Tomo Koizumi’s New York Fashion Week 2019 debut was the stuff of fashion fairy tales. At the lower level of Marc Jacobs’s Madison Avenue store, fashion industry insiders lined up against the wall in the standing-room only show to witness Tokyo-based designer Koizumi’s first-ever runway show. Koizumi, who has designed pieces for Lady Gaga and a slew of Japanese pop stars, scored big models like Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, Emily Ratajkowski and more. They gracefully swanned down a flight of stairs and around the intimate space dressed in voluminous, colorful confections decorated with extravagant mille-feuille-like layering. “Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie closed the show dressed in a gigantic rainbow gown. Some called the dresses loofah-like, but no matter how you describe them, the experience was pure magic. But for Koizumi, it was perhaps even more so, having been discovered — according to Vogue — by celebrity stylist and Love magazine editor Katie Grand. Grand reportedly messaged him on Instagram a month ago asking if he would want to show a collection during New York Fashion Week. From there, Grand enlisted a top-tier team — including Jacobs, whose Madison Avenue boutique hosted the show. Celebrity makeup artist Pat McGrath lent her talents, while coiffeur Guido Palau did the hair — a slick, minimal, shorn look styled with fringed bangs, leaving some models — especially Ratajkowski — virtually unrecognizable in the sea of snow cone-inspired frocks. The show left an impact on show attendees, but also on social media: Right after the show, Koizumi had about 3,000 followers. His following has since sky-rocketed, and he’s now got more than 18,000.<doc-sep>Grand had caught wind of Koizumi from Giles Deacon, who had reposted a couple of the designer’s dresses on his Instagram account. She started to follow Koizumi and then “he started posting some bigger pieces about four weeks ago, so then I texted him and said, ‘Can we do a show?’ ” she said several days before Koizumi’s NYFW debut. She set him up in Marc Jacobs’s studio on Spring Street, cordoning off a section for his fanciful frocks and wrangling the best in the business to help make Koizumi’s show a sensation. Guido Palau did the hair. Pat McGrath did the makeup. Jin Soon, the nails. Rowan Blanchard, Karen Elson, Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, Primrose Archer, and more walked the runway. “It’s a crazy story, but I suppose you get to the point where you’ve done loads of stuff and you’ve worked with loads of people and it’s nice to kind of help people when you can because they’re good,” says Grand. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” Koizumi says, as a friend steams out the wrinkles from one of his bulbous dresses. Each piece is made from Japanese polyester organza—better than tulle, he says, because it holds color better. Koizumi uses over 400 colors of Japanese organza, making the ruffles first and then machine sewing the ruffles together to create a garment. The average piece, he estimates, uses somewhere between 50 and 80 meters of fabric. The biggest uses 200 meters. “For me, it’s like ruffle armor for girls,” he says. “I grew up watching Sailor Moon and this kind of magical girl is one of my big inspirations.” But Koizumi is not a one-note designer. He pulls out an inspiration book with images of Cristóbal Balenciaga dresses; Leigh Bowery; Buddhist statues; tiny, oddly proportioned Japanese dolls; Japanese flower sculpture; and hanawa, a kind of plastic funerary wreath with floral designs. Koizumi’s pieces might look fluffy and sweet, but there are layers and layers of technique and spirit in each one. His biggest reference is John Galliano. “I was 14 when I found a picture of Galliano’s Dior. It was like 2004, 2005. I was really shocked because I was raised in the countryside—in Chiba just next to Tokyo, but it’s really the countryside. It changed my life. I decided I wanted to be someone who could give that feeling to people.”<doc-sep>They joined an A-list model lineup and backstage beauty team for the Japanese designer's show, orchestrated in large part by Katie Grand, who found him on Instagram. Emily Ratajkowski on the Tomo Koizumi Fall 2019 runway. Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images From the moment we laid eyes on Tomo Koizumi's invitation for his Fall 2019 show — which featured an artistically blurred photo of Kaia Gerber swathed in a voluminous, brightly colored tulle confection — we knew it was a show not to be missed from the New York lineup. This season marked the Tokyo-based designer's NYFW debut, but to look at the A-list backstage beauty team, big-name-studded cast of models and beautiful designs themselves, you'd never know it. Stylist Katie Grand spotted the costume designer's work on Instagram, and then, with mere weeks of notice, enlisted her friend and collaborator Marc Jacobs to stage a show in his New York City store on Madison Avenue. Because neither Grand nor Jacobs are the type to do anything halfway, they made sure the industry's best were on hand. The aforementioned impressive casting included the likes of Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Karen Elson, Gwendoline Christie, Joan Smalls, Rowan Blanchard, Lexi Boling and Taylor Hill. Guido Palau for Redken helmed hair, while Pat McGrath keyed makeup and Jin Soon Choi oversaw nails. In other words, the Tomo Koizumi debut featured the most revered beauty pros of our time. But despite all that mega talent, because the collection itself was a veritable explosion of candy-colored, rainbow tulle, glitter-covered shoes, and couture-like silhouettes that seemed to float like clouds down the makeshift carpet runway, the beauty look was relegated to play second-fiddle. Given that it included hair that was shellacked to models' heads and baby bangs so choppy they could be mistaken for the handiwork of a four-year-old, that's really saying something. Joan Smalls on the Tomo Koizumi Fall 2019 runway. Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images In an exclusive backstage interview, Guido noted that Koizumi had given him plenty of creative freedom to execute a look to complement the designs. "They sent me pictures of the clothes and just let me kind of get on with it, really. I was deciding whether to go really crazy and extreme, and I didn't want it to look vintage," he said. The look that won out was a "head wrap with a fake bang," with the models' hair smoothed flat against their heads, concealing a row of extensions at the hairline chopped into piece-y, ultra-short bangs. The key product Guido and his team relied on was Redken's Forceful 23 Hairspray, which they misted on generously as they brushed the hair into place for a pristine, shellacked effect with a glossy finish. "There's a lot of texture in the clothes and a lot going on, so I wanted the head shape to feel very solid," he said. As for the decision to add the slightly wonky, "jagged" bangs, it was all about creating a bit of edge. "I didn't want it to be too classic. The bangs give it a bit of strength; the clothes are quite over the top, so I didn't want to compete with them, but I didn't want to go so simple that the girls almost disappeared in the clothes. It gives the girls a strength. This made it a bit boyish." The beauty look from the Tomo Koizumi Fall 2019 runway. Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images The makeup look varied from model to model, but the main focal points that remained common were the skin — luminous, dewy and flawless, having been patiently tended to, perfected and highlighted in signature Pat McGrath fashion — and lashes. Several models also wore exaggerated, almond-shaped shadow in appropriately confectionery shades like glittery, cotton-candy pink (shown above). The nails were the most subdued aspect of the look, with Jin Soon pulling three different nude shades from her own polish line — Pinky, a pale shell pink that will debut in the spring; Sandbar, a creamy pale beige; and Demure, a dusty brownish-mauve. "I love his clothes; his color palettes are bright and inspired by nature, like sunsets, sunrises," the nail artist said backstage. "We talked all about it and he said he likes to have natural colors, but I didn't want them to be too sheer. I wanted opaque colors that could flatter different skin tones." Click through the gallery below to see more of the beauty look from the Fall 2019 Tomo Koizumi runway show. 10 Gallery 10 Images Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. This in no way affects our editorial decision-making. Never miss the latest fashion industry news. Sign up for the Fashionista daily newsletter.<doc-sep>Pay based on use Get Started Purchase a Team or Enterprise subscription for per week You will be billed per month after the trial ends<doc-sep>
Courtesy of Getty Images. The power of Katie Grand. A mere three weeks after being discovered by the Love editor-in-chief via Instagram, Tokyo-based designer Tomo Koizumi made his New York Fashion Week debut with an assist from models including Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Joan Smalls, Susie Bubble, Rowan Blanchard and Gwendoline Christie, who closed the show in a gown comprised of 200 meters of Japanese polyester organza on Friday night at Marc Jacob's Madison Avenue store. "It's a really surreal moment for me because no one knows me, I think," Koizumi remarked just minutes after a show that ended in literal screams of ecstasy from attendees blown away by the ornate pageantry. All the models, clad in rainbow-hued tulle creations, formed a breathtaking tableau on the staircase of the store for a perfect photo finish. Models pose at Tomo Koizumi's NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Bella Hadid walks in Tomo Koizumi's NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Emily Ratajkowski walks in Tomo Koizumi's NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Joan Smalls walks in Tomo Koizumi's NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Gwendoline Christie walks in Tomo Koizumi's NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Grand originally DM'd Koizumi after being tipped off by Giles Deacon, Gwendoline Christie's partner, because he knew it would be "big and colorful and very me," as Grand put it last night. Today, that DM ("Literally the best thing I've seen in years") is the background of his iPhone. Koizumi had around 4k followers as of 6pm Friday; as of publication he has 13.7k. "I'm so surprised by the power of social media," Koizumi remarked last night, beaming with the pride. Grand recruited her friends, some of the highest profile names in fashion, to help assist on the show in varying capacities: Marc Jacobs, Pat McGrath, Guido Palau, Victoria Hunter, Jin Soon and Tabitha Simmons, among others, helped create a real sense of community in an industry known to be overly-competitive. "I love how everyone really pulled together in fashion," Simmons, who lent her shoes for the show, said in an interview. "Katie brought all of these great people together to help support and I think that's what fashion should be: helping each other. What a welcome to New York!" Designer Tomo Koizumi during the finale of his NYFW FW19 debut. Courtesy of Getty Images. Koizumo, 30, first began his career at thirteen years old in the Chiba prefecture of Japan as an assistant costume designer. After graduating college in 2012, he began his namesake label, which he now hopes, after today, to grow into an international brand. Next up, Koizumi says he'd like to make dresses for red carpets or the Met Gala. Asked the star he'd most like to dress: Julianne Moore. Leslie Fremar, here's looking at you!