For thousands of years, the Manzanar valley in Southern California was home to American Indians, who were forcibly relocated by the US military after the arrival of miners and rangers in 1863.By the 1900’s, Manzanar had flourished into an agricultural settlement, as indicated by the name, which means “apple orchard” in Spanish. Soon after, however, Los Angeles acquired the water rights in the valley and the town dry up to the point of complete abandonment in the Thirties.
Then, WWII broke out and Manzanar was converted into a “War Relocation Center,” which, at its peak, held up to 10,000 Japanese American citizens and resident aliens, mostly from the Los Angeles area.
From 1942-1945, the US government forced more than 110,000 Japanese men, women, and children to evacuate their homes and detained them in one of ten internment camps like Manzanar. Two thirds of all Japanese detainees were native born American citizens.
Such history makes you think—precisely the goal of Southern California designer, Joel Knörnschild, who is of German and Japanese descent.
Joel’s grandfather is a second generation Japanese American named Kazuo Iwasaki. Kazuo is also Joel’s middle name, which means “peaceful man”—hence the label KZO.
In memory of all the detainees that passed through the gates of Manzanar, Joel has dedicated his 2009 s/s collection, featuring a high desert palette of dusty, earth tones and the cobalt blue sky.
Slideshow 2009 s/s collection and campaign Copyright KZO.
Photo top right by Dorothea Lange, Public Domain at Wikipedia.
