world of music.

They chose Shanghai for the premiere because "Shanghai is the fashion hub of Asia," according to Koshino. "I also want to collaborate with people from other parts of Asia to let the world know more about Asian designers and artists," she adds.

The designer was in Shanghai as early as 1984 when she presented what was probably the city's first fashion show at the Jinjiang Hotel. "At that time, there were no professional models in China so I brought 10 models from Japan and picked up another 10 local girls," she recalls. "I presented here the clothes I displayed at Paris Fashion Week and it was a great success."

Koshino is the first Japanese designer to have graced the runway of Paris Fashion Week: That was in the 1970s.

"It's great to come back to Shanghai," she continues. "I'm deeply impressed that the city has changed so dramatically in 20 years."

The designer says that she is planning to open her first store in Shanghai, as she has found a lot of her fans in the city.

Date: October 25, 7:30 PM
Address: 425 Dingxiang Rd, Pudong
Tickets: 380-1,580 yuan
Tel: 962-288, +86 (0)21 6854-1234

(Shanghai Daily October 24, 2007)