Noriko Angeleen Kikuchi

Noriko Angeleen Kikuchi (Beibei Li), is more than a budding designer—she is an artist who manipulates and twists textiles and yarns in peculiar ways to create contemporary and wearable womenswear. Kikuchi was born in Beijing, China; grown up in Nagoya, Japan, and lived in Florence, Italy for a year and New York for over ten years, her deep bonds with Asia and Europe are reflected in her designs. She has recently relocated to Portland, Oregon. This multi-faceted designer is pushing boundaries and her inventiveness by collaborating with leading Italian spinner Zegna Baruffa to create an eclectic knit collection, which was exhibited at Pitti Filati 69 in Florence, Italy, as well as the International Fashion Showcase at London Fashion Week. Her video work was shown in FVF Budapest 2011 in Budapest, Hungary. Finally her final collection for the Parsons MFA Fashion program, “White,” was exhibited at The First Eighteen Exhibition in New York in May, 2012, New York Fashion Week in Sep, 2012, and featured in The New York Times. Her collections was also shown at the annual Harvard University fashion show in 2013.