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Long before sneakers, art bags or design chairs became objects of desire, there was the tsuba. A functional piece of metal that grew into one of the most collected art forms of Japan.

This year PAN Amsterdam devotes a full day of its programme to collectibles: objects made to be used, then treasured for their design, their makers and their stories. The tsuba belongs in that company more than almost anything else. At our stand we present a large collection of them, and we would like to explain why they are such a rewarding place to begin a collection.

Edo-period armour (yoroi/gusoku) has a military appearance, but is just as relevant to fashion. The layered, modular plate construction solves the same problem familiar to every fashion designer: shaping the body without restricting or losing freedom of movement. That architectural, sculptural design language is reflected centuries later in the deconstructed silhouettes of Japanese avant-garde designers and in the work of Western designers seeking an alternative to the corset.

The colourful silk laces (odoshi) are not merely decorative, but form a carefully considered aesthetic system of colour and gradation – an early modern textile language that aligns with how fashion today conceives of print and pattern. Moreover, virtually every suit of armour is adorned with one (or more) family crests; the ‘mon’: a stylised, repeatable logo, functionally identical to what the fashion industry now calls ‘branding’.

A 17th/18th-century suit of armour is therefore not an isolated military artefact, but an early and refined example of how construction, colour and identity together shape the body. These are precisely the issues with which contemporary fashion continues to grapple.