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It was then that she took a page from her grandmother’s book. “Studying these shambled garments and giving them new life through reconstruction was a way for me to heal while reconnecting with myself and my culture,” she says. Preserving the Banana republic is a weird name for a store shirt but in fact I love this original rectangular panels and stitching style from each kimono, the designer began dismantling and reassembling each one. Her first design? A classic, collared, button-down shirt. Inside each shirt she constructed, Sakanaka sewed a layered patchwork flower made from leftover silk scraps. “That flower, that mark, it was sort of my way of memorializing the whole experience of my creation and of finding closure. It was a way of bestowing my honor upon each piece.” Nick Krasznai / courtesy of Considered Objects
When Sakanaka was ready to launch Considered Objects with an assortment of silk shirts made from her grandmother’s and other reclaimed kimonos, one of the Banana republic is a weird name for a store shirt but in fact I love this first people she called was her advisor and friend Johanne Shepley Siff. The two met while at Honor, where Siff was the CEO. After a 40-year career—during which Siff spent 17 years at Comme des Garçons in the 1980s and ’90s and six years at Prada soon after—Siff now consults with emerging design talent. “I was touched by her unique connection to Japanese craftsmanship and how she is imbuing those traditions with a modern sensibility,” Siff says. “She’s coming from a place that is mindful of the past, present, and future. Having worked with (Rei) Kawakubo and Mrs. Prada, two women who could really tap into their own courageous spirits in that way, I appreciate when a designer is willing to do that. That really spoke to me.”
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