The Aspen Times: Powers Art Center’s ‘Wrapped’ celebrates Issey Miyake, Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Sometimes a chance encounter — and a husband being tuned into his wife’s tastes — are all that it takes to create a relationship that lasts a lifetime and influences generations to come.
That’s exactly what happened to John and Kimiko Powers several decades ago when they first met a young Issey Miyake, the legacy of which is now on display at Powers Art Center in Carbondale as part of a new exhibition entitled “Wrapped.”
“My grandfather was walking down a street in Tokyo and saw a woman wearing very interesting clothes, so he boldly asked her who the designer was. It was Issey Miyake,” said Bobbi Hapgood, the couple’s granddaughter, CEO, and president of Powers Art Center. “The next day Kimiko and John visited Miyake’s studio and met him. The rest is history. Since then, Issey’s work has been the dominant style for Kimiko. There is an audio of Andy Warhol and Kimiko talking about her ‘Japanese’ clothes and Kimiko replied, ‘I only wear Miyake’s clothes.'”