The masks is slowly slipping. Khoki—the nameless collective of designers who’ve for the previous couple of seasons been lighting up Tokyo with their idiosyncratic, happy-go-lucky strategy to menswear—is slowly being pulled out of their self-made obscurity by the far-reaching arm of the style machine. The principles of the 2024 LVMH Prize dictated that semifinalist Khoki’s founder Koki Abe needed to publicly reveal his identify as the person behind the model.
The designer stopped wanting any additional particulars, nevertheless, hiding his face within the lineup of semifinalist portraits with a mass of hair, Cousin It–model. If Khoki makes it via to the finals, nevertheless, then a face should be proven. Them’s the principles.
At a preview of the autumn assortment in Tokyo, Abe spoke excitedly about being short-listed for the prize however pressured that, no matter occurs, nothing has modified about Khoki’s strategy: The model strictly operates as a gaggle, a machine of which Abe himself is solely a cog.
That sense of unity was conveyed most actually this season within the colourful embroidery woven throughout a chore jacket and trousers. Every member of the crew had added one thing that not directly represented himself: a villainous wolf for the member who grew up watching cartoons; a motorbike helmet for one who loves his bike; skeleton fingers for the resident goth; and a pack of cigs for the chain-smoker on the crew.
Elsewhere, the model showcased its chops for sample chopping and quilting (two issues the crew’s members are exceedingly nicely skilled at), splicing pinstripe suiting with jersey sweats to create an fascinating new proposition that deftly blended the suave with the sloppy or incorporating American quilting into black leather-based bikers. There was tons occurring, however for probably the most half, it was cohesive—you’ll be able to inform that crew Khoki bounces nicely off of each other, and this lends a lightheartedness to their garments. That’s not straightforward to do.
Different concepts this season had come via on a crew research-trip-slash-vacation to Greece and Romania final yr, they usually’d put maps from the journey into the liner of the jackets as a memento. “It’s just like the experiences we share turn out to be the design,” mentioned Abe. “That’s the place the enjoyable comes from, and that’s what Khoki is about.”
If a face reveal does occur when the LVMH Prize finalists are introduced later this week, it will likely be bittersweet. The group selecting to be quiet about themselves has felt like a genuinely contemporary strategy that vogue wants extra of, sidestepping all of that sticky ego enterprise by merely being a gaggle of younger designer pals making garments collectively as a result of they love doing so—and are good at it. As soon as upon a time, that may have been sufficient.
