Kansai Yamamoto was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1944 and is one of the founding fathers of Japanese contemporary fashion.Yamamoto studied at the renowned Bunka university and assisted Junko Koshino and Hisashi Hosono before starting his own company in 1971. He opened his first boutique in Tokyo in 1968 and eventually expanded worldwide, showing in both London and Paris. He became known for his avant garde kimono designs which caught the eye of David Bowie who wore them on his Ziggy Stardust tour. Since his last collection in 1992, he has returned to fashion as a designer of traditional Japanese garments and in 2010 also designed the Skyliner train connecting Narita airport to central Tokyo.