How the Austrian designer weaves spaces, textiles, and stories in Japan
From Salzburg to Tokyo, Edwina Hörl unites fashion, art, and culinary culture into a concept that understands clothing as a social and cultural intervention. Her collection “listen to the soup” reflects this philosophy – while also pointing to her life beyond fashion: running her late husband’s ramen bar in Tokyo.
Shaped by Yohji Yamamoto
Edwina Hörl grew up in Salzburg and, as a self-taught designer, won Austria’s first Experimental Fashion Award in 1990. Her most formative years were spent with Yohji Yamamoto (1990–93), where she learned to think of fashion radically: as architecture for the body and as a philosophical system. This time in Tokyo laid the foundation for her consistently conceptual approach to design.
In 1996, she launched her label in Vienna but relocated her life and studio to Tokyo by 2000, where she continues to live and work (shop.edwinahoerl.com).
Fashion as a cultural practice
For Hörl, clothing is more than a shell: she sees fashion as a tool to negotiate cultural, political, and social questions. Her collections are created in close collaboration with the graphic studio so+ba and are always accompanied by essays, artistic publications, and spatial installations. Fashion, art, and cultural rituals – such as tea ceremonies held in her store – merge into a holistic narrative, exploring the space between body and society.
Listen to the Soup: Cooking as a metaphor for design
Her current collection, “listen to the soup”, exemplifies Hörl’s approach. It connects cooking to fashion design: fabrics, cuts, and shapes are arranged like ingredients in a soup. The collection examines how elements transform together – chemically, organically, and aesthetically.
“For the interface between food and clothes, Edwina Hörl uses soup as a metaphor… only in the blending of its individual elements.” (shop.edwinahoerl.com)
The ramen bar as lived design
Beyond her work as a designer, Edwina Hörl now runs the ramen bar of her late husband in Tokyo. Here, her philosophy manifests beyond fashion: cooking, hosting, and designing become a single cultural act. “Listen to the soup” is thus not only a collection title but an expression of a life philosophy that sees no separation between fashion, art, and food.
Edwina Hörl is a designer, artist, and host. Her clothing is both architectural and poetic – deeply embedded in Japanese culture and aesthetics, shaped by Yohji Yamamoto, and expanded through her interdisciplinary signature. “Listen to the soup” exemplifies how she not only thinks fashion but lives it: as a quiet yet radical cooking of forms, fabrics, and stories.
