Takuya Isagawa is a traditional fashion soul with a contemporary sense of humor. The Mister It. designer is enamored with the fashion world as it existed in white-gloved ateliers of eras past (he cut his teeth on the design team at Margiela, where he worked on the main line and artisanal collections), and his Tokyo-based … Read more
Hideaki Yoshihara and Yukiko Ode like to look back at the past, but it wouldn’t be right to call them sentimentalists. The Hyke designers have decades of experience reinterpreting old military workwear (indeed, that’s what they do best), and while their penchant for drawing on vintage staples can feel overly consistent, this season showed a … Read more
Fetico’s Emi Funayama wants to bring back mystery. “There’s something that’s been bothering me,” she said backstage after her show. “Nowadays with social media, it’s become trendy to try and make yourself look better by revealing everything. I’m more attracted to people who keep their cards close to their chest.” She called this collection “The … Read more
Kamiya’s show took place under the rumbling train tracks of Akihabara, the Tokyo otaku district known for its abundance of electronics and anime merch stores. It was a funny choice for Koji Kamiya, who is the polar opposite of a computer geek. The young designer’s aesthetic swings less nerd and more rebellious teenage dirtbag, with … Read more
What will we be wearing when the world burns? Hidesign might have an answer. The Tokyo-based workwear design company, which recently began a foray into fashion by making what it calls “work couture,” has an interesting mission: to make cutting-edge clothes that are as fashionable as they are practical. This time, designers Hideo Yoshii and … Read more
Shinya Kozuka knows how to set a scene. In the past two seasons he’s treated us to a full moon and a swimming pool in the pouring rain, and tonight he erected his runway in a gigantic makeshift cage outside Tokyo’s National Stadium, so that the sound of cicadas chirruping in the trees filled the … Read more
Harunobu Murata’s spring collection unfolded on a warm Tuesday evening in the vast glassy foyer of Tokyo’s National Art Center, and served as a continuation of the designer’s stab at high-minded, effortlessly elegant womenswear. His aim is improving every season. Taking the 20th century sculptor Constantin Brancusi as his starting point, Murata sought to make … Read more
“Plainsong” was the name Takahiro Miyashita gave this spring collection for The Soloist, which he intended as a smartened-up rebellion against the slobishness of fashion today. “These days, it seems that clothes are worn carelessly by many people,” he wrote in the collection notes. To make his point, he purposefully avoided using any socks or … Read more
Koki Abe and his team were pleased to be on the list of nominees for this year’s LVMH Prize, but it was easy to detect a hint of disappointment that they didn’t make the final shortlist. “[The judges] were impressed by our silhouettes, and liked the Indian embroidery, but kept asking us ‘who are you?’” … Read more
A showroom appointment with Kiichiro Asakawa is always good fun. The 37-year-old Stein designer, who is tall, with a mass of curly hair and tinted spectacles, combs through his clothing rails at light speed, excitedly pulling out a leather jacket or cashmere coat and explaining the considerable thought that he put into fabricating each piece. … Read more
