Kosei Kitada

ABOUT

“I design each look with respect for individuality and atmosphere, allowing what already exists to quietly surface” Kosei grew up in Osaka, Japan, where a chance encounter with a make-up artist first inspired him to experiment with the craft that became his vocation. Completely self-taught, he spent seven formative years working in Japan before moving to London - inspired by the style magazines and the experimental fashion scene here. Kosei has worked with many avant garde and street brands - and his work tends to carry an edge. His editorial clients include Vogue, and Port; and he has a rich portfolio of commercial clients across high fashion and performance. He sees the face as more than a blank canvas - but as a rich textural story, waiting to be told. He works in concert with the skin: its texture, presence, traces of time and the emotion it carries are part of his narrative, rather than something to be masked. Kosei takes great inspiration from the city: - its colours, the faces of its people, its music, artists from different disciplines, philosophy, the internet and - most importantly- each model’s individuality. These all feed into his work - particularly on shoots where the style of photography, the model’s contours and the space they inhabit are distilled into a needle sharp point of expression.