Like nice jazz musicians that know tips on how to improvise on a rating, Yu Kobayashi and Yuji Abe of Irenisa have a formidable information of garments making which helps them riff on the classics and create menswear that expertly toes the road between disciplined and playful.
Throughout a walkthrough of their fall assortment at their showroom in Tokyo, the designers stated that this season was devoted to honoring guide laborers and those who work with their palms to create one thing. They’d been notably impressed by the work of German photographer August Sander, whose portraits of tradesmen conferred each the person and their craft. Nods to craftspeople got here via within the peacock inexperienced gloves, sweaters, and jackets that draped elegantly on the again, the shade of which was impressed by the aprons historically worn by leather-based artisans in tanneries, and within the literal apron-style vests that had been slung asymmetrically over one shoulder.
The leather-based choker particulars on a few of the collars had been a bum be aware that felt flimsy and distracting, however the cloth improvements elsewhere made up for it. Beige melton wool coats and scarves had been completed with a mist of white paint to create a gradient, and a coordinating black shirt and trouser set featured vertical creases of shade created with a painstaking dyeing course of known as tatsumaki shibori (actually ‘twister tie-dying,’ for a way the material is twisted within the course of). It was a great instance of Irenisa’s personal dedication to craft, and the way properly the designers handle to translate it into fascinating garments. The model is contemplating branching out into womenswear within the close to future, which seems like a pure and comfy transfer ahead.
Regardless of the duo’s design prowess, there’s a shadow of complacency creeping at Irenisa’s toes. Abe and Kobayashi’s mastery of cloth, sample, and silhouette is just not known as into query, and their menswear is constant and immediately flattering to the physique; you perceive that is the place you slip your arms into certainly one of their gorgeously lower coats or step into their floaty trousers. However while you commerce in understatement (particularly at a time when quiet luxurious is loud in its ubiquity), how will you make sure the tune you’re taking part in will probably be heard? The problem the duo has from right here is to work that out.
