On a moist Monday night time, two balaclava-clad thugs crashed a white pickup truck by means of the wall of Japan’s Nationwide Stadium carpark and stopped it in the course of a runway whereas 900 open-mouthed friends regarded on.
It was Koji Kamiya’s debut present, and it was a hell of a approach to make a primary impression. The truck had a mountainous sound-system strapped to the again that thumped out moody ambient rock music, and the damaged wall (which turned out to be polystyrene) lay smashed to bits on the ground as Kamiya’s fashions got here stomping out from the hole carrying distressed denim, fluffy Cobain cardigans, and sweaters and hoodies the colour of poisonous waste.
It was a hell of a approach to make a primary impression. The 27-year-old designer, who lower his tooth working beneath Mihara Yasuhiro and began his personal label solely a 12 months in the past, is a assured and hungry newcomer to the Tokyo menswear scene, and a showman too. Midway by means of the present, a blizzard of pretend snow pumped into the air (sadly doing little to alleviate the warmth contained in the venue) hardening the dystopian fringe of the gathering, which felt like an up to date tackle 2018’s war-core pattern – do not forget that?
Behind Kamiya’s aptitude for theatrics, nevertheless, is a real trend expertise. The textures have been a robust level: distinctive cableknit sweaters, artfully distressed knits, ridged denim and satiny nylon pink monitor pants have been all the results of a transparent information of textiles, the latter of which was achieved by a prolonged dyeing course of to attain that easy gradient fade.
Kamiya had known as the gathering Nothing From Nothing, after the 1974 Billy Preston ditty that he’d spent the final season listening to. “After I interpreted the lyrics for myself, I felt intuitively that in the event you don’t problem something then you definitely’ll find yourself with nothing. And I feel that’s missing in immediately’s world and particularly in my technology,” he mentioned. To not fear: Kamiya’s undoubtedly obtained one thing.
