Georgie Ichikawa

Georgie Ichikawa

Georgie Ichikawa was born in Tokyo in 1982 to a Japanese father and British mother. He spent his childhood in Kamakura, a creative boy who was always drawn to the fantasy world, endlessly drawing princesses in castles wearing colorful, floating dresses. At 16 he moved to the UK and there he subsequently obtained a masters degree in Fashion DesignTechnology from the University of Arts, London (London College of Fashion) on a scholarship. Although -LOVE: PooPoo-Corn the lucky Unicorn- is his debut show, Ichikawa already knows that the overarching theme of this first show, love, will always be his theme going forward. Love has a become something of a preoccupation for Ichikawa who even hosts and produces a podcast, -Love Chat with Georgie-, where guests are invited to discuss the topic of love beyond artistic expressions, with the newest season focusing on love and luck. As a young queer person in the 90s, love is not something you take for granted. Your love is policed, your love can isolate you from friends and family, it can be the cause of danger both from within your community (one still reeling from the AIDS crisis) and from outside where violence towards LGBTQ+ individuals was still commonplace. Love was not something unconditional and guaranteed so when it found Ichikawa, it was all-consuming, as was its eventual loss which sent him into a long spiral of anxiety and depression. While he continued to achieve success in his professional life, becoming Head Designer for PUMA x Alexander McQueen at just 25 years old, launching his own brand in London, moving back to Japan and designing costumes for idol group, STU48 all by the age of 32, producing music videos that to this date been played over 17.5million times. However his search for love was leading him down self-destructive paths in his personal life. Some things are cliches for a reason and learning to love oneself was the difficult and life-altering cliche that finally brought Ichikawa peace. Through his activism in raising awareness of LGBTQ issues in the country, co-founding Mr Gay Japan and spearheading campaigns to support same-sex marriage, Ichikawas confidence grew, he became a better, kinder version of himself that he learned to like and then truly love. With that ultimately came a husband and a rekindled love of creating along with a new-found purpose to spread love through his creative endeavors in a world that feels sorely lacking.