Akira Isogawa (b. 1964), fashion designer, was born in Kyoto, Japan, and first came to Australia on a working holiday at the age of 21. Excited by what he saw as the country's 'fresh and youthful spirit,' he moved here permanently, working as a waiter by night while studying fashion design at East Sydney TAFE. In 1993 he opened the Akira Isogawa boutique in Woollahra, and swiftly established a reputation for his bold and intelligent clothes. At Sydney's Australian Fashion Week in 1996, he sent all his models out wearing red socks from Gowings because he couldn't afford shoes for them; but he has shown at most Australian Fashion Weeks since, and since 1998 he has shown twice annually in Paris. He has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art and has featured in the Powerhouse Museum's Fashion of the Year retrospective. Object Gallery's exhibition of his construction techniques in Sydney is said to have been its most successful ever show. At 1999's Australian Fashion Industry Awards he was named Designer of the Year and Womenswear Designer of the Year. The National Gallery of Victoria's Akira Isogawa: Printemps Eté in 2004–2005 was the first solo exhibition of an Australian designer's work to be shown at a major art institution and later toured to Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, New Delhi and Mumbai. In 2005 Isogawa was depicted on the 'Australian Legends' series of stamps issued by Australia Post and in 2007 he was named the country's first Fashion Laureate. A regular collaborator with choreographer Graeme Murphy, he designed costumes for The Australian Ballet's Romeo and Juliet and Murphy, and for the Sydney Dance Company productions of Salome, Air and Other Invisible Forces, Ellipse and Grand. Also known for his unique textiles, Isogawa's designs have appeared on collections for Designer Rugs and Woven Images. Sydney's Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences showed the retrospective Akira Isogawa in 2018–2019 and his work was included in the Victoria and Albert Museum's 2020 exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk in London.
