2018
NOIR KEI NINOMIYA
Coat
Autumn/winter 2018–19
Noir Kei Ninomiya, Japanese, founded 2012
Black synthetic organza rosettes
Courtesy noir kei ninomiya Comme des Garçons
1889
EMILE PINGAT
Dress
Ca. 1889
Emile Pingat, French, active 1860–96
Black voided and crimped silk velvet floral motif on black silk satin, embroidered with black beads, and trimmed with black chenille fringe
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Lillian E. Glenn Peirce and Mabel Glenn Cooper, 1929 (2009.300.67)
Since his first collection in 2012, Kei Ninomiya has constructed his designs using modular units of fabric and 3-D-printed materials joined with hardware rather than seams. The name of his eponymous label, noir kei ninomiya, refers to his predominantly black palette. This coat from the designer’s autumn/winter 2018-19 collection is made up of black quilted organza shaped into abstract flowers and riveted to an open polyester framework that envelopes the wearer, obscuring the body beneath.
The ample shape and dynamic three-dimensional surface of Ninomiya’s design are reminiscent of Emile Pingat’s evening coat of the late 1880s. A contemporary of Charles Frederick Worth, Pingat built his reputation on opulent designs for outerwear. The shape of this coat, flat at the front and full at the back, accommodated the fashionable bustle silhouette of the period. Its subdued palette belies an intricately embellished surface animated by a field of crimped black velvet lilies on a satin ground trimmed with tufted chenille fringe.
The ample shape and dynamic three-dimensional surface of Ninomiya’s design are reminiscent of Emile Pingat’s evening coat of the late 1880s. A contemporary of Charles Frederick Worth, Pingat built his reputation on opulent designs for outerwear. The shape of this coat, flat at the front and full at the back, accommodated the fashionable bustle silhouette of the period. Its subdued palette belies an intricately embellished surface animated by a field of crimped black velvet lilies on a satin ground trimmed with tufted chenille fringe.