matsuda jun wears marni, 2000fukasawa elisa wears john galliano, 2001tomita yaskuo wears prada, 1997aure atika wears paul & joe, 2001hasegawa kyoko wears yves saint laurent rive gauche, 2003hosokawa fumie wears tiffany, 1995itaya yuka wears comme des garçons, 2000kuroki meisa wears gucci, 2006tsuruta mayu wears dries van noten, 1998koizumi kyoko wears sybilla, 1993tanja de jager wears christian dior, 2002UA wears toga, 2003erin o'connor wears vivienne westwood, 2006yuki nae wears jil sander, 2000takahashi keiko wears yohji yamamoto, 1994sato yasue wears john galliano, 2001saeki hinako wears junya watanabe, 2000natsuki mari wears luisa beccaria, 2003hashimoto reika wears milk, 2006igawa haruka wears dolce & gabbana, 2003shinohara ryoko wears vivienne westwood, 1996kojima hijiri wears yohji yamamoto, 1999
all photographs by izima kaoru.
since 1993, izima kaoru has been shooting celebrities & models in fantastical death scenes of sophisticated violence. " landscapes with a corpse" is the title of the project and asks the sitter to reveal to kaoru their fantasies about a perfect death & what they would wear. the idea came to kaoru while organizing shoots at a japanese fashion magazine. "it occurred to me that death can happen to anybody; it is a part of life & it is always there," he says. "i thought the depiction of a murder or accident would be a very powerful, provocative setting for a fashion shoot." the images he produces have a film-like structure: long shots with bodies that seem to melt into the setting alternate with others that show close-ups of the wide-open eyes of the victims. yet, we never get the real story.....only clues & allusions.