Nobuki Hizume

Within KIDILL’s HEAVEN collection, an Alpha Industries MA-1 became the material base for a HIZUME headpiece. The three-way project condensed military garment construction, Sueyasu’s punk context and Hizume’s millinery reconstruction into a single runway object.

Hizume’s work for the main Comme des Garçons women’s collection began publicly with large sculptural headpieces in March 2025. The relationship continued into SS26 and FW26 through distressed, frayed and black forms developed in direct creative exchange with Rei Kawakubo.

The first documented Homme Plus collaboration used M1 helmet-derived headpieces decorated with flowers and glossy fabric. Later seasons expanded the relationship through hybrid caps, stacked felt forms and Panama hats, with the partnership continuing through at least SS27.

Maison&Objet gave the ō project a public design setting after years of prototype development. The six specialised scissors translated atelier use into an industrial system and made Hizume’s working tools themselves part of his authored design practice.

Hiroaki Sueyasu began working with Hizume for KIDILL SS24, giving the milliner collection themes and materials while leaving substantial latitude over the finished hats. The relationship continued through at least SS27 and developed from individual hats into reconstructed sculptural objects embedded in KIDILL’s runway language.

LOEWE asked Hizume to expand modiste technique across full garments for its FW22 and FW23 collections. The FW23 menswear work included a coat whose construction translated blocking and structural hat methods into clothing, widening the functional scope of his craft.

Spring/Summer 2020 established the recurring seasonal system of the HIZUME house after the brand’s 2019 launch. The archive subsequently developed through twice-yearly Paris collections while preserving separate bespoke and external-commission practices.

Hizume directs the house’s seasonal collections, materials and one-off atelier work while continuing to make and prototype directly. His current role combines brand authorship with the specialist external commissions that remain an important part of his Paris practice.

HIZUME formalised Hizume’s independent millinery into a seasonal commercial house in Paris in 2019. The new brand sat alongside his personal NOBUKI HIZUME practice and was supported by J.B.K. SAS, the company he had incorporated the previous year.

Following the MOF award, Hizume’s work entered Chapeaux d’excellence alongside other recognised modistes at the Atelier-Musée du Chapeau. The exhibition placed his practice within a public history of French hat craftsmanship immediately before HIZUME’s first seasonal phase.

The 26th Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition recognised Hizume in the modiste category, with the award conferred in Paris in May 2019. He became the first Japanese laureate in that speciality, giving institutional recognition to the French craft technique he had developed since moving to Paris.

The KAI project translated Hizume’s demands for grip, balance, blade geometry and specialised cutting into an industrial design process. More than seventeen prototype iterations across eight years eventually produced the six-piece ō system and a wider relationship supporting future hat designers.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist runway millinery prototypes for Saint Laurent. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist sculptural runway millinery for Balenciaga. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist showpiece prototypes and structural millinery for Louis Vuitton. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist leather and fabric millinery prototypes for Hermès. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist modiste prototypes and runway-hat fabrication for Christian Dior. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

Hizume’s Paris atelier practice included specialist seasonal hat prototypes for Chanel. The work belonged to the technical realisation of house headwear and prototypes, preserving the client house’s collection authorship while establishing Hizume’s reputation as a millinery specialist.

At Chéri Bibi, Hizume developed steam blocking, felt shaping and detailed finishing within a working atelier that translated house concepts into physical hats. The period connected his self-taught Japanese headpiece practice to the technical standards of Paris couture.

The 2009 move shifted Hizume from Japanese bespoke commissions into the Paris millinery ecosystem. It gave him sustained access to traditional French modiste techniques, couture ateliers and the specialist subcontracting network behind runway headwear.

After more than one hundred two-dimensional proposals failed to communicate the project, Hizume built three physical hats and presented the objects directly. Their approval convinced him that his strongest design thinking operated through three-dimensional construction and helped consolidate his move into millinery.

Hizume was recruited to make hats, headpieces and body accessories for the Japanese production of The Boy from Oz despite having no formal millinery training. The success of the three-dimensional stage work brought further headpiece commissions and changed the direction of his career.

After returning from Europe, Hizume established a personal artist and bespoke practice under his own name. The work centred on one-off stage, film and musician headpieces and became the bridge between his earlier apparel career and later commercial HIZUME house.

Hizume began his professional career in Italy through a manufacturer-backed namesake underwear project, presenting work in Milan and other Italian cities. The venture lasted about a year and gave him direct experience of European apparel production before he returned to Japan.

Hizume completed Bunka Fashion College in 2004 after combining formal apparel training with competition work such as the leather-corset Human Bouquet. Graduating at the top of his class and receiving the Design Award established his early identity as a technically ambitious clothing designer before his move into millinery.